15 Part a)

Nov30

Today was the day many of us had been waiting for; the first of two days of the famous Eagle Festival which shows off Mongolian/Kazakh prowess at eagle handling and horsemanship.

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The day dawned cold and windy but not frosty. Instead of the beautiful blue sky we had become so used to, the sky carried a heavy load of cloud. This was the view looking down the road leading to our overnight ger camp.

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We shared our location with a family who had a couple of gers, animals and two cars. Their site was sheltered by some old trees. It was amazing to see how they had managed to get their roots through the rocky river bed to a subterranean water source.

When in town, the cooks had taken the opportunity to buy some fresh bread, so that was good. Both black and white bread were on offer at breakfast.

And after breakfast, it was time for us to enjoy the Golden Eagle festival, an event of great significance in Mongolia which has been held in Olgii on the first weekend in October since 1999. This event, the largest gathering of eagle hunters and their eagles in the world, is now recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Event. The eagles are the stars of the show; prizes are awarded for their speed, agility and accuracy. Their trainers are inspected to find the best traditionally dressed individual. The festival also showcases other Mongolian pursuits such as horse-riding, archery and the goat carcass tug-of-war (Kukhbar) on horseback.

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The schedule of events looked very interesting and so it was with great anticipation that we headed off to the festival grounds for the opening ceremony.

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The ‘Welcome’ sign with rows of white rocks demarcating the event ground where all of the activity for the next two days would take place.

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The grand march of horses, handlers and eagles began.

This area was backed by a rocky hill (to the left) from which the eagles would be launched.

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The official line-up… an impressive backdrop for the day’s events.

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Some of the eagle handlers/trainers were quite young.

I loved his hat…fur and feathers! It would look good in my hat collection.

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Contestants wore their finest clothes and head gear.

Note the hare hanging from the saddle… it would be eagle prey later in the contest.

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An old timer’s hat made from multi-coloured skins.

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Although eagle handling has traditionally been a male only ‘sport’, there were two young female trainers at this festival. Imagine having a mighty bird like that so close to your face! It’s all about trust… and, of course, the bird was hooded!

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The eagles hoods, or burqas, are preferably made from soft but strong kangaroo hide.

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An unhooded bird looks intently at something in the distance. Eagles have 10 times better seeing power than humans. This eagle’s handler is very trusting… over time, bird and handler become as friends. Note the tethering bands and the thick leather gloves that protect the handler’s arm from those very sharp talons.

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Horses also sported special tackle for the occasion.

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A beautiful old engraved and coral studded silver saddle

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An old saddle cloth, and saddle. Some saddles can be 100+ years old.

The spiral “Y” shaped stick is an extra support to help hold the weight of an eagle.

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A rider, and his bird, contending with the wind show how the arm support is used.

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One of the festival competitions is for the best dressed handler. This young man must surely have been in the running for that with his beautifully embroidered coat and fur hat.

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Detail of the intricate Kazakh embroidery on the back of one of the coats.

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More fine embroidery… the full ensemble on a horse.

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Traditional Kazakh style of embroidery is all done in chain stitch.

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Some of the ladies were also dressed in their best.

Many hours of work must have gone into this coat… now a family heirloom, no doubt.

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This baby’s chubby cheeks caught my attention… no need for any fine embroidery!

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I only saw two raptors that were not Golden Eagles.

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What a beautiful bird!

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While waiting for events to begin, all visitors had the chance to inspect and photograph the contestants; humans, birds and horses. There were some really big cameras in use. Although this guy wasn’t being ‘pushy’, many of his colleagues were absolutely awful, in your face awful. Some of them obviously thought that, if your camera wasn’t BIG, you had no right to be taking photos. How wrong can you be. All of my photos and videos were taken on my small hand held Sony HX90V and I’m very pleased with the results… and I hope that you are too.

More of the main events anon.

David

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Mongolia #16 Day 7 of the Trek (02/10/15 pm)

Nov29

Before we left in the cars to travel onwards, we took time to farewell our cameleers and horsemen… and of course the camels and the horses.

