Ulan Bator
Trip Start
Apr 03, 2008
1
20
26
Trip End
Jul 02, 2008
Ulan Bator,
Mongolia
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
It's been a while since my last entry on the blog. We've been really busy over the last week or so, and so this is the first opportunity I've had to seek out an internet cafe to write something!
So, I last wrote on the blog on Sunday 25th May in the evening. That night Ali and I were in the bar at Leo Hostel in Beijing, chatting to lots of people that we had met over our stay there.
On Monday morning we woke up and had breakfast in the hostel - I enjoyed having their excellent scrambled eggs with tomatoes on toast for the last time! Ben and Drew, a Canadian and an American that we had met, came to say goodbye to us while we were having breakfast, and suggested that we should all try the special 'Leo's Vodka' before they left. (Note that it was just before 11am at this point!) The Leo's vodka looked disgusting - it was meant to be medicinal (many things in China are...) but it was essentially Chinese rice wine (a strong spirit) with lizards, mushrooms and other disgusting things sitting in it to give it flavour. Well, we tried a shot of it each and it was pretty horrible! Good to have tried it though as it looked pretty impressive in the big jar it was kept in!
After that Ali and I packed up all the things we wanted to send home, and went to the post office. We sent a large box home, and it should arrive after 4-6 weeks - fingers crossed! After sorting that out we caught the metro to the largest Bank of China to try to get some Mongolian currency. After waiting for an hour in a queue to be served (the service was pretty awful and so slow) we eventually found out that you can't get Mongolian togrogs in China. We were so angry that we weren't told this earlier when we arrived!
We tried to go to see a temple where the 18 layers of Taoist hell are described, but when we arrived the place looked like a building site, and the entry fee was very high. We gave up on that and instead just got a cold drink and headed over towards the Bell and Drum towers to find a restaurant and bar for a few hours. We didn't go in any of the many bars beside the lake, as the prices were ridiculous, so we returned to the 'Bell and Drum' for some food and drinks, where we had been before during our trip to Beijing. Later on we walked down 'Bar St' for a while, and then got a taxi back to Leo's. Once we were back we went shopping in the supermarket next door for food for our train journey the next day.
On Tuesday 27th we were up early to catch the train from Beijing to Ulan Bator at 0745. We were surprised to see that there were so many westerners waiting for the train in the departure room, even one family with a toddler - we thought they were so brave to be travelling with small children on such a long journey!
We got on the train and we were amazed by our 'deluxe' carriage - there were 2 beds, an armchair and a small washroom shared with next door. The cabin was wood panelled, just as you would imagine the trans-mongolian trains to be, and at the end of the carriage there was a coal fired samovar (hot water boiler) for hot drinks. We only booked this class for the first leg of the trip, but we were pleased to have the opportunity to experience it.
The trip was about 30 hours long in total, leaving Beijing at 0745 on Tuesday, and arriving in Ulan Bator at almost 1400 on Wednesday. We spent most of the day time on the first day reading, playing cards, watching the rapidly changing scenery and having naps after the early morning! At lunchtime we ate some dumplings that we had bought from street vendors when we left the hostel at 6am that morning. We felt a bit funny eating this cheap (but delicious) food in our posh cabin!
Close to Beijing there were quite a few high mountains and gorges with rivers and lakes beside them. We also passed by parts of the Great Wall many times on the trip - as we got further from Beijing and into the flat dusty and arid landscape further north the bits of wall were just random lumps of stone which were the watch towers. It was interesting to see the remains of such a huge wall stretching over so many hundreds of miles - it makes you realise how huge it was! These arid dusty parts of northern China seemed to be dominated by coal mines and the odd man with a donkey - it wasn't a very tempting place to visit!
In the later afternoon we went to the restaurant car (Chinese since we were still in China) and had something to eat. It wasn't bad, but nothing very special. We sat with a friendly Dutch couple who had been travelling for almost a year and were heading home to see their families, and we drank some beers with them.
