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| part 1 tour through mongolia |
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| part 2 tour through mongolia |
dinsdag 27 oktober 2009
zondag 25 oktober 2009
30 day tour
Hello,
where to start? First we met Amy and Sam, a couple from London, on our last day of Ulaan Bator. We waited for 7days and I explained Simon that we had to make a decision, if we didn't find people to join our tour we had to do it on our own and take the bus to the north. Almost ready to call our friend Ugna to cancel our trip when I saw two people looking at our message, which we hang everywhere in the city. It was like God send them, they were interested to do a tour with us,hallelujah!
So the next day we left Ulaan Bator with Ugna, our guide, Amy, Sam and Tsaja, our driver, in a russian van.
After a couple of hours driving the tarmac ended and our trip on the piste begins. Only from Ulaan Bator to some other city there is tarmac, but most roads in Mongolia are very bumpy sandroads. You definitely need a good jeep or van to defy these roads, where 50-60km/h is the maximum. So the trip of 5000km we did, took a long time because of the bumps and the holes.
During the sovjet time Boudhism was forbidden and a lot of monks where killed. A lot of monasteries were destroyed and rebuild after 1990. Also the monastery in the north: Amarbayasgalant monastery. We arrived and it looked like a big playground for the young monks. Everywhere kids running around these big ruinous buildings. Most of these parts are the only monasteries which were not destroyed and look very old and need a restoration. The inside is always impressive but if you've seen one, you saw all. Only the last monastery, in the old capital during Chingis Khaan-time, Erdene Dzuu monastery was more impressive. The city around the old building is ugly and besides this attraction there is nothing to see in the area what was used to be the biggest city of Mongolia.
Our trip leaded us from Ulaan Batar to the north, the west and eventually the south.
In the north we went to the big Kovsgollake, an huge pure lake that is blue like we never seen. Our guide bought a piece of land in the touristic little village near the lake and arranged a cheap horse riding tour for 3 days. It was a nice experience but Simon and Amy didn't like it so much. I really find it sad that that's the only horse riding we did. For me(saartje), coming to Mongolia was all about riding on a horse with the wind in the back over these beautiful landscapes. But like a lot of people, it is an utopia and we changed horses for a van.
The roads brought us through amazing valleys with rivers who curls like snakes over this dry sandy land, the mountains which come and go and give us the feeling to jump out of the car and admire this nature for forever. The animals, still free in their huge habitat, are equally surprised to see us as we them. Everytime we see a bird or a fox, everyone is shouting and pointing. One time we even chased a fox, poor animal. Amazing, never saw so many foxes, gazelles, eagles, marmots, hamsters, falcons, deers, camels, horses, wild camels,... It stays exciting even if it is the 10th gazelle you see. Just to see them running or to see the eagles flying next to our van, fantastic! One day, a man came to us and asked if we were interested to see wild camels ans bears. Amazed at his proposal we nodded and he took us on a day driving to the dessert in search of wild camels and the Gobibear. These animals are almost extincted and live now in a strictly protected area in the south. Organizations are now trying to set up breeding programs so the animals return back, like it used to be. We felt so privileged to see the wild camels and the shepherd let us riding one of his 'normal' camels, a funny experience but another cameltour was not necessary because we found that the stick through the nose of the animals are a bit cruel. The bears we eventually didn't see but it was nice to see how their breeding programs work. It was really nice to see that they care about the animals instead of shooting them all. In 15 years time all the animals reduced with 50% because the mongolians have a big culture of hunting, no matter what animal. So these programs show us the other side, luckily.
The west of Mongolia was for me the most beautiful. We went to our guide's house and he showed us around in the area for a couple of days. Man man man, never seen nature as beautiful as here, so intact, can't even describe maybe pictures tell more. We saw rockcarvings, open field, golden mountains, the delivery room in a little hospital, traditional instruments, traditional dresses, ...
Most of the time we camped ( mongolia is one big camping area), stayed in shepherds houses or payed for a little room in small villages. We liked staying in the traditional gers, so we had contact with local people who let you see another mongolia. Languagebarriers are tough, even with a guide, and that makes that we didn't learn as much as we could have. They teached us Mongolian cardgames,the customs in a ger, play games with goats anklebones, break apart a ger, .... we really got to see their traditional life and that was what we wanted.