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Our four cameleers rest after their busy few days trekking with us.

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On behalf of all of the group, each cameleer in turn, from oldest to youngest, was given some goodies, a tip and, most importantly, a blue silk scarf known as a Khata … also known as a Khadag or hadag. The Khata is a symbol of peace and well being and is the highest symbol of respect, well wishing and greeting in Mongolian culture. It’s always presented to the oldest or most distinguished person first.

The colour blue is also very important to Mongolians. It represents the eternal blue sky in this ‘Land of the Blue Sky’. We had all certainly enjoyed those wide blue skies.

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A cameleer and his camel… ‘led by the nose’ takes on a new meaning!

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This camel seemed to shed a tear at our parting.

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But as for this one…. the smile says it all… no more packs to carry for awhile!

By the shape of those humps, a long drink of water wouldn’t go astray.

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The camels looked a little lost without our red duffle bags.

Still work to do for the lead camel.

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We also thanked the horseman in the traditional way, again with a blue Khata.

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He seems happy enough with the tip!

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A handshake of thanks from Tim, and we went on our way again, by car not by foot.

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And just as well we weren’t walking! We were back into the vast open landscapes so typical of Mongolia. After a couple of hours we had reached this vantage point… and a well earned leg stretch. Ahead, the multiple tracks that crossed the steppe were obvious. Each driver had chosen his own way but, generally, the latest set of wheel tracks were followed.

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Looking ahead, we could see, in the distance, a lake known as Achit Nuur.

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Achit Lake is the largest freshwater lake in the Uvs Aimag of Mongolia, in the far west of the country. It’s at an elevation of 1,435 m above sea level. It covers an area of 290 km²; is 28 km long, 16 km wide, and 10 m deep.

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With no wind the clouds were reflected perfectly in the lake.

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Further on, we passed a nomad’s ger with the modern essential, a Russian ‘box-on-wheels’. The van’s Russian name sounds something like “oo-warz-ik” (phonetic). Although Mongolians still love their horses and camels, many have this form of transport as well.

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Not a lot grows on these stoney plains.

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Where there’s some water, the larch trees grow, small in size but in abundance.

Location of Oglii

Our destination for the day was Olgii (Olgiy). It was near here that we were scheduled to witness the Golden Eagle Festival over the next two days; a much anticipated event.

Weather Chart for Oglii

Olgii (sometimes written Olgiy) is the capital of Bayan-Olgii Aimag (Province). It experiences a desert climate with long, very dry and cold winters and a short warm summer.

Nestled beside the Khovd River near the Altai Mountains, Olgii is 1710m (5610 ft) above sea level. In 2008, its population was 28,496, mainly of Kazakh origin. The area is known for the annual Golden Eagle Festival held in October, and also for embroidery and Kazakh music.

Olgii is 1600km (994mi.) by road from UB, and 1000km (620mi.) of this distance is unpaved. You can travel between the two cities by bus. Even under ideal conditions, that journey takes 48 hours; and under not so ideal conditions, it can take 3 to 5 days. There’s no rail link but there is a small airport with one paved runway. Flights to UB are said to be ‘regular’… to other destinations they are irregular, whatever that means!

Because of this relative isolation, Oglii hasn’t developed as quickly as more eastern parts of Mongolia. Much of the city centre was built during the 1950-1980’s and has only had a spurt of growth since 2005 when many new apartments, shops, restaurants and hotels were built.

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We had dinner at one of those restaurants; a bit of a treat and it gave our cooks a rest. It was a Turkish restaurant and dinner consisted of tasty and very tender marinated lamb cubes with grated carrot, coleslaw, potato balls and rice with a dob of tomato sauce on top.

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After dinner it was a 25 minute drive to our ger camp – not the place that we’d expected to be staying at in town; Tseren had decided that was too noisy and not suitable. So we ended up at a temporary six ger set up much nearer to the site where all the activity of the Eagle Festival was to take place. This was supposed to save travel time and be much safer and quieter.