At about 9pm we arrived ar Erlian, the Chinese border town. Customs officials came onboard to check our luggage, and then passport control collected our passports and took them away (scary!). We were in Erlian until about midnight, about 2 hours of which was spent in a massive shed where the wheels of the train were changed to match the different track width in Mongolia and Russia. We were given the option of leaving the train for this time and spending it in the station building, but we stayed on the train and were so glad we did! It was amazing being on the train and seeing the train being driven into the shed, split up into individual carriages and then lifted up by hydraulic lifts so that the wheels could be rolled out, and new ones attached. Since the carriages we all split up and put next to each other in the shed, we met new friends by leaning out of the windows while the whole thing was going on - it was pretty surreal! After the whole process had been completed we got back to the platform, our passports were returned and we drove to the Mongolian border. There again there were customs checks and our passports were taken. In our tired state we made the mistake of speaking some Chinese to the officials (it was about 1am and we had been up since 5am) and it did not go down well at all!!! Big dogs were brought onto the train, and there were armed soldiers standing on the tracks looking quite menacing. But, when one of the guys in our carriage waved goodbye to the soldiers, they suddenly smiled, waved and shouted 'Welcome to Mongolia!'. We were so shocked and surprised that they did that, but it was a nice welcome! So once we got our passports back, we went to sleep at about 2am.
After quite a comfy night's sleep on the train, we awoke half way through the Gobi desert inside Mongolia. It was a pretty bleak welcome to Mongolia, as it was sandy and dusty as far as the eye could see (not far with the dust storms) across flat desert! Someone who went onto the platform at one of the stops said that it was freezing cold. Quite a change from 30 degrees plus in Beijing! We ate some breakfast and then I tried to have a shower in our washroom, but there was no hot water so I gave that a miss!
After a while we noticed that there was white stuff appearing on the ground, and after not too long, we were travelling through a desert covered in snow! We were so shocked! In the snow we saw herds of cattle, gazelle, horses and camels, all looking so cold in the snow. Also we saw some beautiful black and white cranes.
We arrive in Ulan Bator (UB as it is often known) at about 1350 on Wednesday and the representatives from the guesthouse met us there. It was such a shock arriving in UB where it was 6 degrees C - we were so cold! They drove a minibus full of us to the hostel, we checked in and found our beds in an empty 4 bed dorm where it was just us staying. It was sooo busy and manic in the hostel, with so many people arriving at the same time in a place that wasn't very big. After we'd got our room we got some information about the tours that the guesthouse organise, and Ali and I decided to go on a 6 day tour out to the White lake leaving the next morning.
After deciding that we went to exchange our Chinese currency into Mongolian curreny, then popped into the first place we saw for food - an Irish pub (!!!) - and had amazing salads and hot drinks there. After that we found a shop to buy supplies for our trip, and then back at the hostel we packed for the 6 days, showered and had an early night.
On Thursday 29th May we had the free breakfast that the hostel provide (bread and spread and tea and coffee), left luggage at the hostel that we wouldn't need for our tour, met the other 3 people on our trip (an Australian couple and an Austrian girl called Margot) and our van driver and then set off at 0900. Our driver had just got married and had a small baby, and had asked us if it was OK if his wife and baby joined us for the first day's driving so he could drop them at his parents' home. We said it was fine, and so we picked them up further along in UB. The baby was so cute - chubby cheeks and so cuddly looking! We stopped off at a market before leaving UB, and when I went in to buy water for the trip, I saw lots of military personnel buying bottles of vodka! On the rest of the 6 day trip we would often see disgarded bottles of vadka beside the road, so they are obviously heavy drinkers! On the first day we drove loads - for about 12 hours in total. We quickly left tarmac roads after leaving the city. Mongolia is an enormous country with only 80km of paved roads apparently, and I can believe that! Most of the driving was off road on dirt tracks that were only made by other vehicles also driving across the steppes! Over the entire 6 days our driver did not look at a map once, and I can't understand how he knew which tracks to take, as there were no signs at all and the turnings never even really seemed to have landmarks!
