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The streets, buildings and people of Ulaan Baatar form a riotous assembly, a motley crew. The days when one would charge down the main street astride a galloping steed, loose a few arrows then decapitate your brother-in-law with a double-headed axe are largely gone. These days the chariot of choice is the automobile. The great Chinggis Khan, were he alive, would understand as well as anyone that you cannot conquer the largest empire mankind has ever seen by respecting traffic lights, zebra crossings or even the direction of traffic flow on dual carriageways. The next kamikaze Japanese game show will feature the amiable, over-excited contestants traversing the roads of U.B., from Khongor Guest House to the nearest internet cafe, to the ATM at the Trade and Development Bank, gaining extra points for each limb that remains intact.
The spirit of Chinggis Khan (Ghenghis to us) lives on in this wild country of nomads, not least as he has donated his name to the number one brands of tourist Vodka and Beer. After his death the Mongolian empire covered China and most inhabited parts of Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan, and all of the land between. Indeed it seems
few modern day Chinese realise that the Yuan dynasty that ruled China for 100 years was created by Chinggis' grandson Kublai (as immortalised by Coleridge) who became the first Yuan emperor. More than 60 million Chinese were controlled and governed by a few hundred thousand Mongolians. Since then the Chinese have returned the favour and more recently the USSR took control - the collapse of which in the early 90's left Mongolia independent but economically devastated and desperately poor.
Outside the rapidly developing city of U.B. Mongolia remains largely nomadic, with families depending for existance on herds of cattle, sheep, goats and horses. Weather conditions are extreme, ranging from -30 celcius to 40 celcius. Temperature differences of 37.5 celcius in a single day have been recorded. Mongolia is three times the size of France with a population still under 3 million people, of which approximately 750 thousand live in U.B. In most places population density is less than half a person per square kilometre. Metalled roads are rare, and towns even rarer, existing largely to provide schooling for the region's children. The nomadic round tent or Ger is ubiquitous, even amongst the crumbling Soviet tower blocks of U.B. Mongolia
is a country of cherubic warriors, who, with the exception of the odd solar panel, satellite dish, DVD player and motorbike, still live the tough but sometimes idyllic life of their ancestors.
We spent our first day in UB recovering from the antics of the Mongolian traders on the train, and talking to various people about the possibilities of doing a tour. We immediately found U.B. to be more 'backpacker' friendly than Russia. Toroo, from Khongor Guest House, picked us up at the station, took us direct to his small but friendly hostel, and in the end we decided to take a tour with his company. He also booked onwards train tickets for us, something not always easy to do in U.B. Nothing seemed too much trouble, and if it was he told us straight. You can pay a lot of money to tour around the Mongolia countryside, most famously as Julia Roberts did, and I'm sure the extra money is worth it if you can afford it. Our main criteria on selecting a company were price and reliability - we didn't want a drunk driver who spoke no English. Toroo was able to satisfy on both counts. To
test this we decided to take a two day trip to nearby Terelj National Park, using the same driver and guide we would take on the longer trip. In the end we only saw them for half a day, which given the short notice of less than a day was fine, and enough to allay our fears.
Once you have left the suburbs of U.B. the people disappear very quickly. Terelj must be the most visited park in Mongolia and I imagine from the number of "Tourist Gers" gets quite busy in summer, but when we visited it was almost empty. We stayed with a local nomadic family, rather than at one of the permanent gers. On arrival we sampled our first salty milk tea, the way Mongolians like it, and were served an enourmous bowl of noodles. In true Catch 22 fashion, to not finish one's bowl of noodles is impolite, but to finish indicates you want more. By lunchtime next day the portions I was tackling were truly gigantic. Our driver and guide left and we were taken on horseback up to a nearby Buddhist monastry located spectacularly in the hills.
Mongolia is blessed with many
Salty Milk tea
You'll drink a lot of this if you come to Mongolia.areas that would make stunning locations for a "Mongolian Mountain Marathon." Whilst the types of terrain on offer do vary, they have in common challenging navigation poased by complex series of mid-sized ridges and hills, and fast running, as the long winter keeps the vegetation in check. In some ways the landscape resembles the mountains of Northern Sweden, but the topography is often more complicated. Should any enterprising entrepeneur, backed by sponsorship and TV interest, decide to hold one then Terelj National Park, with its close proximity to U.B., might make an excellent choice. The main tourist part of the park comprises a large valley bounded by steep-sided, flat-topped forested ridges. The valley is cut into many side-valleys by smaller rocky ridges, and the area is dotted with native birch and pine woodland, as well as numerous Gers. Above the valley floor paths are few. The whole park extends over a huge area and encompasses many peaks over 2500m.
