Mongolia on a budget

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HOHHOT-ERLIANHOT-ZAMYN UUD DAY 1

Me and my friend Kerstin decided that the best way to spend the Chinese National holiday, was to head across the border into Mongolia. So on Monday morning at 08:00 we departed the bus station in Hohhot, destined for Erlianhot, the border town.
4 Chapters of my book about the Karakoram highway and a few short naps later we arrived.
Our initial plan was to check out the dinosaur museum and surroundings, but when we were informed by the hotel staff that the border was going to be closed for a few days, we decided instead to head across that same day.
We took the taxi and were meaning to walk across, but apparently this was not to be done.
So we got a lift in the back of an SUV, after paying the large sum of 100 Yuan for the both of us!
The crossing went fairly quickly, although we had to wait a little on the Mongolian side for our vehicle to be checked by the border guards. The border was absolutely packed with jeeps carrying Mongolian families returning from shopping trips in China and old lorries full of imports from that same country.

In Zamyn Uud, the town on the other side, we bought ourselves a train ticket destined for Saynshand at 22:00 that evening.
We had researched it a little beforehand, and after seeing it on Google Earth, we reckoned it would be a pretty cool destination for our little Mongolia trip. Seeing that there were a few hours to spend, we walked the 10 metres to the local park, opposite the station square, where we met the local village 'freak'. Actually, the 'freak' was not so freaky at first, just a sweet old bum so to say, and he even shared his bread with us that seemed as hard as a rock but after breaking it, it was actually quite edible.
But when he started becoming a little too 'close', kissing us, we excused ourselves and walked off. Unfortunately he thought different and followed us, so it took us a little persuasion but we managed to shake him off.

In the shops around the square I felt like a child again, seeing all the food items so well known from back home, which are not available in Hohhot. There was German apple sauce, candy of a certain brand, proper mayonaisse and real chocolate... Aahhh
I would've been very happy spending money on it all but Kerstin, wise as she is, told me off but promised me if we would have money left of our budget at the end, we would buy some stuff.
Of course there was money for a few cans of tonic that we used to mix our gin with, bought duty free at the border. Chatting and sipping gin & tonic, waiting wasn't all that bad.

The trains in Mongolia are amazing! Inside it's all wood and carpet, and the toilets are actually clean! I was sorry to leave the train at 2 in the morning.
From the station we got a lift from a friendly Mongolian who said he'd take us to a hotel. When we arrived he asked for money of course, but oh well. The hotel (Shand Plaza) turned out to be a little expensive,but with the prospect of being able to have a hot shower in the morning and the fact it was in the middle of the night, we decided this was our best option.

SAYNSHAND DAY 2

Surely, the next morning the showers had no hot water, but at least the restaurant had instant coffee and omeletes.
After a look out the window the moment we woke up, we immediately saw how dry it looked outside.
Saynshand is sort of split in two halves, seperated by this hill 'range'. Right in the middle a gap has been made for the road to cross from one side to the other. (Similar to the one in Alice Springs, Australia) The train station was on the other side, and we had to book out ticket back to the border, so after brekkie we went walk about. (Sorry, Saynshand just really got me in the 'outback' mood)

Like I said, incredibly dry, dusty place. There is one main road, which is asphalt, but the rest is mainly just dust tracks, or whatever you want to call them. Just under the hill was a little temple where we had a look, and then we walked up the concrete steps leading to the top of the hill.
Here a large green (toy-looking) tank overlooked the town, and next to it a huge pile of stones, as seen all over Mongolia. If I remember well, these mounts resemble the 4 elements as well as belonging to a certain clan / family. Wherever you see one of these in Mongolia, there should be water and/or life about.
The view was pretty amazing, this little town, consisting of a few proper building, but mainly housing yards containing some kind of house / shed and most often a yurt as well. To us it seemed Mongolia wasn't as poor as we had heard before. There were a lot of cars for sure!

Although it was the last day of September, the sun was still pretty strong. So sweaters and jackets were shed, and bottles of water purchased to keep body and mind fit.
The train station employed two old ladies, who just simply did not understand that the train back to Zamyn Uud on October the 2nd, at 02:00, WAS really on October the 2nd, and NOT on the 1st or 3rd.
So it must've taken us nearly half an hour to buy the two tickets. (Oh well.)

On the way back, we realised that despite the beauty and originality of our destination, it was going to be a little hard finding something meaningful to do to spend our day. It really just is a tiny little town in the semi-desert.
Luckily, we had printed the Saynshand pages of a well known travel guide's web, and found there were two museums that we could visit.
The first was the Danzan Ravjaa museum, dedicated to the 5th Gobi lord.
This lord was quite a busy little bee. Martial arts, singing, composing, writing, yoga expert, teaching students from all over Mongolia at his monastry and in between serious drinking.
(Or so, that's what my guide tells me. The flyer we received from the museum had no English)
If you ever come across a play or movie named Life Story Of The Moon Cuckoo, well, that's our man.

The other museum, the Aimag, housed a large collection of stuffed animals, which was quite interesting actually.
Along with a neanderthaler kind of display, loads of ancient weaponry, there were also some really nice paintings and very old horse head fiddles.
Definitely worth seeing.
At this museum we met Sara, whom we asked how we could get to the Khamary Khiid monastry the next day, also dedicated to Danzan Ravjaa. She was happy to help us, and we agreed on a time and price for the next morning to pick us up for a 'desert tour', which was going to include the monastry and the so-called 'black mountain'. (Now we actually had an itinerary!)

The rest of the day we spend lazing in the little park opposite the square next to the government buildings.
This is also were all the guesthouses / hotels are located. Inside one of the governement buildings, at the back, we found the OD hotel. After a bit of negotiation we managed to find a reasonably priced room and a luke warm shower. At sunset we climbed back up the hill overlooking the town. Stunning! We used this opportunity to share the remaining gin & tonic. Dinner was back at the Shand Plaza; Minced beef burgers in a coating of fried eggs and chicken goulash (which tasted very much like a bolognese), both were very edible!

Not far from the hotel we found the in-aptly named 'Welcome to Hollywood bar/club. Cheap beer, fat beats and happy locals. What more do you want? A good day, finished off with a few chapters and an early night.

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Photos

'The castle'
Housing the local supermarket

Map of pre-historic Mongolia
Located in the Aimag museum

'Suburbs' of Saynshand
At the right, you can see 'the gap'.

Yurt
In the background, the tank and Aobao on top of the hill.

Mongolian wrestler
In a suggesting pose, in the Aimag museum.

Saynshand at dusk
Note the massive black bird in the centre-top, you'll see these loads around town