A Journey into Mongolia

Day 42 - 06/07/2010 - 18:49 - Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

We've just been and visited many sites over central Mongolia in the last 4 days and all I can say is wow - what an epic adventure we've had. We've just checked into Golden Gobi Guesthouse properly - are staying in a nice comfy room with a big TV.

and fridge (surprised!) and are going to just go out for a meal tonight and chill out - we are both absolutely knackered but have had the best days of the trip so far!

Here is my travel write up from the excursion!

Day 01 (Day 39)

We rolled into Ulaanbaatar at about 06:05 in the morning (as punctual as ever) and were met outside our carriage door by two staff from Golden Gobi - one holding a sign saying "Welcome to Mongolia - Tom Coe" - I thought that would be for us then!

They took us to the guesthouse (where we are staying currently) and very kindly gave us breakfast and let us use the showers both of which were greatfully received after a long stint on the train.

The place looked nice (the main building) but were yet to see where we were staying as there was an apartment block with more rooms which is where we are staying now.

We set off for our great adventure at 8am on the dot - meeting our guide Oogii and driver Zorgio shortly before setting off - both seem nice - Zorgio only spoke a bit of English but he still seemd very friendly. Oogii was very pleasant from the off - we'd realised by that point that she was the one that made us a cup of tea on arrival - very nice of her!

Our itenary altered ever so slightly from the one we had on paper - our first stop was Hustai national park (supposed to be visited on day 3) around 150km from Ulaanbaatar (UB). The national park is famous for its reintroduction of the Pretzwile horse into the Mongolian countryside. We watched a video about it, looked at a couple of exhibits and then set off with our guide and driver to find them!

It did look like we were not going to see one until near the very end when we started to turn back - Laura spotted 2 on top of a hill, one domestic, one Pretzwile were near the top of the hill. There was another domestic horse too out of sight until we got closer. We also saw lots of insects, eagles and marmots (I did not get a picture of the latter unfortunately - they were rather evasive!

We then made our way along the long (and rather bumpy) road to Kharakorum - Oogii calls it a Mongolian massage! - stopping off for lunch in a cafe where there was mutton and rice all around. We had a traditional mongolian tea with it to drink - our guide explained that there was cows milk, goats milk and sheeps milk in it as well as a small amount of green tea - it was very milky but pretty good.

We didn't get to Kharakorum until the early evening, with brief stops for toilet breaks (either a hut with a hole in the ground or in the middle of nowhere). We did also stop when we saw some vultures flying around a village, got a few good photos of that!

When we arrived, it was too late to see the monestary inside the old Kharakorum city site, so we stopped at a guesthouse just around the corner from it in the town of Harhorin - you could see the old city wall from the entrance to the guesthouse we were staying in. As in true Mongolia, all the rooms in the guesthouse were outdoor Gers - a traditional home for a nomadic family. We had our own ger and were left to it by Oogii apart from the occassional time when she bought us hot water and tea - that evening we had "camping food" as I like to call it - pasta, sausages, salad etc.

Laura and I were playing cards after tea until around 8pm when an old Mongolian man knocked on the door of our ger. He introduced himself in brilliant English and asked where we were from. He told us he was playing traditional mongolian music at 9pm in another ger for about £3 each. We decided to go along, even though we didn't have any Mongolian money - he said USD would be fine. He was absolutely amazing - he played 3 instruments, mongolian flute, harp and some sort of string and bow instrument. Only 3 of us watched it - me, Laura and this guy from Japan - we were all amazed. It was a fantastic end to a great first full day in the Mongolian countryside!

Day 02 (Day 40)

We slept really well. Oogii bought us breakfast at 8:30am - an assortment of pastries, pancakes, fruit etc. as well as tea and coffee.

After we had packed up (and Laura had had a shower, they had campsite like facilities) we headed around the corner to the ancient city of Kharakorum where we saw all of the temples and monestaries. It was beautiful and so tranquil - walled by fantastic white obelisks in every direction. We saw some monks praying, as well as all the artwork on display. We'd had finished there by 11am, and headed back towards UB - stopping off at phallic rock, a monument to a buddhist monk who wanted to marry - I think the monument is a timely reminder to other monks - what happens when you sever that vow, something else gets severed!

