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Published: July 21st 2023
The second half of the trip was joining our Trekkup group travelling to Mongolia. I had heard that this was a great trip from a few people, but no one could really tell me the details as to why. I got it later - it was just beautiful country, fun to camp in the gers, good (meat heavy) foods, friendly people, and just so peaceful. But there was no one moment that stood out above the rest really. It was all just a good time - we did a lot, yet it was a good, comfortable pace. We also travelled with a small, good group of five people, including our super friendly hyper guide E and our funny awesome driver H.
Leaving China First thing was to get to the airport for our flight. I think I mentioned we got there early and had another iced coffee while waiting for the check in counter to open, and when it did, it was super easy. We went into the international departures terminal, taking the shuttle train, but while the domestic departures was a hive of activity, you could almost hear the crickets in the international area. We found a lounge
that accepted loungekey and it was one of the nicest lounges I've been in. Very spacious, good wifi, nice views, and very good food (we had some more dumplings!). The flight on MIAT was fine, just about 2 hours. We landed late at night and met our chatty guide. It is a bit of a drive from the airport to Ulaanbaatar, but since it was so late, the traffic was fine; E warned us that traffic and polluted air were big problems in UB.
Our hotel was pretty nice, a bit of a soviet style, but we got decent sleep and had a good breakfast the next morning. There must have been some kind of international convention going on, because we saw all kinds of people with clothing depicting their nationalities. After breakfast, we checked out and got into our van to drive to our first adventure!
Mongol Nomadic Camp - Nomadic Family We drove along the main highway, where E explained that the stone cairns on the side of the road were for prayer for a safe journey - you were supposed to stop and walk around the stones in a circular motion, and if too
busy, honk as you drive by! After about 90 minutes of driving, we arrived at the Mongol Nomadic camp, around 9:30am. Here we were to see some show presented by the nomadic family that lived adjacent to the touristic ger camp. These two groups worked in conjunction with each other to provide a tourist experience as well as education, especially for local youth, about the traditional way of life of Mongolians. We were shown to our gers, which were so much better than I thought they would be. The gers were well furnished, clean and surprisingly warm. The day was beautiful, with bright blue skies, puffy white clouds, but it was slightly cool.
The show was delayed about a half hour and then we joined about 20 other tourists to see the nomadic family approach us from their camp ride a mix of horses, camels and yaks. They waved in traditional greeting before allowing us to follow them back to camp, with us riding on a chosen animal for about a minute - I chose the yak, which was a first for me. We then went to the main ger where they served us some fried bread and types
of hard cheeses, along with the traditional hot milk tea, which was not nearly as bad as I imagined. Then they played some music, using their local instruments, including one rattle made from sheep leg bones. The music was fantastic and entertaining, playing along well with their famous throat singing. It was amazing. They cell CD's for $10 - sadly, I do not have a CD player any more!
Then we went to the next ger where we had a taste of their fermented milk, which was their form of alcohol, and also showed us some of the traditional ways of making foods such as cheese. I saw the butter churn which reminded me so much of my granny's house in Mississippi. They were selling jars of the alcohol for just $5, which I was tempted to buy, but I had not brought money with me; the matriarch of the family said that all proceeds went to the Children's fund, which I guess they use to help care for children who are in need in the countryside.
Outside, we saw other displays, such as children beating the wool to use later for felt for their ger materials and
a demonstration by a rider on a horse going very fast and picking up an item from the ground and then having the horse rise up on his hind legs. Then they demonstrated how they would pack up their camp to move to a new location as needed in the past, taking down the gers and loading down their animals to prepare to move. It was interesting as it looked like it could take anywhere from just 15 minutes to about 40 minutes. As we left to go back to our own camp, the matriarch performed the traditional goodbye, dipping a wooden spoon into a bucket full of camel milk and tossing it into the air for a safe journey
Mongol Nomadic Camp We had a very delicious lunch afterwards, with melt-in-your-mouth falling-off-the-bone mutton, which is not usually my favorite; I think in UAE, mutton is typically goat, while in Mongolia it is actually adult sheep. Then we had a few hours of free time, so I went to my ger and read my book before taking a short nap. L climbed a mountain (small hill) of course, saying he had a snooze at the top. Later in
the afternoon, we all met for a horse ride into the valley, which was quite nice. The horses were fairly smaller than I was used to but very easy to ride. I really liked the (plastic) saddles as they were not as bulky as American style saddles. It was a nice pleasant stroll under perfect weather conditions. We just had a short one hour ride which was plenty of time, though there was no real destination, just a ride.
