Blogs from Orkhon Valley , Mongolia, Asia

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Asia » Mongolia » Orkhon Valley August 1st 2019

23 juillet Pas trop loin du camps de yourtes où l'on s'est arrêté pour nos deux dernières nuits, un "Yak Festival" s'organise aujourd'hui, réunissant les nomades et les villageois des environs. Décidément, je m'attend à y voir des yaks mais je n'en sais pas plus au moment du départ de notre van russe. Sachant d'avance que l'événement avait lieu, notre Tour au départ d'Oulan-Bator s'est tricoté de manière à pouvoir y assister en matinée. "What's the Yak Festival?" que j'avais alors demandé à Nyamka la guide, sur quoi elle m'avait tout bonnement répondu un "Yak" sans émotion. Tout ça fait du sens. ... La fourgonnette s'approche d'un large champs dans une vallée bordée d'un cours d'eau sale. "Biggest river in Mongolia. Water comes from Baikal Lake in Russia" que nous précise alors Nyamka. Beaucoup de véhicules ... read more
Orkhon River
Yak Festival
Van russe

Asia » Mongolia » Orkhon Valley July 30th 2019

21 juillet "I've been through the desert on a horse with no name It felt good to be out of the rain In the desert you can't remember your name 'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain La, la, la, la, la, la" A horse with no name, America On s'enfonce davantage dans le centre du Pays aujourd'hui, dans le pli de la vallée de l'Orkhon, là où les ondulantes collines s'emplissent maintenant de forêts compactés, noircit par la densité de leurs conifères. Des ruisseaux d'eau limpide passent parfois dans la steppe, attirant par milliers les troupeaux de chèvres qui, se tassant à la dernière minute, bloquent sans gêne les chemins improvisées par les 4X4. Notre fourgonnette russe, définitivement prête pour ce genre de routes, passe les rigoles et escalade presque les ... read more
Campement de Vallée
Sourire
Vallée de l'Orkhon 1

Asia » Mongolia » Orkhon Valley July 13th 2013

Saturday morning, 6 July met Hamish at Beijing airport for our trip to Ulaan Baatar Mongolia. Beijing was a 3 day visa stamp stopover, a little comedy of running down to the front desk when the phone rang for interpreter, running down to Subway to transfer documents when we figured out what visa contact wanted, eventually reunited with passport in 2 days instead of 3, top job. Also included some touristy stuff that I missed on a previous visit, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, the Museum with the fastest guide in town exhausting stuff especially the museum where I asked to start at the beginning, so speedy guide took me to the house of the glorious revolution, where Mao is considered a necessary part of the process. How would China look now without Mao? Democratic? Factionalised? ... read more
Another slice of Heaven
Wild highway
Camp and Orkhon Valley

Asia » Mongolia » Orkhon Valley June 15th 2013

Now we are back north of the Gobi we see wild horses, and we are also staying on a farm where horses are kept. Even the horses that belong to someone, though, retain their wild spirit: yesterday we watched as around 10 people spent around an hour lasso-ing 10 or 15 horses, most of which resisted, including one calf which bolted and bucked dramatically around the makeshift paddock. It seems like a lot of work, but once broken the horses are valuable and used for milk as well as transportation. The horses they gave us to ride were much more biddable, although occasionally even they needed encouragement to move off, and our guide's horse refused to go near to the other horses. We did two short treks, one in the morning to a lovely small waterfall, ... read more
My horse
Morning ride
Our horses

Asia » Mongolia » Orkhon Valley June 15th 2013

After a couple of long days of driving we have arrived west of Ulanbaatar, where the scenery has become verdant and lush. However, there has been little rain this year and Orkhon waterfall was dry, although still spectacular. The place where we had lunch, next to a river where a couple of men were fishing in the sun and another in traditional dress rode by on horseback, was one of the most beautiful I have been, despite the atrocious road to get to it. Yesterday we had lunch with a family who live in a house in a small town (by this stage, 9 days without a shower, I do not feel fit to be a guest in anyone's house).. On the television they were showing first American Idol (dubbed into Mongolian, apart from the actual ... read more
Area around the falls




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