The Gorgeous Gobi Region

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“Before us lay Mongolia, a land of painted deserts dancing in mirage; of limitless grassy plains and nameless snow-capped peaks, of untracked forests and roaring streams! Mongolia, land of paradox and promise! The hills swept away in the far-flung, graceful lines of panorama so endless that we seemed to have reached the very summit of Earth.”
Roy Chapman Andrews

Off we got on our Gobi tour organised through UB guesthouse 450,000T each for 9 nights and 8 days inc food, accommodation, Jack, Van and Petrol. We set off in an old soviet people carrier; these are built like tanks and are designed to last. We set off from Ulaanbaatar, heading south on the last piece of tarmac road will not see for a while heading towards Baga Gazryn Chuluu.

Only 3% of the Gobi is actually sand, common misconception was rapidly corrected as we drive through miles after miles of flat land, we ponder on the those whom have travelled across this land on horseback as there is little or no shade to be gained from any trees or rocks to protect you from the sweeping winds or searing heat, just you and the elements, and the expansive nothingness that first grabs you as you bump along the stony makeshift roads. As you look further at this nothingness you realise that what first appears as nothingness is an abundance of varied life that the Gobi ecosystem supports. Firstly, you see the large herds of goats, sheep leisurely munching of the grass that sprout’s out of the hard rocky floor, you notice the white circular gers that says you are in Mongolia and are a mobile home of the nomad. You can see the nomad herders controlling their herd on horseback in traditional fashion, in line with Mongolia's delightful mix of modernity and traditional which becomes more apparent as we go on some herders use motorbikes. As you progress further away from the city and deeper into the rural Mongolia you notice 1000's of little rodent like creature - reminiscent of squirrels, but without the tree's to play in, as you observe these little creatures scurrying around on the ground in a elevated state of nervousness, you see the reason for this fear, circling above are massive birds of prey, such as eagles, there are thousands of these birds which can be seen littering the ground observing circling waiting for the opportunity dive down like a b52 bomber eagerly waiting to pounce. You notice groups of wild horses running around these planes; these mingle in with the "farmed" horses controlled by the nomads.

After 6 hours off driving off road through the vast planes of central Mongolia we enter the Gobi region and arrive at the rock formations of Baga Gazryn Chuluu, these rise out of the flat planes like a phoenix from the ashes, stunning rocks and cliffs - apparently, local legend has it that Genghis Khan kept his horse here. We then drive the last 5 km to our home for the night - our first ger, for 5000T which was inc in the total price (2 pounds sterling, we get a bed for the night inside the ger, a meal which tonight consists of sheep meat (mutton) and rice.

The Ger is a large round tent and is made of felt and the structure is made of wood, it has a wooden door at the front and a massive steel caldron in the centre which is both the fire and the stove, a large metal chimney steers the smoke out of the tent. Manners dictate that you enter a ger with you right foot through the door first and then proceed to walk clockwise around the ger, women sit on the left and men to the right, the head of the household will sit in the middle at the back with the lower raking members and mainly children sitting nearest the door.

We stayed in tourist gers, these vary in size and can be large encampments with showers, sit down toilets and bars/restaurants. Luckily, we stayed in smaller camps, which consisted of 2 -3 gers and then the family ger which incidentally sported a satellite dish next to the ger, not your usual small sky plus numbers but huge air traffic control looking things (as you can see in the photos), we didn’t usually have a shower at our camp’s or what one may refer to as a toilet - we had large pit drops (some with great views - again refer to the photo!) but these drops were cover by wood, this was precarious as the wood at times seemed flimsy and we kept imagining what a sewage bath would be like!!!

The next day arrives and we hop back into “jacks tank” and cover another 6 hours of Gobi terrain and in amongst some friendly repartee we discuss the possibility of buying a whole sheep to slaughter and cook the Mongolian way with the next family we stay with, if memory serves us correct they cut open the stomach and the herder puts his hand in and squeezes its heart till it bursts and then they pull out its insides - offal etc, put these blood infused organs to one side then put hot stones inside and bury, this costs between 35,000 - 40,000T which is around the $30 US or 16 pounds sterling mark, incidentally, you can buy a horse for food for between 150,000 - 200,000T (between 60 -80 pounds sterling), a cow and a yak costs the same around 250,000 - 300,000T (between 100 and 120 pounds sterling).
Driving through these planes one things continuously astounds us, how do they distinguish whether they are travelling in the correct directions, our driver Jack will be driving down the road and then decide to veer off in another direction - there aren’t any landmarks that are obvious to us.
We travel through a place called Tsagaan Sururage which is a place described as a badlands or a painted desert, this eroded landscape (again changed slightly from the previous day) was once beneath the sea and is rich in fossils and clamshells.

