Mongolia #27 Day 15 of the Trek (10/10/15)

 

DSC02478 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02478 © DY of jtdytravels

We woke to a cloudless and cold morning but no frost in our peaceful campsite. But it wasn’t peaceful for long.

Everything had to be packed up, the camp and our personal items.  We were all reminded that we couldn’t take more than 15kg (33.1lbs.)… and that included carry-on bags… unless we were prepared to pay an excess baggage fee.  

Meanwhile, gifts and tips for the crew were being worked out.  ‘This and that’ went into this bag while ‘that and this’ went into another bag, and so on. At last everything was worked out and the presentations took place.  I think everybody was happy.

DSC02481 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02481 © DY of jtdytravels

Our full crew of drivers and cooks

DSC02479 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02479 © DY of jtdytravels

Our drivers got ready to take us on one last drive together… into Khovd town for a little extra time to look around and perhaps do some last minute shopping. 

DSC02482 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02482 © DY of jtdytravels

There was only room in my pack for something very, very small…

a ‘Mongolian boot’ keyring for our Christmas tree!

DSC02487 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02487 © DY of jtdytravels

For a town so far from UB, Khovd punches above its weight.

DSC02488 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02488 © DY of jtdytravels

It even had a “Pizza Hut”… but we didn’t eat there.

DSC02491 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02491 © DY of jtdytravels

We had lunch at a restaurant before heading to the airport on the edge of town, there to await our flight which was scheduled to take off at 14.30.

It was weigh in time… the moment of truth! I think we all went over the limit but we were pleasantly surprised to find out that the limit was in fact 20kg.  The sting in the tail came when we were told that the airline going back to Ulaanbaatar charged a higher rate per kg than the airline that flew us from Ulaanbaatar.  My excess cost AUD6.90 – but that’s not a fortune in anybody’s language!

Tim told us not to get our hopes up about the flight being on time. He said that the flight was more often than not delayed, sometimes for up to 12 hours or more!  We were most thankful when we received our boarding passes which showed some faith on the airlines part that the flight was ‘on time’.  And so it was – we left only about 20 minutes late.  

DSC02493 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02493 © DY of jtdytravels

The wind sock hung limply on its mast.  The wind was not going to help our 13 year old Fokker 50 get off the ground! 

DSC02494 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02494 © DY of jtdytravels

I’ve never seen the wheel-bay flaps used for advertising before.

It was a 3 hour flight to UB plus we lost an hour.

DSC02501 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02501 © DY of jtdytravels

Mongolia is a big brown country.

DSC02509 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02509 © DY of jtdytravels

Surprisingly, there are many lakes scattered across the country.

DSC02516 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02516 © DY of jtdytravels

But there are also many sand dunes.

DSC02519 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02519 © DY of jtdytravels

The last light of the day cast long shadows.

On arrival in UB, we went straight from the airport to a restaurant for our farewell dinner.  We ate at ‘BD’s Mongolian Barbeque’, a place I’d eaten at when I was last in UB in 2008.  The place hadn’t changed much… except for the fact that photos and videoing was not allowed any more at the bbq area.  But, it was still a good feed.  There was a huge range of types of food to select from.  You took what you wanted to a large circular hot plate where the chefs cooked your selection as one mixed up meal.  A repeat visit to collect more goodies and have them cooked was a tempting option. But I resisted.

DSC02521 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02521 © DY of jtdytravels

Tim had written a short summary about each of us.  He read these out, often to our amusement! It was around 23.00 by the time we got back to the Tuushin Hotel to check in and collect anything we’d left in storage whilst away on the trek.  It was after 01.00 before I was ready to have a much needed shower and feel the comfort of a proper bed.  Oh… but it was good!

And the next day, it was time to say farewell to Tim and to my trek companions. It was time to think about heading back home.

Members of the group started leaving UB during the early hours of the morning heading for all sorts of places to continue on either straight home or via some other exotic destination.  I didn’t have a flight until 17h55 so had all the morning to wander around.  Michael wasn’t leaving until the next day so we decided to walk to the Government Department Store to have a look around. Eventually we found out that the top floor was the place to be to find all things Mongolian.  A few tee shirts and a couple of Christmas tree dingle dangles later we left.  Michael had all day so he went his way and I headed back to the hotel.

