Mongolia: UB and second trek

After our experience with the state of Mongolian roads on our first trek, we decided to change our itinerary a bit and stay in Ulan Batar (referred to as UB by all) for 2 nights rather than leaving about 15 hours after getting back from the first trek.  Another factor for us is that leaving right away would leave us no time at all to see UB and we wanted to do that after all.  No problem with the guesthouse with either staying in our room (for $18 a night inc. a shared toilet, shower and a b'fast of tea, bread and jam) or changing our tour plans from a 3 night/4 day tour to a 2n/3d tour - all pretty loosey goosey there.  We also said we wanted to stay in the Erdene Zuu Monastery area (i.e. a 5 minute walk from there) for 2 nights rather than being able to see it for an hour or so and then leaving for another night elsewhere.  We figured since there was no one else going we could tailor the trek/tour and go where we wanted.  Part of that decision too was after talking to so many people of all ages in the g'house who had been all over Mongolia with Khongor G'house and Tours and had talked about their being in a van driving from one place to another for 8 plus hours a day on really horrific roads.  Yes, they saw a huge part of the country, including the Gobi, and often for a couple of weeks but that sort of endurance trip did not sound appealing to us at this stage of our lives.

So, on 9/8, we spent a real relaxing day seeing the sights of UB.  Our g'house location again was perfect, all of a 1 minute walk from Peace Ave., the main drag in UB.  Hope I haven't written about this before in an earlier post?!  I had read so much about UB before leaving and was more than half scared out of  my wits walking the streets, albeit with Steven, b/c of the constant warnings about pickpockets, the dangers of walking anywhere in UB esp. at night.  I don't consider myself to be a scaredy cat at all, especially after this trip when I fearlessly (stupidly or carelessly Steven might say) walk across many lanes of traffic in huge cities or any other number of situations normally requiring caution, but reading the incessant warnings from the US State Dept., on the door of the g'house, on Trip Advisor etc does indeed play a heavy mind game with your head.  