We did two walks whilst staying with our family, exploring the further reaches of our side valley. On the first we were followed by a friendly mongrol dog who decided it might be interesting to keep us company. As we
returned to our Ger he quietly wandered off, back to guard his own family.
After dinner we sat in the sun and watched as the cattle returned home of their own volition. Then the vodka came out, and four of us swiftly dispatched a whole bottle, as is traditional. Despite having no language in common we found ways to communicate and entertain each other. My non-verbal portrayal of my poor suffering steed of earlier in the day, having emerged from the privations of winter lean and week, struggling to carry my over-large bulk up to the monastry raised many smiles - on reflection it may have been more efficient if I had carried the horse.
In the morning we watched the normal farmyard activities of milking and dung collection. Overnight the bull had deposited many surprise parcels around the Ger, which were swiftly collected and added to the stockade walls, also made of dung. The dried dung is quite sensibly used for fuel and cooking - see the description of Horhog later.
Back in U.B. we met Nico and Brigitte, our new found Swiss friends just arrived from Russia, to finalise our plans. We were also persuaded
that there were sights worth seeing in U.B., and in fact there were. As wall as savage warriors and champion Sumo Wrestlers, Mongolia is also famous for the dinosaur fossils found in the Gobi desert, many of which are on display at the Natural History museum. Now, I've seen Jurassic Park and Walking with Dinosaurs, been to the Natural History Museum in London, and listened to Bill Hicks evanalising against fundamentalist Christians - "And Mathew said 'Lord, what a big f****** lizard lord.' But Jesus was unafraid." - but I don't believe it has ever really entered into my consciousness before that dinosaurs, as improbable and incredible as they were, actually existed. Contemplating these fossils was quite stirring, one of those moments when the magnitude of existence manages to pierce the proctective armour of one's distracted self. Maybe it was the location, maybe the circumstances, or mabe the impressive nature of the exhibits themselves - needless to say I was moved. Highlights included a large lizard-like thing, maybe 8, in length, whose armoured scales have been well preserved. The name escapes me but it probably ended in "ops" and started in "scary." Pride of place was the Tarbosaurus, which to
Terelj National Park
Typical Mongolian scenery (B&W as there is not much colour around in May) you and me looks exactly like a T-Rex. But the most impressive exhibit for me was a Velociraptor, locked in combat with a Protoceratops. The fossil is 80 millions years old and the creatures have somehow been captured in stasis with the raptor's claws embedded in the Protoceratops belly, and the latters claw firmly clamped around the rapors arm. How they came to be preserved like this is anyone's guess.
U.B, and Mongolia as a whole, have their fair share of Buddhist monastries and temples - Tibetan style Buddhism has always influenced Mongolia, and Kublai Khan, presented with delegations from many of the worlds major religiouns, settled on Buddhism for his court. The rather pleasant monastry, Gandantegchinlen Khiid, is also the largest and most important in Mongolia. For non-believers, it is a great palce to sit and chill, watching the devoteees, in a mix of traditional and modern western garb, spinning prayer wheels and circumnavigating stupas, always in a clockwise direction mind. The main attraction is indisputably the 25m high gold-gilded copper status called Migjid Janraisig - 'the Lord who looks in every direction,' house in the four story temple Migjid Janraisig Sum, the centrepiece of the monstery complex.
Down Rover
Mongolian Ger's are renowned for hosting ferocious dogs, many of which are reputed to carry Rabies. Nomads, by definition, pose a problem for tour companies. We were the first visitors to this particular nomad family this spring, and about 100km west of U.B. our driver plunged off the metalled road onto the floodplain of a small river, in search of the nearest Ger to ask directions. For the next hour or so we navigated downstream, ping-ponging across country from Ger to Ger, until eventually we found our host family for the night.
The location was idyllic - a wide plain of grasslands surrounded by low-lying mountains, and the river nearby for swimming and washing. Whilst staying with the family we did the obligatory horse trek, played with the new-born goats, and swam and relaxed in the sunshine. As mentioned, the Mongolian steppes and deserts team with horses owned by these nomads. You can be pointing your camera at some abstract curves in the landscape when a horse will suddenly gallop across your viewfinder, pursued closely by a mounted Mongolian, Inspector Clouseau style, jousting with a long pole and noose - in this particular case trying to catch our horses so we could go riding.
