Mongolia

---

After a short flight from Beijing we landed in Ulaanbaatar and were greeted by someone from the hostel we had booked. As soon as we arrived there we tried to sort out a trip. We got together a plan for 13 days and we found 3 people to join us, which made the trip a lot cheaper for everyone involved. Thomas and Stephanie from France would join us for 8 days and Hanno from Germany for the whole 13 days.

The next morning we were on our way towards the Gobi desert with Zaya our tour guide and cook and Tseren our driver. Most of the time we would sleep in Gers, the traditional Mongolian tents, and the food would be very basic. Now again Zaya would whip up a Mongolian traditional dish which was quite nice but generally most meals would involve potatoes, carrots, peppers, meat and noodles or rice. When arriving at the gers you’re always offered a cup of “tea” which consists of warm water with a hint of tea, lots of milk and salt. Not entirely unpleasant but if you’re not a milk lover pretty hard to handle. The milk would come from whatever animal they have around, so it could be sheep, goat, horse, yak or camel and we have sampled all except the horse’s milk.

The old Russian van was doing well most of the time but broke down once with a serious problem that took a few hours to fix. Other than that it didn’t make too much trouble and it was quite comfortable to drive in it.

On our way to the Gobi we have seen some really cool places like the White Stupas and Yolyn Am. Yolyn Am is a canyon that freezes through the winter with a layer of ice that is 10m thick in some places. When we got there, there was still ice in places and it was pretty interesting to walk through the canyon.
At the Gobi desert we were staying with Zaya’s brother for 2 nights. The first night he sang for us and he was a great singer. After the singing we had loads of vodka and everyone felt a bit tender the next day for the camel ride. We thought the camels would bring us up the nearby sand dunes but they stopped before and we had to walk up because it was too exhausting for the camels! What about us??

Thomas and Stephanie left us after the Gobi and we had 5 more days with Hanno in Central Mongolia, where the highlight was a 3 day horse trek around an area called the 8 lakes. It was so beautiful around there waterfalls and a river at one side and then after a 1 day ride we got to the lakes and it was gorgeous. That really was the Mongolia we had expected to see!

After that we were making our way back to Ulaanbaatar where we stopped at the Ancient Mongolian Capital and Hustai National Park to see wild horses.

I really enjoyed the trip and it gave us a great insight into Mongolian culture. The people were always so friendly and it was great to have stayed in the traditional tents. Ed wasn’t too impressed though. He enjoyed the 8 lakes but in general there isn’t much to see around there. Well, the trip to Mongolia was really for me and I had a great time over there and would certainly come back for a visit.

---

Comments

[Hanno]

Greetings from China! The food in China is so much better ;-)

[Around the world in 2 years]

dude, the only way was up after mongolian cuisine