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Published: November 14th 2007
Greetings from the land of spitting, chopsticks and babies wearing ass-less pants a.k.a China! Sorry I haven't written in such a long time, but next time that happens just remember that I'm probably not writing because I'm just having too much fun. So let me give you guys a little summary of what I've been up too since my last posting.
I spent a couple days hanging out in UB trying to help Katya get her visa problem sorted out so we could hang out in Mongolia a little longer. Luckily she got it all sorted out so we decided to book a trip to the Gobi desert. We went to UB guesthouse which organizes cheap tours of Mongolia for poor backpackers such as ourselves and fortunately for us, the owner happened to be sitting down with a bunch of British boys to discuss trips with them. We joined the meeting and before long Katya and I were signed up to go on a 6 day trip with 3 Brits (Ben, Mark and Matt) and one American guy (Dan). A few days later, we loaded up our backpacks, tons of snacks, water and vodka and headed off into western Mongolia with our driver Baatar (his name means "hero" in Mongolian, how cool is that). We bumped and bobbed around for hours everyday in our lovely old russian van, staying in gers and eating, you guessed it, mutton. Lots and lots of mutton. Yum, yum!
Between our bumping and bouncing and mutton eating, we got to see and experience some pretty neat-o (that's right, I said neat-o) stuff. Since we didn't get to go to the 'real' Gobi desert, we stopped at the 'mini' Gobi instead. It was a couple sand dunes, some bones, a few vodka bottles and one rather cute dog which looked like it got in a fight with a can of paint. Not the real deal but I got some good pics at any rate. We also went to the old capital city of Mongolia, Kharkhorin (or Karakorum), and visited the Erdene Zuu Khiid monastery, the oldest monastery in Mongolia in fact. We admired the 108 large stupas that surrounded the grounds, walked through lots of temples and even did a little souvenir shopping. Dan, the American guy, bought 50 or so items before we physically removed him from the shopping area and put him in the van for his own safety.
We also got the experience the joys of a public bath house in Mongolia which was actually rather nice, hot and clean. However, not knowing what to expect at a public bath house in the Mongolian countryside led to some interesting speculations before hand. Is it better to shower or stay dirty? Is the water going to be hot, lukewarm, or come with ice cubes in it? How 'public' is this public bath house? It all turned out fine and we left feeling squeaky clean!
The outhouses in Mongolia are an experience as well. The five star rated ones have four sides, a roof and a complete floor expect right in the middle where one board is missing so you can do your duty. The three to four star ones have no roof, three sides and same floor as above. The one and two star ones have no roof, usually three sides (with holes in them so big you wonder why there is even a wall) and any where between one to two boards on the floor for you to stand on. You have to watch your step on these ones or it's not gonna be pretty. That is the general ratings scale in my book but outhouses can get half stars earned or deducted for other unique characteristics. Such as some have two 'toilets' or as I like to say, are double wide so you can go with a friend. Some of the three sided ones get extra points for the lovely view and some even come with a dog that will invite himself into the rather small outhouse to keep you company (I did not get to experience this but one of the guys did). However, my favorite outhouse I saw was constructed from three tires which had one cut through them allowing them to be wrapped around three stakes in a "C" shape and stacked on top of each other creating a nice roadside potty. Gotta love the diversity and ingenuity which goes into the construction of Mongolian outhouses.
Enough potty talk.
So the highlight of the trip was staying at Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur, which for those of you who don't understand Mongolian, basically translates into "The Great White Lake". When we arrived it was dumping snow and it was absolutely beautiful! We ran down to the lake and then ran onto it because it was frozen a good 60 meters out. We ran around on the ice and then played some Frisbee on the shore. It was the best Frisbee game of my life. Everything around us was covered with snow, the full moon was rising over the mountains, and the yaks were singing us their 'sweet' songs. Perfect! The next day was even more exciting as we got to go on a real Mongolian horseback ride. And to experience a real Mongolian horseback ride, you have to dress like a real Mongolian so they outfitted all of us with our own dell's. They are pretty much like long overcoats complete with a lovely sash that wraps around your waist and are extremely warm. Once we looked the part, we hopped on our noble stead's and where off. Our guide was a rather interesting guy with a nice smile that showed all of his teeth, all six of them. Even though three of the boys had never so much had sat on a horse before, it didn't stop our guide from smacking all of our horses on the bums with a big stick so that they would gallop. Luckily, we soon figured out how to make them go on our own so as to spare ourselves the little leap in the air our horses did every time they were smacked on the bum. I had a very nice horse who did not need to be smacked on the bum because every time he saw the guide getting close to us he would quickly get out of his way. I was also glad to be on my horse and not behind it. It got the nickname flatulent Fred because every time he broke into a trot interesting noises and smells arose from his back end. I found it quite amusing trotting along with a fart accompanying every step but who ever was behind me didn't find it so funny.
While on our horseback riding expedition, we got to take a couple stops to let our bodies have a rest from all of the jolting. We climbed up an old volcano, admired the large lava flow which spanned across the valley and climbed down to check out the cinder cone inside. My favorite stop, however, was an ice cave. Our guide went running down into the cave and then slide across the ice in his boots with a huge 6 tooth bearing grin on his face. We all played on the ice, slide around, played hockey with rocks and took a few photos. It was the best horse riding adventure I'd ever had.
After the White Lake expedition, we headed back towards UB which took two days of pretty much solid driving. One of the days was Ben's 30th birthday (he's one of the Brit's). We celebrated it as best we could in the mongolian countryside with canned plums and chocolate cake for dessert and a couple bottles of vodka. Nothing too exciting but I have a feeling he had a good time.
After we got back to UB, nothing exciting happened. Just did some errands and hopped on a train to China which is a whole new blog entry in itself. Sorry this one is so long, hopefully I kept it mildly entertaining. Hope you all are doing well! Hugs from China!
PS Sorry there aren't any pics up. It has proven very difficult to find an internet cafe that has a decent connection sped, will open up the blog site and has a CD drive or USB port so I can put up pics.
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jessica
non-member comment
Stinky Farts
I was starting to wonder about you but I figured you were off on some amazing trip to the Gobi!! The horse ride sounds a bit interesting although I don't think it's fair for you to blame your stinky farts on the poor horse. It's ok we love you and accept you even with your stinky farts :) Now that you are in China I am waiting for my phone call...that cd better be put to good use. Well take care and be safe. Love ya Jess