Taking to Mongolia like Ghenggis Khaan

Heard some more reports coming back from moscow that lots of people were on respirators. Over 120 people had died from the smoke and pollution and heat and one guy said at his hostel, two tourists collapsed.


8/13 Leon and I went out for some pizza and pasta. Even western food is really cheap here and this is basically the last stop for western food until Denver at the end of january. Hadn't really thought about this but the mongolian's running the guesthouse were telling everyone this, so we decided we must go get some. We then went for some Chenggis (how his name is spelled here) beer at a place with good life music that was like the mongolian version of the strokes.


8/14 Started my 6 day desert tour to the Gobi. I would be travelling in a russian jeep (think commi van except souped up with big tires, high clearance, 4WD) with a driver, a translator (Ahmra, a math teacher during the winter) and a couple from Belgium. Elise who is from France but actually works at a university in maastricht (holland) (near where jenn's aunt lives so I have actually been there) teaching EU law and Pavlo from Poland but working for the EU in Brussels. They were really cool, and I had actually met them on the train from Irkutsk to Ulan Ude and they were impressed to see that I survived the vodka barage on that train. We had a lot of fun together and for some reason they really enjoyed my humour and were always laughing. We did a good job of playing off each other. And we had an especially fun time with our jokes at the lonely planet's expense. And we had a funny joke going around about the different nationalities and their picture taking preferences. For example, the Japanese always making sure they are in the picture, never smiling, and if under a certain age, throwing the peace sign. Koreans, snapping at everything in a hurried rush. But the russians, the girls especially would have their pictures taken in strange and often sort of sexy poses at these gorgeous sights and buildings. Of course the buildings were never in the picture and in fact the background was usually an ugly wall or something. I said I found this strange. Pavlo said that "it was bc in russia, the women are the object. Perhaps this is why you are travelling alone without a lady friend young man" I also really appreciated them bc although they normally spoke french, they always spoke english, even to each other, for my sake. They have been living together for 7 years, but just got engaged on top of a mountain in patagonia last year. They get 6 week paid vacation every year so they try to do an active vacation for 6 weeks every year (trekking in egypt, trekking in morrocco, mtn climbing in argentina, trekking in china). We were also for the first 3 days going with a group of 3 french guys and french gal who were on a year long trip around the world trip.
So one of the first things you hear about mongolia is the food. Basically they are nomadic herders, so they don't have vegetables. They subsist on mainly mutton with some cheese products from horse milk. There normal food is mutton stew which is a broth with some fatty mutton and bones. Where does all the good meat go? Sometimes they eat something called buuz which is a dumpling, but only in the city. In the end though Ahmra went shopping and got some vegetables and pasta and rice while we were in Ulaan Baatar (UB) to supplement the meager meat soups. One of the best lines of the trip was from one of the french guys, as they too of course had heard about the mongolian food. [spoken in thick french accent] "For the french, cuisine and taste is everything. When we heard mongolian food is just about survival, we were like oh F*ck." For Pavlo, who grew up in Poland, he said there meals consisted of 90% meat and 10% bread. Nothing else (he would get along great with dad). But of course our meals had tiny tiny portions of meat, if anything and lots of vegetables that Ahmra brought. So the poor guy hardly ate anything and Elise and I got fat eating off his food so that Ahmra wouldn't feel bad. Meals were interesting though. Breakfast usually consisted of some sort of vegetable soup and a hot salad. The french couldn't understand why they just wouldn't give them some jam and bread! Pavlo had gotten an ameoba while trekking in morocco, which actually reared itself while he was in New York 6 months later. It took Columbia med a while to figure out what it was b/c they hadn't asked about exotic travel 6 months earlier, so he spent 2 weeks in the hospital of columbia and reported on a very good medical experience unlike what the europeans are led to believe occurs in America. And for all the surgery (on his liver) and days inthe ER and hospital he only had to pay 35 euros bc of his good insurance. Anyways, bc of this bad illness from eating foreign food, he now takes a shot of vodka after every meal to kill whatever is in it. I didn't hesitate to join in on this thing for my health and am thinking about taking up his tradition while in India.