• We were entirely safe the whole time and did indeed walk the main streets at night, although only up to 9:30 or so.  Had read a lot about the State Dept. Store on Peace Ave, again 2 minutes literally from our g'house.  I had pictured in my mind a drab 2 or 3 story building basically with nothing really to buy except gear to take out on treks and a few foodstuffs. The reality of course was vastly different - it reminded me of The Bay (a large dept store in Ottawa) in many ways with 6 floors of absolutely anything and everything you could ever want.  We spent a lot of time on the 6th floor looking at, and buying of course, some of the Mongolian souvenirs.  Prices and selection were very good there compared to any of the souvenir stores in town. On the first floor, they had a massive supermarket that we went to several times b/c it was so convenient for us.  Was able to get some Walker's shortbreads mini rounds which I am still enjoying with my nightly cup of tea some 3 weeks later.  Just finished the last of our many bags of Mongolian raisins 2 days ago that we had bought there.
• Spent a couple of hours at UB's Black or Dirt Market - very aptly named too!  Got the local bus there and back; up to 140,000 people visit it every day; almost no Westerners there we saw; bargaining was the norm there as is/was everywhere else on our trip.
• Mongolian money is the Togrog, also knows as the Tugrik: there are no coins; about 1700T to the $! It cost 2000T for 2 tiny buns and a tomato and 45K togrogs for just a handful of groceries - truly Monopoly money!
• Saw an amazing performance of Mongolian dancers, singers (including the mesmerizing throat singing unique to Mongolia), contortionists, etc in a very small theater that was a highlight for us both; still beating myself up that I didn't take my camera with me that night as I'd pay a pretty penny for some of the images.
• 9/9:  on our way to our 2nd trek with Khongor; We'd posted a note on the g'house bulletin board on 9/7 asking others to join us but no takers.  Then, 20 minutes before leaving, we were told that another woman would be joining us.  Did we luck out or what - not only was it cheaper to have another join us and more fun to share the experiences of a 2 night/3 day tour with another person but Valerie and we go on like a house on fire.
• She had us in stitches from the moment we left Khongor G'house on the 9th to the moment we said goodbye to her on the 11th; neither of us have ever laughed so much in our lives; we miss her so much still.  Trying to figure out how best to "describe" her:  she's an Irish Catholic but spent her formative years in Toronto with her parents and 9 siblings and moved back to Ireland about 25 years ago;she's in her late 50's like me; practices Buddhism now as well as Catholicism at times; has been working with a lama in Ireland for the past year and was in Mongolia as his personal assistant for 2 months but decided to go on a last foray for a couple of days before heading home to Ireland; she'd seen much of Mongolia already but did it with the lama and his entourage so not "roughing" it like we were doing; she's a young adult fantasy writer writing under the name of O. R. Melling - her latest book, coming out soon, is "People of the Great Journey" and is published by hay House in the UK; she also has US and Cdn publishers.
• Left UB with a smattering of snow thinking what have we gotten ourselves into b/c Steven and I did NOT have cold weather gear except for one size fits all gloves we bought at the Dollar Store, a fleece headband for me and a hat I 'd knitted for Steven and warmish jackets; Valerie had more layers of clothing than you could shake a stick at, lucky her, and kindly offered to share.
• Drove to Kharkorin via Khustai Nat'l Park as wanted to see the takhi, the Mongolian native horse which are only found in that one park in all of Mongolia; it was reintroduced to Mongolia in 1990 from zoos in Austria and elsewhere after being declared extinct in 1969; we looked for a long time trying to spot them and our driver, Bolga, must have the eyes of an eagle as he finally did way up on a hill; hiked up a good fair piece to get as close as we could and got some great pictures; see how different they are from other horses.
• Had lunch at a local place on the road; don't forget we are in the middle of nowhere now with no towns or villages to speak of, no Western conveniences of any kind, inc restrooms, etc!
• Got to our ger camp in Kharkorin about 350 kms SW of UB at 7:30 ish; thank goodness none of suffer from bad backs, knees or queasy stomachs while driving as we jostled about like you wouldn't believe; no seat belts except for the driver so many a time as we'd go over potholes, etc the two people in the rear seats in the 2 wheel van would be thrown forward or upwards into the roof of the van; Adam, I kept thinking of you and thinking this would be surely your version of hell!  
• The journey or adventure as we like to call it may not sound at all funny the way I describe it, but it was all part of the adventure and you just literally rolled with the punches; plus, having Valerie relating hysterical stories about her family, her life, times with the lama etc, made it all so much fun.  The "responsibility" of the person driving shotgun, we established was to yell out with as much warning as possible "pothole ahead!"  That was a pretty constant responsibility b/c of the state of the roads and not a reflection of Bolga's driving as he was exceptional.
• B/C we got to the ger camp later too late to have dinner right away in the dining area of the camp, we "had" to listen to a concert put on by a local musician first; felt a tad scammed as he then hit us and the other ger guests for money even though we were just waiting for our meal.
• He was very good and we certainly had front row seats so to speak; he played a variety of instruments, all unique to Mongolia; he introduced his songs in English and explained he was self taught both as a singer and player; he did more of the throat singing to Mongolian folk songs we'd heard the night before in UB: 4 different types of "homei," from the sinuses , throat, chest etc; he also tapped his bald head with a spoon in time to a song; played Simon and Garfunkel's El Condor Pasa with a recorder like instrument!
• Photos now as this "blog" has taken over 2 1/2 hours to write and I figure Steven must be getting up soon so we can see more of Chiang Mai, Thailand today.  BTW, we'll be back home in Denver one month from today on Oct. 28th - wonderful to see family and friends again but I, for one, will miss our life on the road as vagabonds.

At the UB market: above and below.

Waiting for the bus back to UB from the market.

In our room at Khongor getting ready to go on 2nd trek.

Snow flurries leaving UB.

With Valerie at Khustai Nat'l Park: the horse we wanted to see were at the top of the hill on the left.

Yes, Tom, 5 weeks in and we're still doing great!  Oh ye of little faith!

Our bumpy road, i.e going across the field!

The toilet at the roadside restaurant; the empty space in the middle may not look fairly wide to you but let me tell you I was scared about losing my footing!

Horses taking a break just beside the road.

Likewise, camels in the wild on the side of the road.

Photos of our pre dinner entertainment.

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More photos from our first tour/trek in Mongolia on September 6th and 7th.

While hiking in the hills from our ger.

My first view of camels up close and personal - these were a 5 minute walk from our ger that were available to take out for walks.  Hint: more up real close photos coming soon!

Notice the plastic in the roof from which the embers would rain down on us.

From inside our ger: notice the low door which at times we all bumped our heads on.  Just a tad short for you Adam.  I have a better appreciation for what you must go through on a frequent basis with low doors and ceilings, etc now!

