Countryside, gers, shit bags, pouring blood, doctor

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I have just arrived back in Ulan Bator from a 9 day ride through the Mongolian countryside. I'm tired but I feel great. I've gotten a lot of emails from people asking about the temperature and yes... it's between negative 20 and 30 degrees C, which in F is a lot colder than you might think. It's a frozen country, but it has really added to its charm because the amount of tourists in this country you can count on two hands. Therefore I really got a sense of an untouched Mongolia, especially on this trip that I have been on.

I arranged to hire a Russian jeep and driver through the hostel/guesthouse that i'm staying with 4 other people. Two couples, one from the Netherlands (Winny and Joost) and one from the UK and New Zealand (Sandra and Paul). We got on wonderfully thankgod as we were with each other and at times sharing one big happy bed or floor throughout the journey.

A typical Mongolian dwelling in the countryside is called a ger, and really warrants a google search so you can see a picture of these things. It's a small 20ft by 20ft round hut made of fur over a wooden frame. The middle has a small chimney and the top has a whole with fabric or glass. There are tourist gers that cost a lot and are only for the toursts, but if you go out into the middle of nowhere you can see how they really are. Our trip was very roughly organized, including accomodation. We drove from village to village or nomadic settlement to settlement after our days drive through the various mountains and wildlife to stop at random gers along the way to see if they could host us. It ended up being the best part of the trip.

The famillies would take us in right away (remember we are 6 people in a space comparable to my old dorm room in Thatcher) feed us, drink us, and keep the fire going. Pictures of my neice and nephew were really fantastic ice breakers, especially with the mothers and grandmothers. I brought a bag of stuff from a dollar store in seattle to share with these families and kids. Some of the presents have really gone over well. Pencils, sharpeners, cards, and even the tag from my lipton tea bag they ripped off the sting and played with for quite a long time.

I bought a pair of Mongolian boots for the trip because my hiking boots are no where near warm enough for this coutnry. These things are up to my knees, leather, and the inside is a good inch thick of goat fur all the way down. They were good until today when the heal fell off. Need to get that replaced... Army thermals are fantastically warm, as are my three sweaters and my XXXL sized chinese jacket which i have grown to call my small chinese house. With all my padding, layers, boots, thick beard, and wavy hair I really am quite a sight for the average Mongolian.

Our first stop was at a tourist ger. It was a long night and realized I really did have to wear all the aboved mentioned clothing while sleeping with 2 sleeping bags and 3 blankets. As you go to sleep you jack up the fire and get it burning really well. At about midnight the temperature starts to drop and you have to start covring yourself again. By morning you can't even expose your face or you'll get frost bite.

The second night we were still unsure as to what we were doing or where we were. We pulled into this small building about to fall over in the middle of the mongolian steppe, now two days drive through really tough terrain. (when in fact the actual mileage of the drive would be the equivalent from Boston to Albany, Rome to Florence, or Cape Town half way to George). This was appearently a hotel we stayed in. We were fed mutton.

Mongolians eat Mutton. Mutton is sheep. It's not a bad meat in theory, but when yo've had it for days on end, boiled and not treated any other way it's quite nasty. The smell is all over Monoglia. It gets into your skin, into the streets, into your clothing, and you just can't shake the smell of boiled mutton off your body. I really think i'll smell like this shit well past when i get home.

One night we stayed in another hotel and the next morning people from all over the area brought their horses because we had told Chaka, the driver, that we'd like to ride horses. It was such a scene and I couldn't wait until it was over. I think I only took one picture of the entire thing just because it was so ridiculous. We had about 20 people walking around us, two holding on to the rope guiding the horses across the plain as we sat there freezing our asses off trying to fit into the wooden saddles. I was in a wooden saddle that was appearently made for a child because my... (let me check who i sent this blog to and what kind of language i am allowed to use)...personal bits were under my ass and therefore it was a tad tight. I actually got off and walked the rest of the way.

