Getting to Oelgyi, 18.9..-19.9.2010

Our hope was to drive to a place called Khovd the next day to stay there in a hotel but again we had dug ourselves a hole (in a literal as much as in a figural sense, as you will see) we had mixed up which Khovd we were driving to ;o) The one which we picked as next day’s goal was not the prosperous Khovd heralded in LP, which would have been another 100k’s further south. We had found early on that in the same Aimag several cities can have the same name (indeed we passed another, even smaller Khovd on the way) but we thought by now (after 5 weeks of navigating) we were clever cookies and had would not be fooled anymore by such circumstances - hahaha! Slightly disgruntled because we felt the possibility of a hot shower slip away from under our grip we nevertheless decided against the 100k detour to get to Khovd-City.


Again this turned out to be a really good thing as we found again an unbelievable pretty scenery in form of a river valley offering fantastic camping :o) Well, after we had dug ourselves out of an actual mud pit, for that matter. OK, this time it was me: I was driving, and after descending through some sand cliffs I drove along the river bed in search for a spot. We avoided some muddy looking bits and I saw a meadow on which I wanted to make a turn. Somebody had made hey there so I thought it’s safe to drive over the earth. I’m not sure what they harvested there but I know now for certain that it is growing in rather swampy conditions – I had dug us in and rather colossal I’d say!

So out came the recovery gear again and after connecting all straps we had Holger winched us out – and this time we have photographic evidence :o) It took only about 30 minutes or so, but I have to admit I felt kind embarrassed…
While we were setting up camp some horse riders approached us, a family who had been out collecting seabuckthorne-berries and who were a really cheery party :o) They gave us some berries and in return we gave them some of our presents. They invited us to mount their horses to make some pictures and then we made some pictures of them with us, with the car, on their horses, etc. We all enjoyed this interlude very much and there was a lot of laughter.

They invited us to their ger a few k’s down the river but as we were in the middle of setting up (and very keen on putting the camp shower to use) we passed this one on. We exchanged addresses and promised to send the pictures once we were back in Germany. An hour later or so, the two teenage boys returned and brought us some milk and some Aaruul and were obviously fascinated by Melville and our journey so we chatted (as much as possible) with them and shared a few moments.

This was really great meeting and because these were the last Mongolian herders we were to meet this made for a memorable and long lasting positive impression :o))))

Through the good & the bad: Moron to Ulaangom, 15.9.-17.9.

After this great time at Khovsgol we went back to Moron for another stop over and then headed West. We knew there were now some long drives ahead of us to get to Bayan-Oelgii, the last Aimag we visited, and we had planned to camp about 3 times before we got to Ulaangom and crash in a hotel there before we make it to Oelgii in another 2-3 days.
On our first stop we camped in very scenic valley surrounded by hills covered by forests and cooked some stew:

The evening was quite brisk and we decided to sleep in the car, preparing for a seemingly cold night:

Imagine our dumbstruck faces when we woke up after what was arguably a cold night to find frost (Eisblumen) on the windows INSIDE the car – boy it was cold and it must have been even much colder during the night, I needed two coffees to get warm :o)

Clearly we had been in Australia far too long because we had ignored the danger that un-insulated taps can be damaged by frost and – bingo! – we had busted our tap, it was dripping now grrrrr! Thank goodness my daddy and I had build in a second, internal one and we did not loose our water. The bottled water and the moist wipes also had frozen… We thought again of Guy with a dog and hoped he had migrated to the wooden hut!!! The frost gave the scenery a nearly eerie atmosphere and despite it being frickin’ cold it was very beautiful to watch. We had driven through marches before and the little water pools were now also frozen… We were quite happy that we had decided to stay at Khovsgol lake instead of going into the higher mountain areas! The next few days we just drove west. This is where we we encountered petrol stations where manually operated pumps are still in use and Holgi jumped in to help pumping the 60 liters we needed to fill Troopy up and which was a bit of an ordeal for the attendant.

