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Published: October 2nd 2009
WARNING: If you don't like reading, then simply click on the first picture and browse through the images, they tell more then 1000 words anyway. If you don't mind taking 5 minutes to read, well be my guest... MONGOLIA - land of the extremes
Genghis Khan is omnipresent, a big picture of him welcomes you at the Genghis Khan airport and he is on every bill, many vodka, beer and several other brands.
Extreme people:
Mongolia is the least crowded country of the world with 1.56 per sq km. Out of the 2.5 million people who live in Mongolia, almost half of them live in the capital, the rest are spread over the huge country living a nomadic life. On average the nomads move twice a year. Given the weather conditions and unapproachable roads or lack of roads nomadic life seems to be quite extreme.
People are friendly here and wouldn’t harass you, but are more cool and less approachable than in South East Asia.
Extreme landscapes:
In only 2 weeks I saw sand dunes at the Northern part of Gobi Desert, canyons, fjords, lakes and mountains. Big parts of the country look like a big golf court: green and brownish
hills wherever you look, a 360 degree panorama view with nothing around except a Ger (Mongolian tent) every now and then. It seems the whole country is one big national park with free animals passing by: we saw wild horses, cows, sheep's, camels, gazelles, vultures and eagles crossing our way. As there are only a few paved roads around Ulaanbaatar, you basically drive through the middle of nature and as a consequence your rides in Russian jeeps or small buses are very bumpy. You take your water & food supplies with you and you are fine. On trips through the country that last several days you can forget about the luxury of having a toilet or a shower,..showering is overrated anyways I believe.
Extreme sky:
Almost never have seen such clear night skies full of stars, it feels like you are at a planetarium.
Extreme weather:
Temperature changes can be quite extreme as well. When I arrived it was 25 degrees, sunny and hot. Then suddenly from one to the next day it was zero degrees and snowing. 2 days later again 20 degrees and sunny. We have seen 3 of the 4 seasons within 2 days.
Extremely horrible food:
All the people who warned me of the terrible Cuban food, probably have never been to Mongolia. If you enter a Ger, you are welcomed with an obligatory Airag, a horse milk (tastes a bit like Kefir but worse). The tea tastes like warm water with milk and salt. The rest of the food tastes a bit the same, comes mostly from sheeps and consists of approximately 99%!f(MISSING)at and bad taste. This taste then stays in your mouth for the rest of the day. I am glad I brought one of my extremely spicy sauces with me.
Ulaanbaatar
:
Capitalism rules!:
The capital with almost half of the 2.5 million Mongolian population living there is more developed than I expected: big expensive cars, well dressed people and all different kinds of youth cultures are present from emo's and scene kids to punks and indie guys.
Germanization:
Kaahn Brauhaus serving Schweinshaxe and German style 0.5-1 L glasses, German products sold in supermarkets, Konditorei Helmut Sacher and 30.000 German speaking Mongolians: we are surprised by the visible German influence: due to good relations of the former communist country to the ex DDR, many Mongolians went (and still go) to Germany (especially
Berlin) to study there to later return and start business in the capital. We met a German guy with Mongolian roots coming back to see his family and go out to a night club that is shot down by the police at 24:00, as the owner doesn’t pay them enough money. We manage to continue on a playground and finish our Vodka supply there.
Cars & Traffic:
It’s really a challenge to cross the streets in Ulaanbaatar, as the cars would never stop if you are just standing and waiting to cross. However in most South East Asian cities it works fine just crossing the street and cars would slow down and maneuver around you, or you around the cars. However here the drivers don’t really care about pedestrians, and do not slow down if you are in front of their car. This requires a lot of focus and some luck, we managed not to get hit by a car so far. If you are looking for a taxi, just stand next to the street and wave with your hands, as everyone is a potential taxi driver and will bring you to your desired destination for some money.
How we got on national television or Mongolian Wrestling:
We managed to see a wrestling show, which was an interesting experience: 250 wrestlers are competing with approximately 20 wrestlers fighting the same time. If you go down to the ground you are out. This goes on as long as there is only one more left: it took 9 rounds and lasted 4 hours. One day later a local girl working at a hostel tells us she had seen us on television (close up shot of audience).
Great music:
We see the great band Altan Urag (http://www.altanurag.mn/) that mixes modern rock with traditional Mongolian folk music and I manage to get my CD signed. They made part of the soundtrack of the movie 'Mongol' about the life of Genghis Khan (http://www.mongolmovie.com/).
Pumping Mongolian Iron: to stay a bit in shape and to experience cultural differences when it comes to working out, I try at least to go to a gym once in each country we go to. So far I already managed 2 work out sessions in Mongolia. I am a bit disappointed, as the gym is even more modern and fancy than the ones I went to in Vienna. I expected some
dark shabby room old school style like I experienced in Nicaragua already. However I enjoy working out after 2 weeks of doing no sports at all.
Northern Mongolia
:
Trip to Lake Khovsgol: due to a lack of paved roads the 500 km distance takes us 3 days to get there with a Russian jeep. We drive approximately 6 hours per day, our average speed is 30-40km/h. Next to the driver we have a guide who translates and cooks for us and Roberto a friendly Brazilian guy joins as well. On the way we camp in the middle of nowhere and sleep in tents. The day temperatures are okay with around 15-20 degrees, but at night we are freezing in our tents with all our clothes on at zero degrees, cold wind and snow. However this makes the whole experience more memorable. The warm yellow and red autumn colours on the trees around the lake makes the scenery at lake khovskhol look like a Bob Ross painting. The nights are very cold, but the oven in our Ger keeps us warm. So does the Genghis Khan Vodka: the driver and tour guide join in and we have a small party
at our Ger. With three other locals and Roberto we destroy plenty of beer and approx 5 bottles of Vodka. Out of the 5 locals from whom I expected to be Vodka proof, 3 fell on the oven located in the middle of the Ger and got burned and the other two had to throw up at night. Els and I managed to survive the night without any injuries but we all felt horrible the next day. Never ever Vodka again,...well at least for the next 2 days.
Central Mongolia
:
Terelj national park: We make a one day trip to Terelj National Park, luckily only one day as it starts to snow and we are not able to stand the cold wind longer than 5- minutes. We warm up in the warm Ger.
North Gobi We take another 3 days trip a bit down South to Northern Gobi to see the sand dunes and a canyon at Bayan Onjuul and Baga Gazryn Uul.
The conclusion
: what have we learned from our trip? ...apart from all the unforgettable memories and experiences, I now know that the nomadic life is not our thing. So we ll move on to the next country
like nomads and take a train to China soon... (isn"t that a paradox?)....to be continued...
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Barbara
non-member comment
wow, you too look completely zen. except for in the gym of course. i will check your blog regularly for updates. great to read about your adventures!