23 - 24 July - back to Ulaanbaatar ... onto Beijing and heading to Lhasa, Tibet

23^rd July, Saturday

The super hazy foggy morning

The ger was windy throughout the night, so it was rather chilly.  We ran out of wood in the night.  In the morning though, the fog was thicker.  The sun looked like a ball of red in the sky, making it an interesting photo op.

Most of us had all ordered Mongolian breakfast.  And after the hearty breakfast at 7am, it was time to head out again.  A road was being built from the sealed road towards the Amarbayarsgalant Monastery.  The next time should we visit, the ride would be very different.

The rest stop similar to those in US and Australia

We weaved our way through the mud back to the asphalted road and onto Dharkan.  And at a roadstop similar to ones one find in the US and Australia, we had lunch.  Tem paid for it while we chose what we wanted.  All our meals except for dinners when we were in UB had been included in the tour.   We ordered noodles and a salad with Mongolian milk tea.

Interesting sign for bathroom there

The atmosphere was a little strange because today would be the longest road trip, probably the most stressful and there is a sense of loss as everything good must come to an end.
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Amra showed us where his grandfather had a summer place by the river.  He said he would be there in the summers and in the mountains in the winter when he was growing up.  He shared a lot of personal information with us. 

We asked him about the west where the falcons are.  1800km away he said.  In the middle there are some really bad roads.  The last 600km are really really bad roads too. 

The haze has not left at all all morning.  It got worse as we approached UB.  At some point, we started to pass the Naadam horse race place.  Amra asked us if we recognise it and we did not.  It looked so different without the crowds.  Then we weave through the industrial part of UB near the power station, the rail station. 

railway engines display at UB station

Before we even were near the urban area, Amrah informed us that today being Sat, everyone was heading out to the countryside.  He also said that opening and shutting times for shops in UB are dependent on demand more than time. 

As we turned into Peace Ave, he pointed out to us where he lives – on the 9^th floor he said.  Then we turned.  He needed to call Gana but his phone kept dying so he asked us to call Gana on our phone.  We were the third car to arrive at the J Hotel after Gonzo and Gana.   

I was almost left behind in the vehicle as my travelling companion wanted a photo with our little brother.  Luckily, she remembered before he left the area and retrieved us.  We gave our Mongolian little brother a good bye hug.  They left shortly after.  Amra said that he had to get a few things done before his next assignment the next day.

The plan for the rest of the day was to attend a cultural show and then to have dinner together as in the morning, we would all start dispersing.  Originally, we had planned to do a shared photo show but that was not so easy to arrange.

The cultural show was very informative.  An array of traditions, dances, songs and music were shown.  There were also some great acrobatics that could rival Cirque Soliel.   We walked to the Cultural Show.  From there we walked to dinner at Blue Fin.  It was an upmarket modern restaurant in downtown UB.  For the first time since we entered Mongolia, we ordered sea food.  :-)  

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel.  The young ones were going with Tem to the club. Just as they were leaving, Amra called and came over to join them.  We hung out with the rest that were at the hotel for a while then retired to our room.  

24^th July, Sunday

We woke up around 8 am and went down to breakfast at 8.30 am.  Brian joined us and we bumped into Lee who was coming up as we were going down.  Jule and Dr had already left the building. 

We packed and the young duo were in and out of our room during that time.  They were heading out to another National Park.  We checked out at 12 and went looking for a cashmere cap for Roy.  We took Roy to the State Department Store.  Here in UB, the prices were more than what the local producers sold them for in the countryside.   We were quite bad with directions and ended up with the scenic route in spite of Map.Me help.

So we wandered around the souvenir section of the State Department Store, then went to Coffee Bene for a bite to eat.  A driver that we had arranged through Lee picked us up for the airport.  The trip to the airport showed how hazy UB can get when it gets really hot.

Chinggis Khan Airport from the air

UB airport check in was a strange system.  We were not allowed into the international area until 2 hr before our flight.  There was already a long queue of Taiwanese passengers in front of us.  Then it was another long wait in the waiting lounge.  We picked up more souvenirs with the last of our Tugrigs.  There were only one or two stores.  The airport reminded us of the airports in Malaysia.

UB from the air

We then boarded the flight for Beijing.  The haze hanging over UB meant that there was not much photography possible.  Chinggis Khan international airport looks like a giant ger from afar.  2 hrs later and setting our clock back in time by 1hr, we were at the Beijing Capital Airport T3.  

The services at Beijing Capital Airport has improved a lot since we were last there in 2009. It was much much more easy to navigate.  Information was most helpful and called for hotel transfer to pick us up at B13 in the parking area.  We think it helped a lot when we identified ourselves to them as foreigners by speaking English rather than Mandarin and be mistaken for a local Chinese.  Beijing was super hot and humid.  We were soaked before we even located information.  The waiting spot in the carpark was equally if not hotter since it was outside the air conditioned area.

