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Published: August 9th 2007
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A full moon.
From the first night of our Gobi trip. /Lelde/
tikko tikai atklaju, ka pedeja sadalja nebija publiceta un, lidz ar to, sanjemsiet zinjas ar baigo noveloshanos.😞
Lai vai ka shodien - 06.06.07- parradamies no 7 dienu celjojuma pa Gobi tuksnesi. Gobi tulkojuma no Mongolju valodas nozime - tuksnesis. No visa ta teritorijas smilshu kapas gan aiznjem tikai 3 procentus, sniedzas 100km garuma, 13 km platuma un dazhas no kapam ir pat 300metru augstuma.
Tu ir vesels storijs ar zinamu stresa piedevu un nepatikamiem atklajumiem par cilveku dabu, ka mes lidz tam tripam nonacam beigu gala... Varbut detaljas neiedziljinashos, gan jau, ja sanaks, kadreiz klatiene pastastishu. Bet isuma,- mes no sava pirmatneja hostelja parvacamies uz citu (daudz labaku, omuligaku un majigaku), kas ari tures piedava letak.
Brauciens uz Gobi ir tiesham vera njemams un visnotalj netipisks - katru otro dienu uz tuksnesi jau parasti nedodas😊 Baigais plashums un savvaljums!!!! Piecas no sesham naktim gulejam jurtas pie vietejiem iedzivotajiem, dzeram vinju tradicionalo teju (kas man ljoti iegarshojas) - melna teja ar karstu udeni, pienu un sali! , ka ari edam vinju gatavotus edienus, kas parasti sastaveja no kaltetas galjas un pashtaisitiem makaroniem vai risiem.
Labi - esmu baigi nogurusi, bet rit vai parit, noteikti daudz smalkak visu aprakstishu, ka
Entropy.
A monastery in the desert-2nd day in the Gobi. ari megjinasim savietot bildes.
/Lelde - English version/
Hello, everybody! It's so nice to read your comments and to know that somebody is more or less curious about our adventures.😊)) Anyways, we got back from the Gobi desert last night. It took us 7 days to make that trip and it was fantastic!!!! There is no public transport that goes to that area - it's very remote and wild.
But let's start from the beginning - last Thursday early in the morning me, Steven and 3 Israeli guys boarded a Russian car VAZ, specially made for the trips through off-road areas. We had a lots off food with us, well mainly, bread, vegetables, spreads and an unbelievable quantity of cookies!!! - yeah, I know, but our companions insisted on getting them. It's the first time I've seen males getting so much sweets..... Our driver was a really nice Mongolian man in his 60's. He really took a good care of us and he spoke a bit of Russian (very, very little English) and, as I know the language, we had a very good communication and understanding between us.
Five nights out of six we spend in the gers
Detail inside.
A monastery in the desert-2nd day in the Gobi.The quality of the paintings is still visible inside. where natives live. It cost 3000 tugruk per person and additional 1000 if we wanted them to cook a dinner for us, which we wanted, as a prospect of eating bread all the time didn't seem too appealing to us. They basically have no vegetables or fruit over here, so their diet consists of dairy products and meat. I fell in love with Mongolian tea, even if at first it tasted rather strange - it's very milky, made from hot water, milk (of course), tea and salt! And our meals consisted of dried meat soups with self made pasta or rice. Tasted very delicious though.
Got to go, will continue later 😊
I'm back. We had a nice lunch at our hostel, so I've gathered enough energy to go on with my story😊
The gers varies from each other quite a bit. Well, they all seem the same at the beginning, but after a little while you can tell that some are smaller, some have more ornimentation, more furniture, better construction etc. Some families have only one ger, some have more than one. You can build the ger in 3 hours and people usually change locations at least 2
Cookie boys
Have never met a group of people with a greater enthusiasm for cookies.
These Israeli guys were obsessed with this little sweet things- like children. Cookies were almost our basic food stuff -considering their quantity. These Israeli guys were obsessed with this little sweet things- like children. Cookies were almost our basic food stuff -consid...
times in a year in summer and winter. The land belongs to no-one and nomads travel from place to place in order to find the best spot, where would be enough water and food for their goats, sheep, horses , cows and camels. We stayed and visited all sorts - a rather rich family and gers of those less well off. The philosofy behind this "house" is rather amazing, in my opinion. This one round room contains everything - it's living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom at the same time. There is only enough space to put a bed (or two) some cupboards and a little washing basin. There is nothing extra, only basic things you need. I'm quite fascinated with this unmaterialistic concept, not sure I could live like that.. I bet it would be a great challange to any Westernized human being, who sees value in material things and in quantity. I would love to ignore this neediness for extra comfort or extra anything I could happily live without, but I feel it might take some time
Bactrian camels
We came across this large group of camels on the second day. As Summer is coming, the camels are molting. 😊
Toilets here are of a very basic, basic level, but one gets use to it after a while😊 On
We came across this large group of camels on the second day. As Summer is coming, the camels are molting.
the second day we stayed in a little village within the desert in a hostel - and I loved the shower (even though the water pressure was so low!) and proper toilet, but, to be honest for the rest of uncivilized part of our trip it, I didn't feel any huge discomfort at all. And I was wondering that in the world I know or especially in the USA the way people live in gers would be considered highly unsanitary, bacterial, germ infested, unsafe and rather dangerous for your health and even life😊) But - It seemed completely fine and natural and I didn't get any stomach bug or anything of this sort.
It was very hot for most of the time (it gets quite chilly at nights though), only one day we spent in long sleeve tops, jackets and hats, when we went to Yolyn Am (Vultures mouth) national park, where there is an ice between
mountain gorges where it stays all year long. Imagine - ice in the desert!!! - it's really beautiful!
People are very friendly, but its hard not to stand out when your physical appearance so differs from Mongolian. But I'm getting used to it.
Now we back in Ulan-Bator. Resting, walking around, probably will attend a Fine art museum at some point. Leaving day after tomorrow to Beijing, China. Travelers we have met are saying that Chinese people are not that friendly and welcoming, but i hope the situation is not that bad.
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Thea
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Were, how and prize :-)
Your trip sounds amazing..!! I want to go there this summer.. :-) Were did you go from, whitch city ? how did you book the trip ? and what did it cost all together ? Hope you have the time to answer all my questions, sow i can have the pleasure of going.. :-)