However, there was no running water here. And, as Olgii offered the first chance since leaving UB of running hot water and a SHOWER, some of us decided to go back to town for just that reason. So, at 21.00 it was back into the vehicles for most of us for the run back into town to the public bath-house. It took a bit of a Cook’s Tour around town to find the place but, at last, our vehicles pulled up outside a low-set building.

Inside, there were two rows of back to back cubicles, ostensibly males on one side and females on the other; but, in the event, we were all mixed up. Who cares? Running hot water gushed from the shower head and it made no difference that the place needed a good upgrade to fix broken tiles and leaking and rusted fittings. A wooden duck-board bridged the hole in the floor down which lots of brown water washed as the clean water from the shower head and the dust on my body mixed. No need for a shampoo when you’ve got a No. 1 hair cut. I just stood there luxuriating in the almost forgotten experience of hot water over body.

Olgii has a bath-house because the Russian era demanded that the collective approach be followed when it came to hot water. Quite rightly. It’s so much cheaper to produce hot water in one place and pipe it around the city than for everybody to have smaller individual water heaters. We were therefore rubbing shoulders with the locals who use the facility all the time. I’m not sure how often the locals strip off in the middle of winter when the temperature can be as low as -40ºC (-49ºF) even if the bath-house is steamy.

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The large Stalinist era central powerhouse still provides the town’s hot water.

After the shower it took another 25 minutes to drive back to the gers. By then, those we had left behind at camp, were fast asleep in their grubby skins! I, on the other hand, felt good and clean and was ready for sleep. Once again, all of the others opted to sleep en masse in the six gers. Not me. I opted once more to sleep in my own tent. I went to sleep thinking with much anticipation of the Eagle Festival that would be our lot on the morrow. And I did sleep, and very well, in my own tent, under the Mongolian stars!

David

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Mongolia #15 Day 7 of the Trek (02/10/15 am)

Nov28

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I woke late , but so it seemed did everyone else… the camp was all but deserted. Our breakfast table and folding chairs were there, just waiting for us. But no-one seemed to be in a hurry to get up and get going. Perhaps we had all relaxed into Tim’s laid back ways. He’d told us on the very first morning that we should take off our watches and throw away our itineraries. ‘Just live each day as it comes’, was his sage advice. And so we had.

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One of the cameleers had kicked some life back into the camp fire and was boiling a pot of water. They say that a watched pot never boils… maybe that’s why he’s not watching.

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Even the camels looked relaxed. But eventually they were persuaded that duty called. Our stuff was loaded onto them and we left camp at 10.10 to continue our walk, further down the Yamaat River valley.

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A couple of old larch trees stand like sentinels.

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The larch at this lower level still had most of their needles.

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Sunlight through golden larch needles and cones.

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A little residual snow in shady spots of the loose scree along the river valley.

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The horses didn’t seem to be in any hurry.

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One of our horsemen

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After the previous days of trudging through snow, here the walking was easy.

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We took it all in our stride.

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The vegetation was sparse but it added a touch of colour.

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A nomad’s winter shelter… though not so much of the shelter apparent here.

Imagine being here in the depths of a Mongolian winter!

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After about a two hour walk, the end of our walking trek was in sight! There, ahead of us, our vehicles and drivers awaited us …. in the designated parking zone!

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We had lunch in the shelter of a large ger.

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This time, lunch consisted of a tuna and vegetable mash and black rice.

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I needed to have a souveneir of this walking trek… and this felt bird had to fill the bill. It will grace our Christmas tree along with so many other small reminders of so many places we have explored in this amazing world of ours.

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My felt bird was really nothing like the magpies which had hopped around us in the valley. A relative of the European magpie, these Magpies sport beautiful, long iridescent blue, green & purple wings & tails. Adult black-billed magpies mate for life and stay together year-round. They nest toward the top of deciduous or evergreen trees such as the larches in this valley.

Map of walking trek

And so we came to the end of our trek. The map shows the part of the Turgen Massif that we’d walked. Now we would head off in the cars to Achit Lake, the large blue lake on the map. More of that anon

David

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Mongolia #14 Day 6 of the Trek (01/10/15 pm)

Nov27

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After lunch we walked further along the valley.