We were picked up and brought to the hotel.  Thankfully, a courier package was waiting for us with the original of our Tibet permit.  We were a little worried about that permit in case it was sent to the wrong hotel or something.  But there it was waiting patiently for us.  It was a great relief.  At the hotel there was wi-fi but since we had Android systems, it did not work so well.

Our hotel at the airport was unbelievably tiny.  The air conditioning kept the moisture out but the bed was harder than the bed in the ger camp near the volcano in Mongolia.  Luckily, it was only for one night.  The big plus is that they did not mess up our visa.  For that we were thankful.

We were also thankful that my travelling companion's partner came to spend the last two weeks with her in Mongolia.  She was already missing him. We still have 10 days to travel - Tibet and Zhangjiajie before this adventure would come to a pause for a while.

21 - 22 July : Last 2 days in country side Mongolia - another volcano and a UNESCO Monastery

21 July, Thursday

At some point in the night it had rained and was still raining.  The tent was cosy and warm though.  We had not even needed the sleeping bag and the air mattress was actually  quite comfortable.  We rolled everything away in preparation for decamping.  Amra's vehicle was locked and all our camera gear were inside, safe and dry.

Our view shortly after decamping - Selenga River

Breakfast was served off the tailgate of Ganso’s vehicle.  With the rain and the wet, it was a little hurried.  The Mongolians ate the leftover meat for breakfast while the tourists stayed with the bread and boiled eggs washed down with coffee.  We collected all the garbage and secured those on top of the vehicles.  The rest of the leftover meat was packed and placed on top of the vehicle as it would be delivered to the nomads as a gift.

All the plastic bottles were handed over to the nomads as well.  They would use these for fermentation of mares milk, etc.  Almost everything get a second or third use in this place. The Mongolians have a good relationship with their land.  Everything in nature is their backyard so one tends to see much less plastic rubbish here than most other places in the world.  

When we were delivering the goodies, one of our fellow traveler asked about the unscheduled stop.  They were concerned about the overnight meat and reuse.  

The discussion turned to the difference in strength of the immune systems of various lifestyles and who would survive in the world if all goes to hell in a hen basket.  For those of us who grew up in poor developing countries, we know that a little challenge ever so often to the immunity system could only benefit and strengthen it.

Goats in the pen at the nomad 

It started to rain harder again as we left the nomads to make our way to the volcano called Pot Mountain  Even the goats of the nomads did not want to leave their pens that morning. The first half of the trek was not too bad as it was on sealed roads.  We passed for the first time large agricultural initiatives - like the wheat fields of the prairies.  

We pulled up for lunch at 11.30 am along a small strip of restaurants.  Gana thought the canteen he picked was the best but Amra wanted to check the others.  He deferred to Gana after checking a few.  We went back to join the others.  He had joked earlier that we are leaving and going elsewhere but the other three are staying.  

Lunch was the usual basic.  What was surprising here was that there was a strip of restaurants but the only facilities were the outside outhouse.  In that rain, doing a nature call meant getting thoroughly soaked.  Hand sanitizers are absolutely necessary too.

Wet Wet Wet

We decided against bringing our camera into the restaurant so we left it on the seat and Amra covered it with our jacket to hide it from view.  He also parked the vehicle right in front of the restaurant so we have line of sight to it.

The ger camp that we were to spend the night was not far from the lunch place.  After travelling for around 30-45 minutes after lunch, we turned off the sealed road and headed for a camp a the bottom of the mountain ranges.  The rain continued to pour down.

Arriving at the ger camp, we decided against taking our bags with us to the ger.  We would collect it from the vehicle after the rain stopped.  We ran through puddles on our way to our ger.  It was damp, a little wet from where the rain had come in from the bottom flaps and cold.  Roy had taken out his bag and when we thought we would like ours, we went in search of Amra and found him drinking a green cola in the restaurant.  We told him about the cold and damp.  The restaurant was not much warmer.  We went back to the ger.  Before even 5 minutes had passed, a man in traditional gear and serious rain jacket appeared with wood to light a fire in our stove and mop the floor.  He tied a line between the two central poles near the stove and suggested that we dry our wet stuff over the stove.  He instructed us to keep the fire going.  He was spending a lot of time with us.  We felt so special.  