At about 1230 we stopped at a restaurant which appeared to be in the middle of nowhere, and ordered meat dumplings with rice and some vegetables. The Mongolians are not great fans of fruit and vegetables, so we thought we'd take every possible opportunity to get some vitamins! The food was really cheap, costing about 70p for a huge hot meal and juice.
At about 3pm the van broke down and our driver had to spend about an hour in the middle of nowhere fixing it. He carried all the spares he needed in the van - you'd need to since we were already miles from anywhere with tools or parts. While we were waiting, only a few vehicles passed, one being another touring van with some Polish guys in it who were going to do an epic 2 week canoe trip in western Mongolia. We chatted for a while while their driver helped ours out! Along the way on our trip we saw whole families travelling on the back of motorbikes and on top of trucks, as well as many nomadic herders with herds of goats, sheep and horses. The landscape was absolutely gorgeous, and so huge it's difficult to describe. The landscape would often change from being quite dusty and flat with mountains in the distance, so more rolling grassy plains. We saw many huge birds of prey sitting right beside the tracks, and circling in the sky. We saw some huge eagles take off right beside the van - they were so beautiful. I also saw one catching a small rat thing on the ground.
At around 7pm we stopped at a beautiful lake called Oguiy Nuur and took some photos. From here it was another 2 hours to get to the first night's stop, which was our driver's family's place. To get there we had to cross a couple of rivers in the van, and they lived in 3 gers (one for his parents, one for his brother, and one for tourists) in the middle of NOWHERE! It was absolutely gorgeous in a flat plain between mountains, with their nearest neighbour about 2 miles away! There were cows and sheep and goats that wandered freely around, and I have never seen a toilet with such an amazing view, as it was simply a hole the the ground a few hundred metres from the camp! The ger that we 5 stayed in had 5 beds around the edge, a stove for warmth (it was cold at night), a table and some stools. The tour arrangement was that we would get a bed, dinner and breakfast from the families who hosted us for 5000 togrogs per night (less that 2 pounds!). That night we had hand made noodles with goat (we think), and then we shared some chocolates around. We had borrowed sleeping bags from the hostel and were very warm with these. We noticed here that even very late at night the sky was not pitch black - there still appeared to be some light from the direction where the sun went down. It was strange that although this family lived by themselves (with a dog and their animals) 12 hours from UB, they had a solar panel to power a TV which they enjoyed playing quite loud late into the night!!!
I woke up very early the next morning, and had a nice wander around in the clean fresh air before breakfast of home made bread biscuits and hot water provided so we could make hot drinks. The fire was re-lit in the morning as well. This one burned dung, as there were no trees to use for firewood.
Although we were woken up quite early with breakfast being brought in, and we were all ready by about 0830, there was no sign of our driver for a couple of hours, and our van had disappeared to run an errand of colelcting wood for the family. We were quite confused and had to wait until after an early lunch of rice and goat before we set off at 12pm. It was a bit annoying to be left hanging around, but we supposed it was because this was the driver's family and they had been up late the night before catching up! The family wore the traditional Mongolian dress of long coloured coats tied at the waist with wide bands, and they looked really spectacular. On our trip we noticed that many people wear this in the countryside, although it is not so popular in UB city.
When we left the camp, the driver wanted to deliver some presents to a neighbour's children, but when the van approached it turned out nobody was home. There were 2 dogs there though and they were barking so much that not even the driver would get out of the van. When we left the dogs chased the van as far as they could, barking all the way - one was running beside the van for ages while it drove at 40km/hr!
Not far on we passed a small town of gers with fences around each person's land, and the rubbish from the town was just discarded onto a nearby hillside - it was really awful.
