White Lake, gers, yaks, etc
Trip Start
May 02, 2007
1
44
70
Trip End
Ongoing
Ulan Bator,
Mongolia
Saturday, October 27, 2007
As we got close to White Lake, the scenery changed dramatically. Mountains rose from the ground and dried-out, silver, leafless trees dominated the landscape; a sure indication that we were entering a volcanic area. We stopped at a large canyon for a brief look at the partially iced-over river flowing along the bottom before we completed our day's journey.
Yakity-yaks
As we came over the last hill we were welcomed with a breathtaking scene. On either side were snow-covered mountains and straight ahead was an enormous lake, frozen solid along the shoreline. In the large, flat valley in front were a few gers. Yaks, cows and sheep lingered about the rock-hard tundra and a few Mongolians in traditional robes wandered around. We were shown to our ger, a simple tent with five beds (we took turns coupling up), a small table and a wood-burning stove in the middle. We were fed a typical meal - which is usually along the lines of meat (mutton more often than not), rice and a few veggies. Mongolians are not very big on vegetables; if you ask for a meatless dish, you will most likely receive a meal cooked with meat, but with the pieces fished out after (one "vegetarian" dish had a few meaty surprises at the bottom of the bowl). Suffice to say, a vegetarian would not do well in Mongolia. We had a small snowfall that evening, blanketing the entire area in a thin white veil. After a couple of beers and some dodgy Mongolian Merlot (a translucent red that tasted like port wine) we hit the hay. Since the temperature dropped considerably over night (our guess was minus 20ish), it was important that we kept the fire going. Carl and I took the reins the first night, getting up throughout the night to add more wood to the fire in an effort to keep everyone toasty. We actually woke up too late on the first shift and had to start the fire from scratch
Leg stretching
. Carl's Leatherman and my campfire skills were priceless in sparking it up again. The next morning we were given our usual breakfast of bread, cookies and tea before we went for our three hour horse ride. We were all suited up with Mongolian robes - basically big blankets with sleeves and really cool designs - and fancy belts before mounting our horses. Yvonne was unfortunate to get a horse with a really small saddle and her ass didn't thank her for it the next day (luckily Natalie volunteered to swap so Yvonne was spared a little pain - thanks again!). My horse was a stud; a white beauty we nicknamed Shadowfax (fans of LOTR might be able to appreciate that). Throughout our ride, a few of the horses took turns taking the lead and small groups would intermittently break out into full-speed gallops. For all of us inexperienced riders the galloping was pretty scary. At the same time it was one of the most exhilarating things we've done. We just held on for dear life, yelling at the top of our lungs, trying in vein to pull back the reins and get the horse to stop or at least slow down. Our guide must have been killing himself inside laughing at us, although you would never tell from his mostly straight face. Once in a while he did break out in a one-toothed smile. Along the way we took rest stops where we hiked a short distance to points of interest. The first was the large crater of the local volcano. It was a tiring walk up dozens of steps to the crater's edge where you had to be careful not to get too close and be swallowed by the gaping hole
Horse with a crew cut
. Another stop brought us to a large cave with a small lake frozen solid inside. Our guide took turns walking each of us to the back of the cave over the ice. In the ice you could see air bubbles frozen in their tracks as they made their way to the surface.Once the horse-riding was over we reveled in our fresh memories as we sat near the warmth of the stove. Before the day was over we'd also helped herd some baby yaks into their pen. It was a funny scene; four of us surrounding and funneling them into the small gate. We chased the odd stray around the pen that escaped our tightening circle and eventually got them all in. That night was an extremely chilly one for us. We all failed to wake up in time to stoke the fire, and everyone was too lazy to get up from their slumber to start it up again. We instead chose to bundle ourselves up as best we could and take shelter in the depths of our sleeping bags. It was the coldest night Yvonne and I have ever had to suffer through (Yvonne was actually worried one or more of us might not wake up the next morning!).
Day four of our excursion brought us to Mongolia's second largest city (unfortunately the name escapes me and it is absent from our guidebook). It was a dusty town but the first opportunity for us to shower since we'd left. We visited a bath house to accomplish this and paid 1000 togrog each (just under $1). It would seem that many Mongolians do not have bathing facilities in their houses so they have to visit the bath house whenever they need a cleaning
Roads of Mongolia
. Our accommodation that night was inside a house nearby the town. We were supposed to be staying in a ger they had in their backyard, but their place was double-booked so we took the space on their floor. We weren't complaining too much as it was fairly warm inside and we weren't looking forward to another freezing night in a ger. The next day we visited the Erdene Zuu Monastery. At one point it was home to 1000 monks in 100 temples, but Stalin's efforts greatly reduced these numbers. It is now mostly a museum but there were still many practicing monks going about their business on the grounds. After spending some time wandering in and out of the temples and learning a little about the different buddhas, we were driven to our last place of stay. It was a ger in the yard of a small house, in the middle of a large empty field with a very small town about two kilometers away. After we'd settled in, Mark, Carl and I took a walk into the little village in search of beer and wine. On the way we were giggled at by a bunch of young kids in one of the yards, who proceeded to playfully toss rocks toward us. None of them made it remotely close to us, but we were glad to provide them with some entertainment and excitement. That evening we solved the problem of the fire dying overnight. Mark found a huge log to toss in the stove so it would burn slowly. Despite my objection and suggestion to cut the thing in half, he and Yvonne went on to add it to the fire. Of course, the entire log didn't fit into the small stove, so half of it stuck out, and by the time they had figured that out, it was already on fire and too late to take out
Chef at work
. Flames jumped out of the top as they hammered away at the log with the back of the axe, trying in vein to force it in and close the lid. After about twenty minutes of this, with the room completely engulfed in smoke and everyone's eyes red and tearing up, they finally got the thing all the way in. In the end it did pay off as it burned slowly throughout the night and kept some hot glowing embers going, enough for any added wood to instantly take to flame. On our last day, we made a brief stop at the "mini-Gobi", a small area of land in the middle of nowhere with some tall sand dunes. We climbed a couple and ran down them before escaping the frosty air. We were back in Ulan Bator by late afternoon, exhausted and satisfied with our trip. We couldn't have asked for a better group of people with which to share all the ups and downs, and also to play endless games of "Shithead" with.
