At long last, after battling with the lack of Google in China, the terrible internet in Nepal and then a 4 day tummy bug- here it is- Mongolia!!
"Welcome to Mongolia- Everyone speak English here, we love you!" our Hostel Manager Mr Kim informed us as he picked us up from the Ulan Bator train station at the ungodly hour of 5am. We were whisked into a minibus and transported to what looked like the sort of place your Mother would hate you to walk near let alone sleep in! Luckily once we'd lugged our rucksacs up the stairs it was much nicer inside. We filled out all of the standard forms and talked about what we were hoping to do with our two weeks, then we were taken to the next door block of flats where we were shown into a small flat with two sets of bunk-beds, a kitchen, FRIDGE, bathroom and balcony. Apart from the very 70s curtains it was not too shabby and the beer cooling facilities were very much up to standard. After a short sleep and unpacking some of our things we realised that we were going to be treated to one of Mongolia's 252 sunny days a year! It was very warm and the whole city looked a lot less intimidating in the sunshine. Despite this we were repeatedly warned by Mr Kim and other hostel staff that UB was not safe, there are pickpockets, "we have man-sized rats here, you must lock the window, lock the door!" We're still not sure if he was insinuating that there were thieves or if there really were human-sized-rodents running around!
"Welcome to Mongolia- Everyone speak English here, we love you!" our Hostel Manager Mr Kim informed us as he picked us up from the Ulan Bator train station at the ungodly hour of 5am. We were whisked into a minibus and transported to what looked like the sort of place your Mother would hate you to walk near let alone sleep in! Luckily once we'd lugged our rucksacs up the stairs it was much nicer inside. We filled out all of the standard forms and talked about what we were hoping to do with our two weeks, then we were taken to the next door block of flats where we were shown into a small flat with two sets of bunk-beds, a kitchen, FRIDGE, bathroom and balcony. Apart from the very 70s curtains it was not too shabby and the beer cooling facilities were very much up to standard. After a short sleep and unpacking some of our things we realised that we were going to be treated to one of Mongolia's 252 sunny days a year! It was very warm and the whole city looked a lot less intimidating in the sunshine. Despite this we were repeatedly warned by Mr Kim and other hostel staff that UB was not safe, there are pickpockets, "we have man-sized rats here, you must lock the window, lock the door!" We're still not sure if he was insinuating that there were thieves or if there really were human-sized-rodents running around!
Our first job in Mongolia was to get enough money out for the things we wanted to do, like head into the Gobi desert, visit the Terelj National Park and eat something more delicious than Russia had had to offer. Amusingly the amount all three of us got out of the ATM came to 1.5 million togrogs, and although briefly millionaires by Mongolian standards, it was actually only about 260 pounds each! Oh well... By far the second most important thing we did on the first day was eat a platter of many different meats from the 'Modern Nomads' restaurant and buy large, ice cold beers for 50p. After a somewhat dismal and scary start, Mongolia was getting better and better.
Before setting off on our one-night trip to Terejl, we did a little bit of 'sploring around UB. We walked around most of the main sights and visited the Mongolian National History Museum. Now, first off it was only about a pound, so we weren't expecting much, however, it was so awful it went past being crap and became hilarious. It was essentially a crazy collection of terrible taxidermy and dinosaur bones (the only decent bit!) We had to stifle giggles at the birds in particular, they were all so manky and most of them were upside down or their feet were backwards. There was even a penguin with a strangely long neck- David Attenborough could have told them a thing or two! The final part of our museum experience was 'animals of the ocean' and included such gems as poorly stuffed sharks and blow-fish with stick on googly eyes! Hilarious! Well worth a pound.
Rich pondering the beauty of the landscape, or considering what the future holds, or maybe just hoping Kaz won't notice how much his feet smell... :P
So... Now for the serious stuff. On Wednesday 11th we bundled into another questionably maintained minibus and set off for Terelj, accompanied by two Korean girls, a Korean guy, a Canadian English teacher who was living in Korea (more about him in the Gobi), a Chilean Doctor living in China and a silent French guy who sang to himself. We had been allocated a guide of sorts in the form of a 16 yr old Mongolian girl called Nomi. As we left the city you realised just how big it was. As it peetered out towards the edges you could see all the ger camps with their bright white tents and colourful wooden poles. As soon as we arrived at our ger camp we dumped our bags and headed straight up the nearest hill to get a good view of the landscape. We climbed up
onto some of the huge gritty rocks that were scattered all across the green hillsides and enjoyed the cool breeze that hadn't quite reached us when we had been down in the valley. On our return back down we ate mutton, rice, potatoes and carrots (the first of many mutton meals!) and weirdly- sushi!
After lunch we had another little 'splore in the other direction whilst we waited for the horses to return and go for a ride around the area. If I'm honest I was dreading it, as Mr Kim had said "horse is good animal, BUT it is still animal" Anything that has eyes that big can't be trusted if you ask me (and that includes cows, which we proved in Nepal!). As it turned out the hour or so that we went riding for wasn't a terrible ordeal at all, and apart from a slightly uncomfortable length to my stirrups- I didn't hate it, it was actually quite fun! We did a huge circuit around one of the hills before running back to the ger camp. This bit WAS scary, but in a good way and we were giggling and laughing all the way to dinner after the adrenaline rush. Unsurprisingly dinner was more mutton with pasta and carrots and after we'd eaten we headed back to our ger where we lit candles, drank vodka and apple juice and played cards with the rest of the group. A memorable moment was Yohanne, our crazy French aquaintance, acting out scenes from Monty Python's 'Holy Grail' to Mauritz, from Chile- who clearly hadn't got a clue what all this "African swallow or European swallow? I told them we already got one!" and "Ni! Ni!" was all about. Very funny for us though!
