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Gobi Desert Travel Blogs

Background: The Mongols gained fame in the 13th century when under Chinggis KHAN they conquered a huge Eurasian empire. After his death the empire was divided into several powerful Mongol states, but these broke apart in the 14th century. The Mongols eventually retired to their original steppe homelands and later came under Chinese rule. Mongolia won its independence in 1921 with Soviet backing. A Communist regime was installed in 1924. During the early 1990s, the ex-Communist Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) gradually yielded its monopoly on power to the Democratic Union Coalition (DUC), which defeated the MPRP in a national election in 1996. Since then, parliamentary elections returned the MPRP overwhelmingly to power in 2000 and produced a coalition government in 2004.

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By Krunch
July 7th 2008

Gobi Desert and Central Mongolia 26/06/08 to 07/07/08 Asia » Mongolia » Gobi Desert

Day 1 26/06/08
The Golden Gobi and the van we toured in. Good old soviet Russia style:)

The Gobi. The Desert. Open a Pandora's box of contrasts. Total journey distance 2,200km. Total days tires popped = 5. Imagine baron fields. Gazelle's leaping gracefully over a distant hill. Camels, sheep, yak, horses and goats running wild together. Or some belonging to the nomads conveniently standing on the road in front of where your car is about to drive. The smell of flowers with a mint like fragrance, Gotov's cooking and the musty smell of a Ger. Spectacularly beautiful jagged mountains, gushing waterfalls and frozen ice lake canals. Young girls chasing goats and sheep, and not [View Full Entry]

By An Erratic Traveller
June 29th 2008

Mongolian Journey 2007 Asia » Mongolia » Gobi Desert

Ulaan Baatar
Streetscape.

Nine days in a WUZ with six other people! And showering just twice during that time. Twenty-four hours after leaving Beijing I woke up in the middle of the Gobi Desert: sand everywhere, especially across the train tracks. We reached Ulaan Baatar by lunch time, and I had already seen everything one comes to Mongolia to see: stocky horses, sheep, goats, yaks, cows, sand, gers (traditional tent-houses) and lots of sand. Nevertheless we spent a day buying up supplies for our proper crossing of the Gobi. A WUZ is a large 4x4 Russian Combivan. It is as tough as a tank [View Full Entry]

By pandnscheuring
June 18th 2008

'Ger' Means 'Home' in Mongolian Asia » Mongolia » Gobi Desert

Gobi Still Life

We're 50km from anywhere, which is in turn 1000km from anywhere else. I'm pretty sure this ger camp is inauthentic, made for westerners. But it sure is nice out here. I'm pretty sure that the real nomads don't have electricity, or flush toilets in a block hut 20 yards from their gers. But it sure is nice out here. I'm also pretty sure they couldn't get an ice cold beer from the nailed-together bar in the mess hall. I also haven't seen any Mongol throat-singing or bareback horse-riding or barechested wrestling in the dirt. But is sure is nice out here. [View Full Entry]

By LivingTheDream
June 9th 2008

The Vastness of the Gobi Desert (Gobi Desert, Mongolia) Asia » Mongolia » Gobi Desert

First flat tire, just 3h on the road

(Day 66 on the road) From Ulaan Baatar, I left on a week-long trip into the heart of the vast Gobi Desert, the largest desert in Asia and the fourth-largest in the world. I set off with two Finnish brothers (Mikka and Mikko) and a German couple (Eva and Daniela). And of course our very cool and competent driver cum mechanic, Mishka. The vehicle of choice in the harsh desert is a very sturdy, Russian-made van, which is 100% mechanic, so no fancy electronics that can boggle up. As many cars in the desert, and certainly all the tourist vans, are [View Full Entry]

By LinzTrotter
June 4th 2008

My Gobi Journal Asia » Mongolia » Gobi Desert

Photo 1

Sunday We left the Golden Gobi in high spirits. We have a guy from Israel, a guy from Slovenia, a woman from German, a woman from Australia, and two women (including me) from the US. Beautiful landscapes stretch out all around us. The vast distances between blips of civilization are astounding. We saw lakes and lots of grazing animals: sheep, goats, cows, and herds of horses. The horses are half wild, grazing for most of the year and brought in on occasion when needed. Our driver Baira is very outgoing and loves to sing along to his music. He plays traditional [View Full Entry]

By rgordon
May 21st 2008

Mongolia Asia » Mongolia » Gobi Desert

Twin pauses a moment

After circling 3 times to get the right wind direction (the runway is short), we landed in Ulaan Baatar, the capital. Within 2 hours of checking into a hostel, the arrangements were finished for a 9 day trip, 7 days on the Gobi desert and 2 days in the central hills of Mongolia. Four of us--twin French-Australian women, a Malasian man, and myself--set out in the middle of a snow storm with our translator-cultural guide, Urnaa, and our driver-jokster, Bayara, in his converted Russian ambulance, now mini-van. Though we started late--shopping took a lot longer than planned--the omens wer [View Full Entry]

By Mengan
April 30th 2008

One week in Gobi Asia » Mongolia » Gobi Desert

tourist bus
This is our bus, formerly a russian ambulance, 8 years old and running surprisingly well. Inside all the ceilings and walls are padded, to proctect people from hurting themselves, because the roads ar... [more]

Just came back from an unplanned trip from Gobi desert after one week, the price was so cheap that I couldn't resist, and it was worth every mongolian penny, or whatever they are called. There were five of us sharing the cost, a couple of Korea and a couple of Switzerland. We got into this modified russian ambulance and took off to the desert. Along the way we watched to landscape change from barren land to high mountains, from tanning heat to freazing cold, different animals and experienced sandstorms. The weather was unexpectable in desert, one moment it was clear sky, [View Full Entry]

By 5vor12
February 19th 2008

Mongolia, Gobi Desert Asia » Mongolia » Gobi Desert

Un ger

Depuis hier on est dans le sud de la Chine, Guilin. On vient juste arriver de la Mongolie avec son clima de moins de 20 C jusqua 35 C, avec beaucoup de soleil! Pendant 2semaines on est restes dans ce pays merveilleux avec ses petites chevaux et chameux. En une semaine on a fait un voyage dans le desert Gobi, avec deux guides mongoliens dans un petit bus russe accompagne dune musique inoubliable, mongoliene et surtout europaene (Moderne talking)! Les nuits on a dormi chez des familles dans des gers/yurts. Le highlight de ce trip etait la fete du nouvelle an, [View Full Entry]

By Johannar
November 13th 2007

Leaving Mongolia Asia » Mongolia » Gobi Desert

Got back from the Gobi tour two days ago. It was really fantastic out there. So many different types of landscape. Did some hiking, horse riding, camel riding under the stars, had alot of strange food, played alot of Uno, bounced around in our van, woke up in a 0 degree ger every morning, ate too much chocolate and had many many laughs. Felt good though to come back to UB and to go to a real toilet, Not just a smelly hole in the ground, and to have a shower and most of all, put on new clean clothes. Have [View Full Entry]

By Johannar
November 5th 2007

Gobi Asia » Mongolia » Gobi Desert

Gobi

Am in a city, or closest to city you can come in Gobi, in the middle of Mongolia. Have been out on the tour for three days now. Drives around in our jeep and see all kind of different landscapes. It seems to change every 30 minutes. Can't describe how beautiul it is so I won't even try. Have had some problems finding the families we are going to stay with since they all are about to move to their winter places. But succeded yesterday and got to see our ger beeing built. Nice and warm in the evening and minus [View Full Entry]

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