I got a little lost on the way back to the hotel but this was no problem at all as it took me along some streets I hadn’t been on before.  Eventually I arrived in Chinggis Khan Square at noon.  I was so pleased I’d got ‘lost’ as I arrived in time for “The Changing of the Guard” with all the pomp and ceremony of such an event.

DSC02529 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02529 © DY of jtdytravels

An impressive ritual took place.

DSC02530 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02530 © DY of jtdytravels

Very smart, colourful uniform.

DSC02531 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02531 © DY of jtdytravels

He was watching me!

Formation marching; from video

Formation marching; from video

The guard goose-stepped off duty,

no doubt part of a drill left over from the “Russian” days.

 

DSC02535 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02535 © DY of jtdytravels

Very colourful, very precise, very impressive.

After that little interlude it was back to my room for some last minute packing.

DY ; from video

DY; from video

And so that really is the end of the saga of my Mongolian trek with Tim Cope.

Well almost. There’s just one thing left to do…

DY shaving; from video

DY shaving; from video

I just needed to shave off that seventeen day beard!

Especially since it was all white!!!!!

DY from video

DY from video

And as I finish this task, there’s just more one thing to say…

Thank you for joining me for the journey

on this trek through the vast landscapes of far western Mongolia.

David

All photographs copyright © DY  of  jtdytravels

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

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.

 

Mongolia #3 Ulaanbaatar (24/09/15)

A surprise awaited me when I pulled the curtains on my second day in Ulaanbaatar (UB). It was snowing, light but enough to settle on cars, buildings, trees and grass. 

DSC01445 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC01445 © DY of jtdytravels

I’d read that Ulaanbaatar is the coldest national capital in the world due to its high elevation, latitude and distance from any coast. (Latitude 47º 92′ N, Longitude 106º 91′ E, elevation 1350 m. (4430 ft.) It experiences a monsoon-influenced, cold and dry semi-arid climate.  The city has a brief warm summer but long, bitterly cold and dry winters.  The coldest January temperatures dip to as low as -40ºC (-40ºF). But this was still September… SNOW!

A warm up with a good breakfast would set me up for a stroll out there in the snow. And, as I expected, breakfast was up to the usual international standard for a 5 star hotel. However, my breakfast enjoyment was spoiled, greatly, by a wretched woman who just sidled up and took my ‘thrice through the toaster’ slice of toast.  I had stepped aside for her to go past, expecting her to head for the coffee or sweet things, and what did I get, my toast pinched!  I expressed my surprise and vented my feelings at which SHE looked peeved!  Oh well!  What could you expect? She had two obnoxious kids at heel and a husband who appears to have done nothing except help produce the monsters!  I don’t blame the kids; they’ve just never been taught how to behave when out.

The first meeting for the group wasn’t to be until 14.00 in the lobby.  Most of us had arrived but, due to the poor weather, there were about four who hadn’t yet made it to UB.

So, before I went exploring, I checked out some notes about Ulaanbaatar.  It was founded way back in 1639 as a nomadic Buddhist monastic centre. It moved no less than 28 times until 1778 when it became permanently located at its present location.  By 2014, it had a population of 1.3 million. As the largest city in Mongolia, it’s the cultural, industrial and financial hub of the country and the centre of Mongolia’s air, road and rail networks.  The Trans-Siberian Railway links it with Russia, while it is also linked to the Chinese railway system.

The city is located at the confluence of the Tuul and Selenge rivers and at the base of Bogd Khan Uul mountain (2250m., 7380ft.).  The mountain is a reserve that has been protected by law since the 18th Century.  That makes it one of the oldest reserves in the world. But for now, we would take the afternoon to explore some of the city itself. 

This was the first chance I had of getting to grips with the cold and I wasn’t half glad I’d brought a down jacket along with me as I joined the group to walk the couple of hundred metres from the hotel to Chinggis Khaan (Mongolian sp.) Square. 