Ulaangom then proved to be a big challenge if not to say one big disappointment and we were really a bit on the edge on that day. The day had begun with a kind of typical Mongolian interaction: At dawn somebody passed by on the nearby road on a motorbike, saw the car, stopped and knocked at Troopy’s window while we were sleeping. He ‘just’ wanted to have a look in the car and ask again how many people were traveling with it, WTF!?! By now we were fairly used to being stared at, not only is Melville a rare sight in Mongolia but also we two were both obviously visibly different to the majority of people. Most of the time, Holger got the brunt of the staring because he is over-towering most Mongolians and is also having quite a beard which sets him apart. Because I’m rather short I blended in a bit better and I also might have had better training in being stared at when after chemo when I stopped wearing hats once my hair came back and I looked like GI Jane. Anyways, most of the time this was not an issue but once in a while when we were not in the mood it could get to us and this was one of those days where we were just plainly annoyed by it.
After more really bad roads which brought Holger to the brink of his patience (after a while he suffered at every bump, hole and corrugation Melville had to take) we did not find a place to stay in Ulaangom as we had hoped. The only hotel we found (two of the three listed by LP were closed) looked more like a jail and did not have hot water. For us the main thing was having a hot shower when we stopped at hotels in Mongolia hence this one (apart from being really hideous and not very clean) was ruled out. If there was no shower there was no point in staying - we think we are better of camping, for sure you have the nicer scenery outside towns. Finding an internet café also proved difficult, actually all of the West was bit void of public internet-access and I’ve come to a real loathing of internet cafés particularly because repeatedly we were turned away: Although there were apparently computers available we were not allowed to use them for unknown reasons. The best facilities were mostly found in post offices as all other internet places were swamped with Mongolian youngsters splattering blood playing Counter Strike or strategic role play. The day turned a bit brighter when we had a nice lunch to celebrate our 8th week on the road and purchased some really good Russian cookies (they make excellent cookies) at a store :o) After leaving Ulaangom we headed South to camp outside the town.

Khovsgol Lake: Of Guy with a dog, Holger’s solo adventure and Yak Yoghurt, 11.9.-14.9.2010

It was a good 3 hour drive to Khovsgol lake and as in so many places before once we reached Khatgal we found that most holiday places had closed for the year already. This suited us quite fine because this area is supposedly quite full in summer so we did not have to compete with many other people for camping spots. It also meant: CAMPFIRE!!!!

The road leading to the lake went over a steep pass again but was a really good gravel road, this was quite a relief after the horrible tracks we had driven on for the last 4 days. The first glimpses of the lake were a reward, the blue of the lake and the autumn colors worked so well together :o)

Many yaks were grazing along the forested shores of the lake and we picked a spot to camp about 30k’s along the lake’s shore. Another group was camping nearby: Melanie and Nicole from Switzerland and their lady guide and the guide’s father (who did the driving). Although we were situated in a rather isolated location that evening turned out to be a surprisingly social one: First we were visited by a group of two Mongolian women who sold souvenirs and were driven around by their male partners who carried each the lady and a huge bag with goodies around; next we met Nicole and Melanie and made a bit of smalltalk, after that ‘Guy with a dog’ made an appearance (we were to see him many a times in the next three days), after that a car with four people stopped and after much gesturing, pointing and stuttering along it turned out that someone was stuck a few k’s down the road and asked Holger for a pull. As it was already dark we decided to postpone the action until the next morning. During the night some guys came along to do some fishing and it took us a while to figure out what was going on during which I was holding tight to my tear gas and Holger had the fire extinguisher handy, completely idiotic I know ;o}
Next morning it was raining quite hefty and we were glad that we had put up the tent. When I opened the tent we had again a visitor, a young Mongolian on a pushbike. He could not speak but we communicated via hand, feet and the photoalbum he had with him. Because I had just put the kettle on I offered him a cuppa and he showed me that he was cycling to get fit for Nadaam wrestling. He was a big fan and in his photoalbum he had pictures of himself with popular Mongolian Wrestlers and snippets about wrestling. On one picture he was standing in front of the lake with his father and the lake was fully frozen and you could see how ice sculptures were carved in the background. Amazing, as I contemplated already in Siberia - I think I'll have to come back once in winter !
Once it stopped raining the guy who had bogged himself in came along on a horse and Holger and him set off to rescue the guy’s car. It took three hours until Holgi returned and the reason behind him being away so long was that after rescuing the guy, giving him some help to start the car and then farewelling him, poor Holger had bogged himself in on the way back (albeit in a different spot) and had to winch himself out of that mess. But astonishingly enough he did not really complain about that bit, rather he was a bit annoyed that he left the camera at home so he couldn’t take any pictures :o{