After about 4 hours of driving through more wonderful scenery we reached Chuluut Canyon - a beautiful green blue river running through a gorge in the rock. We stopped to have a little walk and to take photos. By this time the landscape had changed and there were more trees on the hills, whereas before we had seen only grassly hills. Also yaks started to appear with really long coats. Later on we saw an enormous eagle by the side of the road, and then saw it fly off and saw it's enormous wingspan.
Close to the White Lake (our destination for the next 2 nights) we stopped in a small town for the shop. I didn't need anything, but I went in to look. It was a shop where you had to ask the lady at the counter for everything you wanted, and took lots of 'no, to the left. Next one' etc to get anything!
To get into the White Lake national park we had to drive across a plank bridge with loads of holes in it, and lots of the planks moved when we drove across. We all held our breath but it was fine...phew! As we crossed we saw a nomadic family who were moving their belongings around try to cross the bridge with their 5 or 6 yaks pulling carts. The yaks were getting quite impatient waiting in the road, and with their horns I wouldn't have liked to have an angry yak on my hands! As we drove into the national park we passed a volcano, and lots of black volcanic rock everywhere. The views over the lake were incredibly beautiful. The camp we stayed in was 4 gers in a row next to the small wooden house of the owners, and right beside the enormous unspoiled lake. Outside was their very sweet puppy, and a small girl who was really over excited to see us and was dancing around. She had such rosy cheeks as many of the Mongolians do and was very cute.
For dinner we had noodles with mutton or goat (we couldn't decide), and then Ali, Margot and I went for a walk along the shore and saw a gorgeous sunset. We saw a herd of yaks grazing beside the lake, and then when the dog barked at them, one charged at him...it was funny as nobody was in the way luckily. We also saw horses being herded past the gers.
At this camp the toilet had a small wooden hut built around it and actually had a seat, so that felt like luxury!
On Saturday I was also up very early, and when I went outside the lake looked exactly like a mirror for a while until the wind came and rippled it. I read my book for a while outside (when the wind wasn't blowing it was quite warm in the sun) until breakfast. I saw the horses that we had asked to ride this morning being herded from the mountains and then tied up outside the camp. Breakfast was bread again (as it was every day on the trip). After breakfast we set off on a ride of about 2.5 hours along the lake and towards the volcano. The horses did not seem to respond to any encouragement to move faster according to how we had been taught to ride in Europe, and the guide got them to move by shouting the Mongolian for 'go!' at them and waving quite a large stick in their view... We had a slow ride really, with the horses only voluntarily speeding up when we hit a swarm of mosquitoes beside the water. The swarm lasted a couple of minutes, and was awful - I swallowed one - urgh! After the swarm of flies, the guide (who had been playing music on his mobile most of the time) cantered off, and we were told to continue on our way. We were joined by a boy in his place a few minutes later. After about an hour we stopped beside the track, the boy tied up the horses (just tied 6 horses all to each other, and they stayed where they were told...) and we went off to look at a couple of caves. They were full of black volcanic rock and one had a huge lump of ice still inside. There was also still some ice on the far side of the lake across from where we were staying, which didn't surprise me when I put my hand in the water, which was soo cold!
After the ride, Margot, Ali and I ate lunch in the ger, and then set off over the hill behind the ger camp for a walk of about 4 hours. The hills were covered in gorgeous wild flowers, and we also saw a large hare running off as we walked along past him - it ran so fast! We saw some abandoned animal pens and then a big pile of animal bones nearby as well. As we walked back towards the lake we saw some English cyclists who were cycling around Mongolia for a couple of months. Their bikes were so heavily laden it looked really hard, especially knowing how sandy and dusty most of the roads are.
In the evening we played cards and chatted, and then just before dinner some new arrivals came to the camp and they decided to swim in the lake - it looked so cold they must have been mad. Dinner that night was rice, potato and meat.