That night we stayed in a family's ger. He was just a guy we met on the side of the road in his own jeep, and we ended up asking him for accomodation. In the ger we slept the six of us on the floor, and the family in one bed. it was warmer than the first night in the ger. We shared vodka and he offered the men snuff. Not really sure what snuff is.

The second time in a family really stood out. We arrived after a long day of driving and just happened upon a ger in the middle of absolutely nowhere surroudned by grassy hills with a lot of animals. We stayed there well into the next day and spent some time with the family...the reason it turns out is rather odd. The couple who lives in the ger is a 25 yr old couple who look like they should be older. Nearby his grandma who still helps with the chores and animals. We spend the evening helping herd the goats and sheep into the thing that looked like a fence, and then we ate some rice and mutton without flavor (thank god Sandra and Paul had some Ethiopian spices from their trek through Africa). We played rummy most of the night, shared photos, went through all the phrasebook sayings, and fell asleep.

The next morning we woke up and learned we'd be staying a bit later. Chaka the driver decided to purchase one of their cattle and we had to wait for them to go out into the herd (mind you there are no fences these animals just wander and come home at night when they are herded back) and get the cow.

We then watched as the sharpened their knives and prepared the slaughter. I was the only one who was curious enough to want to watch the slaughter of the cow for our driver... so the three men and I went out into the back where the cow was tied. They held it down by the head and slammed the dull edge of an ax down on its head. The cow was instantly in a shock an it's knees buckled. They hit it one more time in the same place, and the thing fell over. The eyes were not something I really want to remember. They then slit the throat and waited until a bucket full of blood poured out. Toward the end of the process they sat on the body and shook it like a tooth paste tube to get all of the blood out.

Then about 10 people I hadn't seen before, nor did i understand where they possibly could have come from becauuse there was NOTHING around this area, came out and helped carve and butcher this thing into pieces. They saved EVERYTHING. The most striking image that I won't forget is the removing of the stomach, cutting it open, and emptying a laundrybag full of dirt, shit, and half digested hay out onto the ground. They then flapped the emtpy dead stomach against the wall as you might hit the floor mats of your car on the fence before vacuming the inside of your car. Flap flap flap. They sawed off the legs and opened him up and everyone, grandma included, dug their hands in and helped take it apart for the good bits and bad bits.

We then packed into our jeep, under out luggage, the chopped up cow head included. This cost Chaka about $100 but it will feed his family of four for over a year.

They are a simple people but by no means poor. I have not seen a proper toilet or room with plumbing in 9 days yet the people I met were really wealthy with their animals. This family had hundreds of sheep, goats, yak, cattle, and horses. They were REALLLy wealthy in terms of the still nomadic mongolian economy.

That night we were once again in a tourst Ger which was good because a rest was in order. This was in the old capital, the name I cannot think of right now. (it's near Moron). A man came to the ger offering to play traditional monoglian music and some throat singing. I had been curious of throat singing since napster, it was one of those bizarre things you pick up and download so that was a treat for me.

Again the provinicial capitals look like footage of pre-war Tokyo. Wooden buildings, unpaved roads, no faciliities, squat pit toilets, etc. The people are usualy quite friendly, especially the kids. We were walking around the other night past what appeared to be a school getting out and every single child turned, smiled, greeted us, laughed, pointed, or just waved. It was wonderful.

The landscape was at times jagged mountain ranges, snowy hills, grassy steppe, thick forest, or huge lake. It was really varied and eventually I'll get some photos online. I took WAY too many, and am afraid I have already run out of film.

Trying to decide now whether to head overland through Mongolia, pop up through the western corner into russia and straight away into Kazakhstan, or go as I originally planned from here on the traditional trans siberian to Irkutsk and on to Novisibirsk, then Almaty in KStan.

if i do the latter I will be leaving in another few days for trip through the Gobi with Chaka again.

thanks again for reading this far if ya did.

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