The trip would be a lot of driving, which I didn't mind bc it was always through amazing scenery, and the driving in itself was fun b/c it was a mix of 4wd and dirt road rallying. The guy driving crazy fast on these wild dirt roads. The reason for the long rides was two fold. Mongolia is a large country, bigger than two texas' but mainly bc there roads are so bad. The country has less than 300 miles of paved road (pot holed) and over 100 of that is the one the russians made to go from UB to the russian border. So on our whole trip of 1000+ km's, we were on paved roads for about 35kms. The roads in the steppe are terrible. Muddy, big holes, ditches, etc. OFten it was better to just go off the road and into the grass. In the desert there were really no roads and the driving was faster bc you just drive across desert.
Something that was so amazing about mongolia was its vastness. So much empty space. Europeans I had met before were just so overwhelmed with the landscape and open space. I took these claims lightly bc europeans exaggerate a lot when it comes to nature things bc europe is so crowded and devoid of wildlands. But even me, who has driven multiple times from Colorado to Idaho via Wyoming and Utah and between Colorado and Tucson going through New Mexico and Zona was simply amazed. The open space is just unreal. I-80 or I-25 through wyoming appears crowded compared to mongolia. Mongolia has the lowest population density in the world at 1 person per 3 sq km's. Now consider that over half the population (1 mil) live in UB and another large portion living in the province capitals and you can see how it would be empty. No buildings ever, no trees (for 6 days), and on occassion a few gers (yurts). It was cool to drive by herds of horses, flocks of sheep and goats, and the occassional herd of cows. What is cool is that there are no fences here either, so the animals appear to be in the wild. Very healthy looking and happy. It is great to drive by them as they run around in the green green grass. In the mongolian lonely planet guide book, they actually give locations of ger camps (for sleeping) and sights in GPS coordinates. Just bc there aren't really roads or signs or people. You just have to have a good driver or a GPS.
The first day was pouring still in UB, but as we went south the sun gradually came out and we soon saw why they call mongolia blue sky country. The first day we drove 200km's (125 miles) in 6 hours including rest stops to arrive at Baga Gazryn Chulu a thriving metropolis of 4 gers, and about 6 people. The whole drive was through the mongolian steppe. It's the wet season so the roads were muddy and the grass very green and the horses healthy (they had a major drought last year and the US sent in hay by air to keep the animals in mongolia from dieing bc it would have basically been a catastrophe for them if all their animals died. As I mentioned the US and mongolia have great relations. They consider us to be their third neighbor and there are American aid groups and peace corps all over). The scenery was actually a lot like driving I-80 in Wyoming except with greener grass and no trees and of course no paved roads or service stations. We carried extra fuel with us. Once at camp we climbed to the top of 1780m Baga Gazryu Uul to watch the sunset. We slept in a ger that night (just like every night). It was freezing that night, but the gers were quite good at insulating. The whole time I have been in mongolia it has been really cold. Even the desert was rarely above 60 degrees and always windy. This boggles my mind bc although the elevation is high (4200 to 5000 ft) 60 degrees is still really cold for a high temperature. We were always wearing jackets. And this is August, the hottest month, I can only imagine january.