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This camel didn’t seem at all keen to walk further with our packs.

Getting a bite to eat from the grasses was a better prospect.

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The first part of our afternoon walk… leaving the snow behind!

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One of our nomads riding his horse and leading a couple of camels

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Lichens on rocks.

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Larch trees along the banks of the Yamaat River.

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Paul and Robyn, two of our accomplished riders, follow the river.

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There were very few birds about but we did see a magpie or two…

the sheen of their feathers luminous in the sunshine.

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Our track crossed the Yamaat River a couple of times.

That’s Tim making his way across the river, rock hopping, stone by stone.

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It’s always a good idea to look back to see where you’ve come from-

it’s usually worth the effort.

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At one of the crossings, hidden behind the main river, we found a pond.

It rewarded a closer look.

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Lovely reflections in the absolutely still water.

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Just magic

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…and again

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Fallen larch needles trapped in the rocks at the edge of the pond.

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A hillside of all but bare larch trees in the snow.

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We were walking in a conservation area so some large larch trees survived being cut down.

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Deep in thought, watching each step, enjoying the experience.

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The richness in colour of the landscape was intensified as the sun dipped low in the sky.

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A lonely buttercup (Ranunculus sp.), having shed its petals, now sets about producing plenty of seed for next spring.

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Our track followed ever further along the river.

Our camping spot for the night was still not yet in sight.

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Eventually, we made camp in a larch forest. It was still very cold with a light spread of snow on the surrounding hills… and I thought we’d finished with snow! Fortunately there was no snow beside the river where we pitched our tents. While some of the crew collected wood for a camp fire, we enjoyed some biscuits, cheese and spreads. Dinner followed later.

The camp fire was most welcome. Even so, we were in bed by 20.45 .

There was more walking to be done on the morrow!

David

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Mongolia #13 Day 6 of the Trek (01/10/15 am)

Nov26

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The sun was slow to creep into our valley. The overnight snow fall was therefore slow to melt from our tents. I awoke at 07.00 and was served hot chocolate in bed 30 minutes later. We’d been told to stay warm as it was -3ºC (26.6ºF) outside, and this temperature didn’t take into account the breeze.

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The moon hung around, watching proceedings from a brilliant and cloud-free blue sky.

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It was a beautiful valley and so peaceful.

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Still no sun on the valley floor, our tents providing the only colour besides the white of the snow and the brown of the exposed rocks. The blue tent is the cooking/mess tent.

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At last sunshine bathed the valley and began to warm us up.

It was mid-morning before we were ready to leave camp and head down the valley.

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The fresh snow fall provided a great surface on which to see animal tracks. We believe we saw the foot-prints of antelope, lynx, and wolf. We were hoping to see snow leopard tracks as the area is known to be home to many of these majestic creatures. However, we didn’t see anything big enough to belong to these very secretive animals. They were probably watching us from high above on the hill-sides but they are so well camouflaged, we didn’t see them.

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Antelope tracks in the fresh snow.

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It didn’t take long for us to spread out along the valley floor.

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At times I almost envied those riding on horses… almost, but not quite.

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I could make my own pace and enjoy the beauty of the surroundings on my own.

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Larch trees began to appear on the hillsides.

Larches are deciduous conifers which can grow from 20 to 45 m tall. They are native to cool temperate northern hemisphere areas such as here. The needles turn yellow, as they are here, then brown and fall in the late autumn, leaving the trees leafless through the winter.

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A larch cone.

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Dried wildflowers stoically held their heads above the snow…

and we stoically trudged on.

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A couple of hours later we were finally walking on grass and rocks again. Our Bactrian camels were as happy as we were to be on grass again. The snow was still around but a bit further up the hill-sides except for some we encountered in shady spots.

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Do I discern a bit of a smile?

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Our cream camel is still showing its characteristic aloofness.

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A Mongolian horse saddle.

The horses was able to have a rest and a feed while we had our lunch.

