Sarah & Richard's Travels

Photo by K. Kapoor

This is old info that you've probably all seen in the email, but I'll post it as a reference anyway. Now that we're out of China we can use this thing again and upload our photos!

We've just arrived in Beijing after another 30 hour train ride from Ulan Baatar and I can officially say we don't have swine flu...at least not yet. lol. We can't get onto our blog or facebook or anything like that here in China, so here's a massive essay about Mongolia and the begginning of Beijing!

The train journey from UB to Beijing was pretty ok and dare I say it was the easiest border crossing so far, although they did search all our bags, which the Monglian girl who we were sharing with said was a rare occurance. We also shared with a Canadian guy who had just done the Mongol rally from London to Monglia in a team of three Suzuki Swifts! I can't believe they made it that far, though by the sounds of things they only just putted into to UB before the car died. Richy's now decided he wants to do it - anyone up for a challenge?
At the border we had to change the bogey's on the train carriages as the tracks in China have a narrower guage than, Monglia, Russia and the rest of Europe. They jacked up all the carrianges and then rolled out the wheels underneath and rolled some more back in, they then came into our room, lifted up the carpet and started banging some random piece of metal and it was done. I was actually relieved of the tracks changing as for the first part of the journey through Mongolia there was a load of black smoke coming in from the engine as we were second behind the engine. It absolutely stank the whole time and when we went out into the corridor you could hardly see the end of it for all the smokey stuff, yuck!!

Beijing is a pretty amazing city - I'm surprised how modern it is - all new buildings, great roads, modern buses, much how I imagine Hong Kong or Tokyo to be like. The shock of so many people when coming out the train was a bit crazy, but we're more used to it now. Apart from the horrible smog and a few people spitting in the streets (though not nearly as many as I was expecting) it's very clean, no rubbish on the streets etc. It's amazing how some thigns are still done though. There was a large park that we saw around 10 guys sitting there with their lawnmowers obviously mowing the grass...have they not thought about ride-on mowers and one person doing it all???

Anyway, about our trip to Mongolia - it was absolutely amazing! The country is so beautiful, it is so open and there are areas where there is absolutely nothing for miles and miles on end. We ended up booking an Imaginative Traveller 3 week camping tour as you need to hire a driver and guide to get around anyway and thought a UK company would be much more organised and have much higher standads, plus an English speaking leader and it really was worthwhile.

It started off with 14 of us and then after 11 nights dropped down to eight of us plus the drivers and guides and some people wereon the shorter tour. We had four Russian UAZ vans which were actually brilliant. They are aren't the most luxurious vehicle in the world, but hey they get through anything, can be fixed by the drivers and they do look pretty cute they way they kind of bump along the road. The drivers were awesome at fixing everything and each night they'd be tinkering with the vans after hearing all the noises of the day and working out what was wrong. Near the beginning of the tour one of the vans was having problems with the axle so we had to stop and repair it and what did they use? A plastic bottle and duct tape! Worked a breeze until we got to White Lake and they had a whole day where they took the whole thing off, cleaned it and replaced bits and pieces. Another day we were driving along and one of the vans broke the front suspension, so we stopped and got out, they tinkered around and a few moments later another driver came past who stopped and just happened to have a spare suspension thing (don't ask me what it's called, I'm not very technical as you've probably already noticed) so they fixed it up and off they went. Next day we met up with the same driver, again seemingly in the middle of nowhere and they gave him back a new suspension thing. Apparantly it's a leaf suspension and it looks like lots of wide metal pieces layed on top of each other in a sort of shallow crescent shaped. Happy for the explanation boys? Even though we were quite often in the middle of nowhere its amazing to see who comes by - other vans, locals on horses etc. On one of the last days of driving it was very wet and there were loads of other cars stuck in the mud, including this massive tanker, but the drivers always stopped to help out where they could and give them a tow. It was great to travel in a convot of four as well, because if one of our vans got stuck, which happened a couple of times, the others just pulled them out.

