Mongol Rally Day 12*

Stratena (SVK)- Podlesok Sucha Bela (SVK) – Forro (HUN) + 4th & 5th Missions Completed

July 25, 2014

We checked out from the Penzión Šafran in Slovak Paradise at 8am, and drove to Dobšinská Ice Cave to complete our “TAKE SHOTS OF SLIVOCA IN ICE CAVE” FUNraiser mission.

Dobšinská Ice Cave or Dobšinská ľadová jaskyňa (in Slovak) is an ice cave in Slovakia, near the mining town of Dobšiná in the Slovak Paradise. This 1,232 m long and 112 m deep cave is one of the largest ice caves in Europe. Except for the Alps, this is the only place in Europe with 110 thousand cubic metres of ice in places thicker than 25 m. Since 2000 it is included in the UNESCO World Heritage list as a part of Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst site.

MISSION COMPLETED: “TAKE SHOTS OF SLIVOCA IN ICE CAVE

We took the first tour and no video was allowed in the cave so we took photographs inside instead. THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS! Together we raised $150.00 for our charity Cool Earth! with this unique fundraising idea. Here are our completed missions pics:

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MISSION COMPLETED: “CLIMB SUCHA BELA IN SLOVAK PARADISE NATIONAL PARK

Then we drove to Podlesok for our “Climb the Sucha Bella” mission. It took us almost 4 hours to hike the trail due to a high hiking “traffic”. This must be one of the most popular hike in Slovakia.

We did it! Young overcame her vertigo and climbed the Sucha Bella! In the very beginning of the hike she got a minor cut on her pinky toes but she carried on. The only time she screamed was when she climbed the long 60 foot vertical ladder next to a small waterfall.

It was definitely an interesting experience. The climb and hike took us around 4 hours total. The trail followed a stream/ gorge upwards. The day before the climb there was a very severe thunderstorm, therefore the trail was full of water gushing down. It was a refreshing day and definitely a challenging hike.

THANK YOU for all your donations! We together saved over 1.75 acres of rainforest in Peru!

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We were all exhausted after the two hikes. We got some nice cold local beer and some kielbasa at Podelsok and chilled a bit. The campsite at Podlesok looked super nice we should have camped there last night.

Then we drove towards Hungary. We passed by the very picturesque Spis Castle, unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to visit ;-(

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Graham was addicted to his Honey Cake. This was probably his 5th ones so far! He got it at this fancy Slovak gas station.

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Hungary!

We settled in a hotel called Holdgeny Hotel Etterem in Forro, Hungary. For around 30 Euros we got a super tiny room with three beds that were so short that our feet sticked out ;-)

It was an old timey hotel with a kitschy charm. There was a room full of alcohols from around the world. We were in the Tokaj region of course there was a huge collection of vintage Tokaji. There was also an awesome private room in the restaurant full of taxidermis and Hungarian carved wood panel.

We ordered Hungarian Gulash, Carp Gulash, Duck and Pork at the restaurant and drink Gosser beer on tap. The Gulashes were good but the duck and pork were a bit disappointed. What could you expect in rural Hungarian countryside?

We had fun “fine-dining”, the waitstaff was very nice and one of them looked like Jonathan Myers. Then we stayed in their internet room to update our FUNraiser. It was a long day with a lots of physical activities. Young said when Graham and myself hit the bed we instantly snored.

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Posted on December 22, 2014 in Mongol Rally

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