DSC01451 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC01451 © DY of jtdytravels

The most imposing building on this square is the Mongolian Parliament House. After the Soviet period of rule in Mongolia, a special facade was built in front of the older Stalinist Parliament Building.  This now houses a grandiose statue of Chinggis Khaan’s statue.

During the era of Soviet rule in the 20th century, the very name Chinggis Khaan was banned and was removed from all school text books. But, since Mongolia won its independence from Russia in the early 1990’s, Chinggis Khaan has been revered as a national hero and founding father of Mongolia.

Known in English translation as Genghis Khan, he was an important conqueror in history. But his life didn’t start out very well. These notes come from the web site “ten things you may not know about Ghengis Khaan.” I’ll add the web site at the end of this post… its interesting.

The man who would become the “Great Khan” of the Mongols was born along the banks of the Onon River sometime around 1162 and originally named Temujin, which means “of iron” or “blacksmith.” …. From an early age, Genghis was forced to contend with the brutality of life on the Mongolian Steppe. Rival Tatars poisoned his father when he was only nine, and his own tribe later expelled his family and left his mother to raise her seven children alone. Genghis grew up hunting and foraging to survive, and as an adolescent he may have even murdered his own half-brother in a dispute over food. During his teenage years, rival clans abducted both he and his young wife, and Genghis spent time as a slave before making a daring escape. Despite all these hardships, by his early 20s he had established himself as a formidable warrior and leader. After amassing an army of supporters, he began forging alliances with the heads of important tribes. By 1206, he had successfully consolidated the steppe confederations under his banner and began to turn his attention to outside conquest.”

It was then that he was given the honorific name “Genghis Kahn” and proclaimed leader of the Mongols at a tribal meeting known as a “kurultai.”

DSC01452 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC01452 © DY of jtdytravels

 A simple man, Chinggis Khaan would probably not have approved of this huge sculpture. And whether this is a correct depiction is questionable because very little is known about Genghis Kahn’s physical appearance. No contemporary portraits or sculptures of him have survived. Some historians claim that he had flowing red hair and a long beard.

What is known is that “Between the years of 1206 and 1227, he lead his army to conquer nearly 12 million square miles of territory—more than any individual in history. Along the way, he cut a ruthless path through Asia and Europe that left untold millions dead, but he also modernised Mongolian culture, embraced religious freedom and helped open contact between East and West. Explore 10 facts about a great ruler who was equal parts military genius, political statesman and bloodthirsty terror.

The web site continues with these amazing statistics: “While it’s impossible to know for sure how many people perished during the Mongol conquests, many historians put the number at somewhere around 40 million. Censuses from the Middle Ages show that the population of China plummeted by tens of millions during the Khan’s lifetime, and scholars estimate that he may have killed a full three-fourths of modern-day Iran’s population during his war with the Khwarezmid Empire. All told, the Mongols’ attacks may have reduced the entire world population by as much as 11 percent.”

Although the Khan rarely left a score unsettled, he was tolerant of the various religions and cultures of the people he conquered. He knew that happy subjects were less likely to rebel.

DSC01455 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC01455 © DY of jtdytravels

An impressive statue of a Mongolian rider rises from the centre of the square. This statue is very evocative of the way in which the great Chinggis Khaan won so many battles. The Mongolian horse was a very important part of his army… and it was essential in what may have been his most potent weapon – a vast communication network. In fact, he created one of the first international postal systems. “One of his earliest decrees as Khan involved the formation of a mounted courier service known as the “Yam.” This medieval express consisted of a well-organized series of post houses and way stations strung out across the whole of the Empire. By stopping to rest or take on a fresh mount every few miles, official riders could often travel as far as 200 miles a day. The system allowed goods and information to travel with unprecedented speed, but it also acted as the eyes and ears of the Khan. Thanks to the Yam, he could easily keep abreast of military and political developments and maintain contact with his extensive network of spies and scouts. The Yam also helped protect foreign dignitaries and merchants during their travels.”

[See at the end of this post for the web site that gives many more details about this man.]

DSC01459 DY of jtdytravels

This photo, taken in the square, is, I think, a great comment on three phases of Mongolian life; the statue of a Mongolian horseman; a representation of a Bactrian two hump camel, still most useful for the large numbers of nomadic Mongolians; and a new building that represents the modernisation of Mongolia, especially here in UB.

