Jul 20, 2016 - Mongolia #2

There are few sealed roads in Mongolia. Half the time we would just turn off down a track and head cross country through the valleys and across river beds. There were wild flowers blooming all over the hillsides as there had been more rain this summer than usual. Our Intrepid Travel trip included two homestays. Because the people are nomads and you have no idea who is going to be in a certain valley at any time, the vans just turned up and Namuuna asked if we could stay the night! Apparently, Mongolian hospitality is such that they couldn't...

Jul 19, 2016 - Mongolia #1

We have had an amazing time exploring Mongolia. We flew 3 hours from Seoul to Ulaanbataar. Mongolia has a population of 3 million in an area stretching 2392 km west to east and 1259 km north to south, bordering China to the south and Russia to the north. 3 million people and the same number of horses! Mongolia gives you a sense of wide open space and vastness that photos can't capture. There is mostly steppe from the central region to the east, desert from the south to the west and forest-steppe in the northern regions. Only 3% of the...

Jul 22, 2015 - Mongolia, the final chapter

I’ve already done enough complaining about the negative aspects of Mongolia, so its time to focus on the better points and Ulaan Baatar is a great place to start. Of all the cities we came across, I was most impressed at the quantity and quality of offerings here. For starters, I finally found a spare battery for my camera with little problems, a nice selection of books in English and ground coffee, and we also were able to stock up on such missing toiletries as dental floss. We also got our huge amount of dust-laden laundry done cheaply...

Jul 12, 2015 - Meat and Dairy

Vegetarians and those who are lactose intolerant would have a difficult time in Mongolia. It is impossible to avoid dairy products in the countryside as milk tea and dried milk curds are staples in every visit and business transaction with the nomadic people. The source of the milk is whichever animals the nomad happens to herd. Jo and I have drinken camel, goat, mare, reindeer and yak milk and we have repeatedly risked busting a tooth on rock hard milk curds dried in the sun. The mare's milk is actually alcoholic and is fermented in a...

Jul 12, 2015 - Other Countries,Other Customs

In addition to a different diet, there are several other everyday things one encounters in Mongolia that are quite different from back home. For instance, half of all cars on the road have the steering column on the left and half have it on the right. Mongolians drive on the right side of the road, but many Japanese imports arrive in the country with left-hand drive. Also different is the popularity of several games using goat or sheep ankle bones. Each of the 4 sides of an ankle bone has a unique shape and is designated as either a...

Jul 12, 2015 - Naadam

Our final two days in Mongolia were spent taking in the annual Naadam festival--a celebration of Mongolian tradition involving archery, horse racing and wrestling. Naadam is a national holiday celebrated in towns across the country, but the biggest celebration is held in Ulaan Baatar and it is extravagant. The festivities kick off with an opening ceremony even Olympic organizers would consider impressive. Both the President and Prime Minister attend and the correographed numbers involve thousands of men, women and children. The ceremony is...

Jul 11, 2015 - Scaling the Dunes

Our camels brought us to the base of the tallest of the Khongoryn Els dunes. Our mission was to scale the 300 meter (900 ft) mountain of sand. The going started easy enough but soon turned into an intense cardiovascular workout. The sand is not hardpacked so every step forward was accompanied by a backwards slide. There is, of course, no marked trail across the steep ever-shifting dunes so we created our own switchbacks on the way up. This didn't seem to ease the burning in our lungs and soon we were reduced to crawling on all fours. We...

Jul 10, 2015 - A Little Bit About the Gobi

The Gobi Desert is not your Hollywood-type desert. There are few towering sand dunes and winter temperatures can reach minus 40 degrees fahrenheit. It is a vast arid region, parts of which are so remote and desolate that one could simply disappear off the grid. Defying the typical image of a desert, Jo and I experienced both rain and high temperatures only in the 80's during our 5 days in one of the world's largest deserts. We also experienced a dust storm in which the swirling winds--seemingly from all directions--converged to raise a...

Jul 10, 2015 - Words Of Advice

If I were to offer four golden words of advice to a desert-bound traveler it would be these, "Don't ride the camels!" Camels are ungraceful in everything they do. They sit and stand clumsily, and even there gait is clumsy when going up or down a grade. They smell bad for any number of reasons unfit for print and, not to pick on the poor beasts too much, they are pretty uncomfortable to ride as well. A traditional saddle as used for a horse is dispensed with. Rather, colorful felt blankets are used as a substitute. There is no horn like on a...

Jul 10, 2015 - Our Desert Experience Begins

Our departure for the Gobi was delayed by four hours because of the infamous high winds at Genghis Kahn International airport in Ulaan Baatar. When we finally landed in Dalandzadgad our local driver, Nara, shuttled us to a rocky gorge where the high cliff walls block direct sunlight so effectively that the previous winter's ice never melts completely. We walked the narrow canyon until the path was blocked by ice at least 5 feet thick. This in the middle of the Gobi desert! Afterwards we made our way to the ger camp for the night. The drive...

Jul 8, 2015 - Ulaanbaator, Mongolia - A shift in time

Hi - Interesting flight in. The route led just west of the coast of North Korea, over Korea Bay, North past Beijing and Inner Mongolia. The sky was clear so I could see the expanse of Mongolia's deserts below. We were probably east of the Gobi. Still, the vast expanse of nothing was impressive. The change in countries from Korea to Mongolia is fairly significant, though the faces around me share a family resemblance, possibly due to a Mongol invasion of the Korean early in the 13th century. Lots of shifts that go along with a change from...

Jul 8, 2015 - Mongolia, the first chapter

We were in Mongolia for a month, which was about 3 weeks too long. Having been there, I can see how both the Chinese and the Russians decided to just leave that bit of land to the Mongolians. “That’s ok, you all can keep it!” Right after the Russian border the road stops and we were forced to make our way through rain and mud over 4-wheel drive tracks at best for most of the month, digging the truck out a total of six times. Most of our days were filled with the mind-numbing sameness of the scenery, green rolling hills and squalid little...