A few k’s further down the road the next surprise: A gigantic riding Ghengis Khan statue made of stainless steel. It is supposed to be the centerpieces of a theme park which is currently under construction and it hosts a museum with some artefacts dating back to the times of Ghengis Khan, it also has on display the world’s biggest leather shoe (don’t ask me) and you can climb the statue which elevates you to the height of the horse’s head (you emerge from Ghengis Khan’s loins).
The king of Mongolia & the king of Haeverstaedt :o)
There is a real Ghengis Khan revival happening in Mongolia and he is everywhere! The next few days we were traveling the aimags Khentii and Dornod, the lands where the ancient warrior was born and raised. You can even get Ghengis Khan vodka which Stani and Kristin had already shared with us and which I found really nice (I have to remember to take a bottle or two home).
We knew that once we would reach Oendoerkhan asphalt would end and dirt, gravel and earth roads would take over. We also knew that signposting was not invented in Mongolia and that GPS often also means ‘Ger Positioning System’ (i.e. ask the locals). Knowing these facts however is different to experiencing them and as all journeys (this is not a holiday but a journey) incorporate a high grade of getting to know more about oneself so does this one. Meiomei, we so had to slow down and train ourselves in patience! For those of you who know us a bit better the immense challenge inherent in this task might dawn on you.
In Oendoerkhan we found the asphalt pretty much ending in the middle of the city (cities here are more or less big villages, reaching about 20.000 to 40.000 inhabitants, there is usually one main strip of a few blocks surrounded by some ger suburbs) and suddenly we faced a myriad of paths leading in all directions and ranging from big to small. No signs indicated where the main ‘road’ to the next Aimag capital was to be found, as there were about 10 heading somewhat that direction. The direction we were heading to equally confusingly spotted many, many paths. So we asked someone on the road pointing to the road we wanted to travel - turns out many people here are not really accustomed to maps, there is simply no reason to use them because knowing roughly which direction to go is the key. But remember this was day one of leaving the safety of asphalt roads for us. Hence the actually quite precise information given by hand and foot language – ‘You have to have the sun on your right hand side’ – sounded a bit alarming.
Roads here are an adventure: they might look big and comfy one minute but in the next minute they become a bumpy hell of never ending length or simply disappear. By now we put in the GPS coordinates of places we want to go to (if we have them, if we not we use other points for somewhat accurate orientation/bearings) and choose roads that go roughly that direction. If it is physically possible (no un-crossable rivers, no un-passable mountains or canyons are in the way) chances are there will be a direct connection between points A and B - so much we have learned. As much as it can be frustrating (for example after having tried all afternoon long to leave a large valley by trial-and-error method when choosing as path), this is also the best bit about travelling this country – it has so much to offer in this respect and leaves room to explore places. Actually, this is one of the main reasons why we wanted to come here – but it can be (and when we are tired and weary it still sometimes IS) quite hard for us to get to the stage where you can enjoy and appreciate that. Leaving cities and crossing large valleys still remains a daunting task, as many paths cross each other, merge and divide again and this several times. They are very likely all ending at the same point but nevertheless it often confuses the hell out of us. Of course we have maps and the like but in all honesty, sometimes I think the road atlas serves its best purpose as a pretty decoration as it only displays a tenth of all roads – at least it helps to calculate the length of trips and it gives (this is quite important) the location of petrol stations.
After all, we managed to get to Batnorov if via a couple of detours and camped between Batnorov and Norovlin on a beautiful hill, cooking up some chilli -after tracking down an onion & some capsicum to celebrate starting traveling the countryside :o)
Ooh, not to forget: there was a bit of excitement as we had our first (and so far only) flat tire of the trip. I think I drove over some sort of rusty cannister with the result that the tire was slid sideways about 15cm wide, oopsy!
We also helped another car which had an equally flat tire to be lifted.On that occasion we understood the people’s interest in Melville: The Russian Jeep, which I reckon usually sits 5 people, was carrying 11 people (10 grown ups and one baby). Therefore Troopy must look like a real ‘family-car’ to most people and they might wonder about the waste of space once they find out it’s just the 2 of us :o) Next day we headed on towards Dadal in the Onon-Balj National Park.
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