DSC01453 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC01453 © DY of jtdytravels

Another very modern building, known as  ‘SKY BLUE’, was still being constructed when I was in UB in 2004. After exploring the square, we decided to get out of the cold and spend the rest of the afternoon inside the National Museum of Mongolia. I basically don’t like museums as you can’t touch anything!  I’m a tactile person!  And we spent 3.5hrs in this Museum looking at but NOT touching the exhibits. A record for me.

According to their notes, The National Museum of Mongolia is “an amalgamation of a number of other separate organisations including the departments of history, archaeology and ethnography.  It is now located in a facility built in 1971 to house the Museum of the Revolution.  It has the responsibility to look after preservation of Mongolian culture and artifacts. Importantly, it has a collection of the traditional costumes of the various ethnic groups who inhabit the country and a significant collection of snuff bottles which are part of the traditional greeting that takes place when people meet.

 After the museum visit, we walked to a concert hall where we sat through part of an ethnic concert.  It was really good and very colourful but a pity we were late and didn’t see it all. 

Then, it was time to eat… an Indian meal. Yes I know, we were in Mongolia but we were going to have enough mutton and grain later on the trek! And so to bed…. more anon.

 

David

All photographs copyright © JT  and DY  of  jtdytravels

That web site about Ghengis Khan is:

http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-genghis-khan     ]

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

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more of our travel stories and photos can be found on

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More of our travel photos are on

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Mongolia #2 Beijing to Ulaanbaatar (23/09/’15)

I left my Beijing hotel at 07.00 and was at the gate by 08.15 ready to board my flight from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar on Mongolian Airlines (MIAT) Flight OM 224. The plane arrived about 5 minutes later so all was looking good for an on-time take-off. And so it was.

Actually the flight left nearly 10 minutes early.  Everybody must’ve been in a hurry to get to Mongolia!  Then there was a 30 minute taxi and wait before we actually took off.

DSC01397 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC01397 © DY of jtdytravels

Leaving Beijing.

DSC01399 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC01399 © DY of jtdytravels

Green farms on the outskirts of Beijing.

DSC01406 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC01406 © DY of jtdytravels

How quickly the scenery can change! Mongolia is a dry and brown country at this time of the year; there’s not much rain in those small fluffy clouds.

As the plane approached Ulaanbaatar, I spotted some ‘green house tunnels’ on the out-skirts of the city.  These turned out to be protecting an important crop for this dry climate city -locally grown fresh fruit and vegetables.

Even though it can be -30°C (-22°F) during the winter, ‘tropical’ fruits are being grown year-round here.  According to a Ulaanbaatar paper, ‘The Mongol Messenger’ of Friday, 24 July, 2015, “Over 30 greenhouses of the Nogoon Sor company create a favourable climate for growing fruit and vegetables year-round.  Crops are grown organically and watered by drip irrigation, the water coming from two artesian bores.  Sheep manure is the main manure used and there is a beehive in each greenhouse.  The greenhouses are kept at +30°C (86°F) during the winter even though the temperature outside can be as low as -30°C (-22°F).  Between 20 and 40 people are employed, the number depending on the season.”

Last year the company produced 62.6 tons of strawberries, 1.6 tons of grapes, 36.5 tons of cucumbers, 27 tons of tomatoes, 1.2 tons of watermelon and 11.5 tons of nine different types of vegetables.  The company earned a profit of Tugrit 280 million. (280mT =191,000AUD or 141,500 USD). Impressive!

DSC01411 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC01411 © DY of jtdytravels

We arrived at Chinggis Khaan Airport in Ulaanbaatar (UB) on time…. there was an hours difference in time.  Not sure whether that put me nearer OZ time or further away.  Did it matter? The pre-landing info told me to expect a temperature of 9ºC when I hit the fresh air… a bit different from the mid-twenties I’d experienced over the previous two+ weeks. In the Arrivals Hall, my name was prominently displayed on a lolly-pop sign… my driver was there to take me to my hotel; the system of pre-arranging a transfer worked.

