After spending the past several weeks sorting and post-processing, I have finally put up a set of pictures from our September 2007 trip to Mongolia. I will write a trip report and post it here on the Forum eventually, but I have to deal with our China pictures first!

Just to give you a sketch of where the pictures were taken, they are from the following areas of Mongolia:
-- Ulaanbaatar (the capital city)
-- Southern Gobi Desert around Dalanzadgad, including Yolyn Am Canyon and Bayanzag
-- Lake Khuvsgul
-- Kharakhorum, the ancient capital of Chinggis Khaan
-- Hustai National Park, including pictures of takhis, Mongolia's wild horses that live in the park

I have to give special thanks to Lynn (atravelynn), who helped us immensely in planning this trip, and Mongol Global Tour Company, who booked the trip for us.

Even more, though, I must publicly thank our Mongolian guide, Eegii, who is pretty much solely responsible for the fantastic experience we had in Mongolia. Without his expertise and focus on our interests, I am certain the trip would not have been as wonderful as it was.

Without further ado, here are our Mongolia pictures:
www.pbase.com/cwillis/mongolia.

Hope you enjoy them!
Chris

Thanks. Nice pictures.

The Canon XTi and the 17-85IS is a pretty good combo for travel, isn't it?

Yes, it is. Extremely flexible for a wide variety of situations, lightweight, easy to use. The 17-85 has some issues that can be corrected in processing (like distortion on the wide end), but that doesn't bother me. The one place the 17-85 really fares poorly is in low light, so it is not ideal for things like poorly-lit museums or indoor dance/music performances. But as an overall "single lens" for travel, I think it is a very good choice.

Chris

Yeah, I had that lens before, and I noticed the lack of barrel distortion on the wide-angled pictures, from post-processing.

Welcome back. I've been checking this board and waiting for some photos or comments. Beautiful photos! Your bird gallery is wonderful. Really liked the merganzers. Those black eared kites were all over. A nursing takhi is a prize. Your other takhi shots are lovely too. Great Gobi pics, especially all the camels. You really got your $3 (if that's still the price for indoor photos) worth at the temples. Brilliant, crisp colors.

I am glad Eegii came through for you. A wonderful guy. I am going back and hope to see him in June-July of 2009! Small Naadams is the focus of this trip. Visit the takhis again. Interested in any of that?

Take your time with the China pictures. At least now I'll know where to look.

Thanks Lynn. I will send you an email when the China pictures are done. I swear we must have 2,000 panda pictures taken over three days at Chengdu and Wolong, so figuring out which of those to display will be difficult.

I think the photo fee for the temples and museums was generally $5 while we were there. In the Natural History Museum, there was a separate fee for the dinosaur room.

We actually have rescheduled our shark diving and Tanzania trip to June-July 2009, so we won't be able to join you in Mongolia, but we will be jealous if you are going back and touring with Eegii again.

Thanks again for everything you did to help us plan this trip, it was invaluable.

Chris

Chris GA Atlanda
Do you have something else you are doing in 2008?

Maybe someday we can meet up at eagle hunter festival in October in Mongolia.

Ecuador (Quito, Cuenca and Guayaquil) and the Galapagos (cruise plus land stay on Isabela) in November 2008. Have you done that already, Lynn?

Chris

Galapagos cruise yes, land stay no. I've asked Galapagos guides what month they would choose to visit and the answer has been November! There are no bad months, though. Tell me more about your trip, either here or through email.

Lynn -- wrote you an email.

Chris