We decided to wait a little longer before collecting our bag.  Just before even 3pm, the sun came out.  In a really short time, the grounds were already dry.  The ground must be rather porous.  We wanted to shower so we headed to the hut Tem shared with the drivers to get Amra’s key.  He decided to come with us as he was going to get cards so that they can all play.  On the way to the vehicle, he asked us if our ger was warm and we told him about the man who came to make the fire.  He told us that he sent the man to our tent!!  That was really sweet and nice of him.  When we looked around at the gers, ours was the only one with smoke coming out of the chimneys.

After the rain stopped, we went to take a hot shower.  We heard our name being called as we were heading to the bathhouse, but not seeing anyone, we walked on.  Roy had to rescue our neighbours because their door had become stuck due to the rain.  We used the stall at the back end and being alone, we had the best hot shower in that camp that day.

As we were returning from the shower, we note a pair of demoiselle cranes flying low over the camp so we marked where they landed in the field where the cows were grazing.  We grabbed our long lens from the ger and went back to try to photograph them.  They were quite far away.  Perhaps later when they wander a little nearer. 

Demoiselle cranes in mating dance

10 minutes before departure time for the hike up Pot Mountain, we spotted Dr outside.  We called her over and together we walked to the field where the cranes had wandered closer.   We were rewarded with close up photos of the cranes in a mating dance.  No matter what we did, the cranes did not seem to care about us.  They were totally absorbed in each other. We kept a respectable distance, not wanting to spook them or have them fly off since they were putting on such a great display.  We note that the others had gathered near the vehicle so reluctantly, we ran back to the car to find that the decision has been made that we would drive to the foot of the volcano and hike up from there to its rim rather than walk to the foothills as originally planned.

Dr rode with us.  Amra announced that it was driver’s that day so he and the rest of the drivers will drive the way they like to the volcano.  Ganso said that they should have a race like a rally.  But Gana and Amra had not agree because they do not like racing.  In their minds, they were already winners.  They drove fast to the volcano.  On the way Gana slid. Amra laughed saying that he knew that was coming and had avoided that stretch.  It was a slippery ride, the slipperiest that the drivers had ever subjected us to.  We could see that they handled their vehicles well in extreme conditions and were glad that they did not subject us to such rough rides everyday.

During the drive, Gana indicated that there was something to photograph along the way.  It appeared that since we showed them our photos, we have turned every driver into our photo opportunity spotters.  Amra tried to explain what he saw but we could not understand so he asked for our camera to take a shot with it.  Later when we checked, there was a rock where they had thought they saw a marmot.  The marmot had probably gone back to its hiding hole.

At the foot of the volcano, we climbed the 45 deg slope.  None of the drivers came climbing with us.  We were the last one up the mountain.  One has to admire Brian as he was climbing quite quickly.  Good thing it had rained as the wet ground made the pumice stones that lined the track less slippery as they sank into the softer ground with our weight.  We tried to use as much grass as possible for grip but it was still a tough climb.

The crater and its lake

At the top, everyone in our group except Brian and we went down to the pond at the bottom of the crater.  Brian and us stayed along the rim and explored.  We walked once around a shaman pile and was surprised to see the amount of monies people placed there as offerings – 1000s was not uncommon.  Neither were bottles of alcohol.

Beautiful slope of Pot Mt

We were tempted to make a full round the rim but as we were only 25% around it, the others had already re-ascended from the crater.  It was pretty at the top.  Coming down as usual was more challenging.  Even Brian was challenged.  We had Roy walked in front of us as he was more surefooted compared to us.  One foot in front of the other with one weight in front rather than at the back, we managed to prevent ourselves slipping and came down the mountain safely.

Artists and their models

The drivers were having a picnic near the vehicles.  They offered us some snacks.  Gana and Amra were weaving flower crowns like those worn at midsummer festivals in Riga. Gana gave his to Hannah and Amra to Dr.  

The drivers raced back to the ger camp.  They slid everywhere and there were a few hard stops.  Good thing we were all securely strapped in.  At the end, Amra announced that it was the first and the last rally for the trip. 

Fog coming into the valley - in front our vehicles

Dinner was a surprise : curry meat with potatoes.  The drivers were not seated with us on the top floor.  They were seated at the ground floor, which was not the nicest thing.  We were offered hibiscus tea by the Swiss Group next to us.  On our way out, one of them asked in German if she may ask where my travelling companion was from.  She said Australia but was born in Malaysia.  They were really curious as to why she spoke German so she told the story of her German friend not telling her before she visited him in Germany that his mom spoke English and how she had learnt it in a hurry to be able to at least communicate with his family.

the swallow and its chicks

We returned to the restaurant shortly after dinner because we had spotted a pair of swallows flying around during dinner.  They had built their nest in a nook inside and above the door of the restaurant.  They had five little chicks.  As we left the restaurant, we noticed a fog rolling in.

