Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
After I had arrived in Ulaanbaatar, I went to a hostel on the recommendation of my Spanish amigos who were already there. I was nervous as I pulled into the city. It is large and sprawling, and I knew absolutely none of the language. I also had no idea where I was when my driver let us off. Lucky for me, I found some Finns standing around the railway station, and after talking to them, they gave me a small map of the city. With that and free wifi there, I was able to find my way to the hostel. So I was reunited with the Spanish guys, and they told me they were going on a tour tomorrow, just them, a driver, and interpreter. That sounded small enough to me to avoid the tourist traps, and I didn't really know how else to get around, so I decided to go with them.
I was a 6 day tour, and we set off the next morning. We drove to a nomadic family's ger the first day. A ger is what they live in, a circular dwelling perhaps 5 meters in circumference that is packable so they can move to greener pastures for their herds. These things dot the countryside, which is filled with animals - goats, sheep, cows, horses. The nomadic herding life is a reality in Mongolia. Grassy plains of the steppe stretch for long distances, broken by sharp low mountains. The road became more potholey the farther we went, and we often had to drive along the side of the road to avoid them, or suffer heavy jolts. When we arrived, we joined the family for dinner, and they stewed goat head for us, a delicacy. I ate the ear, and an interesting mix of crunching sounds followed. We also played with one of the kids, who would like to do things like fake high fives and tickling. Kids seem to be the same everywhere.
The next day, we drove a little further to stay with another family, who stayed near a feature called the Semi Gobi. It is a strip of sand and dunes that cut through the grasslands, and we could see domesticated camels wandering on and near this place. We actually got to ride a camel to one of the sand dunes, which we ran up and down on. After the night there however, all four of us woke up feeling under the weather. It was a combination of headaches and stomachaches between us, which made the car ride that day awful. We had left the paved roads and were bouncing all over dirt roads. At one point, we even drove through a shallow river that was flowing through and bounced over a few rocks on the other point, the craziest road adventures to date on this trip. When we arrived, we practically collapsed onto the ground and gave wholehearted thanks that we would not jolting up and down, and went straight to bed, fatigued by our strange illnesses. I still attribute that to lack of washing hands since there's no running water in the countryside. Having learned that lesson, I am bringing hand sanitizer when I go back to the countryside next time, something which my mother used to always attempted to push on me (unsuccessfully), and which I never thought I would value.
We rode horses for a few hours the next day to see a waterfall. The experience was pretty awesome, though it is strange which muscles you have which are able to become sore after a few hours of bouncing around on the horse. The horse was a pretty calm one, since they let one of their five year olds ride on it, and so the horse cantered to and fro according to the little guy's wishes, whose feet didn't even reach the stirrups. We also hit a volleyball around in a circle with some of the older kids, another activity that reminded me of home. After staying in the river valley for two nights, we saw the Buddhist temple in Genghis Khan's old capital of Karakoram, before we were headed on the way back, which involved a long drive. The Spanish guys and I exchanged history lessons, with them teaching me about Spanish history, and I teaching them about Chinese and American history. We also joked about how all the meat we had eaten on the trip had been sheep or goat, and how everything in the countryside smells like goat. We had also been without running water and showers for six days, and so we were all really looking forward to getting back to UB.
And thus I have spent the last three days in UB. The Spaniards left for Beijing on the first day, and it was a sad farewell. We had bonded over all the hardships in the countryside, from sickness to dirt roads and goat all day every day. Before they left, they presented me with chorizo (Spanish sausage) that they had carried from Spain, to eat if the goat starts to get to me again. As for me, I've been enjoying showers and chinese food - I will not be taking western amenities for granted anytime soon. I went to a service in the city's Buddhist temple on morning, and came in on their meditation/sit quietly and rub some necklace beads time. I meditated with them for some time, and thought how different their service was, very quiet, as compared to christian sermons where there's always something going on. I could imagine how old Ulaanbaatar was, sitting there among the quiet buildings and slow ceremony. The rest of the time I passed registering my passport, then buying tons of canned food to haul on my next journey to the countryside. It seems like the whole country is going to be more or less of a camping trip, and so I am prepared. The tour was nice, but it was a tour nonetheless, a bit too planned and limited in scope. Tomorrow I am journeying west, out back onto the steppes alone, to see what I can see and meet who I can meet. Tonight, I prepared and celebrated mentally by having a really nice crispy chicken dinner from KFC's.