We arrived back in UB by midday the next day and after a brief wash were back in the van, with Canadian Michael and on our way to the Gobi desert. This time our guide, Tugsuu, was a little bit older and a little bit more qualified and our driver, Ott, was a no-nonsense Dad type who had an infectious laugh seemed like he'd be fun too! The plan was:
- Day 1: Erdenedalay Village
- Day 2: Bayanzag and The Flaming Cliffs
- Day 3: The sand dunes and camel riding
- Day 4: The Ice Valley and Dalanzadgad town (shower available!)
- Day 5: Tsagaan Suvarga, The White Mountain
- Day 6: Rock formation (??) and Buddhist ruins
Each day would involve driving for about 5 hours and for about 200km, we did a lot of sleeping, looking out of the windows and listening to Ott's mix tape of The Pussy-Cat Dolls, Kelly Clarkson, Leona Lewis, The Black eyed Peas and other auditory delights- all of which he'd sing along to with gusto and sometimes with Tugsuu too! Because we were travelling such large distances each day the landscape would be completely different from the morning to the evening. All very different, all very beautiful and all very fun to walk around. Each evening we were meant to sleep in a 'tourist ger' which was the same external structure as the families gers but only kitted out with beds, a table and a mirror or a chair if we were lucky. The family would bring us food in the evening and for breakfast and flasks of hot water to make tea or coffee.
The ger we randomly went inside to make lunch when it was too windy to cook. The family had gone to the next village and got stuck there due to a sand-storm. They returned as we were eating and didn't bat an eyelid to the fact we were sat on their floor and using their cutlery! Very bizarre!
However, lovely as this was- we got lucky on the first night and didn't make it far enough to get to our tourist ger camp. Sounds bad, we were in the middle of nowhere and couldn't see another ger anywhere in any direction but after another 15 mins driving Ott pulled up to some gers to ask for some floorspace for the night. After a few polite refusals we came across a tiny ger, again- in the middle of nowhere, no other gers in sight, just a small herd of goats and some horses tethered to a washing line. The family inside quietly welcomed us in and after Ott had made us all at home issuing orders in Mongolian left right and centre, the Father offered us a some of the dairy foodstuffs that they produced from their goats. We tried a hard, sharp tasting cheese called 'aro' that was a lot like Parmesan (amusingly we later realised all three of us had put it into our coat pockets after a couple of bites!). We tried a kind of fizzy yoghurt with sugar which required us to lick the bowl once we'd finished. And we tried 'urom' and 'eezgeii', a delicious clotted cream that we ate on biscuits and a weird hard cheese cluster that would have broken our teeth if Tugsuu hadn't warned us. Needless to say the cream on biscuits was mine and Kaz's favourite and we ate way more of it than is probably healthy- doubled our cholesterol in one morning for sure!
The Mongolian family who took us in on the first night, and our guide Tugsuu in the red T-shirt.
Another perk to our impromptu 'real' Mongolian experience was playing with the children. The family had five children, two were away at University in the city and the remaining children aged 19, 16 and 13 helped with the animals when they weren't at school in the village. They took us to see their goats on an old motorbike, we watched them milk them and used a half-binocular (monocular??) to watch the sun set. After that we played basketball in the dark until it got too cold to move then piled back inside to get ready for bed. There was only two beds in the ger, the parents took one and Tugsuu took the other. Ott, me, Rich, Kaz, Michael and the three children took the floor space- and there wasn't much of that! There was some pretty intense spooning going on but considering the temperature, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing!
The Flaming Cliffs, up close these were very red and it was VERY windy- cue Kaz fashioning a sort of Arab head-dress out of her multi-coloured electro scarf. Very trad-Mongolian darling...
Kaz enjoying the luxurious decor (check out the bling on the clock!)
Me, Rich and Kaz having a lovely time in the sand-dunes. This was before we took 45 mins to clamber up and 2 mins to run down! Very hot but very beautiful- definately my favourite part of our journey through the Gobi Desert.
The smelly, horrible, poo-covered camels! Maybe my least-favourite part of our trip!
All in all, a very exciting journey through a brilliant and changing landscape, made all the more awesome by our guide Tugsuu and driver Ott, who were a credit to their country. We left Mongolia feeling very happy to have seen so many beautiful things, to have had so many valuable experiences and feeling thoroughly well looked after. I'd recommend a visit to Mongolia to anyone, it was so different to anywhere else and with so many natural sights to explore in the sunshine, it'd keep anyone busy and glad to be outdoors.
Goodbye Mongolia, thank you for our lovely time!
Nice to read your recounting of our Gobi trip. It's too bad about the shit covered camels. After you guys left I hit central mongolia and the camels we rode there were clean and healthy. We also didn't have any rude little boys pretending to fart on them. Our guides were friendly and actually engaged us in conversation with the little english they knew, telling us about the camels (age and personalities) and their lives in the mini-Gobi. After a while they boys handed us the ropes and said "Back, front, left right" and let us go wherever we wished. It was a great time. Near the end of my ride Yuta (a man from Japan I was traveling with) and I came upon a Ger that was full of song. They urged us to come inside and instantly shoved a coffee mug (yes, a mug) full of Chinggis vodka in our faces, followed by aereg. Then they informed us that it was their little girl's birthday and I should give her money. The little giurl had no clue what was happening and I suspected everyday was her birthday during tourist season, but it was fun. Finally our Mongolian guide found us, ducked through the entrance to the Ger and whispered "get outta there!". So we made our escape. Wish you'd been there. (We also rode horses with a cool old guy who put us to work herding his sheep and then knocked me onto my ass in a sumo wrestling match).
ReplyDeleteFollowing your travels. Love the blog.
Michael (The Michael who defamed the poor cute little Gobi Kangaroo Rats by implying they had plague)