The day we arrived at the nomads was apparently
a special day for them - that of the goat castration. Later that evening amongst the hearty fare on offer were the newly detached baby goat penises, done in a nice risotto. I managed one, as vitamins can be hard to come by in the Mongolian countryside ;-)
Next morning we continued our drive towards the Gobi. We were unsure as to whether we would head back to the metalled road, or continue south across-country to meet the road later on. As expected we set off in a southerly direction. What was not expected was that we just kept going, making no attempt to rejoin any of the roads shown on our tourist map. This, we were to discover, is travel Mongolian style. Just follow someone else's tire tracks across the steppe or desert, asking for directions at the nearest Ger if you get lost. As it is impossible to remember every single junction where the tracks might diverge, this is a frequent occurence. After the first 100km, the whole of the 1500km to the Gobi and back was done on unmetalled, and in fact ungraded, tracks. Some attempts to improve the roads in central Mongolia have been made
with World Bank assistance, so our last 900km was slightly better. However due to potholes and bumps progress was often only marginally faster than going straight across country.
It might be worth mentioning our transport. The Russian built Lada-style minivan certainly didn't look up to much. I have seen more sophisticated and powerfull looking engine's on lawnmowers, and the simple beast struggled to propel us much faster than 70km/h most of the way. However, with its high clearance, bouncy suspension and excellent 4WD, it seemed able to tackle anything a Landcruiser could, and to be honest maybe even more. It certainly needed to - we regularly encountered terrain far more challenging than anything we had met on our African game drives.
Sure, we broke down many times, but each time our competent driver had it fixed in less than an hour, usually a lot less. Driving 300km+ per day required a strong build, and our indefatigable driver coped admirably. The poor fellow had three punctures on the last day, involving changing the inner tube twice. He earned great respect from us when he told us he had been one of the 130 or so Mongolians sent to help
the Dick and Don show save Iraq. He said me mostly did driving their also.
As you will have gathered, travel in Mongolia involves a lot of bouncing. Whatever form of motorised vehicle you choose you will be bouncing around a lot on these rough roads. When you reach your destination you might choose the more traditional form of horse or camel, but this too means bounce bounce bounce. Collectively we picked up sore knees, stiff groins, chafed nether regions, whiplast and intercostal spasms, no less.
As we travelled south the browny green steppe (green in July/August) gave way to the arid and stony wastelands of the pre-Gobi. We started to see herds of two-humped Bactrian camels wandering around Approaching the Gobi natural reserve we started to see long mountain ranges interspersed by wide sandy and stony plains.
We stopped at Temeenshuvar, near Bayanzag, the sandstone "flaming cliffs" that had been home to many of the most famous fossil finds of the early 1900's. This was vaguley reminiscent of Utah, although not quite as grand. At the end of the day we drew up to the Gurvansaikhan Nuruu mountain range that hosts the dramatic gorge of Yolyn
Am. Tour operators bill this place as "the Ice Mountain" as most years there is a permanent layer of ice in the bottom, despite its location in the middle of the Gobi Desert. Our Swiss companions had naturally been a little skeptical of this attraction given what is available in their native land, but we agreed that the mountains looked like they would provide good walking so we went anyway. Who knows, in these days of sustained global temperature "growth" it may be that the ice in Yolyn Am lasts longer than many of Switzerland's glaciers.
As it was we had terrible weather for our day's hiking, but we were able to see enough of the gorge and the surrounding area to ascertain that it is quite impressive. Equip yourself with the 1:200,000 tourist map of the area so you have a basic idea of the perimeter of what you are dealing with and then just head up into the hills and try not to get lost ( or fall off anything ).
In the evening the weather cleared - Mongolia is truly four seasons in one day - an so Brigitte and I did a couple of
Gandantegchinlen Khiid
Ulaan Baatar's main monastery hours walk from the camp. We completed a nice mini-horseshoe in the golden sunlight, bagging seven or so mini-summits in about half an hour.
That day we were also treated to the Mongolian delight of Horhog. First, a large rack of mutton was chopped up, along with some veggies to appease those strange westerners who appear to insist on this sort of thing. Stones, which had been carefully harvested along the way - unwanted cracks and fissures were detected by banging them together and listening - were superheated in the dung-fuelled stove. When hot enough the dung is dusted off and the stones, vegetables and mutton are added in layers to a large milk churn, with a little water. When the last bits have been crammed in the lid is sealled and the whole lot is set atop the blazing furnace for a couple of hours. The result, of course, was gorgeous, if you can put the bits of dung out of your mind.