After I had arrived in Ulaanbaatar, I went to a hostel on the recommendation of my Spanish amigos who were already there. I was nervous as I pulled into the city. It is large and sprawling, and I knew absolutely none of the language. I also had no idea where I was when my driver let us off. Lucky for me, I found some Finns standing around the railway station, and after talking to them, they gave me a small map of the city. With that and free wifi there, I was able to find my way to the hostel. So I was reunited with the Spanish guys, and they told me they were going on a tour tomorrow, just them, a driver, and interpreter. That sounded small enough to me to avoid the tourist traps, and I didn't really know how else to get around, so I decided to go with them.
I was a 6 day tour, and we set off the next morning. We drove to a nomadic family's ger the first day. A ger is what they live in, a circular dwelling perhaps 5 meters in circumference that is packable so they can move to greener pastures for their herds. These things dot the countryside, which is filled with animals - goats, sheep, cows, horses. The nomadic herding life is a reality in Mongolia. Grassy plains of the steppe stretch for long distances, broken by sharp low mountains. The road became more potholey the farther we went, and we often had to drive along the side of the road to avoid them, or suffer heavy jolts. When we arrived, we joined the family for dinner, and they stewed goat head for us, a delicacy. I ate the ear, and an interesting mix of crunching sounds followed. We also played with one of the kids, who would like to do things like fake high fives and tickling. Kids seem to be the same everywhere.
The next day, we drove a little further to stay with another family, who stayed near a feature called the Semi Gobi. It is a strip of sand and dunes that cut through the grasslands, and we could see domesticated camels wandering on and near this place. We actually got to ride a camel to one of the sand dunes, which we ran up and down on. After the night there however, all four of us woke up feeling under the weather. It was a combination of headaches and stomachaches between us, which made the car ride that day awful. We had left the paved roads and were bouncing all over dirt roads. At one point, we even drove through a shallow river that was flowing through and bounced over a few rocks on the other point, the craziest road adventures to date on this trip. When we arrived, we practically collapsed onto the ground and gave wholehearted thanks that we would not jolting up and down, and went straight to bed, fatigued by our strange illnesses. I still attribute that to lack of washing hands since there's no running water in the countryside. Having learned that lesson, I am bringing hand sanitizer when I go back to the countryside next time, something which my mother used to always attempted to push on me (unsuccessfully), and which I never thought I would value.
We rode horses for a few hours the next day to see a waterfall. The experience was pretty awesome, though it is strange which muscles you have which are able to become sore after a few hours of bouncing around on the horse. The horse was a pretty calm one, since they let one of their five year olds ride on it, and so the horse cantered to and fro according to the little guy's wishes, whose feet didn't even reach the stirrups. We also hit a volleyball around in a circle with some of the older kids, another activity that reminded me of home. After staying in the river valley for two nights, we saw the Buddhist temple in Genghis Khan's old capital of Karakoram, before we were headed on the way back, which involved a long drive. The Spanish guys and I exchanged history lessons, with them teaching me about Spanish history, and I teaching them about Chinese and American history. We also joked about how all the meat we had eaten on the trip had been sheep or goat, and how everything in the countryside smells like goat. We had also been without running water and showers for six days, and so we were all really looking forward to getting back to UB.
And thus I have spent the last three days in UB. The Spaniards left for Beijing on the first day, and it was a sad farewell. We had bonded over all the hardships in the countryside, from sickness to dirt roads and goat all day every day. Before they left, they presented me with chorizo (Spanish sausage) that they had carried from Spain, to eat if the goat starts to get to me again. As for me, I've been enjoying showers and chinese food - I will not be taking western amenities for granted anytime soon. I went to a service in the city's Buddhist temple on morning, and came in on their meditation/sit quietly and rub some necklace beads time. I meditated with them for some time, and thought how different their service was, very quiet, as compared to christian sermons where there's always something going on. I could imagine how old Ulaanbaatar was, sitting there among the quiet buildings and slow ceremony. The rest of the time I passed registering my passport, then buying tons of canned food to haul on my next journey to the countryside. It seems like the whole country is going to be more or less of a camping trip, and so I am prepared. The tour was nice, but it was a tour nonetheless, a bit too planned and limited in scope. Tomorrow I am journeying west, out back onto the steppes alone, to see what I can see and meet who I can meet. Tonight, I prepared and celebrated mentally by having a really nice crispy chicken dinner from KFC's.