We spent a lot less time on the road today, which we were greatful for and we got to our destination - a nomadic family living in the semi desert area between UB and Harhorin in the early afternoon. We were welcomed into the lounge type ger, they had 4 in total and given Mongolian yoghurt, which was very nice - it tasted a bit like greek yoghurt. Oogii prepared lunch shortly after, a type of broth (Mongolian of course!) and it was very nice, just the incredibly hot weather made it difficult to eat - only Oogii knows how difficult it must have been to make in the heat!!

During the day Oogii asked if I wrestled (a traditional mongolian sport) - I said no I didn't chuckling because I thought it was quite funny. She then said it was because I was strong which was why she asked - a bit more chuckling to myself - and then she said because I was fat. I suddenly stopped chuckling. I know what she meant, I am a lot bigger (height, width and shoulder/arm size) than all the Mongolian men I've met but yeah, I took it in a Western context!! Nevermind, I know she was being complimentary.

We were given the afternoon to rest, ahead of our ride on the camels. It would have been too hot for us and the camels to ride them at 3-4pm, so we waited until about half 6. A man delivered the camels to the dad of the nomadic family, and he took us out on them. It was great fun, and the sand dunes were amazing - my camel was a little bit tempremental - so much the man gave me a stick to beat it with if it misbehaved! I had to use it a little, not hard though and he seemed to walk a little bit quicker, for about a minute, before slowing down again! We stopped off at these rocks, where ancient paintings were located on them, and then headed back - this time I had the camel Laura had, and Laura had another one - another group were nearby and had finished with the camels, so they gave Laura the quiet one! I was actually allowed to be in complete control of my camel on the way back and it went rather well, though he sat down twice!

When we got back Oogii was preparing tea, Mongolian dumplings - Laura sat with her and one of the dauthers of the family and helped make them. They were very nice. Mongolian families seem fairly "traditional" in the sense that the womans place is the kitchen. It was a nice day but the only downside for me was the lack of time spent with the family. We stayed in a "spare ger" and it seemed to be a case of here is a spare room, enjoy! Bar the yoghurt, camel riding and the dumpling making, there was very little interaction with the family - they occassionally came over and told their dog off for coming into our ger - but he was very friendly, we didn't mind too much!

We went to bed pretty early again because of the heat exhausting us and slept very well again!

Day 03 (Day 41)

So day three, we knew we we would be travelling a very long way - from 350km to UB and then another 70 or so to the other side, to near Terelj National Park. Seeing Hustai national park on the first day left us with nothing of particular mention on the itenary to do which in hindsight was a good idea! As we were packing this time it was Zorgio asking me if I was a wrestler because he said I was "very strong". No mention of fat this time, I was a lot bigger (shoulders and arms) than him, which is where it probably stemmed from! We left at 09:30 and as we were getting in the car, the mother of the family said to Oogii that we all looked the same! Oh, OK I thought - I'm never going to feel bad now when I can't differentiate between oriental people in the future!

On the road on the way back, I could quite easily remember where we stopped for lunch, and where we stopped for breaks. We did pause a couple of times, once to photograph some cranes I had saw hanging around near the road. The nature and variety in Mongolia is amazing, I really enjoyed it for just how many different types of birds there were - and best of all NO PIDGEONS! We stopped for lunch on a hill somewhere around 80km from UB. Oogii had made these AWESOME fried pastry things, with potato onion and carrots in - we had it with salad too and it was very nice. We then got back in the car and continued on towards our stop for the night, another nomadic family outside of Terelj national park. On the way to UB, we took a turning off the road onto one of the many dirt tracks that have been seemlessly created by continued driving over them. I guess you could call it the UB bypass, it felt like a lot longer than 80km though! We did, on the way see some horse racers preparing for the Naddam Festival on the 11-13th July (one of the 3 sports with archery and wrestling). They were having a race through the countryside, I got some good pictures.

The early evening had arrived and we had still not reached our destination. We looked like we were lost. We were circling the same places and fields and stopping to ask families where they were. We eventually met another Golden Gobi tour group (which I presume was planned because of the time that Oogii and Zorgio were on their phones), who took us to a nomadic family where there were just 2 gers.

The tour group was a French man travelling on his own tour (with guide and driver). We were staying there for the night with him, which it was quite nice to be able to have a conversation with someone else in a good standard of English. He had lived in China for quite a while before coming to Mongolia, and was heading back to France via the Trans-siberian as his contract was up.

