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Published: February 19th 2008
Greetings from the capitol of Mongolia!
We are back from an 8 day trip out to northwest Mongolia to visit the ice festival that had been one of our priorities and it was everything we had hoped for. Six of us left in a Russian van last Sunday for a solid 10 hours of driving(roads are less than ideal here).
When we got to our place to stay that night our driver let us know the roads were good today but will get worse tomorrow.......no more pavement it is dirt the rest of the way... now this is the real Mongolia!
Upon entering the house we are showered with drinks and food, mostly because the families are still celebrating the Mongolian New Year which started February 8. We are traditionally passed around homemade vodka, aireg (fermented horses milk, milk tea, normal vodka, Mongolian snuff, a homemade light beer/wine drink (which was our favorite), and buuz (the traditional food of meat balls in pasta), and lots more food and drink that I cannot recall. It was a long night but lots of fun.
We felt the effects of our wonderful evening most of the next day especially for the 8-10 hours we had to drive on dirt roads. Actually there are no definite roads just suggestions, with points being able to see four cars across spread out on different meandering paths spread out over at least a quarter mile.
This night we started to stay in gers (yurts) with only wood stove for heat that are not airtight, so some nights get really cold.
It took two more days of driving before we arrived at the lake where the ice festival is taking place and started driving out to the gathering. In the distant we saw a big ice bar and courtyard fashioned out of ice blocks and about 100 people. At its max the people totaled maybe 250, just right for us to be able to be in involved in the activities, our team took second place in ice tug of war!
Other events in included horse sleigh racing, ice wrestling, ice driving, ice skating, ice tug of war, and about 25 vendors set up on the ice.
The day after the festival, we took an hour horse sleigh ride out to a get on the lake and stayed there. This night is hit -45, and it was a long shivering night even for us Alaskans. I think we all anxiously waited for the first sign of the morning light. That morning a local took out to see how he ice fished and we got to sample the catch, of course with milk tea, yum!
The trip to the deep interior of Mongolia to the ice festival was everything and more that we ever expected it to be. It was a great adventure, a ton of fun and allowed us come as close to actually experiencing ‘real’ Mongolian life.
I want to apologize for the lack of pictures in the blog. It’s not that we aren’t taking any (I’ve taken well over 1000 so far), but rather that when we do get internet access it is pretty much like dial up (remember those days?) and not really good for sending pictures. I’ll post a bunch when I am able - they will be worth the wait.
Following two days of driving and we are back to Ulaanbaatar, with a few days here and then hopefully a trip out to the Gobi Desert and then on to China!!!!!
Ned
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Anaviapik
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Sounds fun
Sounds a lot of fun, me and my class, Nunavut Sivuniksavut (NS for short) are also going to Mongolia in May for 2 weeks I'm looking foward to seeing Mongolia, and from what you said, I think it will be a lot of fun. oh, any tips of what to bring or not to bring? thanks