8/15Drive to Tsaggan Suvraga ger camp. Along the way we stopped at an abandoned monastery where the monks were killed after the atheist communists took over. We also stopped at a random ger along the way where we were invited in to drink Airag and alcoholic drink (3-5%) made from fermented horse milk. The drink was not too bad and the people gave us copious amounts and showed us mongolian drinking games. We also had some very sour tasting horse milk cheese. We also stopped at some place called white mountain that looked a bit badland like. As we got further south the grass became less green and thinner and we started to see some camels here and there. Also along the drives we saw lots of hawks and eagles and the occassional fox.

8/16 Drive to Dalzmagad, which is a province capital "city" and the gateway to the main gobi desert attractions. The driver was in a big rush to get us to leave in the morning so we thought we had some sight to get to before it got dark, but we got to the city by noon. Turns out his fiance lived there. We were staying in a homestay, which of course even in a mongolian city means a ger. We were quite dusty so we head to the public shower. The only place in the province where you can get a shower actually. Then we explored the town a bit, but mainly just chilled and read in the ger.

8/17 So I don't have a mongolian lonely planet, but Elise and Pavlo did. So at this point i can't remember all the names so I will put in ???? and hopefully find out at some point. Drove to ???? national park, home to snow leapards, bears, and many other cool animals. We took a hike through something called the ice valley (has ice in it all year except july-sept, which is impressive for being in the desert). There was actually a stream running through it (first running water we had seen, but still no trees). The desert here was gorgeous and quite mountainous and full of canyons. After the hike, on which we saw some yaks, we got back in the jeep for a really cool 4wd road that is only open in the summer. Went over some cool passes and through some really narrow (side mirror scraping narrow) gorges. Eventually we arrived out on super flat desert. No roads, just fast desert driving with mountain views to the back. Soon we saw some sand dunes glimmering in the distance. We drove in pretty close and then followed the dunes for some 80kms (the dunes stretch 180kms and range in width from 3-12kms and in height up to 300m (1000ft). We arrived at a small ger camp along a portion of the dunes. Here there were a few gers, some goats, lots of camels, and a post office! Strangest thing way out there in the desert. Only building around for miles and miles. That evening we took a camel ride up and into the dunes to watch the sun set. The camel guide took elise's camel's reigns and we were laughing it was because mongols viewed women as having low status (this, sadly is true), but then he grabbed Pavlo's reigns as well, while I got to travel free. Pavlo figured it was b/c they loved americans so much. Of course they decided to give me the American version of the camel. It was high powered and fast, but was always stopping at plants to refuel, while the energy efficeint europeans just plodded along. When we got back to camp, one of the women cooking stepped out of the ger and threw water. This made a sharp noise and freaked out the camels. My camel reared and bucked. Camel saddles are attached onto the camel, so it quickly fell. I was able to grab onto one of the humps (these are bactrian camels and have two humps) and hold on. The mongols watching gave me a round of applause. That night there was a fierce sandstorm, but we were safe and snug in our little ger.

8/18 Pavlo and I woke up early to climb some of the bigger sand dunes and watch the sunrise. The sand dunes were really incredible and impressive. I have seen dunes at the great sand dune np in colorado, at bruno in Idaho and white sands in New Mexico as well as the n. sahara in morocco, but these put all those to shame in pure size and breadth and length. From there we drove to Bayanzag (flaming cliffs) where famous american archealogisit name ????? discovered hunderds and even thousands of dinosaur fossils in the 20's i think. He apparently was a crazy adventurer and the guy that indiana jones (a hero of mine) may have been modeled after. This is the place where veloceraptors were discovered. And at some point there was a giant sandstorm that apparently froze several dinosaurs in action so they have full fossils of dinosaurs frozen in the middle of a fight and a dinosaur protecting its eggs. Of course the bones and fossils are no longer here but at the New York museum of natural history. But the scenery was cool...had a bryce canyon type look. That night we drove again to the middle of nowhere where there happened to be a ger camp that we stayed at. It was freezing cold that night and luckily the women in charge of the family there brought us over some camel and cow dung to burn in the stove. Then it was quite toasty and nice.

8/19 Drive back to UB along the of course beautiful mongolian steppe with all the horses, cows, goats, and green grass amongst funky rock formations.