The restaurant at night

We re-lit the fire in our ger as the place was rather cold.  We allowed the fire to die a little so that the ger is not too steamy but shut the rooftop flap.  In the middle of the night, someone came around to adjust the roof flap so it was open again. That made us really really cold.  This was the evening when all of us were tired fighting with the wet and the cold so we all turned into our ger early, settled down to enjoy the warmth and do our individual quiet activities.

22^nd July, Friday

This day will be the last that we spend in nature as the next day we would be heading back to UB.  How time had flown.  We were then feeling that we could live in this nature forever, that we did not want to live.  Big sky country can be so addictive.  There is also an ease around this with few folks, animals roaming free, a wolf may be peeking around the corner … etc etc … it would be really strange to leave this big nature.  Even going to the bathroom in nature was no longer daunting, strange or inconveniet anymore.

The clouds were low but it looked like the weather would clear.  The clouds were low.  We were expecting rain and sure enough shortly after breakfast it did rained.  We bumped into Vivian whom we had met earlier at Lake Khuvsgul.  She had arrived with her guide and driver earlier last evening and she was actually occupied the ger next to us.  Some Chinese tourists came wandering by and wanted to see the inside of her ger which she refused.  She was staying there that day.   We said goodbye.  

Breakfast that morning was paltry – some egg pancake and a single sausage roll with some bread and jam.  We saw the availability of Mongolian breakfast of noodles in broth with meat and wished Tem had ordered that for us instead.

wet approach to Edernet

That morning, we would visit Edernet and have lunch there.  That initial drive was ok even in the rain as it was on sealed road.  Along the way, we passed some local Naadam festival horse races in progress.  Traffic was diverted.  The diversion was a mud path.  We saw Prius sliding everywhere.  Edernet is the second / third largest town in Mongolia depending on when the census was.  Around 85,000 people live here.  As we approach the town, we were finally again getting some radio signal for our phones.  A phone was ringing. Amra thought it was ours but it turned out to be his.  22 messages on his phone.  He looked a little frantic.  Seemed like his other life is summoning him.  He would have to resume his other life as soon as he complete the trip with us the next day.

When we parked the vehicles, it was still raining.  Amra mentioned that he was talking with his grandfather who was with the other group at Kharakhorum where it was raining as well.  It was as if the entire country was raining.  We discussed lunch arrangements before we all went for a wander on our own in the city.  There would be a vegetarian option and a meat option in town today.    

We decamped from the car in the rain and went to look for a place to have a warm coffee.   Dr, Jule, Lee, Roy and us went and found a café which sold coffee and tea. Concept of cafe has not quite caught on in this town.  We realised that the tea with salt which the Mongolians had been having and which we had taken a liking to since Lake Khuvsgul was actually sold in packaged form so we would get some from the supermarket to take home to Australia.  

In the city, they were having an armed forces appreciation parade day so there was a gathering in the town square.  It would have been fun to watch were it not so wet and cold.

Everyone decided to go vegetarian.  Brian, Roy and us were the only ones not doing that earlier.  We decided joined the group as did Tem.  The drivers ate at the meat place.  Amra had complained about the bad food at the previous ger camp.  To him, meat is heaty but milk and dairy are cooling.  The ger camp had not served much meat the evening before. The drivers had not eaten much, so they were all really hungry.  The vegetarian place served really tasty imitation meat.  We shared juice of raisins and blueberry, and calzones filled with vegetables.  We like the best our dish of imitation meat on mix of rice and buckwheat.  The vegetarian dumplings in soup were not bad too.  There was no wifi here but we had access to the wifi of the meat restaurant.

Camel herders

After lunch, we headed for the monastery and the ger camp several kilometres from it.  There would be 35km of unsealed roads.  Even Amra was not thrilled at the thought of having to drive on this slippery and soggy 35km of unsealed roads.  They were all expecting the worst conditions.  It was so.  As soon as we turned off the main road, the dirt road was super slippery.  The sealed one had been rather windy in the first place.  Mud everywhere with lots of sliding.  There was one super bump. Amra apologised.  He had tried to prevent it but could not.  We wanted to go to the bathroom quite a bit but the mud made us feel reluctant to do so.  We stayed in the vehicle during the rest stops.

Before turning off the sealed road, we saw some camel herders.  We have not seen many where we had been, so this was a new sight for us.

Field of horse lips

Gana introduced us to this ball of blue flowers.  Amra said its name was horse lips because the horses love it as it was like a sugar ball to them.  

It took forever to navigate the 35km.  Finally, at around 4pm (after around 2+ hrs), we spotted the ger camp but we were not heading straight to it.  Instead a decision was taken to go first to the Amarbayasgalant Monastery first.  Amra said it was not far and when we asked him how far was not far …. A few km he said with a laugh.  Mongolian have a unique way with distances and time.  