I have to say it: Mongolia has the worst food in the world. We met an American who told us and we didn't believe him, but after almost 2 months now I can say it. In the countryside they don't have a lot of vegetables and they really have a meatculture here. So I give you an impression what we'd eaten here:
- fried little bread
- milk tea > goat milk with water, a little bit of herbs and salt
- mutton with tons of fat on it (mutton with rice or mutton with noodles)
- buuz (big raviolli with only mutton and fat)
- kuushuur (fried buuz)
- airag (fermented horse milk that becomes a sort of beer) you can also make vodka from it. We drank also camelairag.
- aron ( different kinds of really old hard cheese, like rocks)
If you eat in a ger or cantine, these are the options, but we also had our own food and tried to make some variations. But I have to say we ate a lot of candy, chocolate and other sugary things. Eventually we get used to the different tastes but we were dreaming the hole time of good food: western food. So the first thing we did when we came back to Ulaan Bator was: pizza! :)
The south ( the Gobidessert) was amazing to see. A small part of it are sanddunes, big mountains of gold sand where you can climb on (if you have good physics) and slide off. The view was stunning and we are all glad we did 5000km to eventually see these mountains.
We had a bitter pill to swallow in the end. The relationship with our guide was not as easy as we thought in the beginning. We had some discussions during our trip and then eventually the bomb exploded and we had a big fight. Luckily it was in the end and he dropped us in a little city 400km from the capital. So we got out of the van and just went our own way and we were all relieved. We are so lucky we met Sam and Amy, we had the same ideas and it clicked. We saw 70% of Mongolia, its beautiful landscapes, the local people and their old traditions. I'm glad I did it, but I would not do it again :) Mongolia is really hard to travel in, even for local people. Transport is really bad, not even mentioning the roads, the weather changes really fast and the distance between villages is like crossing the size of Belgium over and over again. So next time I would do one part and explore that rather then try to see hole Mongolia. That is also what I recommend other travelers.
So today we bought our train tickets to the border with China, we leave tomorrow. So, another adventure is waiting for us...
write you in china,
big kiss
NB The version of our companions you can read on http://samamy.travellerspoint.com/
where to start? First we met Amy and Sam, a couple from London, on our last day of Ulaan Bator. We waited for 7days and I explained Simon that we had to make a decision, if we didn't find people to join our tour we had to do it on our own and take the bus to the north. Almost ready to call our friend Ugna to cancel our trip when I saw two people looking at our message, which we hang everywhere in the city. It was like God send them, they were interested to do a tour with us,hallelujah!
So the next day we left Ulaan Bator with Ugna, our guide, Amy, Sam and Tsaja, our driver, in a russian van.
After a couple of hours driving the tarmac ended and our trip on the piste begins. Only from Ulaan Bator to some other city there is tarmac, but most roads in Mongolia are very bumpy sandroads. You definitely need a good jeep or van to defy these roads, where 50-60km/h is the maximum. So the trip of 5000km we did, took a long time because of the bumps and the holes.
During the sovjet time Boudhism was forbidden and a lot of monks where killed. A lot of monasteries were destroyed and rebuild after 1990. Also the monastery in the north: Amarbayasgalant monastery. We arrived and it looked like a big playground for the young monks. Everywhere kids running around these big ruinous buildings. Most of these parts are the only monasteries which were not destroyed and look very old and need a restoration. The inside is always impressive but if you've seen one, you saw all. Only the last monastery, in the old capital during Chingis Khaan-time, Erdene Dzuu monastery was more impressive. The city around the old building is ugly and besides this attraction there is nothing to see in the area what was used to be the biggest city of Mongolia.
Our trip leaded us from Ulaan Batar to the north, the west and eventually the south.
In the north we went to the big Kovsgollake, an huge pure lake that is blue like we never seen. Our guide bought a piece of land in the touristic little village near the lake and arranged a cheap horse riding tour for 3 days. It was a nice experience but Simon and Amy didn't like it so much. I really find it sad that that's the only horse riding we did. For me(saartje), coming to Mongolia was all about riding on a horse with the wind in the back over these beautiful landscapes. But like a lot of people, it is an utopia and we changed horses for a van.