Instead we have pretty pictures of the lake's shore :o) In the meantime Guy with a dog had returned and I had offered him some tea, we did not get very far with our communication but, clever guy that he was, he returned later on with the Swiss ladies’ guide and with her help we were able to exchange a few bits of information. He was a security guide at one of the deserted camps and was to stay the winter up at the lake in a tent (!), we hoped he would move into one of the wooden huts for the snow because his tent did not look as warm and comfy as a ger…. He then asked Holger for some technical advice with his car and Holger tried his best to help him get the car running when he went over next morning but it was a problem with the car’s electronics and therefore not that easily solved although they worked again on it in the afternoon.

We have to say, he really grew on us in those days because he was really friendly and always laughing not to mention his friendly companion tyhe dog, I hope his car is running now!
While at the lake we saw quite a few Mongolian families passing by ushering along herds of stock and having Yak’s pull heavy carts with gers and household items on them. One group set up their winter camp on the other side of the dried out river bed close to our camp site. The herder came along next morning to check out our tent and invited us over to get some yoghurt. I went over and admired the clever set up of the gers once more. This one had a solar panel in the back which powered a car radio to which a telephone, a TV, a satellite dish and a DVD player were attached. Again I was offered Aaruul and tea and to trade in for the yoghurt which was made from yak milk I brought stock cubes, a grain mix for soup and some Kuemmerlinge.
Putje's family arriving at their winter camp
Putje, the family’s daughter, came back to the car to have closer look at our set up again, the whole family was very interested in our travel itinerary and shook their heads upon the big distance we were covering. Unfortunately, Holgi couldn’t come to see the ger because he was repairing, or rather trying to repair, Melville’s door on the driver’s side which had been giving us trouble for some weeks (and is still a sore spot). Mongolian corrugated roads really killed the door’s lock and for the past few weeks we had the door locked permanently with a cable binder from the inside and a cutter taped to the dashboard for emergency cases…

During those three days many animals passed by...

Via Zuun Nuur to Moron, 7.9.2010-10.9.2010

Despite this apparently being a common route we were surprised by the road: It took us through the most imaginable beautiful valleys which cut through by a million little water flows, spotting lush meadows, trees starting to spot autumn’s colors, much life stock everywhere, picturesque outcrops and gers, we had to go over a few steep passes which opened up to more stunning views – the road, however, was one of the most difficult bits we came across and we hardly left first and second gear, sometimes going down the mountains meant basically going through one dried up riverbed after the other.

Fun but also hard work for driver and Troopy, although this is where he is most comfortable. It took us all afternoon to do about 40 k’s! We ended up camping along the banks of the river Ider and, after the usual visits by herders, retreated to a peaceful night orchestrated by the wind in the forest and the gurgling sounds of the river.