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A laid back Tim enjoys a rest in the sun after our morning’s walk.

Our trudging through the snow was over… we looked forward to the afternoon walk.

More of that anon.

David

If you enjoy these armchair travels, please pass our site onto others

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Mongolia #12 Day 5 of the Trek (30/09/15)

Nov25

It had been a very cold night! Tim told us it was -19ºC (-2.2 ºF) and falling when he turned in and that it was somewhere between -8 & -12º C (17.6 & 10.4ºF) inside our tents during the night. I could well believe him as a 1.5 litre (3.2 US pints) bottle of water lying beside me all but froze – just little bubbles bouncing around between the ice shards.

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It snowed a little during the night but the sun was shining so everything was OK!

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The camels were in their full winter coats so they seemed happy enough.

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Tell-tale tracks led away from camp… heading to our morning ablutions.

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I think we still looked cold at breakfast time.

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Tseren, our Mongolian tour company leader, definitely looked uncomfortable.

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Tim gave us a run down on the trek for the day but it was hard to get any energy into our cold bones or enthusiasm for walking in the snow again. As a result we were late departing. But we had to push on to our next camp site. The longer we left it, the later it would be before we got there and that made the evenings more difficult for everyone, particularly the crew.

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By noon, it had clouded over, which made it easy walking without too much glare.

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The sun poked its nose through slots in the clouds to give lovely vistas.

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There weren’t many signs of life… just us ourselves and our animals.

I wondered where this little fellow had come from and where was he going to?

Was he looking for a mate?

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It was really hard going, and dangerous walking at times.

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Tseren looked much happier here. She’s with our senior cook who’d heard, while we were trekking, that her ger at home had been burnt down. An electrical fault apparently caused the fire. We took up a collection to help her through her crisis.

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It was good to have a rest part way up the slope and enjoy the view.

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Finally, we made it to the top, as designated by the rocks… the ovoo. These are at the top of passes and have spiritual significance for the locals. Even after that long climb, we still performed the ritual of walking around the ovoo, clockwise, three times, tossing a stone on the pile on each time around.

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Serene scenery. It was around 17.00, still below freezing and we had further to walk.

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Colourful lichen on an almost buried rock.

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Our pack animals carried all personal gear packed into our World Expedition supplied red duffle bags. These bags could be tied comfortably onto the horses and camels.

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And that’s where we had to go – right down to the valley floor!

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As I made my way carefully down this slippery slope to the valley floor,

the late afternoon sun touched clouds and mountain.

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We made it! Big smiles all around!

More anon

David

If you enjoy these armchair travels, please pass our site onto others

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Mongolia #11 Day 4 of the Trek (29/09/15 pm)

Nov24

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Around mid-morning we came across a small lake that was dotted with Whooper Swans. It was also home to a couple of Shell Ducks and other unidentified water birds.

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Leaving the cars, we walked through White Grass to get a closer look at the birds.

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Whooper Swans, Cygnus cygnus, are all white with black legs and distinctive yellow on their beaks. Cygnets are grey. Pairs mate for life. First described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, these are very heavy birds and need long stretches of water to be able to take off to fly.

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Beyond the lake rose the snow covered hills that were our destination.

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Reeds reflected in the almost still water.

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Driving further into those hills, we enjoyed more wonderful scenery.

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Finally, we came to the starting place for the walking part of this adventure. There waiting for us were the Bactrian camels and horses that would accompany us while we trekked through the Kharkhiraa and Yurgen massif area. The camels would be loaded with all of our trekking gear, camp needs, food and tents. They were to be a vital part of our trek.

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The cream coloured Bactrian was the crankiest of the camel team.

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Up close she was better looking than most camels but a bit aloof.

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Horses also waited patiently for their passengers. Two of the group had chosen to ride rather than walk for the four days of our trek and they had previously ordered these horses. I, like the others, would walk most of the way. Other ‘riders’ rode for part of the way, sharing a couple of horses.

