Camping In Terelj

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Terelj is conveniently located only an hour away from UB and is considered a national park. I went there with Yotam and Lior, two Isralies, and Laura who comes from Finland. Luckily they had a lot of extra camping stuff since I haven't picked up my own gear yet. We took the bus over and then passed the small village of Terelj, we disembarked and walked the park in search of a decent camp site. We walked along, packs full of food, and crossed a few streams that soaked us to mid-thigh level. Eventually we found a good spot right by the river and backdropped by hills.

We set up the tent, built a firepit and collected wood, and then began preparing food. We had picked up loads of food supplies at the market in UB for next to nothing. Yotam loves to cook and does it mostly well, which is a good thing since I'm rubbish but at least I try helping out with prep work like peeling and cutting veggies but I mostly enjoy handling the fire like I do back home.

It was quite leisurely overall, did some swimming in the icy stream, exercised, ate a lot because we bought so much grub. The landscapes were unbelievable. Mountains, pine trees, streams, horses running wild, etc. The first day had clear skies and when we awoke there were Yaks surrounding our tent. I hiked up some hill on the second day and got to see a panoramic view of area, well worth it. Towards the evening however it began to get overcast but luckily held off until the following day when, while preparing food for lunch, we got a massive downpour and had to retreat to the tent with all our things. It didn't last too long however and we were out within a half hour, and then the powerful Mongolian sun ripped out and dried everything almost instantly. I got a pretty bad sunburn too.

Vodka was on the menu on the final night, in true central Asian fashion, and much more fire wood to be burnt. We managed to hitchhike home with this friendly Mongolian guy who took us all the way back to UB and even stopped along the way to buy everyone water. Got a taste of some Mongolian music in the car as well. He was so nice that he didn't even try asking for compensation for the ride, which we gave him anyway.

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