At the stupa

Then we saw it, this rather majestic looking place in the middle of nowhere, or should we say in the middle of nature.  A white stupa halfway up a hill to its left.  Behind it a long stairs uphill to what looked like a huge Buddha.  As we approached, the red walls appeared.  It looked like a fortress, majestic and old surrounded by a small village.  As we got out to visit, the rain came on and off.  We wrapped our camera like a baby under our rain jacket and sweater.

The majestic Amarbayasgalant Monastery as seen
from the stupa

It was still majestic although it was in disrepair.  A lot of repair and restoration maintenance were underway.  A couple of young monks greeted us at the door.  This is a working monastery. The guardians at the outer gate made it look more like a Chinese temple.  The main temple was a mix of Chinese and Tibetan influences.  Since the tour is self guided, we did not have much information.

Those beautiful horses

After the main building, we headed towards the stupa.  The stupa has all seeing eyes.  Jule and Roy wandered off ahead of us.  We tend to take time as we wanted to do the walk meditatively.  Dr was doing the same.  The stupa had many buddhas surrounding all seeing eye.  Roy did homage to one.  We walked around meditatively and then walked over to the Buddha atop 108 steps.  There too we would do the round the Buddha walk as well as round the prayer bell walk.  Sometimes we did it together.  Other times, we walked alone.  Roy waited.  Dr and we were the last one back to the cars except for the troubled couples.  Dr and we had stopped to photograph a group of horses as a mom and foal were quite demonstrative in their feelings.

Back at the car, we found Amra taking a snooze in his seat.  Looked like he was tired by the drive.  Since we were all peckish, we lay into the bag of chips.  

Hoopa with a grasshopper

Dinner would be in half an hour so we decided that we would skip shower that evening and just make do with shower back at the hotel the next day.  We had barely settle into our ger when Amra called out to us to bring my camera.  He was excitedly telling us about a bird on a tree.  We switched lens and ran to where he was near the bathroom.  He meant the logs outside their log cabin.  Baatar was indicating by gesturing where we should take the photo of none other than the unique hoopa bird (we had seen one at the Sultan’s marshes in Turkey some years ago).  This one had a huge juicy morsel in its beak.   We took a few shots before it flew off. 

Naughty calf

We watched a couple of calves trying to sneak into the ger compound to munch on the grass in there.  The grass will always be greener on the other side.  LOL.  The owner of the camp shooed them out.

The weather had started to clear just as we were leaving the monastery.  And right then it was nice and sunny.  

Jule suggested that after dinner, it would be time for photos.  We were sent to round up the drivers and found them all lying down.   We gathered them up for a photo taking session and then we took some head shots of them individually.  

We spent our last evening in the ger chatting with our usual friends gathered in one of their gers.

20 July - Camping out with the nomads at the bank of Selenge River

20^th July, Wednesday

The nesting loon on the shore of
Lake Khuvsgul

We were back in Amra’s car today.  Hooray.  We had some time after breakfast and because we did not wake up early this morning, we went for a short walk along the shore to take pictures of  the loon we had spotted the evening before.  It was nesting in the long grass along the small peninsula in front of the ger camp.  We had spotted one of them swimming in the lake earlier.  They were a pair.  The longer lens worked so much better.

We went to Amrah’s car with all our bags.  Lee was riding with us today.  We had not pulled out of the driveway when Amra stopped and turned around as he had forgotten his sunglasses which he had left on the window sill of their room.  He had this special set of military aviation sun glasses which were exceptionally clear even when it was foggy and pouring down rain.  He had shown it to us before.  One of the attendants went to get it for him.  The other vehicles waited for him to take his position in the convoy.

As we started the trip, he played some nice slow Mongolian tunes on the radio and we said that was nice.  He said that many like those would result in him falling asleep.  We asked him about his time in Russia.  He then told us that he was in military school in Russia.  This was when he really opened up and told us who he really was.  Our little brother was more complicated than he appeared.  He was very private.  We were really impressed and honoured that he trusted us and was comfortable enough to let us know who he is.

The demoiselle crane family we passed enroute

Our first rest break was back at the town of Murun where we would shopped for supplies for the Mongolian BBQ that evening.  Tem went to get some vegetables, condiments and snacks for that evening, and other supplies for breakfast the next morning.  We got another bottle of KBac since they all appeared to like it, and some chips for nibbling. 

Dr, Roy and we went for a walk around the top two floors above the supermarket and Dr found a miniature horsehair fiddle for a souveneir.  Lee bought some postcards. 

