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Published: September 8th 2007
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After our train journey we all gathered at the station looking for our new guide and was glad to see that everyone else in our group looked and smelt just as bad as we did. Our guide apeared through the crowds of people and promptly told us to be aware of pickpockets.....nice welcome to mongolia. We managed to get to our airconditioned bus unscathed amd sat down and relaxed for the 10 minute journey to a hotel were we had use of the showers to get ourselves sorted and ready for a brief tour of Ulanbataar (the capital of Mongolia for those who don't know). We were all clean and ready to see where Chingis Kahn ruled and were dropped right in the centre of the city. Our first challenge was crossing the road, they do have traffic lights and pedestrian crossings but they are just there for show as no-one pays any attention to them, everyone just drived when and where they like, it's just bonkers! Ulambataar was mildly interesting but then again we were tired and looking forward to getting into the countryside to our Ger camp. After seeing the sights, which wasn't many we were taken for lunch
to a mongolian bbq which was very tasty if not a little bizare eating in an American franchised restaurant called mongolian bbq (they are in the UK) in mongolia. We were then picked up and taken on our 1.5 hour transfer to our camp. The change in scenery was dramatic. The outskirts of Ulanbattar are horrible, basically just slums. The city was only built for 500K people but over 1 million live there so develpoment and poverty are rife. Within 5 minutes of exiting the city we were back to the beautiful countryside view we had seen on the train and it was truly magical. We turned off the main road onto a dirt track for about 3 miles until we arrived at our camp. It was obviously set up for western visitors as even though we stayed in atraditional ger we still had the luxuries of a restaurant/bar, showers and western toilets much to Lisas relief. We settled into our ger, we had one to ourselves which was great after sharing on the train, until we were called out by our guide to be told that the locals were holding their annual horse branding ceremony which was a big
deal to them and we were privilaged to be invited to watch. The ceremony was interesting, it involved branding the foals with a hot iron followed by drinking fermented mares milk which was an interesting/unpleasant taste but in for a penny and all that. After the ceremony we were treated to a few songs by a local folk group which was nice until the woman started singing/wailing, the mongolians loved it so i guess thats all that matters. Food was next which was pretty normal western food washed down with a few beers, we were promised a traditional mongolian bbq the next night which happened to be Lisas birthday! After food we were treated to the most spectacular thunder storm you have ever seen, i managed to get a good picture of the lightening on about my 300th attempt but was worth it. With the thunder roaring it was time to get settled in our ger tent which was lovely as our guides had been in and lit our stove earlier on to make it toasty warm. After a great night sleep we awoke to Lisa's 25th birthday. After the giving of card and present (a pin badge with mongolia
on it, present shopping in China is promised) it was time for breakfast then horse riding. We all doned our fetching helmets and walked over to see the horses. We didn't get to chose which horse we got but mine was ace, i named him lightning, Lisa named hers Dermot! Off we went heading out onto the plains of Mongolia, nothing around us but green mountains. We were told to make the horses go we were to say choo. I was trying a bit hard and started sounding like a train, choo choo, choo choo. Anyway we trotted out and i was at the front of the group with the leaders as i was the only one who had ridden before and was wanting to go faster. They of course obliged and the young guide with the whip gave my horse and almighty crack with his whip and we were off, galloping on the open plains of mongolia is was on the best experiences ever, after this first gallop my horse got use to me and my wetern style of riding and became realy responsive to my choo choo. After this everyone else was keen to go faster so the
young lad and a couple of the other leaders were whipping horses left right and centre, even Lisa managed to canter whilst laughing her head off as she was getting bumped around on the saddle. Everyone seemed to settle into the horse riding and 2.5 hrs later it was unfortunately time to go back to camp. After a spot of lunch we were taken to see a local nomad, basically a guy who moves his home around the pastures of Mongolia so his animals can graze. His ger was just like the one were staying in if not a little scrufier. He was a well weathered man but any guy who has to pack his home up every 2 weeks and milk his horses 8 times a day is going to be a little weathered. We were aslo told he drank about 10 litres of mares milk a day with little actual solid food which is apparently normal for Mongolian nomads. He kindly let the lads in the group try on some of his traditional clothes which was great fun, you can see from the pics how chuffed i was, Lisa was chief photographer and laugher. After this we helped
him milk his horses, a couple of the girls had a go at milking whilst the lads helped hold the foals by the mother to encourage the milk. After giving him some gifts, sweets and vodka it was time to leave back to the camp for dinner and a few drinks to celebrate lisas birthday. Diner was a traditional mongolian bbq which was like a hotpot with meat on the bone, v.tasty and the rest of the group had all signed a birthday card for Lisa and we all sang happy birthday started by Mongolias answer to Tom Cruise (our security guard, nice guy couldn't stop smiling). After a few drinks we were told that there was going to be some Mongolian wrestling as the local champ was there for the night and somehow i was picked from our group to wrestle. One of the guys from another group had already volenteered and was getting changed, i was about 5 mins behind as i needed a bit of encouragement so when i entered the ger where they were getting dressed my heart sank. The outfit was like something Borat would wear, little pants and a king of cut off matadors
jacket. I thought oh well it will be a treat not just for Lisa birthday but for ladies all over the planet so i doned my outfit and entered the arena to ruptuous laughter. So it was time for the wrestling to begin and there were 2 fights to be done, the champ and his mate and us 2 very english looking competitors. The idea is to bascically get the other guy to put his hand, knee, or whole body on the floor. The mongolian guys weren't big but solid doesn't even come close to describing them. Anyway my 2 fights went well, i lasted longer than the other lad but of course lost. I did get some pride back when i fought the other brit as i won so i am now the self proclaimed British Mongolian Wrestling Champ! Battered and bruised it was time for a few more birthday drinks then bed. In the morning it was time to pack our things and say a sad fairwell to the Mongolian countryside and our guides who were brilliant. We were transfered back to Ulanbataar to a hotel for the night before our final train journey to China where we
will be away from the tour and our solo travelling begins.
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Nige & Alison
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Mongolia
Graeme - nice tan on those legs, Alison says "ooooh sexy" and Nathan just laughed. Like the hats, have you seen the film 'signs'. The pic of lighting is a brill. Think making the colour of the sky more virile on photoshop will really make it a pic to hang on the wall. see ya! Family Kerr.