DSC01430 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC01430 © DY of jtdytravels

My room at the Tuushin Hotel, a Best Western Premier 5-Star joint lived up to that rating.  The usual ploy of travel companies is to start and finish a tour on a high note… and yes, we were to return here at the end of our adventure. I doubted whether any accommodation for the rest of the trip would match this place! And neither it should. This was a trek!

I was told when I checked in that Tim had checked in only minutes earlier.  I was given his room number so rang it in the hope that I would catch him before he hit the shower.  I did. Although he wanted a shower, he didn’t have clean clothes … his bag hadn’t arrived with him!  ‘Maybe tomorrow’ was his comment.  He knows Mongolia better than most!  Tim told me that there were to be 16 in our group and six had arrived on his flight.  I guessed the rest would straggle in sometime … our first get-together wasn’t until 14.00 next day.

DSC01428 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC01428 © DY of jtdytravels

The view of UB from my hotel room on arrival.

I’d tried to get onto the net all afternoon without success.  What was wrong? Just silly, silly me!  The TP_LINK modem power point hadn’t been turned on!  Boy, it was fast when it was working!  And, unlike in China, no problem with using Google in Mongolia!  

DSC01436 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC01436 © DY of jtdytravels

The view from my room a few yours later – storm clouds brewing.

DSC01431 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC01431 © DY of jtdytravels

After watching the Pope apparently bless me and the trek, I emptied everything out of my distinctive old, red World Expeditions duffle bag. I’d used it when I travelled in Bhutan with WE in 2004.  I needed to get some idea of just what I could take with me on the trek.  I’d needed some ‘glad rags’ in Beijing to satisfy the dress code for the UoN reception in Beijing at the end of the Great Wall Walk.  These at least I would be able to leave behind in UB until my return at the end of the trek.  (Oh… and just for the record… I won’t be repeating that Great Wall Walk again… not until at least during the ‘after-life’ … and even then I’d think twice.)

Four o’clock rolled around and I thought I must have been in Singapore as rain thundered down.  Hail and all.  Dark clouds had been building on the surrounding hills all afternoon and, sure enough, they couldn’t hold their moisture-laden contents any longer.  Short and brief … the storm cleared as quickly as it came.

I knew that I’d need to change some of my USD into Mongolian Tugrik, (Togrog colloquially). So I asked the Concierge for directions to the nearest bank.  He not only pointed me in the right direction but decided that, the best way to achieve a 100% success rate, was to take me there.  Admittedly it was only a block and a half away.  But as it was still raining lightly, that offer was even more impressive.  I also asked him where the nearest supermarket was and that was pointed out also … it was just a slight detour on my way back to the hotel from the bank.  The bank process was painless, except the exchange rate, and who has any control over that?  I stopped off at the supermarket and found a carton of 3.2% fat full-cream milk – much better than the “CoffeeMate” in my room.  Cost me T2,420 for a litre (a little under AUD2). I’d have to get used to the big numbers.  Not quite like the ‘shoe-box’ territory one enters when visiting places like Laos and Vietnam where USD100 can render you a millionaire for a day.  ‘Real’ Monopoly money becomes a distinct possibility in those places.

Waiting for the lift, milk in hand, who should walk out of the lift but Tim.  He was heading off to do some preliminary organising for the trek.  I was heading back to my room to write up my diary notes… and have that cuppa with real milk. 

DSC01442 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC01442 © DY of jtdytravels

The rain and clouds cleared as the sun set over the town.

DSC01443 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC01443 © DY of jtdytravels

It was time to venture back to the supermarket to grab a bucket of noodles and a bottle of beer for tea.  I’d managed to finish the whisky I bought for the Chinese portion of my time away, and, in all fairness to myself, I couldn’t start the next lot of whisky until the Mongolian trek began… and that was likely to begin a day later than planned due to changes in aircraft schedules. It looked as though the contingency day built into the programme for later on in the trek might already be used up.  Would there be further delays?  Ah; why worry? Time to take life as it came… just relax, go with the flow and enjoy!  More anon.