Next day we made it to Jargalant and on our way to Shine Ider messed it up – again! Normally all paths intersect numerous times before they leave the valley and in case of rivers there will be a few river crossings or bridges. When leaving the place we made a long and difficult drive over dry mudbeds, through a bit of a swamp, through a river just to find that for some weirdo reason we ended up on the wrong side of the river, and once we had realized this tried to make our way on the other side. The river by now was a substantial river and there were no more bridges to find so we had to follow it (we have a bit of a ‘Only go back the same way if track is not otherwise do-able’-policy). So, we ended up with a detour of about 40k’s. Does not sound much, does it? Well, it can be if you can only do between 10 and 30k an hour and have to snug around cliffs with an angle and an ice cold river hovering about half-a meter away and 3m down from you (nothing like the South American Road of Death but surely enough to disconcert little Sandra) .
We were rewarded by the beauty of the valleys we drove through and this surely was off the beaten track, again by pure chance :o) On the way we were stopped by a Mongolian driver who got stuck in a riverbed. He was driving his Sedan(!) through the waterway when he got stuck, lost his battery due to this circumstance and now the motor wouldn’t start. Holger pulled him out and tried several tricks to get the car running again but to no avail. I do not know why the guy thought that we should first try the recovery with his bright orange scarf (Mongols use them as belts for their riding coats), maybe he did not want to cause any inconveniences, I don’t know. But it is probably not too difficult to imagine that the scarf was less than impressed by this rescue mission and gave in after 3 seconds.

Thank goodness he then agreed to use something more sturdy and the car was out in no time – the battery issue however, was not to be so easily solved and after an hour or so of trying to jump start the car Holgi gave up. Not much we could do apart from that… Much to Holli’s dismay crossing the river later on was over a bridge ;o} We then camped at Zuun Nuur another pretty lake.

Next morning we were woken by a shepherd and his flock of goats and sheep who came by grazing. It was a funny moment when, after Holgi had announced that we were surrounded by sheep, we opened the Swag, sat up – and found a rather old herder sitting on his horse looking at us and gesturing at the sun which was already high up. I take it he was wondering what kind of people we were sleeping in a green canvas bag until 9.30ish – what he did not know was that we had already been up at 5.30ish to watch the sunrise, which was awesome! Mongolia gave us so many great sunrises and sunsets, I hope some of the pictures come out quite alright and we can make some large prints.

Unfortunately the road to Moron (the Aimag capital) and the one later on to Khovsgol lake proved to be quite bad as well, heavily corrugated and with big holes and dips. A new paved road is under construction but by the looks of it, preparations have been going on for some time and bits which are just waiting for tarmac have already started to deteriorate again – sad, it’s a waste of resources to let them fade away. Anyway, in Moron we stayed at the 50-100 Hotel which was quite alright although a bit overpriced. On our way back from Khovsghol we had a half-lux instead of a lux room which proved a) much nicer and b) a bit cheaper. The hotel also had a pretty good restaurant attached where we had dinner and breakfast. Breakfast was a funny thing: You could not choose between different items but there was a set breakfast menu scheduled for each day, fair enough it all sounded fine. The staff was very adamant that there was only today’s breakfast available (whatever the day was) however both times we ended up with a good and hearty breakfast, which did not fit any descriptions on the menu :o)
As per usual after arrival we first started to do some washing (Holger and I are now experts in hand washing an entire large load although our T-shirts start to resemble shapeless canvas bags by now) before we set out for food and internet. If we arrived early enough that is - sometimes we were too late and neither found food nor internet after 8pm. Days in Mongolia start and end early… Therefore we were so happy that the hotel’s restaurant was open until 11pm! We were a little less happy when we found out that the town’s loudest (and only!?!) nightclub was directly opposite our hotel room :o} The mixture of bad house music (how many frickin’ versions of ‘Hermes’ Houseband’s take on Country Road are there!?!) and DJ announcements (‘Are you ready to rummmmbblle????’) made for an interesting backdrop before which we wrote postcards and then tried to find some sleep.

The White Lake – Tsagaan Nuur, 5.9.2010-7.9.2010

In Tsetserleg I had visited the local branch of the park authorities who run the National Parks. There are many co-operations with globally operating conservation societies such as the WWF, among them also a German agency. Funny enough in this office they even had some information material on the regional parks in German and one of the people working their spoke German and was very happy to chat with me in order to practice his German language skills. He was very enthusiastic about the White Lake, Tsagaan Nuur, which is covered in ice 2/3 of the year, hence it’s name.
The lake is situated in a stunning landscape created by volcanic activities and a few hours away from Tsetserleg. On our way we saw trees! We had not seen tree-lined hills for quite some time and were getting very excited about this, turning into real tree-huggers :o) This is me looking idiotic doing the happy tree dance:

All guide books tell you that to get into the park you have to cross a bridge in the town of Dariat and the park entrance is apparently right at the bridge. So we stood there in this rather smallish town and the only bridge we could find had stones piled up in front of it, at least on one lane. Altogether the wooden construction looked kinda crooked and bend, bridging a gap created by a fast-flowing and, by the looks of it, ice cold river!?! The little hut beside the bridge, presumably the park entrance, was deserted. When asking the locals about the park and a river crossing they all pointed to the bridge, in all likeliness quite puzzled by our blindness to see the obvious. Then we saw a car crossing the bridge without further ado and decided that this must be the right spot, if looking a little precarious… Maybe the stones just indicated that only one car at a time should go – we never found out but after carefully and slowly approaching the bridge we safely reached the other side.

After another hour or so and very steep pass we reached the lake and because the season had finished the many ger camps along its eastern shores were already closed or in the process of being closed down. The lake looked very beautiful although the weather was rather stormy and windy and the lake's shores were adorned by many ovoos.

We drove out of sight of the ger camps and found a nice spot right beside the lake. The biggest task was now to get the tent out and erect it while a rather cold and strong wind was blowing us away. What usually takes about 30 minutes (it is a rather big tent) now took 90 minutes (although it felt like much longer) and the fact that we had some spectators did not help. As per usual, everybody who passed along had a quick look. One guy in particular was very interested in finding out the intricacies of how the inner and the outer tent connect which offset poor Holger a bit who was trying to tie the outer tent to the poles while not starting an involuntary episode of kite surfing. It was quite a funny scene (if you were not Holger, for that matter) :o) Anyway, at some point the tent stood and we could quickly set up camp inside and enjoy some pasta!
The next day started as grey and windy as the day before but by midday clouds were disappearing and the sun came out and we could enjoy the magnificent scenery.

In the area, you can climb some volcano tops and we decided to do so the next day. The scenery was quite fascinating as you have the black volcanic outcrops but also trees and shrubs of all sorts, in many colors ranging from green to yellow, orange and red. Again we fell prey to Mongolian signposting. A few k’s away from where we had camped sign told us that an ice cave and the Yellow Dog Hell Cave were 50 meters ahead of us. So we climbed the little volcano the signs had been put in front of. After a steep but well trodden ascend we stood on the brink of the crater with no caves in sight, and thought, ‘Well, maybe the caves are inside the crater’. So we followed the now less well trodden path down into the crater and searched this one in vain for the caves. Hence we ascended again, this time on the opposite side of the crater on an even steeper and a path that was hardly visible anymore. Again, no sign of any cave whatsoever. We finally decided to walk along the crest of the crater to get back to where we started and give up on finding the caves. While exploring the crest we saw a three people about 200 meters away in the opposite direction from where we had parked the car, standing in a rather flat field of volcanic outcrops staring down a hole in the ground… OK, you had turnaround and turn your back to the signs to look for the caves, who could have known that!?!… Anyway we had enjoyed our little up and down and came to enjoy very nice views over the park (and then down the caves) and it made for a really good laugh afterwards :o)

We then left the park driving along the lake, bathing in the fantastic landscapes and scenic passes. The initial idea had been to now venture towards the Altai Mountains, get a border permit and explore the Altai Tavan Bogd NP. However, while having a quick rest along the path we were again approached by a herder, who was sternly convinced that we’d now go up further north to visit Khovsgol Lake. This is the route many people, Mongolians as well as international travelers, take.So we sat down and had a thought. The last few nights had been cold and Altai Tavan Bogs is really high up (some Mountains reach heights well up into the 4000k’s) and we were hence wondering if maybe we should explore the northern parts of Mongolia known for their beautiful lakes and forests which might not be as cold. If heading straight for Altai Region many days of driving through parts of the Gobi were ahead of us again and we had truly enjoyed the forests… In a few minutes we revised plans and headed north!
A marmot we met on the way...