We stop for lunch in the middle of the desert, 35+*c temperature and we are sitting on a rug on the dusty floor enjoying a lunch of salami on bread, a very bizarre, surreal but fantastic experience.
Tsagaan Sururage is an area of 30 metres high made up of limestone and dinosaur fossils, it had a sweeping floor which spanned for miles, and again the sheer size of this place astounds us.
We arrive at our ger and settle in for the night, this place had 3 gers 2 tourist and the family ger, this place was in the middle of nowhere, and which no light pollution at all the stars were amazing, over some friendly beers with our neighbours (English chap and Canadian women) we hear about some rock drawing dating back 7,000 years, with “newer” ones only 3,000 years old, we decide to make a detour and head out in the morning to see these.

We set off bright and earlier and agree to fund the additional petrol to cover the trip - 3,000T each around 1 pound 10 pence each; we have a local and his young daughter with us who are acting as guides.
We set off to find these rock drawings and as promised these are quite spectacular, these 7,000 year old drawing illustration a story of long - one containing sheep, dragons and cavemen - maybe it was the historic story of the uprising of the cavemen and the sheep against the repressive dragons - I don’t know, there were 50 such drawing around this rock waste ground full of cow’s and camels.

We left and stopped off at a family ger where we feasted on salted camel milk, dry meat milky tea - with the strongest camel milk cheese and we think we can generally speak for any westerner being honest - it’s disgusting! We then enjoyed some good old fashioned fermented horse milk which is around 15% vol and finally rounded off the proceedings with some camel’s milk vodka - this interestingly was not too bad, a lot smoother that ordinary vodka (both not being much of a fan so many may disagree with us) Mongolian tradition implies that you try all you are given and as a man you are seen as a wimp if you don’t finish your cup of vodka - so facing this vat of camels milk vodka I take a deep breath and down it - keep my male pride in tact! As you look around this working ger you see the Buddhist paraphernalia and their sacred alter, a small stove and the ger is very prettily decorated, then as you span round to the right you see a horse skinned and jointed hanging up in the corner ready to be sold or eaten, this particular horse was going to market in the back of our truck the chap clambers in and off we go.

We head to Dalanzadgad, our first stop with showers and electricity, we stop at an old fashioned bath house, these are public showers were you pay 1500T to have a hot shower and they arrive at this horrendous gated community, reminiscent of mad max and what would remain after a nuclear war, this was the land that is run by packs of wild dogs and to quote Brad Pitt in the Snatch “do you like dags?” well you need to!! So we wandered around briefly, took a photo of the sun set and head back into our fly infested ger and went to bed!!!!

We set off towards Bayanzag and visit the infamous ice valley in the Gurvan Sarkhan National Park in the Gobi, we spend a couple of hours ‘yomping’ down this stream through the valley, absolutely stunning scenery, yet again a different aspect to the Gobi’s change landscapes. We are about an hour into our walk and discover that the ice has melted - it melts in June, on relaying this back to our driver he responds in true jack style “what no ice?” to which we respond - “nope, all melted” Jack = “ha ha ha ice melt”.
We head off for lunch, again jack pulls off a binder, we lunch next to a stream, he manages to squeeze the soviet truck through a tiny gap in the rocks and we sit alone in the dried gorge eating those bloody noodles again!!!!! The scenery here is shear rock face where over the millienium the river has carve itself through the rock, after lunch T ventured down the stream and was amazed by the sight, the narrow stream opened up into a massive space - huge, this was occupied by the stream (which looks insignificant here) to the right and a large pack of wild horses hanging about drinking from the stream with a backdrop of the Gobi sand dunes in the horizon. G went back to the van and wished everyone would hurry back because Jack had drove his van to the narrowest bit of the rock for everyone to take a photo, but no one was there, bless him!!!!

