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Published: September 14th 2006
It’s August 23rd at 9am, and the six of us travelers are gathered around a big old Russian truck, waiting to leave on our 9-day trek through the countryside of Mongolia. Besides Yafeh and I, we had been joined by Olaf & Sabine from Germany, and Lena & Louise from Denmark. We’re 6 strong, and incredibly ready to hit the road!
We meet our driver “Auto” (yeah I’m not lying, or trying to make a Simpson’s joke, his real name was “Auto”), and we set off from the UB guesthouse. Not even out of UB yet, we had to stop at the supermarket to ‘load up’ on supplies for the trip. We’d been warned that there wouldn’t be any sort of fresh vegetables or fruit along the way, so we loaded up on groceries and cooking gas to take on the road. Not to mention a HUGE bag of instant coffee mixes, cause you KNOW I’m useless without coffee in the morning!
Even from the hostel, the roads were ridiculously bumpy. You can’t actually call them roads, as they’re more like potholes with occasional flat bits. I have videos of these roads, and I can prove it
We have a new group!
Olaf, Sabine, Lina, Louise, Yafeh and myselfto you at Christmas when I’m home!
After driving for 5 hours (rather, after BUMPING for 5 hours), we arrived at the “Mini Gobi”, which we thought would have been slightly larger, but with sand dunes and camels, it was very aptly titled. We hiked the sand dunes for a while, posed for the obligatory pictures and…that’s right! I rode a camel! Seriously, I could leave Mongolia a happy girl now; I can say that I’ve ridden a camel in Mongolia! I don’t know why camels have such a bad reputation. I didn’t think my guy smelled at all! Sure, he chewed his leaves with his mouth open, but I don’t hold that against him! It was quite comfy as well, much nicer then a horse!
Another 4 hours in our truck and we arrived in Mongolia’s former capital, Kharkhorin. It was our first night in a ger camp and we were all hungry and tired from the journey. Actually, about 5 km from the campsite, our truck broke down for the first time, so another driver had to backtrack and pick us up. Auto worked on the truck all night and it was ready to go
the next morning, good as new! That first night though…was a shocker. Yafeh and I didn’t have sleeping bags, and everyone else did. We hadn’t expected it to get as cold as it did, and seriously, that night was one of the coldest of my life! The family running the camp hadn’t built us a fire, nor did we know we could have started one ourselves, they hadn’t supplied blankets and the top layer of the ger flew off during the night. In the pitch-blackness of the ger in the middle of the night, I just lay there shivering! In retrospect, it’s kind of humorous, but at the time, I was fairly worried I wouldn’t survive the rest of the trek! But for $4 a night (including two meals), I guess you can’t ask for too much…
The next morning before we set off for The Great White Lake, we visited our second Monastery, Erdene Zuu Khiid. Founded in 1586 in the former capital of Mongolia (moved almost 200 years ago to Ulan Bataar). The Monastery is surrounded by 108 soyombo stupas (108 being the ‘magic’ number of Buddha), which are all connected by a large square stonewall.
The men
Yafeh and our driver "Auto" hahahaha...get it? The Simpsons? get it?! But seriously, thats his real name! Approximately one year after its construction, the monastery was almost completely destroyed during the Inter-Mongolian wars (during the 1680s). It took the monks from 1701 until 1803 to AGAIN rebuilt the monastery, and by that point they had built SIXTY-TWO temples inside the walls of Erdene Zuu! (I used capitals and an exclamation point here, because when I was there, there were only about 8 buildings). This was because, like many other temples and monasteries in Mongolia, Erdene Zuu was destroyed (AGAIN) in 1939 during the state religious purge, and finally it was turned into a museum in 1947 with the remaining buildings restored and now acting as exhibition halls. And now that Mongolia is approaching the 200 year anniversary of the change of capital from Kharkhorin to Ulan Bataar, there is talk of moving it BACK to Kharkhorin! These Mongolians don’t mind change at all, do they! Very unlike the Japanese.
We had organized with the UB hostel to do TWO days of driving in one to get an extra day on the lake, so we knew we were in for a LONG ride today. Spending all that time in the car, we all got to know each other
fairly well. One of our favorite conversations revolved around how many camels we could get for each other if we had to trade in someone for lodging or extra cash. The topic would come up a few times each day, for instance if I bought a pair of earrings from a vendor on the street, Olaf was convinced I could get more camels for myself. Hence the title of this blog: “How many camels can we get for Krysta?” I think I got up to 9 or 10 at one point. (Which I felt with a little low…)
After a full morning of driving, we stopped in Tseterleg at a restaurant named “Fairfield” run by two ex-pats and had some awesomely delicious food. It was pretty strange to be eating in such a Western styled restaurant in this tiny little town. But the Lonely Planet gave this place such a stunning review; you couldn’t possibly pass by Tseterleg without eating there. We then drove and drove, until low and behold: our truck broke down again. It took a while to fix it and then once on the road again for 8 minutes or so…we got a flat tire! The
thing is, we were all pretty lighthearted about it and all we could do was laugh about it, and cheer Auto on. “Come on Auto! Fix that tire”. We felt like a squad of cheerleaders.