A long bumpy day's drive through the Gobi, made longer by a navigational error on behalf of our usually reliable driver, took us to the spectacular sand-ride of Khongoryn Els. We pitched tents, had
Migjid Janraisig
The 25m high gold-gilded statue housed in Migjid Janraisig Sum. a bite to eat and headed up the dunes for sunset. The Mongolian tour companies and the Lonely Planet clain the dunes are 800m high at their highest, but our reasonably accurate topographic map suggested they were no more than 300m at any point, Who cares, they were beautiful nonetheless, although they lacked the sheer geometrical perfection of the dunes in the Namib. We were surprised to find the sand was very firm, and walking onto the ridge was a doddle. Not so the next day when we tackled the higher points - the only way up being a sheer slope of soft sand. I was reduced to 20 paces on, 20 breaths off. Even the last 15m to the summit ridge required a stop - I just couldn't make it in one go.
As well as scaling the dunes for sunset our visit to the Gobi took in lying in the sun (hooray) and camel riding, both of which were very enjoyable. It is worth saying something about our hosts here. Whilst mistakes were occasionally made, as is to be expected in a trip of this nature, our tour gudes excelled in terms of customer service. The Lonely
Planet mentions that cynics like to say the six most widely heard words in Mongolia are "don't know", "don't have", "can't do", "maybe" and "tommorrow." The most common phrase from our excellent guides was "OK - no problem". We left Uyangan on here own cooking in our tent in the middle of a Gobi sandstorm whilst we spent sunset on the dunes, so that when we returned at 10.30pm our dinner was ready. With the help of the driver she then cleared the sand out of both our tents for us! After our overland adventures in Africa Kim and I could hardly believe it when after a long days drive, our bags were unpacked for us, our tents erected (when necessary) and our food cooked. Bliss. Going back to the real world of backpacking where you have to think for yourself is going to be a shock.
Two long days drive took us back North through the Gobi hinterland to Kharkhorin, the spiritual centre of Mongolia. On the way we overnighted near the demolished monastries of Ongiin Khiid. There is not much to look at anymore, but the area brings home the horror that was visited on the Mongolian
buddhist community by Stalin. Uyangan told us she had a friend who swore she had heard the voices of the dead when she was staying their.
Our early season visit also led to our first taste of a tourist Ger as the normal Ger was not ready. Ger's in the Mongolian countryside have a three-tiered system - at one end you stay with a genuine family and take advantage of the Nomadic tradition of offering hospitality to all who need it. Next up is the 'backpacker' Ger set up as a cheap Guest House. To all intents and purposes this is as the Nomadic Ger, except you won't be sharting with your hosts, who will stay in their own Ger. These are more often found in small towns or near major tourist attractions. At the top end of the scale is the tourist Ger, an encampment of 10 - 15 individual Gers', with maybe a restaurant and a bar, a sit-down toilet and perhaps even shower facilities. At $35 plus for a night tourist Ger's are beyond the reach of most longer-term travellers and tend to be used more by mid to high-end tour companies, many based outside Mongolia.
Ahhh
Guess what's for dinner Now, I fully understand that if you are taking a two to three week break from a stressfull job you not want to find yourself without a shower for a week at a time, eating dung-baked lamb with goat's penis and sleeping with the festively plump landlady, but we found, irrespective of price, the tourist Ger was a little too sterile after what we had gotten used to. There were practical problems as well, most notably the wodod provided (presumably because tourists don't want to burn dung, or perhaps dung was not as easy to source in such quantities) burned too quickly, so it was devilishly hard to keep the place warm. The food in the sit-down restaurant was nice enough, and they even let us bring our own beer rather than pay their inflated $3 per can pricetag, but it just wasn't the same as hunkering down on a small and slurping out of a big bowl. As a side note, all the Ger's we stayed in were really very comfortable, and it would be a great day in Britain if all the static caravan's were burn't and replaced with Mongolian Gers.
