Making a decision in Mandalgov, 31.8.-1.9.2010

Before we reached Mandalgov we had already discussed that we were getting a bit fed up with the dust, the corrugated roads (really bad for Melville) and the endless empty plains which were getting more and more barren. So we thought, let’s go to Mandalgov, make some inquiries and then make a decision whether to go further South or head North-West.
We saw heaps of lifestock all over Mongolia



But back to our dilemma: From Mandalgov it’s a further 300 k’s (2 days of travel) to Dalandzadgad which is another 100k away from the ‘Red Cliffs’ and it is basically a one way road, so we would have to come all the way back. This southern area is probably Gobi as one imagines it with camel rides, sand dunes, glaciers (believe it or not!) and dinosaur artefacts at every corner (at least that’s what guide books tell you). Sand dunes only make a small part of the Gobi but they are the prominent postcard motifs. We thought maybe we drive there, then stay in a nice ger camp and do a camel ride (which is kind of the standard tourist program and what most people who go there from UB come for) to the cliffs. In Mandalgov however we found out that the camp where we wanted to stay was charging 100USD per person per night (though this was including food and ger camps are not necessarily cheap places to stay this was well above average, for example in the vegetarian camp we had paid 15 USD) and we also imagined that excursions would not exactly be cheap, given that this is a main area of interest for international travelers. Our daily budget is 100AUD and being in Russia had not exactly been cheap either…. So, all of this made us wonder if it was worth the trip… and when the road turned out to be one hell of a corrugated nightmare we decided to skip this bit and instead go further North back to trees and lakes :o) Funny enough as soon as we changed the route we encountered a grater who was grating a stretch of earth road and we had a relaxing few k’s ahead of us - Holger, who as we all know, is not exactly the emotional type of person repeatedly sobbed ‘I love you’ at the grater :o) and was a happy chappy! The camp we set up that night rewarded our decision with the most clearcut views on the milkyway you canimagine - pure magic :o)
We stopped in the next sum capital, Erdenedalai, to get some provisions and have a look at one of the view temples that were not destroyed in the 1940s.

Here, two memorable things happenend: Firstly, while checking out the temple and little girl came running full throttle towards us with a little basket in her hand: she was selling felt crafts and I bought a little felt ger – obviously other people (tourists) had been here before ;o) I only understood her haste when she was followed suit by another girl also having a basket with felt craft in her hands… Secondly, a guy who wanted to practice his English, recommended a bypass via a different little place where a) a writers’ festival was happening at a black stone where artists were writing in Mongol scripture (Sandra’s understanding) or b) ancient Mongol scripture could be found written on a black stone (Holger’s understanding, he swears he never ever heard the word festival). Well, we never found either of those things but we drove across a most marvelous mountain pass, following for some k’s a road running along the crest of a high and rugged mountain. Absolutely fantastic!!!!! Unfortunately we messed up setting up the camera so we do not have any video footage – so, there is no prove that it was me who drove ;o} LP gave us great hints in regards to sights but it’s a freaking big country and it is probably impossible to make a book covering all of its wonders as there are many, most of them not that easy to reach and the majority not pointed out on maps. In our opinion we always got the most out of meeting people and spontaneous changing the itinerary and just stumbling across things :o)