Just before sunset we entered the Terkhiin Tsagaan/Horgo National Park and drove 10 km alongside the Great Lake to our next ger camp. It’s a good thing we arrived when they did, because you really can’t drive after dark in Mongolia…there’s just no telling how big the potholes are. You can barely see them in the daylight, let alone in the pitch-black. And none of us really wanted to sleep in Auto’s truck. We REALLY didn’t want to sleep in that truck!
Our camp was only steps away from the lake and the out house with perched half way up the side of the affectionately named “toilet mountain”. We were set. In the morning, we went for a swim in the lake (at our best ‘guesstimates’, we figured the lake was at about 11ºC, which is NOTHING compared to the glacier lakes I swam in in Alberta…but it was still VERY cold!) It was nice to wash off in the lake,
as we had already been without running water and soap for three days. And all that dust on the road does quite the number to your hair! To get into the water, Yafeh and I had to sing this ridiculous little song we made up: “I’ll be so happy when I’m clean, when I’m clean!” We ended up singing the song for the rest of our trip. Don’t make fun of us though, cause it motivated us to clean ourselves up! We seriously stank…
That night, after a delicious and hearty meal of camel meat and rice (don’t knock the camel meat until you’ve tried it!), we went to sleep in a very warm ger with lots of blankets. SO much better then our first night. However…it must have been about 3am when I woke up to pitch-darkness, and I heard something rummaging in our ger. I tried to fully wake up and get perspective on whom or WHAT was in the ger and what it was doing… When it continued for a couple minutes, I could feel whatever it was coming closer to me, but without ANY source of light, the best thing I could do was
reach out and grab what I could. I ended up grabbing someone’s knee and I immediately demanded, “Who is this?”
All I heard back was:
“hahahahahahahaha, cherie, it’s me, Yafeh. I can’t find my way out. I have to pee! Hahahaha, who did you THINK it was?!”
Now thoroughly embarrassed, I located the flashlight and gave Yafeh hell for scaring me. Yafeh couldn’t stop laughing at me, and “Wait! Who is this?!” became the joke of our trek. You know me, always glad to provide the entertainment!
(It kind of reminded me of the time in The Philippines when I thought Nicky and I were going to be locked in that dungeon. Refer to my very first blog entry if you have no idea what I’m talking about)
One of the greatest parts about this trek was that we got to stay with nomadic families every night. ‘Nomadic’ meaning families who live year-round, in the middle of nowhere. They were so kind and generous and were extremely grateful when I presented them with the small gifts I had brought for them. These rather meager gifts consisted of toothpaste and toothbrushes, candies, batteries and small Canadian key chains which most
Along the way...
who left THAT lying around?! people wore as a necklace as they had no keys. The children were especially adorable, and weren’t afraid to come up to us and practice their English, which at most levels consisted of little more then “hello” and “hi”, but was endearing nonetheless. When Yafeh and I were at the lake, we had a group of small children crowded around us who were fascinated by our pale skin and also by our presence there (and perhaps our courage in swimming in the lake). Two of the girls were willing to pose for some pictures for us, and I noticed that it must be a Mongolian rule or culture trait NOT to smile in photographs. As cute as they were, these girls were wearing filthy clothes and I could see the dirt so clearly all over their bodies. I wanted to take them home with me and give them a proper bath. Some maternal instinct in me just wanted to clean them up!
While in the Terkhiin Tsagaan National Park, we also took a horse ride out to the volcanic rocks in the area. The park boasts an active volcano and the rocks that were formed after its last
eruption were beautiful to see in person. They lined the side of the lake like bookends or wave barriers. After only a couple hours on those horses though, I was already dreading the much longer horse trek we were planning to do at Khovsgale Lake in a couple days. Or maybe this is just a good training session!
We left the Great Lake feeling refreshed and a little sun tanned after lying by the lake the day before. We were only about 45 minutes into the mountains when it started SNOWING! We couldn’t believe our eyes! And it was a BIG snowdrop. Big flakes of snow and even hail at some points. It was incredibly to think that Yafeh and I had been sun tanning the day before and only 45 minutes away, it was SNOWING! What the ?!?!?!? It took us all day, on the roughest roads we’d seen yet to reach Möron (Muren) but once there, we knew it was only 2 more hours to Khovsgale Lake. We settled into yet another ger camp for the night, with dreams of beautiful Khovsgale on our minds.
The next morning we left bright and early and
The Mini Gobi
Finally, a bloody camel!!! arrived at our next ger camp in Khatgel before noon. After spending two days at The Great White Lake, RIGHT next to the water, we were a little disappointed to be so far from the water this time. It was a good 2km from our camp to the water but after a hearty pasta lunch, we set out on a 10km hike out to the water and along the shoreline until dusk. On our hike we walked right alongside yaks and goats and other large and small animals that I couldn’t name. We didn’t really mean to walk as far as we did, so by the time we turned around to go back, we were already exhausted and not QUITE sure how to get back. But, like home, you can count on me, and my innate sense of direction, and we all got back in one piece.