The tour was all camping except for one night when we stayed in a Ger with a family at Khongryn Els which are sand dunes in the Gobi dessert. They were gorgeous and it was one of my favourite stops. It's flat and rocky landscape for miles in most directions and all of a sudden you have these huge sand dunes (around 300m high) straight ahead stretching for around 12km in front of you. The way the light hits them and they form is gorgeous. They were a mission to climb though and the last few metres to the top was hell, the sand was sooo soft that you felt like you were getting absolutely nowhere. The views were amazing though...check out the photos...and dbounding down them was awesome, you got up so much speed because of the slope, but it was all soft, it not a little gritty, until you hit the bottom. And at the bottom of the dunes was a little strea, (pretty wierd for a dessert I thought) that ran along the length, with quite lush grass and all the animals lapping up the water from the stream. In this part of the Gobi dessert there were quite a few Gers dotted along the base of the dunes because of all the water that was available.

Aout 50% of Mongolia's population is Nomadic and of that around 45% (if my memory is right) are truly nomadic in that they move several times a year whereas the semi nomadic will move say at the beginning of winter and summer or will even move to a town during the winter. They are basically ruled by the animals in that when the pasture becomes ruined or there are greener pastures elsewhere the families will pack up their Gers and move, because the animals are their livelihood. Most families have a mixture of animals including goats, yaks, camels, horses, fat tail sheep (I'm still amused by these critters) and some cows as well, though not as common. They use them for everything from eating, producing dairy to selling the wool and cashmere etc. It's a pretty tought life really.

Anyway our stay in the Ger at Khongryn Els was pretty cool, they are surprisingly warm and night and also cool during the day as you can lift open the roof slightly and tie up the bases of the Ger so the breeze can blow through - it is a little dusty in the dessert though lol. The Family Gers are pretty simple with the furniture all arranged along the wall and the stove in the middle to keep warm and cook and to sleep they bring all the bedding out onto the floor and sleep there. They are actually quite spacious. We had a pretty good party in the family Ger that night. It started out all very subdued with us all being good guests and listening to them playing guitar and singing and trying the yak's cheese (which looks like soap and is hard like soap, but tastes a bit yakky) and some other things which looked like twisties, but were really hard and tasted quite plain. I think they were just flour and water mixed together. There was also lots of vodka going around as it customary to offer the guests vodka. Basically it's all about hospitlaity in the Gers and the only real rules are to treat it as your own home and relax and to accpet the hospitality, there are no such rules as take off hats inside like it says in all the guide books! Also if youdon't want to eat and drink you just touch it to your lips to accept the offer, but then leave it. If you drink / eat it all you'll be offered more, so it's better just to take some! So the vodka goes around and you have to take it with one hand, (can't remember, but think it's left), transfer it to the other hand and then dip your finger in and flick towards the sky, the ground and yourself to bless all three and then you can drink it. The vodka here is a lot nicer and smoother than the stuff back home and so it's a lot easier to get a shot down...anyway all of a sudden it was like a switch had been flicked and everyone was up and dancing, all the drivers having a good time and trying to show some moves, it was pretty funny, like a dance party in a Ger really and most of the family got involved, whilst the two small kids slept right through!

We went for a camel ride at Khongryn Els which was lovely, they just kind of plodded along through the stream, had a bit of a drink (I didn't realise how long their necks were until they bent them down and started drinking!), then we rode along the base of the dunes and the owner who was leading all of us started to sing, it was beautiful. We were all in a kind of trance with the sand dunes and the singing.