Before we farewelled our drivers, we had lunch… a late lunch! It was 15.00 before everything was finally ready for our departure. As we began our walk beside a snow and ice covered stream, onwards and upwards towards that snow line, I wondered what was in store for us over the next couple of days. One thing was sure, it would be cold and we’d need to be fit!

DSC01807 © DY of jtdytravels

It wasn’t long before we were spread out ‘like Brown’s cows’

DSC01805 © DY of jtdytravels

A raptor flew overhead… what a fabulous bird.

DSC01809 © DY of jtdytravels

As we reached the snow line, I looked back down the valley.

DSC01813 © DY of jtdytravels

A little further and we were well into a complete covering of beautiful powdery snow,

DSC01816 © DY of jtdytravels

I think I look more confident than I actually felt.

DSC01817 © DY of jtdytravels

Such beautiful scenery surrounded us.

#1 from video © DY of jtdytravels

Every footstep was a challenge as it wasn’t certain whether it would be onto loose rocks that would slip out from underfoot, hold firm, or a tuft of grass that acted like skating ice.

DSC01819 © DY of jtdytravels

As the sun moved ever lower in the sky, we trudged on.

DSC01820 © DY of jtdytravels

The camels were a bit more timid and less sure-footed than the horses.

On and on we trudged.

Finally our proposed camp site came into view but it was down a treacherous scree slope covered in snow about 15cm. (6ins.) thick. Cameras were put away. We needed our arms and hands to hold walking poles as we negotiated this section, thankfully successfully. Three of our six camels sat down at the top of the slope and couldn’t be coerced into moving until some of their load was removed… and that included a heavy fridge “Esky”. Our young cook found a different way of getting it down the slope. She ‘rode’ it, slipping and sliding her way down to the bottom. Much easier than carrying the heavy fridge – and a good deal quicker! I arrived at the camp site at 18.45.

Oh… it was so very cold as we pitched our tents on 10 cm. (4 ins.) of snow. I hadn’t envisaged any of this in my wildest dreams. It was a totally new experience for me. It was so cold that Tim told us to stay in our tents, in our warmest of gear, and get inside our sleeping bags. I had pulled on nearly everything in my pack. Dinner would be served to us in our own tents as it was far too cold to erect the mess tent.

Although Michael and I had paid extra for a single supplement, Tim suggested that we both share a tent for the extra warmth it would afford us. That turned out to be a very good idea… it was -15ºC (5ºF) at 20.15 but beginning to cloud over. That should mean the temperature shouldn’t fall much more. But, was this a pre-cursor to rain overnight and maybe into the next day? I didn’t mind walking in the dry snow as we had been blessed with a brilliant blue sky with just the odd wispy cloud now and then. But, I didn’t fancy walking in rain. My toes were already cold enough!

There was still no dinner in sight by 20.30 but some hot chocolate laced with cognac was a very welcome aperitif while we waited. A vegetable and meat soup finally arrived. I seem to be complaining but I’m not… I do admit that I wasn’t the happiest person in the world at that time. But spare a thought for the cooks who had to prepare this food for us out in that cold, cold, cold! We had it easy, snug in our sleeping bags.

As it started to get dark, the cold felt like a dagger plunging between my shoulder blades. And a sneaky wind had blown up, rattling the sides of our tent. Hot water was supplied to fill our ‘bottles’… I tucked it down beside my toes and, once they started to warm up, I started to cheer up. Tired out, probably more like exhausted, we both, in the end, slept well.

More anon

David

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Mongolia #10 Day 4 of the Trek (29/09/15 am)

Nov23

I woke early and was up by 07.00… before the sun!

The herdsman’s ger looked a bit lonely in this seemingly endless landscape.

Goats began to gather near my lonely tent. Not much else was stirring.

The ger we ate in seemed to come to life when a curl of smoke rose from its chimney.

Some of the goats waiting to be rounded up for milking.

When the sheep joined in, there was quite a flock.

It was good to have a bit of time out here with the goats on my own. But that could not last forever… the day had begun for everyone. I was called for breakfast.

