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Published: October 16th 2009
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Our trip to Ulaan-Baatar from Beijing was long to say the least. 30 hours of countless card games, reading, scattegories, root shoot or marry’s and endless staring out the window at the unchangeable Gobi desert scenery all while under the influence of one of the many bottles of alcohol we smuggled onto the train. I loved Ulaan-Baatar instantly, despite being told by countless travellers and even Lonely Planet that it is one of the dirtiest, unsafe and grottiest places on earth. Sure it is all those things but I loved it nevertheless and thought it was fabulous! I think especially coming from China, the first thing I noticed was that no one stared, only about 20% of the population spat, the driving was slightly (only just) better than in China and we said goodbye to pot noodles and hello to 500 types of vodka for less than $10! Hoorah! What I did find amusing was in Mongolia, 50% of the cars are left hand drive, 50% are right hand drive. Random. But they make it work. We took in a cultural show one evening that I considered not going to as they are usually the boring, touristy things available. It turned
out to be one of the most amazing things I had ever seen! A couple of the performers introduced us to the world of throat singing, something I cannot not even begin to explain how it sounds, but was so incredible (look it up on youtube if you can!) Two contortionists performed the most spectacular act I’ve ever seen; I swear the girls had had their rib cage and 50% of their bones removed, there is no other way they could have moved like that!
We headed out to Terelj the following day and spent 2 days at the ger camp. I was pretty disappointed at how touristy the whole area was, every 20m there was a massive flashing colourful sign displaying multiple “authentic” ger camps you could stay at. But hey, I guess they make good money from it!
We had a go at archery, and I had an inkling that I would be amazing at it, because my uncle is an archery pro. Turns out that I am not. In fact, I’m a hazard to myself and those around me because me and sharp pointy things do not mix. Oh well. Something I HAD to do while
in Mongolia was go horseriding. I’ve always been terrified of horses, but ever since being in Tibetan China I have had a random urge to do it. I nearly booked a 4 day horse trek in China which could have been the worst mistake of my life as 2 hours on a horse in Mongolia was enough to make me never want to go riding again. To be honest, it wasn’t as bad as I imagined, but it was not enjoyable AT ALL. Why do people go riding for FUN? I just do not understand! We stopped after an hour of riding at Turtle Rock, where I had to make my first descent from the horse. I’ve never gotten off a horse before (obviously) so I knew it would be awkwardness all round. The whole situation got even worse when a bus full of Belgian tourists with video cameras arrived at the moment that I attempted to get down. I couldn’t get my leg over the saddle because I was so afraid of slipping and I couldn’t feel my legs, so Ginny had to come over and push my leg over, while our Mongolian leader tried to support me so
I wouldn’t fall underneath the horse. It took everyone approximately 6 seconds to get off a horse. It took me nearly 6 minutes. How shameful.
After spending the night in a ger, we headed to the ger district, which is the poorer areas of Ulaan-Baatar. As soon as we arrived we were told that we would be teaching English to students that live in the area. The girl I taught hardly spoke English, and despite having nearly completed a TESOL course I had no idea what to do. So we played hangman. For a whole hour. When it was mercifully over we were given a tour of the district by a lady named Susan, an American who had been living in UB for over 8 years and had set up education systems, jobs and charities to bring in clothes and stationary etc to the district. It was amazing what she had done and how much the people who lived there appreciated it. We were invited into a ladies ger, who offered us butter tea (NO!!!) which I politely refused, freshly baked donuts and some sort of yak lollies that were basically the same thing as eating a rock. I
Meatballs and Celery for lunch
And meatballs and cabbage for dinner! Ooh variety! wonder if they actually were rocks.
I loved Mongolia to bits, but would I go back? Probably not. I feel like I’ve ‘done’ it and it can just be another country to tick of the list.
"I am the Flail of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon You."
-CHINGIS KHAN, said sometime during his campaign in Persia.
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