Bayanzag means “rich in saxual shrubs” and is more commonly known as the flaming red cliffs named by American explorer Roy Chapman Andrews after its red glow caused by the sandstone. These cliffs are famous the world over especially within palaeontology circles as the place has an abundance of dinosaur fossils and fossil eggs which was first excavated in 1922 and as a result of the communist revolution which occurred in the subsequent years the Soviet Union disallowed western scientists to explore any further until its down fall in 1990. On the way into the national park (which costs 3000T) there was a fossil tree, this was a felled tree that has been laying on the floor most likely in that spot for thousands of years and as the wood rots away it draws up minerals and this over time, this slowly replaces the wood so what your left with, what observed here was a large log with bark on the outside but solid stone on the inside in the exact circumference of the original tree. We had a brief explore for dinosaur fossils but found nothing we head off to our next ger for the evening, lovely little place which great views of the flaming cliffs in both the sunset and then sunrise.

Today, we were off to Khongorgn Els (sand dunes) but before hand we had been told about a Mini Naadam that was being held in a nearby town. It was amazing to see, the wrestling was funny to see, they walk around like ballerinas (what looks like mimicking birds) before wrestling and when they win they slap the other guys bum!!! Just as we were getting into it Jack wanted us to move onto the finish line for the horse racing. As he seemed so eager to move we jumped in the van and he drove about 2 km to a piece of rope. We were the only ones there but not for long, Jack knew his stuff and after 5 mins there was a mass exodus from the wrestling to the finish line. The race we were waiting to finish was a 10km race raced with 1 year old horses ridden by young children without a saddle. There were also other races but this was the most important one. These races are very dangerous for the children and the horses. 5 year old horses do a 32km race, children and hoses can die or get injured but their culture is so different to ours this is normal and a very important part in the Naadam. Once the last 2 horses come in a song is sung to them while the winners get a bottle of fermented mares milk which they have a sip from and then pour over the horses head.

So after a very eventful mini Naadam we head off and finally after 7 days or so we see the sand dunes, its baking hot as one would expect in the desert, we hire some camels (3000T per hour) and ride towards the dunes - one hour there and one back. It’s a strange sensation riding a camel, your rocking back and forth between two huge humps (T was sure there a song that describes a similar action!) and a fair old distance off the floor, they are simple creatures that slowly plod on then relax, although we’re sure they must be bored carry fat westerns to the sand dunes every other day or so. We arrive on the dunes and dismount our camels something Tony failed to do with any elegance and fell flat on his face. These are massive sand mountains that change with the wind, we struggle up this shear sand face and arrive like Laurence of Arabia at the peak the first dune. We then start jumping off the peaks, running down the pristine sizes leaving footprints - no doubt ruining other peoples photos but it was fun. We then get back on our camels and head back to our ger for another meal of soup - bloody soup in the desert!!!!!!

After a not so good nights sleep we head to our next destination, Arvailkheer Town, we spent hours in the truck today, and it was a mammoth drive. We stopped in the middle of desert at a spot where Jack said had special stones - these I think are called water stones they contain crystals inside and if you pick the right stone and crack it open correctly you have two halves of crystals - the locals sell these to tourists at various stops, but we couldn’t crack them open properly, however, we have a couple in our backpacks for when we get hold of a hammer and chisel!!!

We arrive at our ger, this was situated in a small town, we venture out to purchase some cold beers and then have another meal of bloody soup!!!! After teaching the locals how to play football and Mark being beat up and shot by the family’s youngest grandson with his toy gun we enjoy some vodka with the man of the gaff and T samples his first experience of snuff - the tobacco you snort, horrible stuff and you smell tobacco all-night!!

After a night of listening to every dog in the town barking at each other, we head off to the waterfall today at Orkhon Khvrkhree, now we know that we keep going about the changing scenery but today’s is reminiscent of Switzerland, large rolling mountains (not as big!) rich pastures, streams, lakes and the Mongolian twist, thousands of goats, horses, Yaks and cows. On route to the ger we break down - and to be fair to Jack he couldn’t have broken down in a prettier place. The clutch had broken and on the arrival of another soviet van the two drivers changed the whole clutch in the middle of nowhere in about 2 hours now we’re no car people especially Tone, we don’t know if that’s good, or normal but we were very impressed. We arrive at our ger and set off to find this waterfall which was 200 metres away, we wandered down the stream and found it , it was stunning, a lot bigger than we expected. A thunderstorm arrives so we run back to our ger in the pouring rain and await our evening meal which was - yes you have guessed it soup - so much for these large chunks of red meat I was expecting!!!!!

