Mongolia - Where the sun always shines

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Goodbye Mother Russia

It was a short journey (relatively) of 12 hours to Ulan Ude from Irkutsk and it was to be a quick visit and our point of departure from Russia into Mongolia. Arrived at around 6ish and I felt surprisingly awake and ready to tackle the day however the others weren’t feeling so fresh so once we’d met our new Honcho, Ann, we decided to head to the hostel and catch up on some sleep for a couple of hours.
Up and ready to go we went to a Buddhist monastery 45 minutes out of town. It was cool to feel like you were in the middle of nowhere and the landscape was very arid and dry. When we arrived the monks were chanting and it added to the atmosphere of the place and as this was to be the first of many monasteries in our Buddhist education it was pretty interesting to learn about the monks and what the people do when they come to the monastery. Back to the city and had lunch in a Mongolian restaurant, which wasn’t bad but wasn’t consistent with the meals we were about to experience in Mongolia. Anyway we had

read about Ulan Ude being the place to find the largest statue head of Lenin and as ‘Uncle Lenin’ had an almost omnipresence throughout Russia we had to go see it. I had grown affectionate of the man - we had a connection that first time I saw him in his glasscase bed. This head was MASSIVE! I imagine it must’ve been quite daunting during the Soviet years to walk past it - as if he was judging each person that passed. To have a statue that big, the person must’ve commanded a lot of respect, so what followed was a complete lack of respect for this important figure in history. Snaps manipulating the angles: kissing Lenin, hiding heads in coats to be replaced with Lenin’s head, jumping in front of the Lenin head. We did get some curious looks.

The rest of the day was spent spelling Vodkatrain between pillars of a ministry building and to be honest not really doing a lot. Ulan Ude wasn’t the most happening town. However in the evening after dinner we decided we would go bowling, which was actually really cool as I hadn’t done anything remotely normal since I’d left . Of course shots of vodka were involved - not many nights were spent without vodka passing my lips. Ann was a good sport and despite our slightly unusual behaviour throughout the day and Saxon’s persistence in trying to find somewhere and the equipment to go ice-fishing, I think she enjoyed herself with us. Back to the hostel to be prepared to catch the train at 6am....urgh! Not before hearing loud knocks at the end of the corridor where some prostitutes were entering a room. A guy did appear and spoke to Andy and I presume offered him to join but sensibly he refused. Saxon was shocked to find the water cooler in the corridor had lipstick marks around the nossle - this was quickly sterilised with alcohol handwash before filling our bottles. Thirsty whores!

Off to Ulaanbaatar and the land of Chinggis Khan!

The border town in Russia was a wasteland. I imagine Russian cowboys ruling this town with the one dust road and the buildings running along it. Amusement came from along the tracks when a solitary cow stumbled along the platform raiding the bins as it went while the people on the platform moved out of

its way. Back on the train and after some scary immigration officials boarded the train at both sides of the border; taking our forms, passports and pointing temperature guns at our heads, we had now entered Mongolia. First border crossing successfully negotiated! Shots of vodka to celebrate!

6am the morning after we arrived into Ulaanbaatar under a bright orange and purple sky - the advantage of heavy pollution. Batar our new Honcho with his friendly smile was there to greet us on the platform and to take us to the minibus. First impression of the city was that it was far more developed than I had imagined - I was told it was a shithole but it didn’t strike me as one. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and made our way to the monastery in town. After the communists had torn down the original monastery it was rebuilt complete with a massive 26 metre high gold painted Buddha inside. Very impressive! Next - out of town to the low lying mountains with views of the entire city. It was a bright sunny day and the misty smog added to the mystique. A top this mountain was a memorial to the brotherhood between Mongolia and Russia during WWII with fantastic images of Russian and Mongolian soldiers defeating Nazi Germany and the Japanese. It was my favourite attraction in UB. We had wanted to visit some of the other attractions in the city like the Natural History Museum but swine-flu paranoia had engulfed the place, which meant all public spaces and attractions were closed and a curfew of 9pm was in place for 2 weeks. So we were limited to going to the Mongolian Parliament, where a statue stood of the Man of the Century, Chinggis Khan. Not without reason was this man voted as the most important historical figure in history - an Empire that stretched from Eastern Europe to Indochina - his accomplishments advanced human civilisation like no other.

After a day of sightseeing and a few drinks in an Irish pub in the evening the next day we made our way to the countryside to the Ger camps 300km from UB for 3 nights. To sum it all up is difficult but the vast emptiness was crazy, the landscape dry and arid despite the temperatures still being around -10C and open skies with bright sunshine. Desert landscape but freezing! The journey to the first camp took 4 hours and half of it was offroad and very bumpy. The people running the Gers were friendly, welcoming and looked after us very well. The only downside to the camp was there was no running water, no possibility of having a shower as the showers had frozen up and longdrops for toilets. But despite this I enjoyed myself here. After one night in Bayangobi camp we went to the next camp in Kharkorin another 100km away. When we arrived it was as it was the day before; dry, sunny, cold. In the late evening after some traditional Mongolian music and throat singing, thick snow was falling and after 2 hours about 5cm had covered the ground. In the morning after a full night of heavy snow the whole place looked incredible. And what a contrast to the day before! It was almost unrecognisable but amazingly beautiful. It was a shame to leave the second camp as we had been drinking with the locals and they had treated us so well and wished us a pleasant stay in Mongolia and luck for the future. One day I will go back! But we made our way back to the first camp to spend the rest of the day riding horses and a camel around the countryside. Having never ridden a camel before I was so excited that it would be in these conditions but the temperature had dropped to at least -20C to -30C, the coldest it had been on our trip so far. Intense cold that made your knees freeze in the fixed position on the horse and dismounting was painful not only for the creaky frozen knees but also because the saddles were rock hard and too small. My nuts were like crushed ice! The nomad children were guiding us around and after an hour or so on the horses and camel we went back to their Ger and enjoyed some Mongolian hospitality. Some Mongolian tea (salty milk tea), mare’s milk which fermented naturally and was alcoholic(tasted like sour yoghurt) and two kinds of Mongolian biscuits, one was dough from goats milk and the other skimmed fat from the milk which had hardened and crumbled. Needless to say none of it was particularly appetising but the mare’s milk was the best of the lot.

Back to the Ger camp for one more night of drinking and our host getting a bit too drunk and angering his hot wife before leaving in the morning to head back to UB. I couldn’t have been happier with my stay at the camps. Despite the no showering for 3 or 4 days, the freezing temperatures and the over-kill on lamb based food, the people we stayed with and the views and immensity of the countryside was overwhelming. Plus i’m travelling i’m allowed to stink. Back to UB where the temperatures were still at -20C for a well deserved shower and some great Mongolian BBQ before heading for China the day after. How I was looking forward to China, where the food was plentiful and delicious and where lamb wouldn’t be the only thing on the menu. Thank you Mongolia!

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