Nomads, Frozen Man Jewels, and Flaming Poo!

Trip Start Jun 05, 2006
1
67
94
Trip End Jul 15, 2007


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of Mongolia  ,
Sunday, November 12, 2006

So whoever said that all deserts are "HOT" has never been to Mongolia! I just got back from a 9 day trip into the Mongolian desert and it was cold enough to make my "frank and beans" pucker up like last years "fruit cake!" Me and 5 friends rented a car and driver and set out with "big dreams" to live like a desert Nomads for a few days. I once again was humbled by the foreignness of the world around me! This is the point in my story where I have to admit that I "unjustly" gave myself a "Nomad" title about a year ago. I thought it was catchy and cute little name (minus one man-point for me for using the word cute!) There is nothing I can say but these "Nomads" are for real! They live like gypsies, work like cowboys, and look like Eskimos! Life in Mongolia is anything but easy. Because of the distance from the sea and the surrounding mountains Mongolia has to deal with some extreme temperatures. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought I would live to see it snow in the desert? The Mongolian Nomads (which make up a large percentage of the Mongolian population) have to survive off of the very few things that are available to them A Mommy (Mongolia)
A Mommy (Mongolia)
 . They mostly survive off of free grazing sheep, cattle, and camels that they raise. Their diet is mostly mutton (sheep meat) and other products they make from goat milk. They survive the cold winters in the barren desert living in little igloo like huts called "gers." You are going to love this, since there are not trees in the desert and they do not have access to wood for cooking and warmth they rely on "burning poo." How crazy is that! We would have to wake up in the middle of the night to add more "poo" to the fire just to stay warm. I guess that puts a new spin to the thought "that's some important shit!"

Mongolia is a land of blue skies and big smiles! It will definitely be a highlight of my journey when all is said and done! It looks like me and a few other people will head off in the morning to make another 6 day trip out of Ulaanbaatar (this time to the highlands.)

Random Moment:
So Mongolia is famous for its wrestling (very similar to Sumo.) After a few hours of drinking cheap Russian vodka for some reason I thought it was a "good idea" to strip down to my man-panties and challenge a 280lb Mongolian to a wrestling match? Well when all was said and done one of us ended up planted face down in the cold desert sand bleeding from various parts of his body. Unfortunately that person ended up being me! I think I actually counted at least nine different parts of my body from where I was bleeding. My nose has actually been bleeding on and off for the last 5 days?

3 things I learned from my recent journey:
1. Cheap Russian Vodka was not made with me in mind?
2. Wrestling Mongolians might not be my sport!
3. "Poo" has so many more practical uses then I ever imagined.

"That is our shit you are smelling Focker."

~The artist formally know as "Johnny Nomad"
Slideshow Print this entry Ulan Bator hotels