Arvaikhheer, Kharkorin and Tsetserleg, 2.9.2010-5.9.2010

We were now going in a north-westerly direction, and decided to stay in a hotel in the Aimag capital Arvaikheer (in the hope to find a hotel - which we did, yeah, if only for one night instead of the envisaged two) and then do a loop to visit Mongol Els (a sand dune among mountains), Kharkhorin with the vast temples of Erdene Zuu Khiid and then head to Tsetserleg to plan the next steps. The best thing about this plan was that asphalt would be involved. Between Arvaikheer and Tsesterler maybe 2/3 of the road are paved – yippieyayah!
On the way we came across a macabre spectacle: a herd of vultures were fighting over a carcass by the side of the road and we stayed for half an hour to watch these large birds come and go and fighting each other over the meat and threatening each other:


Further down the road the sand dunes made for a great panorama but there wasn’t really that much to do so we were even able to get to Erdene Zuu Khiid before it closed at 6pm. The monastery is quite large and basically a walled compound with several temples. The oldest temples date back to the 16th century and were built from the remaining ruins of Karakorum, the famous city Ghengis Khan had built to be the centre of his empire. The monastery was and today again is one of the most important sites for Buddhists in Mongolia however during Stalinism most temples were destroyed (only three remained). Monks were able to hide some artwork and you can today visit the area which is again a functioning monastery but also a museum. The Buddha statues are showing Buddha during several stages of life, the main temple and the side temples were all adorned with paintings and little statuettes.

They were marvelous and very beautifully decorated, every temple smelled heavily of incense and there were many, many prayer rolls all over the area. I don’t know why but many of the female gods were quite frightening to look at with rolling eyes and severed heads dangling around them – but they are goodies because they protect!

It was interesting to see that souvenir stalls were set up along the monastery’s entrances and also around the turtle rock (a rock carved into a turtle, one of the few leftovers of Ghengis’ city). This was the first time outside UB that we saw such stalls and were approached by vendors. There were many Mongolians who spun the prayer rolls and left some monetary offerings, there was a ger set up you could have a look at the re-building plans and buy some prayer utensils from a monk. Another interesting observation was to see how international travelers (and particularly Europeans, not to mention Germans) sometimes really hate to see other travelers. Mongolia, I reckon is still in a way one of the most secluded places you can travel. Apart from the beautiful landscapes, I think, the country enjoys the reputation to offer solitude and friendly hospitality to stressed Westerners who want to ‘get away from it all’ and maybe some people feel that crossing paths with other Westerners distorts this picture!?! Obviously our motivation to come here was a similar one but I don’t mind other people sharing this image so much. It was funny to see how some really try to avoid getting physically close to each other – it’s a bit like their body language tells you: ‘Hey you, get out of my intrepid travels, this is mine’! For a minute Holgi and I were very tempted to stalk them… In UB and now in Erdene Zuu Khiid there were more Europeans than we had seen anywhere else (Oelgyi, the last big stop before ypu reach the Western border, also proved to be populated by quite a few Europeans as we found out later on), but because we had already been a bit on the road we were getting happy about interaction with people we could exchange a few words with. Mongolia is not really touristy (although it feels as if they are catching up, Mongolians also holiday a lot in Mongolia) but I guess when you do a set of organized tours from UB you get maybe a bit more of the touristy aspects as if you travel on your own, by bus, car or bicycle and hence maybe these people had reservations to recognize or greet other travelers.
We finished again camping under the stars and were looking forward to reaching Tsetserleg where we would celebrate the middle of our travels. For once LP’s tip was gold: the Fairfield guesthouse was fantastic although we nearly did not end up there, we misunderstood the price and heard 70 000 instead of 17 000 Tugrug. Good thing that we rechecked because the guesthouse was fantastic! Beds came with breakfast (which is not the norm) in the great café (REAL COFFEE AND PASTRIES!!!!! Such a treat), the room was bright and the beds were comfy, the showers were clean and hot, the plumbing was good and not hazardous and all switches worked ;o) Absolutely luxurious!!! The staff was very friendly and organized a horse trecking day for us. We thought we’d spoil ourselves to an organized trip in order to celebrate our ‘Bergfest’, half-time celebrations, and spending a day on a horse back in the mountains and valleys around Tsetsterleg seemed just like the ticket.
Holger even found a garage in this town that was looking trustworthy and which did an ace job changing oil and doing a little welding job so Melville’s backdoors now shut more tightly. BTW we had to get tractor oil because cares here run on really thin oil… We spend the rest of the arvo getting rid of the Gobi dust which had gathered in Meville’s back. In the evening we went to the main strip in oredre to find some food. An elderly Mongolian who somehow thought we were American started to talk to us but after my somewhat (desperate) plea that we were not Americans but from Australia (he was very talkative although we did not understand a single word and my ice cream kept on melting) he suddenly started to hug us and repeatedly exclaimed ‘Ah, Australian – friend!’. We then moved on to visit the town plaza where a colorfully illuminated fountain was entertaining the mainly youngish crowds to funky disco tunes.
Next day Gaj, our guide for the riding adventure met us at the hotel.