At 12pm, we set off again, but headed out of town which surprised us a little since it was time for lunch.  Before too long, we pulled over where the scenery was rather pretty and Amra announced that it was time for lunch.  There was no restaurant anywhere at this stop. Hmmm …. That was a surprise ….  Apparently, they had gotten khuushuurs at Murun.   Everyone had 5, three meat and two vegetable filled.  The Mongolians on the other hand had all 5 meat filled.  It was the same thing that Amrah’s grandfather had gotten for him the other afternoon when we were at mid point.  There were also some salted cabbage and carrots salad to share.  We had a great picnic lunch, sitting on two of those kid crawling mats.  The drivers used them as multi-purpose mats, including for crawling under their vehicles.  The view was awesome as we munched on our lunch.

The vista for picnic lunch

After lunch, we would then start on our journey again, this time towards where we would be camping out.  Around an hour later, we pulled off the main highway into an unsealed road that went through a tiny town where Gana went into the shop to buy something.  We had no idea what he went to get.  After that stop, we drove towards our final destination next to the Selenga River.  The Selenga River is where all the rivers in Mongolia flow into.  And it flows into Lake Baikal. 

We learn a lot about Amra and his family during the drive today.  It was a very interesting story and it explained his depth of maturity.  As we approached the bank of the river, we saw a huge flock of demoiselle cranes.  What beautiful creatures.

Our campsite

Arriving at the bank of the Selenga River, we crossed it to a nice camp spot.  We took out all the equipment for camping.  Each of us had a camp chair.  Most of the tents were to share. There were two single tents which went to Lee and Brian.  We picked our spots.  Roy and we chose a spot near the river bank under a tree.  We pitched the very easy to pitch tent.  It pitched itself out of its bag.  We only had to anchor it to the ground.  We were issued with self inflating mattress and sleeping bag which we put into our tent.  We decided that we would keep our camera equipment in the vehicle for the night in case it rained and the tent leaked.

Our view

The camp area was unbelievably pretty.  There were some tall trees away from the bank. Under one of these were a herd of horses.  There were also some horses rolling in the sady banks of the river attempting to keep the flies off them.  We saw herons, little ringed plover, kites and an assortment of birds.  As soon as we had set up camp, we went bird watching with our camera.  Others sat and relaxed in front of their tents.  Later, we would go and collect firewood to cook that night's dinner.  We were basically on a tiny island in the middle of the Selenga river.  Nice and safe idea for camping.

Me infront of our tent

The drivers had decided that they were cooking dinner that evening.  It was a traditional Mongolian dish.  An entire sheep cut and cooked in a container with washed river rocks that had been preheated in the fire.  Only condiment added would be salt.  The vegetables would go on top of the meat.  Our nomadic family live across the river from us.  They had slaughtered the sheep for us.  Good thing or else that task would have fallen on Amra, being the youngest in the group.  We asked to see the animal being prepared.

Relaxing by the bank of the Selenga

Tem got us all together and Amra and Ganso drove us back across the river.  We would take this opportunity to visit the nomadic family as well.  We brought with us our gifts for them.  Outside their ger, the drivers were in the process of burning the hair off the sheep with hand held blow torches.  The rest of the nomadic family were preparing the innards of the animal for cooking.  Nothing is wasted.  Everything, including, the blood is consumed. To some it may appear squearmish but to us, it reminded us of our days growing up in Borneo where our mom did the same to prepare innards for meals.

Both the man and woman nomad were born on Friday so their names had Friday in Mongolian in it. They have a 5 year old daughter and a 7 month old baby girl.  The little one was content to stay in my arms for as long as her family would let her.  She was really easy going.  Someone said that we would have to give it back, not realising that we had always played with babies that way.  Lee was too afraid to hold something so small.  Roy and Jule played with the 5 year old who will be attending school and staying with her grandma in the village the coming school year.  Grandma was there too as were another male relative.  The men were helping with the preparation of the sheep.

We visited, and had some curds but yogurt was not yet ready so we did not bother with tea.  We gave them our beleg (presents) and the little girl loved  the plasticine immediately.  Roy would later say that she loved birds as she was modelling them.

Little nomad girl with her grandma in their ger

After the fur had been removed, the drivers and Tem were busy cutting the meat into chucks and putting these into a basin.  We took these back to our side of the river bank.  The head we left for the nomads.  To save Amra an extra trip, we told Tem that we would ride with him on the top rack of Amra’s car.  We climbed on top.  As there was still a seat short, Jule did the same.  As we pulled off, Amra had Roy come out of the car to take our camera off us.  Does he not trust that we would not jump after our camera?  Later when we quizzed him on this, he asked what we were going to do if that camera fell and was destroyed.  Good point. We rode across the river with Amra trying not to rock the car at all.  He did that maneuver really well.  We rode like Chinggis Khan’s generals back to our camp site.

