Mongolia

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Day 149

At 9am we loaded our bags into the grey Russian 4 x 4 minibus, along with our driver and interpretor. We would be sharing our 3 day trip with Pontus from Sweden, Patrik from Switzerland (but lives in Vienna, Austria) and Marius from Lichtenstein. There were 2 backward facing seats and a bench seat facing forward for 3 people to squeeze on. We would be entertained on the journey by listening to tape cassettes with recordings of Western and Mongolian music.

After calling off at a supermarket we left the city of Ulan Bator and headed into the countryside of Mongolia. The population of Mongolia is 3 million people, half these live in the capitol and the rest mainly live as Nomads in the countryside. Mongolia has an area size the same as Western Europe, the terrain is differing with the Gobi Desert in the South, snow capped mountains and forests in the West and vast undulating plains in the East.

It was to be a long journey today as we were heading west towards a large lake. Here we would be spending the night with a nomadic family in their guest ger. After 4 hours of travelling mainly on tarmac roads we stopped for lunch. It was a quaint restaurant full of local people, many in traditional dress. The food was surprisingly very good, we enjoyed fried beef with potatoes and peppers, it tasted a bit like the filling of a Cornish pasty!

The quality of the roads got increasingly worse as the main road was still being laid. The next 6 hours were spent off roading on tracks across the landscape. Along the way we saw many animals including goats and horses being round up by herders on horseback. We stopped at a sight called Black Bull where we looked at some boring ruins that the Mongolian people don't know much about, other than they are very old!

Early evening after our driver got a bit lost and took us on a bumpy short cut, we eventually arrived at the lake, a very scenic place to spend our first night. The late morning sun was nice and we were all glad to stretch our legs after such a long journey in the minibus.

A ger is a large round canvas tent that the Nomadic people live in as they can easily move when necessary, usually about 4 times a year. It turned out that this family had recently moved here and were just settling in. We were shown to our ger for the night which they reserve for visitors. The roof was supported by elegantly painted wooden batons with a huge canvas sheet thrown over the top and the base was like a trellis fence lined with pretty hand made sheets of material. It had 4 metal spring beds and a large bed made up of carpets on the floor. A table sat in the centre of the ger facing the small door and large carpet rugs covered the lino on the floor.

The family provided us with a flask of hot water and a bowl of traditional biscuits which tasted like sweet dry bread. The toilet facilities were basic, a 2 metre deep hole in the ground was covered by planks of wood, surrounded by a wooden lat and batten fence, conveniently (inconvenient when raining) located away from the camp. You felt very close to nature here in the middle of nowhere.

Some children from the neighbouring camp came over to take at look at the foreign people who had arrived so I gave them some sweets. The family we were staying with had 1 son who was a teenager, he also enjoyed the sweets. Patrik gave our nomadic host a shot of vodka and by the look on his face he did not enjoy it.

For dinner we had pieces lamb with rice (and tomato ketchup!), the nomads don't always like vegetables and prefer savoury food. It started to rain which meant that we had to stay in the ger and we only ventured out to use the outdoor facilities before settling down for the night. There was no electricity so we enjoyed chatting under candlelight while sampling the local vodka until we went to sleep.

26/6

Day 150

We woke to a beautiful blue sky and sunshine after a reasonable nights sleep. Before breakfast we enjoyed breathing the very fresh air and taking in the peaceful atmosphere. Oliver went for a walk to a nearby hill for a good view of the ger camp and lake. Pontus and I watched the children round the goats and the local cat catching small voles and eating them!

This morning we travelled for an hour or so to the old capital where we visited Erdene Zuu Monastery, where many Buddhist temples are still in use for prayer. We are “templed” out now after travelling through Asia and don't get impressed by any of them, which is a shame.

At a local restaurant we ate Mongolian style dumplings with carrot and potato salad with a cup of black tea. The dumplings were like a flat lamb burger coated in batter, tasty but very greasy.

We travelled for a couple of hours towards the area that they call the Mini Gobi as there are some small sand dunes. Here we arrived at our second ger camp which seemed more organised and used to visitors. The main family ger used a generator for electricity and solar energy for their satellite TV! The toilet facilities were an improvement to last night as the wooden hut had 2 holes, doors and a roof.

On arrival we were provided with yoghurt made from horse milk and as usual a flask of hot water. Our interpretor had today purchased a bottle of traditional Mongolian alcohol milk made with fermented horse milk. It tasted very sour and smelt awful. Containing only 3 percent of alcohol you would have to drink a lot to get drunk. Patrik was up to mischief most of the evening by feeding the guard dogs, which meant they kept trying to come into our ger for more food!

Unfortunately it started to rain which meant we could not venture out so we would have to wait until tomorrow. The weather cooled down a lot so we asked for the fire in the ger to be lit. For our evening meal we were provided with lamb and noodle soup. We ended the evening with a night cap before snuggling under our covers, as it was going to be a cold night.

27/6

Day 151

The weather was kind to us as the sun was out this morning so we could venture towards the dunes. Patrik and Marius rode off into the distance, although their horses were so slow we soon caught them up! We spent an hour walking along the dunes before setting off once more for the journey back towards UB.

Most of the journey was rough terrain and the occasional dirt road, our driver seemed to love them, however, it was hard for us in the back to remain on our seats. It was frustrating that after stopping at a restaurant for lunch we came across a tarmac road that we could not use. It looks like there is a massive project to build new roads in the area but you cannot use them until it is all finished. We travelled parallel to the new road for over 100km and only got to use it when we were nearing the capital.

Back at the hostel we enjoyed a shower and quickly organised some laundry to be washed. In the evening we met up with Pontus and ate burgers at the nearby Irish bar.

28/6

Day 152 - Ulan Bator (UB)

After receiving our train tickets that UB Guest house sorted out and having a quick breakfast we ventured out into the city. We walked the short distance to the main square, Sukehe Bator Square. We were impressed by the grandeur of the Parliament House and the soviet looking surrounding buildings.

We spent some time looking round the exhibitions in the Natural History Museum. The most interesting were the dinosaur bones on display here, they were found not too long ago, mainly from the Gobi Desert.

For lunch we revisited the Irish bar and shared a massive pizza, it was really good. We were so full we returned to the hostel for some rest before going back there for some desert. We once again called at the supermarket to stock up for supplies for the next train to Russia as it was to take 36 hours. UB guest house provided a very helpful professional service with one of their drivers taking us to the railway station for a few dollars. However, it was very disturbing that the choice of music in the car was teletubbies!

Mongolian Train 263 left Ulan Bator at 9.10pm, we were in carriage 1, berths 1 and 2. We were sharing our cabin with a mother and daughter from Irkutsk, our next destination. They did not speak much English and we speak no Russian so there wasn't going to be much conversation in our cabin. Next door was an Intrepid tour group with a mixture of English speaking nationalities and we also were on the same carriage as Marius and Patrik. We also met up with the lady we met while queuing at the Mongolian consulate in Beijing for our visas.

It was an old train, decorated with old fashioned fabrics and was to travel very slow as the faster trains can complete the journey in 24 hours, this was to take 36!

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