On Sunday 1st June the minivan left at about 10am, taking not only us but also a couple of Mongolians from the camp who wanted a lift to towns on our way. We imagined our driver made a little extra money by doing things like this. One girl jumped out of the van a few gers down the lake to collect what ended up being her phone charger - it was so funny seeing these people who live such simple lives having these electrical items. At the same place we saw a young woman dressed in traditional Mongolian dress carrying a huge saw, but also wearing kitten heel boots with the outfit - it was a very stylish look! On the way out of the park we stopped so that we could walk up to the top of the volcano. It was very impressive, with a pool in the centre of the crater that looked like it would be very warm. The volcano is extinct luckily, but since there was no wind inside the crater, it was very warm.
On leaving the national park we had to pay the entry fee of just over 1 pound, then we dropped one of the extra passengers in the town on the other side of the park. The other girl stayed with us all the way to our final destination a few hours later, a town called Tsetserleg. Half way there the car broke down, and there was a very strong smell of burning. The driver seemed to fix the problem, but on climbing hills there was sometimes a burning smell for the rest of the day. Approaching Tsetserleg there was a lovely stretch of new tarmaced road, but there was a road tax that we had to pay for the pleasure of driving on this - not much though! Tsetserleg is at the base of some beautiful mountains, and is made up of gers inside fenced off areas of yard. We were dropped off at a cafe run by an English couple called 'Fairfield'. We couldn't understand why they would have moved here, but we took advantage of their pizza and ice cream offer that they had on. It was not cheap, but it was very nice. 1st June in Mongolia is Mother and Children's Day, so this was the reason for this menu. After lunch, the driver took us to a small abandoned temple that overlooks the town, which was nice, but it was raining quite hard so we didn't stay long. Next we went to a shop, where Ali and I tried to buy oranges, but they were mouldy! We couldn't believe that the shop was seriously trying to sell these - it just shows that fruit and vegetables are not very important to the Mongolians.
When we went on to the ger camp for that night, it turned out to be in someone's back garden! When we arrive there were a couple of yaks in the garden as well, but they were removed quite quickly! Margot, Ali and I tried to go for a walk, but could not get far as there was a factory and a rubbish dump in the way, and we did not want to walk the opposite direction as there were many dogs around. We played cards back at the camp, and for dinner we had rice, meat and today, some VEGETABLES!!! Margot and I washed our hair under a cold tap as we couldn't wait longer (none of us had been able to wash since we left UB) - it was cold but nice to have clean hair again!
On Monday 2nd June we left in the van at about 10am and drove to Kharkorin, the ancient capital of Mongolia (although there is little evidence of this history in the town). On the way we came across a road that had an enormous ditch across it! We had to turn back and find another way around. The van turned off the main road to go across country, but the ground was boggy after the rain the day before, and the back wheel got stuck in the mud. The driver tried digging the wheel out, and placing planks to help the van out, but it was too late. He had to hail a passing jeep to pull us out. The first attempt did not work, and we only got out after another passing van provided another cable to double the length so the van could get a proper run up! It was an exciting episode! After we drove away, we saw a family in a normal front wheel drive car stuck in the mud as well, and we helped to push them free.
Once we got to Kharkorin we had lunch of fried dumplings and some salted yak milk tea before heading to the ger camp. The lady who ran the small camp spoke very good English. We walked to the old monastery that was about 1 km away and looked around for a couple of hours. Margot and I paid for a short tour inside the buildings, and Ali picked up some very good value souvenirs at a market inside the walls. It was such a hot day that we were just wearing T shirts, and needed to buy more drinks on the way back to the camp. The lady who ran the camp had small children who liked playing football etc with the guests and got rather over excited.
Dinner was delicious steamed vegetable dumplings, and then after dinner there was a small concert by a neighbour in our ger of traditional musical instruments and singing, as well as a small girl's incredible contortionism! It was a great show as they were in their traditional costume as well. There was also a great souvenir shop at the camp or many handmade goods, so I bought some presents and then we all went to bed.
Sorry that's so long - it's been ages since I've had chance to get to a computer, and we've been doing so many interesting things!
I'll try to write a little less, a little more often if I can from now on!
Bye!
Kate x
