Blogs from Khovsgol, Mongolia, Asia

Oh my, where to start? Possibly with a warning that I'm going to talk about poo and toilets in this entry. Probably a lot. Just so you know. So! After our slightly disasterous hike from my last blog we sensibly decided to do stuff with tours or at least a guide from then on. We found a budget tour agency and decided to do a little 2 day trip with them to kind of test them out to see if we wanted to go with them for our bigger trip up to Lake Khovsgol in the North West. Tours like that are cheaper if you have more people to share the cost, so in the office we managed to convinced a retired American couple, Dave and Michelle, to come with us. We went to Terelj national ... read more

Bad Karma Upon reflection, I should never have published my last blog that included reference to the negative events surrounding me in UB. I was only asking for trouble - and I got plenty of it! On Sunday, the day before leaving for the Ice festival, I withdrew a heap of cash from an ATM which ate my Australian VISA card (thankfully after I had the cash in my hand). After a minor hissy fit in front of the ATM, I was able to speak with Jo's interpreter and arranged for her to contact the bank on my behalf and request for the card to be held for me at the central branch upon my return from the festival. I also sorted out with my Australian bank to temporarily block my VISA card and have some ... read more

Blue bands tied loosely around a lone tree greeted our arrival. The colour of Tengger. God. Each band representing a dream of those who dared to ask. A wish cast upon the wind. There never was a road. Mongolia doesn’t have roads. The track there hadn’t been much of a track either. More a place where trees weren’t growing. We sighted the Shaman’s cabin perched alone in a dark corner on the edge of the forest. “Anyone there?” No response. We looked around the back. Why doesn’t this cabin have any windows? I wondered…… Strange. Sun rays tore down through the enchanting blue sky. A wisp of stratospheric cloud illuminated brilliant white ruined the skies monotone perfection, but perhaps added to the fullness of the landscape on view before us. The silence that began as silence ... read more

Au matin du 15e jour (eh oui déjà !), nous quittons les rives du Grand Lac Blanc pour un trajet de 300 km vers le nord. Le tracé se fait nettement plus montagneux, le van progressant sur des pistes sinueuses, passant plusieurs cols encore parés des dernières neiges avant le plein été. Les haut-parleurs distillent en continu le dernier tube de Javkhlan, une célébrité locale dont je ferai plus tard l’acquisition de deux CDs, et les paysages, sublimes, font oublier la durée et la fatigue du voyage, de sorte que lorsque nous atteignons la bourgade de Moron, en fin de journée, nous sommes encore assez motivés pour une bonne nocée à la bière coréenne, qui s'achète ici par bouteille de trois litres. Le lendemain, décollage en douceur pour dissiper les dernières vapeurs d’alcool. Après une visite ... read more

Illuminating the heavens in crimson reds, bold oranges and vibrant purples as it sank below the hills on the horizon, the suns dying rays gloriously graced the sky with a kaleidoscopic spectrum of colours so haphazardly blended into each other it was impossible to determine where one colour began and the other ended, such is nature’s grand design. A late start meant a late finish, but cresting the last hill and sighting Moron’s dusty collection of ramshackle homes with brightly bedazzled tin roofs reflecting the divine light, the town had a heavenly aura that dispelled our feelings of tiredness in an instant. After two days of perpetual battering from the gnarly roads twisted and contorted ever more by each passing vehicle, alighting in Moron to such a sight signalled the beginning of some much needed respite ... read more