I LOVED mongolia and would have liked to stay longer, but I didn't realize how cool it would be so didn't allow enough time. I sort of had a choice between two trips. To do a trip to the gobi to the south or to the big mountains, alpine lakes and glaciers to the west. I think the gobi was a good choice considering my time bc the gobi is famous for mongolia, I got to see the grasslands and mongolian steppe and the weather was nice. I will see lots of mountains and glaciers I am assuming while in Tibet (if I can get there) and nepal and india. But I definitely feel like I got a great taste of mongolia and it's just amazing wilderness and openness. Basically the whole country is one big camping ground so it would be great to just rent a jeep and explore or better yet take a mountain bike and do a cycle tour. But I was just really impressed with the vastness of the country and just how back in time it feels. I mean UB is a modern enough city for a 3rd world country (though it's suburbs are still yurts), but the rest of the country is still living like it did back in the days of ghengis khaan. Living as nomads, eating mutton and horse milk products and burning dung for warmth. Though some gers do have a solar panel that give them some tv time.

8/20 Since I had a couple of days to wait until the train from moscow going to beijing arrived I did a trip to Terlj national park. A park a bit s. east of UB and in some mountains that actually have trees. So strange to see trees again. The mountains in this national park are cool looking. Very similar to lumpy ridge except many many more and with verdant green grasslands in between. The funny thing is that although this is a national park, it would be hard to believe. It was actually crowded by mongolian standards (being 70km from the city it is where most foreigners on the their 3 day stay in mongolia while on the trans siberia visit) with several tourists camps. There was also a golf course (though I guess RMNP at one point had a golf course in moraine park). But once I got hiking a bit into the mountains it was the same old empty mongolia. I was on the trip with 4 Koreans. 2 of them knew each other from work, but the rest had just met up. Their names were Qu, Li, and Salang, though I don't remember the older gentlemen's name. He used to be a shaman in the mountains of korea though and could apparently tell you when you would die. I was glad it was only the young koreans who spoke english bc I didn't want to know. Also, in korea, your age is based on when you were conceived, not when you were born. I took the younger koreans on the hike with me and they were so impressed at how crazy we were being. It was a steep hike with a bit of rock scrambling, but nothing crazy. Koreans, like japanese, tend to be tour bus tourists. They also love taking photos and were arranging me in poses on top of a mountain for photos. Salang, the lady in the group, said I should be a model for a outdoor company like north face. I got a kick out of that and had to laugh. After the hike we took a horse ride on those famous steeds ridden by ghenggis khaan. They are much smaller than the horses we have back at home, but can apparently go much longer distances. The riding was nice bc it wasn't like those horse rides in estes where you follow the leader and just plod along. Here you were on your own and in control of your horse while going across the grassland.
The koreans also weren't fans of the mongol food and they had brough korean instant noodles. So that night we boiled water on the stove in the ger (cold again of course) and made korean noodles around midnight and drank grapefruit vodka cocktails.

8/21 Happy birthday Bro!!! In the morning we went out on the horses again. The horses were a bit fiesty this morning and they were bucking. I managed to stay on all the time that my horse bucked (could this be from watching all the bull riding at dirty little roddies back in boise? haha) But the shaman got bucked off at one point. Drove back to UB and arrived in the afternoon. Did a tiny bit of exploring in UB including seeing their central square and the big ghengis khaan statue, then just catching up in internet stuff

I will surely miss the wide open spaces and sheer beauty of mongolia as well as the friendly and smiley people. I have so many places I want to go in my life, but mongolia would be great to come back to for a month with a russian jeep and really explore it. It is true wilderness here, like nothing i have really seen before.

If you want to see a bit of what I have been seeing, the foreign film entitled "the mongol" with English subtitles was pretty good, especially in scenery. K-dizzle, morganic, pickles, and I saw it when we had roommate movie night. We thought it was good and funny when they were describing how the Khaan should fine the perfect wife: the thicker the legs, the better the woman. Kendra and Morgan (my very skinny roomates) said they were not cut out toe be a mongol wife.

Apparently there is a movie called "trans siberian" which the lonely planet says is good except for the ending. This may be possibly good if wanting to see what the train is like.