We also went horse riding up at Lake Khovsgol in the north of Mongolia which was great as well. The water was sooo clear it looked tropical, until you put your foot in it! Not as cold as Baikal so I (and only one other person) braved the temperature and went swimming and despite the cold the water was so clean and clear and was quite invigorating. Plus after a few days without a shower you are really desperate for a swim and a wash! haha. We had very few opportunties for a shower one in fact, so it was get a bucket and chuck it over yourself which was fine in the Gobi when it was hot afterwards, but not so fine when it was cold up in the north...lol

UB itself is an interesting city and I'm still not really sure what to make of it. It's a complete mix of old and new. There are huge big glass buildings going up everywhere, though old crumbling soviet buildings around and the streets are quite dirty with lots of dust around. There's a lot of pick pockets around and our tour guide got mugged the day before we left, plus someone climbed into an open window of the guesthouse and stole a camera and wallet with $400 US in it. Ouch. I also got my bag tugged walking down the street with another girl, but promptly spun around and glared at the guy who stopped suddenly and stood 'casually' by the side of the road. Arsehole. Anyway, there wasn't really anything in it and nothing got taken, just the bag opened a bit, so it was ok. Mongolia is really a great country though, it's just UB where you have to be a bit careful.

This was our itinary for the tour that Jess our tour leader sent, so I'll add my comments below as to what we did each day in addition to the above. I'll try to upload the photos soon - keep forgetting the cord, but hopefully tomorrow I'll remember it!

Well, hope everyone is good. We're in Beijing until Monday as we're waiting for our Vietnamese visas to come through and then heading down towards Xi'An.

Lots of Love,
Sarah and Richy xoxox> >> > DAY 1. DUNDGOV AIMAG> > LUNCH @ ZORGOL KHAIRHAN> > CAMP AT BAGA GAZRIIN CHULUU (LARGE GRANITE ROCKS).> FIRST OFFICIAL VODKA TOAST> > HEIGHT AT CAMP 1590M> > DISTANCE FROM UB 202KM> > The driving on this day were some fo the smoothest roads we had on the whole tour. At lunch we stopped by this little lake and all the goats and horses and sheep came up in thier herds to drink while we were eating. There are practically no fences in Mongolia and the animals are allowed to wander relatively freely (until thier herdsmen comes along), so it seems a pretty good life for them, just wander and eat...

> > DAY 2. DUNDGOV AIMAG> > STOPPED AT MANDALGOV (AIMAG TOWN). MECHANICS> > CAMP AT TSAGAAN SURVAGA (VISITED COLOURED ROCKS).> FANTASTIC SUNSET AND MOONRISE> > HEIGHT AT CAMP 1279M> > DISTANCE FROM CAMP 1 184KM> >This campsite was liteerally in the middle of nowhere we were driving along and just stopped! Look around 360 degrees and see flat, rocky dessert for miles. The only thing we saw was a Ger around 15 mins walk away which some people visited and then some small hills in the distance. The stars were so clear that night and the moon that came up was gorgeous as well, you didn't need a torch because the light was so bright. The coloured rocks where we stopped before camp were amazing as well, these beautiful red rocks in the distance seemingly out of nowehere.
> > CAMP 3. OMNOGOV AIMAG> > VISITED YOLYN AM (ICE CANYON)> > CAMPED IN 3 BEAUTIES NP (GOBI GURVAN SAIKHAN) DUNGENE> AM> > HEIGHT 2179M> > DISTANCE 189KM
This was our first stop in the dessert which had water. We were in Three beauties National Park and had had a wander around and saw a farmer herding his yaks when we stopped. We drove further (and all had to get out the van to walk up the steep hill incase the dodgy axle broke - it was fixed the next day with bottle and tape), then all of a sudden this tiney stream appeared out the ground and a little further in between the rocky hills we stopped and camped on the few bits of grass by the stream, it was lovely. That night when we were all by the fire a little kid roder by on his horse, followed a little bit later by a man, his wife and a baby on a motorbike and when they stopped to ask our translator if we had seen a sheep. Not a herd of sheep, just one. When you have that many sheep I don't know how they knew that they had lost one. We were all a bit perplexed!> >> > CAMP 4. OMNOGOV AIMAG> > CAMP AT KHAVSTGAIT. COLLECTED WATER AT BAYANDALAY> (MY SPELLING)> > HEIGHT 1815> > DISTANCE 82.2KM
On the way to this place we stopped for water in the dessert. There are quite a few places where there are wells with a little old inner tyre for a bucket where you can take the water, so we stopped there and being soooo hot there was a massive water fight. I felt a bit bad wasting all the water which the locals need, however it was the drivers who started the fights! And it was great to get a bit wet and cool down. We'd been at this water stop around 10 mins and this herd of camels abruptly appeared and all sort of lined up a little way behind us and just stood there watching as if to say, 'when are we gettting water'. They looked like they were on a school trip or something the way they lined up and waited patiently.
> >> > CAMP 5. OMNOGOV AIMAG> > CAMP AT KHONGRYN ELS (SINGING SANDS). PRESENTATION OF NEW FORM OF DANCING. THE GER DISCO DANCE. POSSIBLY TOO MUCH VODKA CONSUMED.> > HEIGHT 1057M> > DISTANCE 55.8KM
As above with the camels and party in the Ger> >> > CAMP 6. DUNDGOV AIMAG> > STOPPED AT BULGAN TOWN FOR KHUURSHUUR (MUTTON> PANCAKES)> > VISITED BAYANZAG (FLAMING CLIFFS) FOR DINOSAURS.> > GER/CAMP AT ONGI RIVER (YOU HAVE TO FIND THE RIVER FIRST!)> > HEIGHT 1276M> > DISTANCE 223KM
We stopped at this little town in the dessert. There really isn't much in these old towns. When the Soviets had the power they didn't like the nomadic population so they built towns everywhere and tried to move everyone into them so there's all these crumbling soviet blocks everywhere, mixed with gers and little wooden houses, they look quite run down really and like real dust bowl minig sort of towns. Anyway, there was a Ger in the centre of town where we tried these mutton pancakes which were really quite yummy. They were handmaking them all when we got there and the man and his wife were sitting there rolling out the dough and then filling them with the mutton and onion mix. I was surprised how tasty they were. You couldn't eat a whole lot because they are quite rich and fatty, but they were yummy!

