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Photo 22
Some of my braver fellow travelers had set up camp in one of the car parks in UB. Brave indeed, I can only imagine the hassle they must have received from the many local drunks but also a poignant reminder of the spirit of travelling that can be lost is a flurry of Air Conditioned Rooms and Double Beds. I really must try harder in the future. Hello everyone from sunny Mongolia!
I finally managed to escape Beijing and not a day to soon…as you probably guessed by my continuous moaning I wasn’t exactly happy there.
Everything Visa related fell in to place, I got the all important bit of paper in my rapidly filling Passport and caught the train from Beijing to Ulaanbator. A wonderful journey it was too and certainly one of life’s “things to do” ticked off. I had considered flying in to Mongolia, it would have been cheaper and around 34 hours quicker but I feel entering Mongolia by plane would have been wrong.
One of the reasons for coming to Mongolia was to experience the sheer scale of the place and the train yourney helped to do this. Lunch time on Wednesday you look out of window and see a view of uninterrupted grass lands, lunch time Thursday you look out of window and see a view of uninterrupted grasslands. It was also part of the process of going from the most densely populated country on the planet to the third least populated country on the planet.
Crossing the China/Mongolia boarder was easy but took time. Because the railway
Photo 23
Do you think this is really sanctioned by the “English” army? Do you? gauges (the gap between the wheels) are different between the two countries you have to leave the train so they can lift each and every carriage up and replace the wheels with a smaller gauge, no mean feat considering how many carriages there were.
First impressions of UB are not good. I will be honest, its rough, very rough, it will never be described as the Venice of Asia that’s for sure. Most cities have a dark underbelly, but in most cities the underbelly remains hidden until after dark or is restricted certain areas in UB however, it is exposed all the time. There is a huge problem with unemployment and alcoholism in this city and it is pretty evident when you walk around. There are many old drunks on the corners of streets and the shifty young lads have adopted the baseball cap and tracksuit look, which for a chap who has grown up in Bristol has certain distinctly negative connotations.
UB is a bit menacing when you first arrive, within 24 hours of being here I witnessed two attempted bag grabbing’s (from fellow Mongolians I hasten to add) and a chap in the Guest House I
Photo 12
If you look closely you will see those tiny little white dots, these are the wee tents the Nomads live in called Gers. Day in day out, summer or winter. was staying in had $200 taken from him by thieves, so the threats of theft are very real.
One of the questions I was seeking to answer on this trip is whether urban living is better than rural living and the truth is I still don’t really have the answer. I can see why the many of the Laotian people want to escape the grinding poverty of the countryside and head to the cities for a better life. In Laos they seem to be able to make this transition to urban living without losing the sense of well being and community they enjoy, but I am not sure that it is the same in Mongolia. Urbanizing traditionally nomadic people has never worked, just look at the Aborigines of Australia or the Native Americans, both cultures suffer from severe alcoholism and other social issues.
But despite all this, after a few days you find yourself growing in a real affection for the place. As I have grown up in England you are embodied with a sense of supporting the underdog, and UB is certainly the underdog of Asian cities. You start replacing the “r”: in rough with a “t”,
Photo 13
This is the outskirts of Ulaanbator. I would not describe it as semi rural, more semi urban. Yes they have solid structures but also have the traditional Gers in the back yard. Maybe as back up in case the houses stop working. its tough, not rough, and there is a difference. Well OK, maybe it is a BIT rough, but you get my point.
To survive the minus 40 winters here you have to be tough, especially when you are on the breadline as so many people here are. The people here have a toughness which permeates every aspect of their lives, the food is tough, the cars are tough, even their skin is tough.
When you actually get over the initial feelings of fear however, you begin to discover a different side to the place. You would never describe UB as a warm and welcoming like Lao, but they have a certain “soviet hospitality”, which means they look after you, perhaps not with gushing smiles and tourist worship but they bloody well make sure you are fed and watered. This is a very enduring quality. I have concluded that I like UB and I feel that I may well regret having to leave this place.
But my time in UB is over very soon. Tomorrow I head off in to the countryside for 23 days. In the countryside there is no WIFI, no Skyping, no skinny frappe latte
Photo 14
The view from my Guest House. Paris it is not, but it does retain a certain charm. coffees, in fact there is no electricity in most places.
I thought long and hard about how to tackle Mongolia. I could have tried to buy a horse and tackle it alone, but I can’t ride a hose. I could have hired a bike and tried to tackle it alone, but I am not the fittest of people and you really need to know what you are doing if you go out their by yourself. I could have hired a guide just for me but the costs were huge. So in the end I decided to hook up with some other travelers and share the cost of a vehicle, driver and guide.
I am sure this will be great fun but I fear that it will not allow the cultural contact that I crave so much, There is a danger we will spend our time in organized Ger Camps and not really meet and spend time with any of the Natives. But, this is just a risk I have to take. If this is the case I will make up for it in other Countries.
So this is signing off time, no contact with the outside world
Photo 15
I am happy to announce that my leg is officially healed. I am still proud of the scar even if the way I received it was not exactly very glamorous. for over three weeks (unless the Nomads are Skyping on their I Phones, which wont surprise me) exactly why I came away in the first place and good training for the second half of my trip which I will enlighten you on when I arrive back from my time in the wilderness.
Sorry for the lack of any decent pictures, UB is not really the sort of place that you feel comfortable whipping out your camera and snapping away, and in my opinion it’s a better place for it too.
So goodbye for a few weeks, I hope as always that you are well.
All my love.
John
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