We shared our breakfast with the family in their ger. It was the usual porridge followed by scrambled egg, bread and green tea.

This is what it’s like inside a typical ger. In the centre, there’s a stove for cooking and heating and two central poles – one yellow, one red in this photo. They are actually the same colour – the light was playing tricks. These main poles hold up the ‘wheel’ that forms the ger which is itself held in position by the ascending smaller poles. It looks like the spokes of a wheel. The lattice that forms the walls is also visible.

Outside, the family’s goats were about to be milked. Every family member was involved in some way or other. The goats are lined up with their horns interlocking. My driver, Pujee, was in there helping too. He’d obviously done it many times before.

And he was obviously enjoying himself.

This method of interlocking the goat’s horns holds the goats in position.

What a contented lot!

An interesting view along the rows of locked horns.

Both lines of goats were milked at the same time.

The head of the family watched on.

He was never far from his trusty steed.

It’s said that a Mongol without his horse is like a bird without wings!

Tim looked a little worried, but there was nothing to worry about… the vehicle we’d left behind in town turned up during the night.

Pujee posed beside his vehicle before we set off to drive to the starting point for the walking part of our trek. Because there were only a couple of tents put up, we were able to get on the road relatively early, at 09.00.

We traversed some lovely country coming to a river with many larch trees dressed in their autumn gold.

What a delightful view … an oasis in a brown, dusty landscape.

But there was still plenty of dust as we climbed up out of the valley.

This fascinating rock formation bordered the valley we drove up.

And then finally, we saw them for the first time, beyond a lake and beneath that huge blue sky, there they were, the snow covered mountains that we were heading for… the place where our cars could take us no further and we would have to walk!

More of that anon

David

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Mongolia #9 Day 3 of the Trek (28/09/15 pm)

Nov22

When we hit a tarred road, we knew we must be somewhere near a small town. Wrong! Many sections of really good quality roads were built as part of Millennium Projects – from nowhere to nowhere. Eventually they will be joined up

This is the neat but dusty town of Naranbulag.

Note the many traditional gers in the ‘backyards’.

(GPS co-ordinates 49º 22’ N, 92º 33’ E).

This ger is in a front yard. The only door always faces south.

Timber planks and mud bricks are the main building materials in this town. In the building closest to the camera, interlaced squared-off logs were used. Mud had been squeezed in between the logs to stop draughts and to retain warmth during the severe winters.

The facing cut from the squared-off logs was used in this instance to create a neat fence. The building is made from mud bricks while the roof is waterproofed with a layer of mud.

Traditional symbolism was neatly applied to many surfaces.

There were solar panels on many buildings and even the odd satellite dish.

Obviously a lot of pride is taken in the appearance of this little town.

A couple of young girls came to check us out… a very happy reaction.

This one… a little perplexed!

And this one… quite mystified.

Even though there was electricity, there was no running water in the town. Water came from a subterranean source. The young boys of the town seemed to have the chore of collecting water for each home. They used these improvised carts to take water home from the well.

A couple of the larger town buildings… again all very neat and tidy.

Tidy though the town was, there was dust everywhere, so it was decided that we would head out of town for a picnic style lunch. But we couldn’t venture too far because our troublesome vehicle was being checked out. It still had a fuel problem.

So we had our lunch on the steppe just a short walk out of the town.

The cooks, having stocked up on supplies, produced our interestingly coloured lunch made up of green lentils, diced beetroot and black rice. It was tasty.

After lunch there was plenty of time to take a panorama of our ‘dining room’.

It was now almost 16.00. Fixing the car was taking much longer than expected, so we decided to push on, sharing the broken vehicle’s passengers between the rest. We gained Trevor.

We drove through some quite amazing country… almost mirage like with a couple of Bactrian camels adding to the scene. They must have been thirsty; humps beginning to fall over.

Again, a panorama captures the vastness of the scene.

The late afternoon light touched the far hills and mountains as we finally arrived at our camping spot. It was a round 17.00. Another late arrival, particularly for the cooks and drivers who, not only had they driven most of the day, but now had to set up camp.