No stockyards for these cattle, all just free range - my apologies, Christine, if that only applies to chickens and not cattle!

On our way to the meditation retreat from our ger: notice the massive number of signs or invocations on the way up, each one just a few feet from the last. Each also had a saying, prayer etc on the reverse too but we hiked back a different way so didn't read all of them too!

The prayer wheel at the summit of the retreat.

Not laundry drying but prayer tokens!

A pretty rickety bridge - glad I waited to take pictures so I wasn't on it at the same time as Steven, Yasu and Cissy!

I read that the view from the summit of the retreat is like scenes from Lord of the Rings.  Haven't seen the movie to know but it was beautiful, as hackneyed as that word may be/

On way back to UB after our hike to the retreat on 9/7, Yasu, Steven and I stopped off at this ginormous monument of Chingiss Khan - in the West,we say Ghengis Khan but the Mongolians do not.  (Cissy had decided to stay by herself for 2 extra days at the ger before returning to UB.)  The statue is 131 ft tall and wrapped in 250 tons of stainless steel.  The monument was placed where it was b/c Khan found a horsewhip on that hill in Tsonjin Boldog, about one hour from UB.  The monument opened 5 years ago and the plans are for the monument to become a Disney World type of theme park with gers surrounding the statue for guests to stay in, rides, etc.  Thank goodness we saw it w''o all that! C. Khan conquered one half of the known world in the 13th century and is revered in Mongolia though people acknowledge that he was a cruel man who led Mongolia to greatness.

This Mongolian boot in the monument is 9 meters high and the tallest boot in the Guinness Book of World Records; it weighs 3 tons.  We saw replicas of this style of Mongolian boot everywhere for sale PLUS people, mostly men, wearing them too all over Mongolia.

The Golden Horsewhip in the monument.

Mongolia: 1st ger stay still!

Don't faint dead away but this is the second post today:  I figure I have to make up for lost time blogging when I can!

• Terelj Nat'l Park, BTW, is at 1600n m so not too far off Denver's 5280 ft, and is about 80 kms n.e. from UB; one of the major "sights" in the park is the aptly named Turtle Rock; see photo below!
• The night skies were beautiful b/c we were so far away from the city's lights; we saw more stars than I can remember seeing in many a year.  Steven pointed out many constellations to me as I can never pick them out!  He was enthralled looking at the night sky but I was chilly and gave up the ghost after a quick peek - my apologies to you budding astrologists.
• Our ger had a wooden stove; luckily our ger hostess had cut a fair amount of kindling for us so we were nice and warm when the four of us went to bed, thanks to the fire and plenty of blankets.  We had to be careful not to sit too close to the very low stove b/c embers would "rain" down through the plastic in the roof and come way to close to burning us.  We did learn quickly after that and moved!  But oh my, were we cold in the morning when we got up and had no warm fire.
• The four of us went on a lovely hike after breakfast of bread, tea and jam from our ger to the Buddhist meditation retreat of Aryapala about an hour plus away straight up the mountain.  I take so many pictures so I am always urging Steven and others, if they're with us, to go on ahead and then I run and catch up with them.
• Will keep my fingers crossed that I can send photos now as we're heading off to see Muay Thai boxing in 30 minutes. More blogging tomorrow with luck.
  
  
  

  

  Cissy, a born traveler; she's been to Greece 39 times inc 6 times in ONE year; she spent 1 month in Mongolia last year and 2 months and counting in '13.

  
  

  

  Yasu from Japan, another inveterate traveler; he's traveled to 21 countries around the world; he and his wife, who didn't come to Mongolia with him (she's vegetarian and thought there'd be precious little food for her to eat), quit their jobs at one point to spend 2 months travelling all over S.A. they also went to Easter Island from there.  Oh, did I drool at some of the photos he shared with us on his ipad.  He talked at length about the official work week in Japan as being from 9-5;30 but in reality, he has to work til 10 at least every night.  His wife, a nurse, works even longer hours; the human toll is high, he said, with 30,000 Japanese committing suicide yearly b/c of the demanding work schedules and low quality of life.

  
  

  

  View from my horseback.

  
  

  

  Steven kept asking me to put away the camera as it wasn't terribly smart of me to try and ride AND take photos.

  
  

  

  Turtle Rock obviously!

  
  

  

  Edelweiss flowers on our hike.