- After being dropped off at the ger, it was all very laissez faire; sort of like being dropped off in the middle of nowhere with no map, no brochure indicating what was available to do and see, AND no one at the ger speaking a word of Englishbut knowing we'd be picked up some 26 hours later. A tad unnerving right off the bat but OK too after getting over our initial qualms.
- Our 1 night/2 day ger stay, arranged through our Khongor Guesthouse in Ulan Batar (UB) included a horseback ride after lunch. Our trail guide, who only spoke Mongolian, had individual very guttural sounds, not words, and whistles for each of the 4 horses (you may remember Cissy from Belgium by way of Holland and Yasu from Japan were with us too) if the horses started to go their own way, eat grass, etc. The saddles were unlike any of those we used all of the 10 or so times we've been horseback riding back in Colorado or elsewhere.
- The countryside in parts did remind us though of Colorado and also of the Black Hills in S. Dakota if you've been there.
- Cissy, aged 69, had been to the same ger before on one of her many trips to Mongolia so she became our surrogate tour guide thankfully! Went for a lovely hike in the meadows and foothills right by our ger. No "trails" at all like we've been accustomed to at all the many, many parks we've hiked at all over the US - here you just hiked/walked where you wanted to with having to stay on a narrow 2 foot wide path. Definitely liberating to do that but again something to get used to.
- What WAS very disconcerting to us was the massive proliferation of trash, especially empty water bottles and beer cans everywhere we hiked. It wasn't just there at Terelj National Park that we witnessed that but all over Mongolia. In my opinion, what a profound shame to mar the beauty of the land like that.
- BTW, thought you'd find it amusing reading this from the comfort of your homes or work places to know that, while in the ger, we had NO water at all the whole time there; i.e. none to wash up before or after meals, for drinking, after using the pit toilet, etc. When we got back to Khongor and I mentioned this to one of the staff members, he blithely said we should have asked our ger hostess for water. Luckily though, we each DID have our handy roll of t.p. with us as that wasn't provided either of course. I never leave home (i.e. wherever our "home" of the moment is!) without some in my very tiny purse as t.p. isn't provided in Mongolia or China, we found.
- Info about Terelj for you facts and figures people; as you just MAY have guessed by now, I am definitely a charter member of that group! The park is 55 kms n.e. of UB at an elevation of 1600 meters; was first developed for tourism in '64 but only became a national park 30 years later.
- Even though it's been a national park for many years now, there are NO roads like we all are accustomed to in the park or, for that matter, for much of the way to the park from UB and when we went on our next trek out of UB.
- The "roads" in most of the places we were in away from UB were more like being on a car rally to Dakar you read about and see. There are 4 or even 5 very roughly parallel dirt "roads" or tracks all weaving in and out that drivers can choose to take regardless of which direction they're going. They all have massive potholes so the drivers are all constantly weaving around and around all the LARGE potholes trying to avoid as many as they can. There are no signs indicating where to go, and certainly no speed signs either. If you have a queasy stomach, Mongolian roads are NOT the place for you, I can safely say.
- Had hoped to write a lot more plus send photos but must run as Steven and I are being picked up in a bit to go to Doi Inthanon Nat'l Park here in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. Promise to write more and post photos as a soon as I can, hopefully before we go see Muay Thai boxing tonight at the stadium. Love to all.
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