Advertisement
Published: July 18th 2011
Edit Blog Post
Pat and I just returned to the town of Ulgii in Western Mongolia after an adventure in the countryside. A real adventure too.. We started in the town of Khovd, where we flew from UB. Pat's friend Mike from Flagstaff had arrived in UB just a couple days prior - so it was the 3 of us. We were met in Khovd by a small (no joke - he is tiny) 20 year old guy named Nurbal - by the way - Western Mongolia is mostly Khazak, as is Nurbal. Khazak culture is super interesting and incredibly hospitable folks. Nurbal served as our translator sort of guide type person (not guide for rivers - that's Pat's role). Nurbal had tons of energy and was super excited to be working with us. Mike taught him the expression "bust a move", which Nurbal loved to use - it was pretty funny. Our driver at that time was a man named Bek - who drove the ubiquitous Russian 4 wheel drive van the Furgan - it's a beast. We had a cook named Makha on board as well. The beast of a van is absolutely necessary in these parts as all travel is pretty
much cross country. I realized that out of all the traveling I have done, I have never been in such remote parts - absolutely gorgeous. There was a lot of driving - bumpy rides is putting it mildly. Pat and Mike were kayaking - and I a bit of duckying (inflatable kayak).
One of the most adventurous points (now I can call it adventure - as it ended o.k. with everyone safe) was when we went to make a river crossing in the Furgan - Bek and Nurbal made the final decision that they thought it to be o.k. to cross. I had very different thoughts though - as I know Pat and Mike did too. The water looked too deep, but we crossed anyway, after not enough examination. We did not make it acrosss - half way across the river, the inside of the van started to fill with smoke as the engine became submerged. Pat was already out of the van, on top trying to secure a rope to the front of the van to pull us out. Makha and I were in the back and as water started to come in the van, our eyes locked
with intense fear. All of a sudden I heard Pat frantically scream from the top of the van "Becky get the fuck out of the van!" This got my attention and snapped me out of my paralyzed frozen state. The concern at that point was that the van might roll, which could have been deadly. I exited from the front driver side as the water was getting high and the passenger side was upsteam. Both Makha and I made it to shore with the assistance of Bek. Pat was furiously working still to try and get a rope attached to the front of the van - then he rigged a z-drag and had us all pull - the prussex snapped the first time - he rigged it again and then the rope snapped - along with the windshield exploding as that was the only place in that moment of emergency to tie the rope - through the front windows. So - we realized were weren't going to be able to pull the van out, and then worked on anchoring the ropes to hopefully prevent the van from being carried downstream as the water continued to rise. In the meantime, Nurbal
had put my running shoes on and started to run to the closest place to find help - about 25 kilometers away. We started to gather wood for a fire, as we figured we might be there for the night - and slowly retrieved our valuables, such as money, passports, Mike's insulin for diabetes and other belongings out of the van. I was feeling bad for Bek as he had to watch the pitiful site of his van stuck in the middle of the river, windshield blown out, water continuing to rise - I can't believe it didn't get carried downstream. Nurbal returned about 3 hours later, with literally bloody feet - and a monster truck to pull the van out. This process was quite an event as well - but the van was resurrected from the river - then they worked on trying the dry the distributor out and drain the oil - and other things that I didn't fully understand. Amazingly, the van got started after about 3 more hours of such work - and our crew got back in - and drove - no windshield - it was bizaare. However, the van couldn't quite make it, and
Nurbol's niece
She was adorable - her name is Aikon we attached the van to the back of the monster truck and got pulled the rest of the way (this was pretty gnarly in itself, as the road conditions are almost still nonexistent roads and up some big bumpy hills) to Nurbal's sister's ger - and arrived there at about 3am. His sister and family were so incredibly sweet and the following day of rest was very welcomed , as Bek tore his engine apart, drying parts and installing new starter. We got an oppurtunity to get to know the village of Bulgan, where Nurbal's sister lives. Mike is a Dr. in Flagstaff and he had brought some big bottles of anti-biotics to donate to a local clinic somewhere - so we visited the clinic - met the local Docs and got a nice tour and they were incredibly appreciative of the meds. In the meantime, word had spread in the community that a Dr. from the U.S. was in town and Mike had a line of patients that he briefly saw at the family's ger presenting themselves with a variety of ailments. Not much he could do for them in such short time and Mike encouraged them to see
their local Dr. for care.
In sum, to not make this story any longer, we ended up with a new driver and van as Bek was not able to get a windshield in time. New driver was Zugaa with another Furgan. The rest of the trip was relatively speaking less adventurous, but definitely not lacking, as continued through essentially roadless canyons and landscapes, breathtaking scenery, meeting local herders, and of course can't forget the purpose of the trip, kayaking. In the meantime in the past week and a half or so, Pat and I have been in Ulgii with some nice downtime. We were here for the local national holiday and festival of Naadam, which involves wrestling, horse racing, and archery. We have been staying at a sweet little ger camp with our own private ger - run by an incredibly hospitable family. In a few days, Pat and I will head overland across Mongolia - again with Bek with new windshield and explore more rivers, meet an American guy we met in UB and return to UB by August 3 - in time for me to do a short teaching gig for 3 weeks and make a little
cash. I will be sure to post some pictures from our recent adventure before we head out again on Wednesday.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.373s; Tpl: 0.021s; cc: 11; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0505s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
pat
non-member comment
true dat!
It all sounds a lot more, and less, exciting than it was- if that makes any sense!? definitely mongolian river adventures...