The monastery of Erdene Zuu Khiid,
the oldest in Mongolia (1586), will never be one of the greate wonders of the world, although the 108 stupas that comprise the perimeter wall are impressive enough, and our guided tour was very informative about the different figures of Tibetan Buddhism. What is perhaps most rewarding is to sit and think that from this place Chinggis Khan and his successors ruled the Eastern world for 40 years until his grandson Kublai moved the capital to what is now Beijing in 1278. But for the Mongolian habit of returning to base when a leader dies they would surely have overrun Germany and France and pitched up on the shores of the English Channel, to take on the Britons and their habit of stopping battle for tea at 4.00pm every day (as described in "Asterix in Britain").
Here we said goodbye to Brigitte and Nico who had to rush to enter China before their visa expired, and set off for another long and bumpy drive west through the town of Tsetserleg, climbing high into the mountains to the lake of Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur ("Terk lake") in the Khorgo-Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur National Park. On the way we stopped at the delightful
Fairfield cafe in Tsertserleg ("Fairview" to the LP), a kind of "Pete's Eats" or "Wilf's" in the midst of wildest Mongolia. Run by an English couple the restaurant is an essential stop if you are in the area (meaning within a days drive in Mongolian terms ).
Our Ger on the side of Terk Lake was the most picturesque of the whole trip, situated in a large sandy bay with uninterrupted views across the lake, and only a handful of other Gers for company, although new Gers arrived daily on yak-pulled carts. Apart from some relatively recent volcanic intrusions the whole area resembles Scotland, particularly parts of the Cairngorms, although our best guess at the lake's altitude is 2700m and it was still largely ice-covered in May. To the East is the almost perfectly conical dome of Khorgo Uul (2965m) surrounded by an extensive lava field dotted with native pine. Again, due to the early season, the tourist Gers had not yet been erected so we had a blissful couple of days of solitude, exploring the surrounding mountains and lake on foot and by horse. We even managed a couple of dipls in the icy lake cleaning off the
Ovoo gobi and a pint of Chinggis please.
Walk around three times and make an offering (stones, crutches, skulls, empty vodka bottles), and all will be well. grim that had accumulated since the Gobi. The only downside was perhaps the weather; although we had perfect mornings the clouds built up in the afternoon so that the evening light was of the dark and moody character - it would be churlish to complain though, we apparently had better weather than expected for the time of year.
On a side issue - one innovation too look for is the coffee sachet that seems common in Mongolia - a mixture of coffee, powedered milk and 50% sugar, that makes a pleasantly sweet tasting brew. Mixed with vodka, a decent brand costing less than $2 a bottle in U.B, this is a very pleasant way to while away the hours as a storm passes.
After a stormy night our last day at Terk Lake dawned crisp, cold and clear, with the surrounding peaks covered in snow. Our drive back to Tsertseleg was uneventful, apart from passing within inches of a large Golden Eagle (or Siberian variant) sitting unfazed by the roadside. We had seen plenty of hawks closeup but this was our first eagle, and its nonchalance was staggering (the Kazakhs in West Mongolia hunt with Eagles, but if
this was one of those it was very lost). On our last day we passed a gathering of even larger condors/vultures picking over a new carcass by the side of the road (there are sometimes more bones than stones on the Mongolian plains) which was an impressive sight. Then we had another puncture.
For the record the itinerary of our trip is below. We can highly recommend Toroo at Khongoor. We paid US $35 per person per day for four people and $50 per person per day for two people, inclusive of everything except drinking water, alcoholic drinks and photographic permits (which were not needed in any case). He said he has/will put his price up this season although I have not seen the new rates. Note that because of the cold early season weather we spent most nights in Gers.
All distances are approximate. The full trip was around 2400km taken from the mileometer.
* Day 1: Start from UB 10.00am. Visit Nomad family in Lun sum.
* Day 2: Drive to Erdenedalai. (300km)
* Day 3: Drive to Yoliin Am. (340km)
* Day 4: Full day at Yoliin Am
* Day 5: Drive to
Khongoryn Els sand dunes (190km)
* Day 6: Full day at sand dunes
* Day 7: Drive to Onghiin Khiid/Saihan Ovoo (300km)
* Day 8: Drive to Kharkorin monastery (280km)
* Day 9: Drive to Terk Lake (305km)
* Day 10: Terk lake.
* Day 11: Terk lake
* Day 12: Drive to Kharkorin monastery
* Day 13: Drive to U.B.
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Batchimeg
non-member comment
Very good
Hi i am Monoglian studying in USA.Thank you for those of people who initiated this website about Mongolia. I really appreciate the pictures you have taken. It a real attractive and nice photos for the people who have never been to Mongolia. Keep on searching the mysterious creations of the world. Thank you, Batchimeg