He spoke a little English and we drove to his house to pick up the saddles and had tea and bread. We then drove about 12 k out of town to a valley where his brother and sister lived in gers. While the guys went to catch the horses we had milk tea, joghurt, bread and butter and were admiring the sister’s ger which was very neat, colorfully decorated, had wooden floorboards and housed three. Although this was a paid for tour, it did not really feel like it, which we both thought was a good thing as we so far we had quite successfully tried to avoid the more showy things you can do (such as ger camps with nightly dance performances or the like).

We had never been horse riding before so we had asked for a short ride this however must have been lost in translation because we went for the whole day. Gaj’s encouraging question ‘Good – ayh?’ was increasingly difficult to be answered truthfully ;o)… and boy did our behinds suffer! Horses, as most other domestic ally used animals in Mongolia, are kept in the wild. They will be branded and obviously they have been ridden in (is that how you say this in English!?! Or maybe better say tamed, but that’s also not quite right!?!), anyway they live usually not in fenced-in areas but roam the surroundings of where their owners live and will only be caught when there is a need. Hence the horses are not always too pleased to be caught and these two were no exception. To tire the horses a bit out (remember we were novices to riding) they chased them around for some time and then started to put the gear on. Just as Gaj was about to saddle the white horse it had a hissy fit and nearly tore down the pole-construction the horses had been tied to. Whoopsy – Holgi and I exchanged a few nervous glances. The light brown horse took the saddle without further ado. Before we were to mount the horses I quickly ran to the outhouse and as I came back Holger was on top of the light brown horse – Great! That meant ‘the white devil’ would be my ride, grrmpff…

For the first half hour or so Gaj kept Bor, that was the name of the horse, on the leash. Thank goodness, however, after some time Bor seemed to have calmed down and we started to get used to each other and could go on our own. To motivate our four-legged friends to keep moving we had to say ‘Cheeewww’ and pull our heels in their flanks, as we were told by our fantastic guide. It was fun and Gaj started singing along – many Mongolians we met, particularly herders on their way, love singing and there are many songs to sing when riding. We went a bit faster but this became a bit painful after some time, especially for Holger who had a really hard saddle. Gaj then took us to a mountain and we climbed up to a cave with him to see some rock paintings. After that we stopped by at another brother’s ger where the lady of the house again cooked up some food for us. When we returned to the start of our journey, we had done about 20-24 k’s and were quite sore… On the way back Holger’s horse decided to call it a day and stopped. Neither the very encouraging ‘Cheewws’ Holger send up his ears nor the good example of the leading horse could do the trick. Hence, Holger and the horse were taken on a leash to get them back home – seemed like the tiring out went a bit too far… That evening and the next three days we looked like sick cowboys because of our sore muscles :o) Unfortunately once we were back in the guesthouse, had enjoyed a hot shower and skyped with our families (which we had not been able to for more than two weeks) all restaurants in the town had already closed and we were left to finish the day with some nuts, bread and Lotte Chocopie. A memorable day!

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)