The roads brought us through amazing valleys with rivers who curls like snakes over this dry sandy land, the mountains which come and go and give us the feeling to jump out of the car and admire this nature for forever. The animals, still free in their huge habitat, are equally surprised to see us as we them. Everytime we see a bird or a fox, everyone is shouting and pointing. One time we even chased a fox, poor animal. Amazing, never saw so many foxes, gazelles, eagles, marmots, hamsters, falcons, deers, camels, horses, wild camels,... It stays exciting even if it is the 10th gazelle you see. Just to see them running or to see the eagles flying next to our van, fantastic! One day, a man came to us and asked if we were interested to see wild camels ans bears. Amazed at his proposal we nodded and he took us on a day driving to the dessert in search of wild camels and the Gobibear. These animals are almost extincted and live now in a strictly protected area in the south. Organizations are now trying to set up breeding programs so the animals return back, like it used to be. We felt so privileged to see the wild camels and the shepherd let us riding one of his 'normal' camels, a funny experience but another cameltour was not necessary because we found that the stick through the nose of the animals are a bit cruel. The bears we eventually didn't see but it was nice to see how their breeding programs work. It was really nice to see that they care about the animals instead of shooting them all. In 15 years time all the animals reduced with 50% because the mongolians have a big culture of hunting, no matter what animal. So these programs show us the other side, luckily.
The west of Mongolia was for me the most beautiful. We went to our guide's house and he showed us around in the area for a couple of days. Man man man, never seen nature as beautiful as here, so intact, can't even describe maybe pictures tell more. We saw rockcarvings, open field, golden mountains, the delivery room in a little hospital, traditional instruments, traditional dresses, ...
Most of the time we camped ( mongolia is one big camping area), stayed in shepherds houses or payed for a little room in small villages. We liked staying in the traditional gers, so we had contact with local people who let you see another mongolia. Languagebarriers are tough, even with a guide, and that makes that we didn't learn as much as we could have. They teached us Mongolian cardgames,the customs in a ger, play games with goats anklebones, break apart a ger, .... we really got to see their traditional life and that was what we wanted.
I have to say it: Mongolia has the worst food in the world. We met an American who told us and we didn't believe him, but after almost 2 months now I can say it. In the countryside they don't have a lot of vegetables and they really have a meatculture here. So I give you an impression what we'd eaten here:
- fried little bread
- milk tea > goat milk with water, a little bit of herbs and salt
- mutton with tons of fat on it (mutton with rice or mutton with noodles)
- buuz (big raviolli with only mutton and fat)
- kuushuur (fried buuz)
- airag (fermented horse milk that becomes a sort of beer) you can also make vodka from it. We drank also camelairag.
- aron ( different kinds of really old hard cheese, like rocks)
If you eat in a ger or cantine, these are the options, but we also had our own food and tried to make some variations. But I have to say we ate a lot of candy, chocolate and other sugary things. Eventually we get used to the different tastes but we were dreaming the hole time of good food: western food. So the first thing we did when we came back to Ulaan Bator was: pizza! :)
The south ( the Gobidessert) was amazing to see. A small part of it are sanddunes, big mountains of gold sand where you can climb on (if you have good physics) and slide off. The view was stunning and we are all glad we did 5000km to eventually see these mountains.
We had a bitter pill to swallow in the end. The relationship with our guide was not as easy as we thought in the beginning. We had some discussions during our trip and then eventually the bomb exploded and we had a big fight. Luckily it was in the end and he dropped us in a little city 400km from the capital. So we got out of the van and just went our own way and we were all relieved. We are so lucky we met Sam and Amy, we had the same ideas and it clicked. We saw 70% of Mongolia, its beautiful landscapes, the local people and their old traditions. I'm glad I did it, but I would not do it again :) Mongolia is really hard to travel in, even for local people. Transport is really bad, not even mentioning the roads, the weather changes really fast and the distance between villages is like crossing the size of Belgium over and over again. So next time I would do one part and explore that rather then try to see hole Mongolia. That is also what I recommend other travelers.
So today we bought our train tickets to the border with China, we leave tomorrow. So, another adventure is waiting for us...
write you in china,
big kiss
NB The version of our companions you can read on http://samamy.travellerspoint.com/
zaterdag 10 oktober 2009
Mongolia: Day 12 of our tour
Hidiho,
We are now in Khovsk in the west.
We had already a lot of time on the bumpy roads, three days horseriding, visit to a monastery, two vulcano's, great lakes, beautiful mountains, foxes, birds, gers...horses, goats, sheeps, camels,...
Wel, a lot to tell but now we go to a mongolian circus....
In UB we will write our full story,
love
simon and Saartje
We are now in Khovsk in the west.
We had already a lot of time on the bumpy roads, three days horseriding, visit to a monastery, two vulcano's, great lakes, beautiful mountains, foxes, birds, gers...horses, goats, sheeps, camels,...
Wel, a lot to tell but now we go to a mongolian circus....
In UB we will write our full story,
love
simon and Saartje
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