T tried his hand at being a cowboy, he makes a pretty darn good one at that!!! T hired a horse with Ben and Mark and baring in mind his inexperience of horses (as in never rode one!)he chooses the smallest beast, the rationale for this was that he would have less distance to the ground should the horse felt the need to throw him off! He jumped up on this horse and was given a whip - not knowing to do with the whip, after some teething problems with my horse and after my threatening to turn it into first a steak and second glue it starts to obey me. The problem is when T was plodding along at what deemed a reasonable pace our Mongolian guide who is a proper cowboy whip the arse of his horse and off it gallops with me holding on for dear life; once one horse runs the other two follow suit so Mark and Ben come hurling up behind T then over takes him as he finally got the runaway beast to slow down. We arrive at another smaller waterfall T dismounts with far more grace than from the camel and hang around there watching some baby yaks drink from the stream. We get back on the horse and head off back this time the horse is more responsive and does what its told, but it still likes to follow the other horse so when Mark and Ben come hurling past with the cowboy to the right T’s decides to join and gallops off. We arrive back at the ger alive and in one piece to T’s personal delight!

Next was our last stop and long drive to Karakorum. On the way Jack informs us of these natural hot springs and the four of us in dire need of a shower are overjoyed by the prospect of a swim! We arrive and find first we have to pay 2000T to see them, the government has decided that ‘there’s money in them there hills’ and set a tariff and also piped off the water for other means, the hot springs where more of a trickle - they certainly didn’t spring! A little down beat this we discover you can have a bath in the spring water for yes you guess it another 2000T, there was a bath tub in the open, they fill it up to the brim and you can spill water over the sizes without being told off!!!!! They then close of the bath with a curtain so you have some privacy!

All clean we set off to the temple outside Karakorum called Tovkhon Khid, this is a monastery hidden deep in the Khangai mountain this site was founded by Zanabazer in 1653 and he lived, worked and meditated here for30 years. The monastery was destroyed in 1937 by the Soviet / Mongolian communists but was rebuilt in its original form with public funds in the early 1990’s. Not favouring the horses for a second time in a day we walk the 3 km up the side of the mountain to reach the monastery, my word it was a tough slog, sweaty again after our bath we reach the top. 5000T in you can scale the cliffs to the highs ovuu and the panoramic views were spectacular. This is a major pilgrimage that the Mongolians make seeking spiritual solace. We set off to Karakorum and arrive at the ger at about 10pm - we buy some more lovely cold beers and await our dinner which arrives and is....... NOT SOUP YEAH! Its vegetable dumplings!!! The ger lady came in asking if we enjoyed the dumplings and responded with a yes, she then instructs us in the highest squeakiest voice to “TELLLLLL BOBBBBYYYYYY”, this is the owner of GB guesthouse.

Karakorum was the capital of Mongolia when it controlled vast area of land within its successful empire around the 1200 - 1300s under the stewardship of Genghis Khan (pronounced Chinggus) his son actually announced this to be the capital after Gengis’s death!

The next morning we set off to see the massive temple called Erdene Zuukhiid Buddhist monastery, this monastery was founded in 1586 by Aitai Khan. It was the first Buddhist monastery in Mongolia, (the dominant ’religious’ practice was shamanism and the worship of the spirits of nature - mountains, sky sun etc, these were contacted through séances and ritual practices). There had been between 60 to 100 temples on this site at one time and around 300 gers within the walls housing up to 1000 monks. Unfortunately, the monastery endured periods of neglect and the final assault came in 1937 in the guise of Stalin’s purges on religious freedom and those whom practise it, all but 3 temples were destroyed and an unknown number of monks simply vanished; either sent to various labour camps in Siberia or simply killed. The temple was closed and forbidden to operate.

The temple was reopen in the 1990s, it’s a lovely place very tranquil we had a student of international relations as our guide her English was impeccable.

After our look around, we set off on our long drive back to Ulaanbaatar with the image of cold beer and a large steak in mind.

What more can we say apart from WE LOVED THE GOBI!!!!!

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