This camp at the Ongi river no longer has a river. Last year the tours were swimming in it but this year the river has dried up because of lots of gold mining up stream, so there is just a dry river bed. We had the choice to stay in a Ger again that night, however we and one other person camped, little did we know a massive storm was brewing. We'd jsust got into the tent and all of a sudden the wind whipped up and it started absolutely pelting down with rain and then the thunder and lightening stared coming closer and closer. I seriously thought we'd either get blown aways in the tent (the stoney ground didn't hold the pegs very well), drowned by a flash flood that would suddenly come down the river bed or struck by lightening. Anyway, we're still here, so it was all good!

We ate dinner in the bar that night (as we were at a Ger camp) and the resident camel stuck his head through the door and looked around. Apparently he does that all the time and goes from building to building. WE just sat there and watched as he looked around for around 10 ins and then left again!> >> > CAMP 7. BULGAN AIMAG> > TRAVELLED FROM DESERT/SEMI DESERT TO GRASSLANDS.> > CAMP @ KHOGNO KHAN. FLYING TENTS.> > HEIGHT 1291M> > DISTANCE 233KM> >This stop was really quite windy and we had around 3 tents that belew away because teh wind was so strong. We were in a valley which turned out to be a wind tunnel, although it did have a great view of the beautiful green countryside and approaching weather. This was our first 'green' stop after the dessert, so it made a nice change.
> > CAMP 8. ORKHANGAI AIMAG> > VISITED KHARHORIN (LOCATION ANCIENT CAPITAL> KAKRAKORUM).> > VISITED ERDENE ZUU MOANASTERY.> > MONOLIAN NOODLE LUNCH> > CAMP @ TSENKHER GOL (BLUE RIVER). MAGNIFICENT STORM> > HEIGHT 1584M> > DISTANCE 146KM

WE spent the morning at the Erdene Zuu monastery which was very interesting. There used to bearound 60 temples, but the Russians of course destroyed most of them and now there are only three left, but they are restoring them. The guide we had didn't speak a whole load of English but we understood some of what she said about the two types of buddhism and what the Mongolian symbol represents. It was designed by Zanabazaar who was an artist and first buddhist leader in Mongolia. There was an Eagle outside the monastery here so Richy held that and said it was incredibly heavy - around 10 - 12 kgs. It flapped its arms a bit and we took a few photos, so you'll see them we when get them uploaded.