I found this family to be much more hospitable than the other in the sense that they spent more time with us. They offered us milk tea on arrival in their lounge type ger (where we were sleeping). The ger had a wind powered generator and they had a satellite TV with DVD player in it - they had BBC World to which our French friend stated "You guys get everywhere". I found that quite funny - he clearly hadn't been to Russia yet! It was great though, he gave us lots of useful tips on China and Hong Kong, and we tried to tell him a bit about Russia! We had tea together, with his guide and driver as well - the family and Oogii had prepared this Mongolian stir fry, with lamb meat of course, but it had been dried, and therefore was quite smoky and very nice!

After tea we both played football with the boys (the family had 4 teenage boys, as well as 2 younger boys). I took the football game as a good opportunity to get my football (and one NBA) shirts out that myself and my uncle had provided. I had been carrying them all the way through Europe but I'd found a good home for them, a family with lots of boys who liked football! They took them, after Oogii explained that they were a gift and said thank you very much, in English, which was very nice. Somewhere in central Mongolia is a family with an Aston Villa, Plymouth Argyle and Bristol City shirts (guess who didn't provide the latter 2!) They also had a little girl 2, who was very curious in the 3 westerners staying in her home!

It was a very enjoyable evening and I was very tired by the end of it! I scored 1 goal that I can recall, a very simple tap in off the post, a Tom Coe goal.

The only downside was the lack of sleep really. It rained for a good part of the night, and because of that, bugs galore tried to get into the ger, some falling on me during my sleep. Coupled with the fact I was on the floor with no real mat benath me and above the floor - it was quite a rough night. Nevermind. I really enjoyed myself tonight. Oogii said that they family from Western Mongolia are more Kazakh in origin and because of such, do not use furniture as much. I didn't mind it, I had read a lot about the traditions in gers, and many involved food on the floor etc, so it felt just as authentic, if not more so than the previous night. A great day, despite all the travelling!

Day 04 (Day 42)

The next day we left again at a reasonable time, around 9:30am/10am. We stopped first at the Chiggis Kahn complex, a new and still partially under construction tourist resort where the centrepiece is a GIANT metal statue of Chiggis Kahn on a museum - which we visited. It wasn't on our itenary so had to pay for it, but it was worth it.

After that we headed for Terelj national park, which maybe took around half an hour. Zorgio dropped us off at Turtle rock and Oogii explained that we were going to walk to meet them. So off they drove and we both had a pleasant walk through part of Terelj, it was pretty hot though - the only downside! It was a beautiful park, filled with amazing hills, crazy rock formations and strange insects - there is a buttefly type creature which rattles when it flies that lives there!

We made the journey to the ger we were having lunch in at a reasonable time. We sat inside, recovering from the heat. We were going horse riding in the afternoon, which we were both looking forward too. Whilst in the ger, we gave our contact details to Oogii, as she gave us hers yesterday. She warmed quite a bit to Laura it seemed, which was very nice. We got pictures with them both ealier in the day too, which we will cherish with fond memories. Our guide and driver made the trip that bit more special.

So in the afternoon we went horse riding. Laura managed to get some free reign of the horse, whereas I didn't. I think it was because she had some previous experience I don't know. We rode up to the top of the hill from where our lunch stop ger was - there was a monestary up a path into the cliff face from the top of the hill. My guide (who was about 8 years old) took me up there, Laura gave up part way up, he gave up a little further, but I made it to the top. The monestary was closed, but the building itself was impressive enough for the walk, and so was the view back down the hill over Terelj. Very nice.

We then rode back the same way, via a trip to the top of another hill. It was rather pleasant, but not as fun as the camel riding as I didn't get free reign. My horse was very obidient and I reckon I would have been OK - but I appreciate horses are dangerous compared to camels so accept it.

When we got back I had a chat with one of the guys on the camp who I think worked/lived there. He asked where I was from, to which I replied Birmingham. He said, "Ah, Birmingham City" - I said. No, Aston Villa! He laughed and he said "Oh OK!"

We soon after made our way back to UB, me napping in the car on the way back owing to my lack of sleep and the very strong heat (again) exhausting me.

We got back to UB at about 5pm and checked into our room which was nice. We said goodbye to our new friends, Oogii and Zergioand gave them $20 tip each, which we hope was adequate for the excellent time we had! We also saw our French friend who was leaving for Irkutsk in the evening, he took our blog address down!

What a trip, what a four days - we will never, never forget it!