One Year Away

Penny and Joe

Although we don’t usually make posts like this we wanted to keep a record of what we did on a daily basis during our trip to the Gobi Desert.  Check out the new Mongolia photo album, there are a ton of photos there.

Day 1:

Our 7 day trip started early on Thursday, October 5th.  In the morning we met our three fellow travelers.  Kai and Erik are two Dutch university students who are traveling for 3 months before graduating.  Ian, is  the  Australian firefighter who we met on the train to Ulan Bator.   We also met our driver, Yong Dong, a 28 year old native of the South Gobi and a man of few words.  Last but not least we were introduced to Tsegii our charming and sociable guide/translator.

We loaded up the Russian van with our packs, tents, sleeping bags, cooking equipment and food to
last several days.  At last we took off and drove out of the city.  About 45 minutes into our 6 hour drive the paved roads came to an abrupt end and we started on the dirt tracks we would drive on for the rest of the trip.  We quickly learned that the bumpy track required our full attention so we could know when to hold on to something. 

The first day exposed us to the beautiful but stark Mongolian countryside.  We saw herds of goats, sheep, cows, horses and camels roaming freely.  We stopped for a lunch break at a ger cantine where   Erik, Kai and Joseph sampled some traditional salted milky tea.  Before reaching our final destination for the day, a small tourist hotel, Tsegii showed us a vulture nest perched in the hills.  We scampered up for a closer look.   

That night we stayed at a basic but comfortable hotel and cooked our own meal of pasta with vegetables and sauce.  For a meal cooked on one gas burner of our portable stove it turned out quite well.

That first night we also realized how drastically and quickly weather can change in the Gobi desert.  Tremendous winds woke us up in the night as the hotel rattled.

Day 2:

We awoke to find that Erik had become sick during the night.  As the only one who drank a full cup of the traditional milky tea from the day before we thought we knew what the culprit was.  He would be out of commission for the entire day.

As we got ready to leave the driver went to fill up on petrol in a nearby town.  We waited and waited.  Finally, Tsegii marched out in search of our driver. Turns out that Yong Dong, a man with a voracious appetite, had been delayed because he was waiting for a marmot barbecue they were having at the gas station.  We had a good laugh and set off for another long drive to our next destination.

That night we stayed at a very remote (even for the Gobi) ger camp.  There was nothing around  us as far as the eye could see.  Not even a dirt track led to the place.  We wandered around and discovered the skull and bones of a baby camel, which provided loads of entertainment (see photo album).

The four of us who were feeling well went off to some nearby cliffs to watch the sunset.  The view was spectacular. 

Upon our return we were served a local meal of noodles and horse meat.  Tasty.  We settled into our sleeping bags, loaded the ger stove with wood and went to sleep.  The night was freezing cold and the residual heat from the stove only lasted a couple of hours.  It made sleeping diffucult.

Day 3:

We had another long drive to the town of Dalanzadgad (pop. 15,000) an important town in the South
Gobi.  There we were able to replenish our supplies and take a much needed shower in the public bathhouse. 

We stayed with a local family who had two gers for tourists but they themselves lived in a dilapidated brick building.  That night we joined up with another van of tourists staying with the same family and went out with our drivers and guides to a local nightclub.  After a couple of rounds of giant Korean beers the locals dragged us onto the dance floor.  One local woman in particular did not take no (or oogwie in Mongolian) for an answer and pulled on your arm until you were dancing. 

Day 4:

After another drive we arrived at Gobi Gurvan Sayhan national park to visit the famous ice valley.  The national park contains a deep canyon the is shocking to the senses after days of flat terrain.  We took a 2 km hike through
the canyon, walking along a stream that was iced over in parts.  Although there was less ice than we expected it was still a beautiful sight in the middle of the desert.

We drove to another local family with two little girls.  The family, who lived next to large sand dunes, raised camels for milk, meat, hair and riding.  We made friends with the two little girls by sharing our chocolate snacks and making them balloon animals.

Day 5:

We woke up in the morning and got ready for a camel ride out to the dunes.  The mother of the family led us there and waited impatiently with the camels as we climbed the sand dunes.  Getting
up was tough work but the view made it worthwhile.  Getting down was pure fun.  Dune running could be a new extreme sport.

On the ride back to the family gers, Erik’s camel slipped in a small stream and fell on its side, slightly injuring him in the process.  We all wanted to get off our camels to help Erik but none of us could remember the command to get the camel to kneel (souk – for future reference).  Ian, the firefighter, jumped off the tall camel and made sure Erik was OK.   

After another drive we arrived at the Flaming Hills.  A site made famous by the discovery of over 100 dinosaur fossils.  These include a pair of dinosaurs that were killed while fighting when a sand
dune collapsed on them; one of the dinosaurs has the foreleg of the other in its mouth.  The pair sit
in the Ulan Bator museum of natural history.  Aside from its importance to paleontologists the Flaming Hills are a beautiful sight with their red sand cliffs blazing in the afternoon sun. 

That night the weather was mild and we decided to camp near the hills in an area with woody bushes that provided fuel for a fire.  We had a meal of pasta and ketchup (which we thought was pasta sauce – the downside of not being able to read Mongolian labels).  We sat around the campfire to keep warm, had a few drinks and when the firewood we collected was used up we went to sleep in our tents.  The silence of the place was incredible, there were not even any insect or bird noises.

Day 6:

We now began the two day drive back to Ulan Bator.  We passed through familiar terrain and ended up  at the ger of a local family.  The hospitable family raised goats, sheep and horses.  The father had passed away only 2 weeks prior to our arrival and so we tried to be as unintrusive as possible. 

That night the women of the family herded in the female goats from the fields to milk them.  It being considered a woman’s job to milk the animals, Penny and Tsegii tried to help the family with the milking duties.  The women of the family had a laugh at Penny’s slow milking technique, but still seemed to appreciate the help.

After a tasty meal of noodles with mutton we sat in our ger and played cards into the night.  Our manure-burning stove kept us warm.  And the smell of the manure smoke was surprisingly pleasant.

Day 7:

The last day consisted of a long 300 km drive back to Ulan Bator.  On our way we dropped off the daughter of the family at her kindergarten class in a small town about 20 km from the family gers.  She went to school happy; with a balloon dog in hand and a belly full of chocolate treats.

We arrived back at Ulan Bator and were completely unprepared for the chaos, noise and pollution of the city.  We wanted to get out again as soon as possible.

At the guesthouse we said goodbye to our driver and guide and all quickly rushed to the showers. 

Overall we had a great time during the tour, in no small part due to the fun people we got to travel with.