Dinner cooking

Back at the camp site, we washed potatoes and scrap carrots.  In the meantime, the drivers had already started to layer meat and stone inside the metal canister they had borrowed from the nomads.  It was a camp pressure cooker in progress.  The vegetables were the last bits to go in on top.  Then the wooden plug to the mouth of the canister was secured with wires.  The entire container was then placed on hot stone legs in the fire. Ganzo and Amra watched the fire and the pot, while the rest of us went about doing our things.  More firewood were also collected in preparation for the campfire for the night.

After 45 minutes, they lifted the canister off the fire and popped open the cover.  The aroma that rose from the pot would make even the most fussy eater hungry.  First the vegetables were taken out so that the vegetarians can eat these with confidence.  Then the meat came out.  The stones were tossed back into the fire.  We all picked up a plate each and helped ourselves to the food.  We loved ribs so we took a few of these.  It was absolutely delicious.

Our delicious dinner

When we were eating dinner, Amra came to tell us that we should save the bones so that we can take photo of the eagle swooping for bones later.  The soup in the canister was very rich if a little oily.  We ate and ate until we could eat no more.  Tem then came over to offer us each a compulsory after dinner shot of vodka.  It was to ensure all the richness we had just ingested was properly digested he quipped.  We were also warned not to drink anything cold for a while so that the fats did not solidify in us.  We were offered the communal cup (the typical Mongolian way) or a personal cup.  We chose the communal cup.  

We had a second shot when Amra came around a second time.  Tem then said that we needed to do the 3rd one as everything came in three.  We ended up with three small shots of vodka that evening.  Sweet snacks followed while everyone sat chatting.  We found out then that Ganso was addicted to anything sweet.  His face just lit up like that of a child when sugary treats appeared.

Gana, Ganso and Amra then started a game of volleyball.  Feeling the weight of our dinner, Ulia, Roy and we decided to join and we played for a while, all the time keeping an eye on the hawk.  The hawk approached and we left to try to bait it with bones.  Amra tried  to help by throwing the bones to them to attract them over.  The hawk waited till the light was not good enough for photography then it swooped to pick up the bones we had scattered.  Our bigger crowd was also a little noisier.

Campfire

As the sun sets, the group dispersed.  Some to their tents.  Some went to bath in the river and then returned.  As others left, Dr and my travelling companions becane chatting buddies.  Firewood continued to be added to the fire as all who were left tended it.  As is customary, the conversation got deeper and more real towards the end of the evening.  A lot of our mysterious observations were explained as the facts were revealed.  As we sat chatting, we could see the occasional headlights of cars passing through the village.  At some point, Amra brought out some distilled yogurt alcohol to share.  We have never heard of this but the locals produced these for their own consumption.  We took a sip but to us, it is an acquired taste ... a stronger version of the fermented mare's milk.

Conversation were also about dreams and opinions.  It was encouraging to hear these young Mongolian's concern for the environment.  We left shortly after Dr to go to bed.  The usual 4 were left talking late into the night and early into the morning.  Entering our tent, we found Roy fast asleep and he had laid out everything nicely for us in the tent.  My travelling companion has a really nice partner.

19 July - an entire day at Lake Khuvsgvul

19^th July, Tuesday

Lake Khuvsgul is the largest freshwater lake in Mongolia.  It is often referred to as the younger sister of Lake Baikal.  It northern shore is very near to the Mongolia-Russian border.  It contained 70% of Mongolia's fresh water.  It also stands at the border of the Siberian Taiga and the Asian steppe.  It is also one of the 17 ancient lakes of the world that is more than 2m years old

Morning at Lake Khuvsgul

Breakfast that day was scheduled for 8.30 am.  Lee and we had arranged for an early photography date at 6.30 am.  He knocked on the ger door as we were getting dressed.  As we were not dressed warmly enough, we had to quit in an hour.  We went to Lee’s ger to get warm and showed Brian some of the photos we took.  But as we were leaving, we heard all the other birds and saw them chasing each other near the trees so we went after them and forgot about getting back into the ger until it was time for breakfast.

Catching the sun at dawn

Baatar asked what we were doing wandering around so early as part.  He had seen us from the windows of their room.  We explained our photo making efforts.  The Alaskan husky came and posed for us and did some other birds.  

magpie

Lake Khuvsgul - southern end

Breakfast included freshly prepared omelettes the way they did it at 5 star hotels around the world  as well as all the other goodies.  It was delicious breakfast.   This ger camp has the best food thus far.   Dr's birthday cake was brought out after breakfast.  We all had a slice of the delicious birthday cake.