We stopped to look over the town which used to be the capital of Mongolia, it was also capital when the Turks and the Huns ruled before the Mongols. There are still two turtles left at what used to be this entrance to the city. At each of the entrances, north, south, east, west two turtles were placed and they were ssupposed to represent knowledge (I think). It was a gorgeous view though over towards the city with all the green mountains and river in the distance. All the houses in the Mongolian towns have coloured rooves, blue for sky, green for land, white, orange and red as well, so it makes for a gorgeous view from above of lots of coloured houses.

We had another massive thunderstorm this night, though this time we were all camping. The spot was beautiful, on a grassy green field with lots of trees and a small fast flowing blue river which most of us had a swim in - gorgeous place. As it got darker though we could see the clouds approaching over the hills and see the lighning, when it was at its worst the lighning was right over head so we all jumped into the vans like scared little babies!! haha. Luckily we didn't loose any tents in the wind that night!> >> > CAMP 9. ARKHANGAI AIMAG> > VISITED TSETSERLEG (STUFFED SELVES ON CHIPS AND CAKE> AND> > COFFEE)> > STOPED AT CHULUUT FOR MY OVOO> > VISITED KHORG (VOLCANO)> > CAMP @ TSAGAAN NUUR (WHITE LAKE). HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO> FIONA WITH YET MORE VODKA AND OUR MINI NADAAM. FEAST ON HOT ROCK GOAT AND MARMOT> > HEIGHT 2056M> > DISTANCE 313KM

Today we stopped at a small town, Tsetserleg, which again had the pretty coloured rooves and stopped at a cafe run by two English people how have run it for 10 years and are now handing it over to the locals to run which is pretty cool. The food on camp was great and we always had plenty of it, we nevertheless stuffed ourselves on good old wester / english favourites! lol

We had quite a lng drive today and stopped at a huge gorge for wawhile, it was absolutely freezing, so al we wanted to do was jump back into the vans, haha, but it was a great spot and there was another ovoo which jess had built so we went around that three times and placed 3 stones on it for luck and a safe journey.

We continued further and climbed for 20 mins up a volcano. I was surprised that there was one in Mongolia as I totally didn't know it and it completely reminded me of Rangitoto in Auckland harbour that without fail we would have to climb almost every year it seemed! haha At the top we could just see the end of the lake we were heading towards for camp.

We had two nights at white lake which was great as we really needed a bit of a rest and it's nice not to have to put up and strike the tent everyday, which got a bit annoying, even though they weren't difficult to put up! We spent the day relxaxing, walking around and washing our hair! haha, the girls opened the hair salon which was much needed...

There are quite a few warrior graves around this area from the bronze age and we managed to spot a few. They are a mound (or semi mound) of stones surrounded by an outer ring of stones. At first its hard to tell because the pile isn't that obvious and the outer circle can be a little buried, but it was cool to see them and try to imagine how old they were!

We had a mini Nadaam festival at night arund the fire which was cool. Every year at the end of July they have Naadam where they play the three manly sports of restling, horse racing and archery, it was pretty funny really. The boys all did the wrestling, Richy was almost crowned king, although just got pipped after a long battle with Morchig one of the drivers! Then we all did horse riding on the backs of each other which turned out to be pretty funny and not really a horse race, more of a who could cheat most race, lol and after that the drivers and Dawa our translator sung some Mongolian songs around the fire which was lovely, it was so nice to heasr them sing. Then of course it was our turn, but us useless westerners didn't know the full lyrics of any song, so we bumbled along with a few choruses of different songs ad that was our pathetic effort! haha> >> > CAMP 10. KHOVSGOL AIMAG> > CAMP @ FOREST STEPPE (OUTSIDE MORON)> > HEIGHT 1798M> > DISTANCE 143KM

We had a small stop at a campsite which was surrounded by trees and forest, it was a pretty quiet night, after the party last night at White Lake!> >> > CAMP 11. KOVSGOL AIMAG> > VISITED MORON AND ITS MARKET> > CAMP AT KHOVSGOL LAKE. HOT ROCK GOAT> > HEIGHT 1671M> > DISTANCE 142KM

We had a great three nights at Khovsgol, the lake mentioned above where we went horse riding. It was formed around the same time as Lake Baikal in Russia though thank fully not as cold. Richy spent one of the days climbing the massive mountains behind the camp. It sounded like pretty hard going and was so steep that he had to keep going up to find his way down a different way! Anyway, he' got some cool photos from the top.