The view from our camp site; scattered scrubby growth, sand dunes and a sinister sky.

The sun was starting to sink but was still strong enough to highlight the dunes.

In the end, we shared our dinner of a chunky soup, pastry and shortbread type of biscuit with a family who lived in a nearby ger. Then, the rest of the group split up and slept in various gers. But I decided that I would rather have my own space in my tent… so the ever obliging Pujee put my tent up for me. It was quite late, about 21.30, when I finally crawled into my warm sleeping bag for a good night’s sleep.

David

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Mongolia #8 Day 3 of the Trek (28/09/15 am)

Nov20

The sleeping bag I’d hired in UB, to go with the rather inadequate one I brought from Oz, made me feel somewhat like a chrysalis. I know how a caterpillar must feel when wrapped up inside its cocoon. I couldn’t roll around inside the blessed thing… it was so tight. Tim to the rescue! He had a spare sleeping bag with him… one that he leaves in Mongolia but brings along as a spare when he’s trekking. It was a bespoke bag made especially for him by an Australian company. Now, Tim is a bit taller than I am, so this sounded good, and when he added that it was rectangular and not tapered AND was rated to be adequate to -30 degrees AND, he said, that I could have it if I wanted… yes please! BIG thank you. I gave my two bags to others who indicated they would also like something extra. Everybody was happy, including Tim who didn’t have to carry his spare bag anymore.

My night’s sleep in Tim’s bag was very good. I awoke at 06.30 with light creeping into the sky. The sun broke through drifts of cloud around 30 minutes later.

The usual porridge, muesli and scrambled egg followed for breakfast. Fresh bread won’t last long in those very dry conditions, so the cooks made us some flat bread. A nice change and so much better than the alternative.

We walked back to the rocks on the edge of this part of Khyargas Nuur and saw them in the morning light… so very different from the evening light.

The sun was yet to brighten these rocks.

We walked, carefully, all over the rocks.

Back in the vehicles, it was a long flat drive across the vast steppes.

The driver’s view!

We kept coming back to the edge of the lake. And the fuel problem also kept coming back to haunt us, so a stop was made where we could climb over some interesting wind and rain-eroded landscape while the problem was fixed.

A very strange looking plant.

It’s amazing how some plants manage to survive such conditions.

These woody plants showed signs of heavy grazing; probably by sheep and goats. The growing conditions are harsh enough, let alone being nibbled at all the time.

A closer look at these incredibly hardy plants.

Perhaps this thorny plant had the answer to the nibbling of animals!

Panzerina lanata (in seed) growing in a wash-away.

The area was like a moonscape.

Strange indeed!

By the time we got back into the cars, we were starting to get a little peckish… lunch would be very late. Pujee, our driver, produced some hard cheese from the centre console and offered each of us a piece or two. It was white in colour and about 3mm (1/8 in.) thick and had been made by spreading out a curd onto a flat surface and then dried. It was so hard that when Pujee snapped off our pieces, one sharp edge cut his finger quite badly. A piece around half the size of a small postage stamp would last in your mouth for at least an hour. It doesn’t taste of much but it’s said that it can keep a herdsman going for many days without much else. It’s light in weight and can be kept in a pocket for ever. A very handy snack for a Mongolian.

It would have to do us until lunchtime. More about that anon.

David

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Monthly Archives: November 2015

Mongolia #17 Day 8 of the Trek (03/10/15 Part a)

Mongolia #16 Day 7 of the Trek (02/10/15 pm)

Mongolia #15 Day 7 of the Trek (02/10/15 am)

Mongolia #14 Day 6 of the Trek (01/10/15 pm)

Mongolia #13 Day 6 of the Trek (01/10/15 am)

Mongolia #12 Day 5 of the Trek (30/09/15)

Mongolia #11 Day 4 of the Trek (29/09/15 pm)

Mongolia #10 Day 4 of the Trek (29/09/15 am)

Mongolia #9 Day 3 of the Trek (28/09/15 pm)

Mongolia #8 Day 3 of the Trek (28/09/15 am)