A view of the lake

A butterfly

After breakfast at 9.30 am we started the 4.5 km hike each way to visit a family of reindeer herders who were camped there.  Tem led the way with a stick, walking like Gandolf.  It was a tiring walk there as it was mostly uphill and there were some boggy areas but we managed even though we were carrying our huge lens all the way.  The trek through the forest was beautiful though.  Butterflies, birds, chipmunks, squirrels and biting insects abound.  The whole time we were hiking there, the two females of the two couples were going on and on endlessly about not visiting this reindeer herder as it was unethical that they brought their reindeer this far south.  They hiked with us but they were not visiting with the reindeer family. And they were basically broadcasting their opinions in a quiet forest when the rest of us were trying to enjoy the peace of the forests.  We were all too polite to tell them to shut up as we still had to travel with them for a few more days.  They were really really boorish.

The reindeer herder's family

As we walked silently, we had a light bulb moment.  There is a difference between sharing facts and sharing one’s experience of the facts; the latter could be utterly boorish.

reindeer licking lichens off tree bark

At the reindeer family, we were served reindeer milk tea.  It had an interesting taste.  The couple has a little girl and she was really cute.  Mom and daughter chatted with us.  Dad was somewhere outside.  The reindeer herders live in a tepee rather than a ger.  After visiting for a while, we went to have a look at their reindeer family - a couple with a boy and a girl junior.  The fawns were licking the lichens off the tree barks.  Next to them, the herder burnt the reindeer dungs.  The smoke from these kept the flies off both the reindeers and the herder's families.

Lake Khuvsgul looking north

We collected the travelers who had stayed on the shore of the lake rather than visit the herders before hiking back to the camp for lunch.  The afternoon was open for optional activities.  Some wanted to go paddling on the lake, some to go horse riding again, and others just to chill.  

Just before lunch, we saw the drivers playing a game of pool.  We decided to join.  We played doubles with Ganso partnering Gana,  and Amra partnering us.  Amra gave us shooting directions : where to shoot and which pocket to aim for.  We never got it right a single time.  We touched the balls sometimes but we never sank a single one.  Amra on the other hand was super player, sinking ball after ball.  We did one save by sending their ball into the net.  Finally there was a single ball left for us, the 8 cue ball.  The other team still has one ball.  We took the shot and unbelievably, it went straight in.  We won the game. Amra said we made a great team.  Some luck that was. 

horse riders setting off

After lunch, it was time for horse riding.  Roy did not want to go as he was still hurting from the previous ride.  We had ridden twice already in Mongolia.  All the rest went except for the Canadian couple.  Amra went with them too. Both he and Tem are great riders.  We saw them off and took photos for them as they mounted their horses.  Then we visited some of the itinerant hawkers who had turned up at the lake shores to sell their wares.  We picked up a hand knitted skull cap as well as an imitation moonstone bracelet.  The latter was more to help them.  Jule would regale to us later on how much fun she had with the horses.  Roy tried archery while we processed some of the photos we took that morning.  After horse riding, some of them went kayaking as well.  

Just before dinner, we took our laptop to the recreational room so that we could share with the drivers what we were doing with all our crazy snapping.  They enjoyed the photos.  Gana said that we need to be his teacher for photography.  Baatar said we see the world with a different eye.  We asked him if he thought that our photos were up to par for advertising tourism in Mongolia.  He nodded.  Amra liked one of our photos more than the others.  He like colour collages.  

Dinner was another fantastic feast.  After dinner, we all gathered in the recreational room. We tried to play table tennis with Amra but after only a few minutes, he decided that we had better play with Michelle as we were better matched.  Actually we were terribly bad at the game.  

The horsehead violin musician

The owner came by to announce that there would be a demonstration of horse head violin music.  His nephew would go to the music university in UB soon.  He was decked out in full traditional regalia and played beautifully.  Mongolian music tends to bring about the feeling that one were listening to the haunting music created by the hooves of wild horses running freely out there in pure nature.  It was beautiful.  He played a few songs for us.  Snacks were served.  The owner wished Dr a happy birthday and gave her an art souvenir for her birthday present.  People are so nice here.

After the music show, we got ready for bed as the next day would be yet another long day of travels.

Footnote : Comprehensive picture stories will be published soon on Sylvia's Photos here : https://www.facebook.com/SylviaTanPhotography/

Footnote 2 : We were researching reindeer today because a friend of ours posted that a video that showed reindeer swimming.  Not only can reindeer swim but reindeer used to live much further south too.  In the 19th century, they lived as far south as Nevada in the US. They moved north probably because they could live in harsher conditions where they would face less competition for food and other necessities for survival.  It appeared that our fellow travelers concern about the reindeer's health for being brought this far south was misplaced.