On my way back to UB

  Tsetserleg, Mongolia
Tuesday, June 27, 2006

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On the 26th I left from Badar-Uugan home in Tariat and headed for Tsetserleg and Ulan Bator. It wasn't that easy, as I started hitching at around 9 under the rain. Nobody was going out of town. I started to roam around and eventually found a jeep that was going to UB via Tsetserleg: that gave me options, and the price was fair, so we agreed to leave at 11.

I returned to Badar-Uugan's house to wait, but at 12, still nobody. We took his father's motorbike and toured Tariat looking for another car. We found 2, leaving in the beginning of the afternoon. We agreed for one to pick me up.

They did come approximately in time, but only to let us know that due to the electricity supply being down, they could not fill-up the cars at the gas station... well well well... At the same time I learned that my original pick-up was into some repairs. Badar-Uugan was sorry, but I tried to explain him that I didn't mind, as there was nothing we could do.

Eventually I left at 3 in the afternoon, in a jeep headed for UB. We were 7 inside, including a big mongolian that would keep slipping on me when falling asleep (every 5 seconds or so). I got really tired of it. Eventually I got off at Tsetserleg, spent the night there, and took the bus in the morning.

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So on tuesday, I got in the bus with all my stuff, including saddle and saddle bags. Bad weather, bad seat... normal situation. But I was feeling at home in that mongolian bus packed with ballots and bags, and even a big freezer!


Even with the bad weather, looking at the landscape remains a fascinating occupation. A succession of steppe with mountains on the background, gers, a few houses along the road, rivers, etc... There were also some sand dunes stuck in between the mountains and the steppe.


After more than 4 hours driving, we stopped at a ganz, one of these cheap restaurants along the road. There I met Lizzie, who was travelling in the other bus (on this line the buses travel in pairs). She lives in Tsetserleg and works for the peacecorps as a teacher and webmaster.
Every few dozen kilometers, these kind of tiny "towns" can be found along the road. They usually include a few ganz, a few shops, sometimes a garage and a gas station.


I eventually got so shoot a water merchant, who had just left his cyclo-carriage to go for a bit of rest. He just goes from house to house and sells the water he got from a well or a river.



Once it was time to go, the driver noticed a problem with one of the big shock absorbers. They brought the bus to the "garage", got everyone off and started work: dimounting, welding on the spot, testing, remounting. One hour work, no problem, where in Europe it would have taken days and zillions Tugriks to replace everything.


Everybody just took patience and waited for the operation to complete, of course not knowing how long or how successful it would be.




That was also the occasion to meet Ikhbataar, a mongolian silversmith from UB, who was back from bringing his son to his grand-parents. He invited me to visit his home in UB.
He got really sick, as well as an old lady, after we left from our mid-day stop. My stomach felt a little funny but I was ok... lucky this time...

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