Back at the camp, L and I each got a local beer, both of which were delicious. Then we had dinner, which consisted of a mutton, dumplings, and a fried dumpling (Khuushuur), which was also all yum. Then we all went back to the deck to have a drink and watch the incredible sunset around 8pm. L and I played card games, then I set up my gopro for a night lapse of the clear sky and went to bed.
Hustai National Park - cycling The next morning after a breakfast of meaty soup (yeah, not for me first thing!), we piled into our van and drove over the hills further into the valleys. This was a beautiful
ride, once again with great weather, even at one point driving through a grove of trees. We had a great viewpoint over the vast valley halfway through the drive, seeing the river coming from UB and creating this vasty flat valley, much of which was actually used by the military for target practice - so we stayed clear! After driving another 40 minutes, we stopped and prepped for the bike ride. I will say, this was the only day of the entire hot trip that I used sunscreen. And the only day that I got sunburned. One of the guys decided to run for the first part of the ride and he had a pretty good pace. It was just a pleasant, easy ride. After about an hour we came to our lunch stop where we ate prepared noodles with meat from the camp. They were good, but I could only eat about 2/3 of it. The little black flies were starting to mass the longer we sat.
After lunch, we went to the nearby Ungot cemetery where Turkic nobles were buried in 600-800AD, with some stone sculptures of people or animals. An additional 552 stones / sculptures (balbal)
are located along a 2km straight stretch of road leading to the cemetery. At this point, the black flies were becoming completely unbearable and I was starting to lose my sh*t. So, I hopped on my bike and planned just to circle around the area to run away from the flies, but everyone else immediately got on their bikes too and before you know it, we were riding down the 2km stretch of road. If we were riding, the flies could not really catch us, but they were almost everywhere as soon as we stopped. Then we turned left to head back towards the hills where we were supposed to meet up with the vans, but they apparently did not get the memo. At this point, the wind had picked up and we were going slightly uphill, so we were all a bit tired I think Our bike guide went back on his own to the vans and they eventually made their way over to meet us.
Hustai National Park - wildlife and museum
We then drove back up thru the hills after saying goodbye to our cycle guides. I saw lots of marmots along the way -
I think they are super adorable, each one of them, but everyone else got quickly bored of them, so I kept my happiness to myself. We stopped at one parking area where there were lots of other tourists (lots = no more than 20). Here, they were checking the higher peaks of the hills to see if they could spot Takhi, or Przewalski's horses, supposedly the only remaining 'wild horses' in the world. I do question this, especially reading up on them as they were at one point not present in the wild, but were 'reintroduced'. Anyway, semantics I guess. There were a couple of rangers and some ameteur photographers who had spotted a few on their binoculars and so we were able to see them hiding in the shade in rock overhangs. Pretty cool, but I could not get a photo. We also saw a red deer on the other side, also very far in the distance. So, not a waste of time and pretty cool.
We continued to the park entrance where there is a ger camp and a tourist information center. Sort of. It looked dystopian. We definitely needed to restock on water, but even that
turned out to be a hassle. So, we used the (surprisingly clean) restrooms, then wandered around the information center in the large ger, which had quite a bit of fun facts, but looked like it needed an update. Then we sat in another ger to watch a video of the park, narrated in English. We laughed because at one point they said "a large queue waiting to enter the park". Maybe we should not have laughed, but clearly this park had seen better days. I imagine a lot of it had to do with Covid, but it really was not looking well. I mean, having issues getting water is not a great sign.
Ger Camp #2 I forget the name of this camp, which is relatively new as evidenced by clearly recently poured concrete walkways, fresh looking gers, and a completely empty camp. It looked very nice and clean and we were able to take hot showers, which was nice. We were a bit confused by the ski-chalet like cabins; I imagine that they are for more local people looking for their own vacation. I absolutely loved the hot pot dinner as I had never had one before;
I think I was the only one. I think a common comment was "I have to make my own dinner?" I loved it. You have a bunch of ingredients served on dishes and your own pot on its own burner in front of you and you add whatever you want! I added some dumplings, beef, noodles, veggies.... all to my taste. The sauces were especially amazing.
After dinner, we entertained ourselves. We had some vodka that we shared on the circular table and soon the owner turned on a karaoke machine on the stage. And basically we just went from there. Glad we can't post videos on here!
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Mongolia and the Music
Interesting read Lexi. Mongolia sounds as if it caters well with ger camps and locals catering for tourism. Love this pic of playing the Horsehead Fiddle that has to be one of the most mesmerising musical instruments on the planet. I have posted it in "Musicians of the World" thread in the Photography Forum. Check out The Hu playing "Wolf Totem" on youtube for a Heavy Metal Mongolian experience and let me know if it takes you there!