There was a mobile shop which came along to camp which was pretty funny. We were all sitting ther eand two motorbikes showed up and the drivers said it was a mobiel shop. But instead of setting up and selling straight away they waited for all the other shops to come along so they could set up together and start selling which I thought very fair of them so not one person gets more sales. They had a lot of camel and yak wool products as well as felt products and these awesome knives made with yak horns. Richy really wanted one, though unfortunately I don't think you'd get it back into NZ which has been a bit annoying so far!

We were pretty lucky with the weather here as we only got rain one morning and one night, although it was pretty chilly!> >> > CAMP 12. KHOVSGOL AIMAG> > CAMP AT SELENGE RIVER FOR SUNSET AND BEER> > HEIGHT 1054M> > DISTANCE 165KM> >
This was another favourite camping spot, again in the grass beside a fast flowing wide river, the Selenge. There was a steep mountain right behind us which we all climbed up for sunset and gave us an awesome view of the river and valley in both directions...see the photos when I get them up.

> > CAMP 13. BULGAN AIMAG> > RAIN DELAYED PLAY. STAY AT FAWLTY TOWERS...SORRY...BULGAN> HOTEL IN BULGAN TOWN IN BULGAN AIMAG. COMPLETE WITH MOOSE> HEAD> > HEIGHT 10623M> > DISTANCE 332KM

We had quite a bit of rain at this stop so stayed at a local hotel. It was pretty funny. In an old Soviet building and had two random mouse heads in the lobby. The bedrooms were more like a hostel than a hotel I suppose and the bathroom was shared at the end of the corridor with no shower. Oh yes, that's another funny thing about Mongolia - you can't put the toilet paper down the toilet, it has to go in a separate bucket! Eeewww, wouldn't like to be the one cleaning that up! lol

Anyway, so it was great to have the hotel which was warm and no tent pitching etc, plus we had dinner in the restaurant as well, Mongolian noodles with Mutton, which are pretty tasty, though there was a lot of them!! The restaurant also had a massive dance floor with a shiny disco ball going around and around with the old 80's and 90's music to accompany it!> >> > CAMP 14. TOV AIMAG VANS DID A LITTLE DISCO DANCING IN THE MUD> > CAMP @ GRASSLANDS 90KM FROM UB. BLOODY BEAUTIFUL.> > HEIGHT 1255M> > DISTANCE 375KM

This was our last major drive and it was pretty muddy, we had a spin out and another of the vans got stick so we hd to give them a tow out. We saw a lot of trucks stuck in the mud waiting for someone to come along and help them, our van toed another truck out, though we're not sure if we should have as it started to spew out loads of black smoke afterwards! Luckily it pretty much stopped raining by the time we got to camp although we did have a heavy shower. Again a great spot with views over towards some sand dunes and over towards some crop areas as well. This was the most fertile region of Mongolia and were they grow most of the crops - wheat, potatoes, corn etc.> >> > LAST CAMP-UB 90KM> > HEIGHT OF UB 1584 M> >
We almost made it to UB without another hitch, however just as we were getting into town one van's gear box finally died so we waited to fix that fo an hour or so. We don't usually mind, however this wasn't the most glamorous of spots to stop, on a huge, busy polluted road and loads of traffic, but c'est la vie. And finally back for a hot shower!
> > DISTANCES ARE AS THE CROW FLIES AND NOT THE ROADS> CHOSEN BY> > TURUU (AND SOMETIMES MORCHIJ, SHARVAA AND BAYRA!).> >