That night we had a big bonfire with the Irish group of travelers who had been following our route. It was too bad no one had been able to fit a guitar into their packs, because that would have made it perfect. Nothing makes a night in the wilderness better then
The Mini Gobi
Now, here's a REAL vegan! a big bonfire to warm you up before bed!
The next morning, Yafeh, Louise, Lena and I left on our horse trek. We went behind the lake first, and into the mountains for a few hours through a dry stone river basin. We came to a small wooden hut after 3 hours that was home to two very old women who welcomed us into their shack and served us traditional salt-milk tea, and biscuits with yak butter. Not the most delicious lunch I’d ever had, but certainly one of the most authentic meals I’ve ever had! We stayed here for a while, warming up and satisfying their curiosity of us. We got their permission to snap a few pictures, and then it was time to get back on our horses (I named mine Arthur for some reason) and we climbed the mountains back towards the lake.
When we got up to the top of the mountain, our guide said the view from the bottom (on the lake side) was beautiful, so we tied the horses to the trees and climbed down. He was right, it WAS beautiful from down there and we were happy that we
The Mini Gobi
It's Camel time! climbed down. The problem began when we started climbing back UP. We had forgotten that we were already about 2000m above sea level and even after 3-4 steps, we were wide-eyed and huffing and puffing from the altitude. Of course, our guide practically ran up the mountain, but we were a bit slower accomplishing the same thing! We finally got back up to the horses and led them down the side of the mountain before riding them again. It took us a long time to get back to camp, but the trail alongside the lake was stunning and no matter how numb my bum got, it was worth it!
But the next day it was time to leave again. It would take us three more days of driving to get back to Ulan Bataar and the most beautiful ger camps were already under our belts. This was proved when we arrived at Khutag-Öndör. From a kilometer away, our ger camp was picturesque. A log cabin for a main cottage and three gers to satisfy the sleeping needs of passing travelers. But upon closer inspection, the place was deserted, hadn’t been cleaned since the last guests and the outhouse
The Mini Gobi
It's Camel time! was the worst I’d EVER seen in my entire life. And I’ve seen A LOT! The ger was infested with flies and there wasn’t even a stove in the ger tent for the Irish lot. We walked along the river, trying to accept the fact that we had nowhere else to go that night and resolved to just suck it up and deal.
Thank goodness, about 3 hours later, the owners showed up and cooked us the best dinner we had had yet on this trek. It’s a good thing they did, because we were pretty close to refusing payment and sleeping in the truck with Auto. And you know what, we all had a great sleep. None of us used the proper outhouse, but we were pretty used to trees by this point so it didn’t make much of a difference anyways.
We spent one more night on the road in a ger camp right next to the Amarbayasgalant Monastery. This monastery is the 3rd we’d seen on this trip and just so happens to complete the top three monasteries in Mongolia. It’s located in the beautiful Iven Gol River Valley, at the base of Burenkhan
Mountain in the Selenge province. The temple buildings were beautiful and I even got a video of some of the younger monks chanting during one of their lessons. The Monastery was once home to hundreds of monks, but I believe the figure is now closer to 60 or so.
The number of monks dropped so drastically (mostly) because in 1937, all the highly trained and knowledgeable monks were executed. A huge number of rare religious relics, books, sutras (like text from the discourse of Buddha), thangkas (Buddhist cloth paintings) and Buddhas (statues) were also destroyed beyond repair. The Amarbayasgalant Monastery was left in ruins and abandoned for 50 years. It wasn’t until 1990 (when communism rule had fallen) that the people saw it time to restore the monastery to some of the glory that it once knew. Walking through the restored premises, you can only close your eyes and TRY to envision what life was like for the Amarbayasgalant monks, 300 years ago.
We left Amarbayasgalant at 7am on the last day of our trek and we arrived back in UB mid afternoon. Our trek was over, but my GOODNESS what an experience!
Be far, this trek has
been the BEST trip I’ve ever done. To be with locals day-in and day-out, to eat their traditional food cooked in front of us on a fire pit, to sleep in ger tents, be without running water for more then a week and to survive truck breakdowns daily…this is TRULY an experience you can’t go without. Not to mention the newfound friends I made in Olaf, Sabine, Louise and Lena. I truly look forward to visiting them one day in Germany and Denmark.
It’s official: move over Philippines!!! Mongolia is my NEW favorite country!
And if you’ve read THIS far, you better leave me a comment! J
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amanda
non-member comment
errrr
hey sweetie - loving your travel stories! japan is sooooo dull by comparison. couple of questions for you if you get a chance to answer - what exactly is a 'ger' camp? oh and do you have a romance going on there.....? keep up the fantastic writing honey - keep going for ever!! love and hugs xx