David

All photographs copyright © JT  and DY  of  jtdytravels

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

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more of our travel stories and photos can be found on

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Mongolia #1 Preparing to Trek with Tim Cope

After finishing the Great Wall of China Challenge with the team from the University of Newcastle, I took a week of R&R with friends in Kunming, in Yunnan Province in China (musings for that week to come later!) After that, I prepared for another challenge; a 17 day exploration of the outer north west region of Mongolia with adventurer Tim Cope.

So these musings comprise my recollections and thoughts of that trip. If there’s anything factually wrong, I’d like to hear from you.  Otherwise, it’s just as I saw it and perceived it!

DSC02236 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02236 © DY of jtdytravels

I was actually heading to Mongolia for the second time, having been there first in June 2008 when I travelled overland from Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, to Novosibirsk in Siberia.  I fell in love with the place then.  I love the wide open spaces, the people and the fact that I could travel for days on end without seeing mobile phone antennae, high tension power pylons or even aircraft con trails; all of this appealed greatly.

Apart from thinking about the place on the odd occasion since – it was still a far away place.  Then the September 2014 edition of Australian Geographic magazine arrived in our mail box. And in there I spotted an advertisement telling me that Tim Cope was to lead a World Expeditions tour to the western parts of Mongolia in September-October 2015.  In a flash, I was on the phone booking my place.  At the time, World Expeditions couldn’t give me a price as it was so far out from departure date… but that didn’t matter.  I said, “Put me down and where do I send my deposit”?  I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to travel with someone I admired so much and who obviously could give an extra special insight into Mongolia and its people.  Because Tim has spent many, many months in the country, learning the language and getting to know the people.  He would be in a very special position to impart an in-depth and personal understanding to our experience.

I had some inkling of what to expect from Tim, because, back in 2004, I’d thoroughly enjoyed listening to him telling his story during live crosses by satellite phone broadcast on ABC Radio. That was at the time that he was travelling on horse back, in the footsteps of Genghis Khan, from Mongolia to Hungary, a distance of approximately 10,000km. (6200mi.).  Then came the doco on television – what a place, what a man, what an adventure! Then came the book which I read with delight.

Book Cover

Book Cover

The publisher’s blurb for this book by Tim includes the following:

Inspired by a desire to understand the nomadic way of life, Australian adventurer Tim Cope embarked on a remarkable journey: 6,000 miles on horseback across the Eurasian steppe from Mongolia, through Kazakhstan, Russia, and the Ukraine, to Hungary retracing the trail of Genghis Khan.  From novice rider to travelling three years in the saddle, – accompanied by his Kazakh dog, Tigon – Tim learnt to fend off wolves and would-be horse-thieves, and grapple with the extremes of the steppe as he crossed sub-zero plateaux, the scorching deserts of Kazakhstan and the high-mountain passes of the Carpathians.

Along the way Tim was taken in by people who taught him the traditional ways and recounted their recent history: Stalin’s push for industrialisation brought calamity to the steppe and forced collectivisation that in Kazakhstan alone led to the starvation of more than a million nomads. Today Cope bears witness to how the traditional ways hang precariously in the balance in the post-Soviet world.

Five years in the making, On the Trail of Genghis Khan is Tim’s personal story of adventure, endurance –and at times tragedy-, and eventual triumph. Intelligently written, it is a narrative full of romance, history, and drama that ultimately celebrates the nomadic way of life —its freedom, its closeness to the land, its animals, and moods.

I recommend this book as a good read.

Tim Cope; photo of himself

Tim Cope; photo of himself

Perhaps this photo of Tim on one of his Mongolian ponies at ‘blue lake’ near Kharkhiraa Pass, self-taken during his epic trek, will give you some idea of why I wanted to go with him on this trek. I looked forward so much to this adventure. I thought….bring it on!

Map of Mongolia

Map of Mongolia

Mongolia is a vast country in east-central Asia bordered by Russia to the north and China on all other sides. It’s the second largest land-locked country in the world after Kazakhstan, which has an area of  2,725,000 sq. km. (1,052,000 sq. mi.)  Mongolia’s total area is 1,565,000 sq. km. (604,250 sq. mi.). To perhaps give a better of idea of comparisons to places you may know, it falls between the size of Queensland (1,731,000 sq. km.) and the Northern Territory (1,349,000 sq. km.).  It’s a little smaller than Alaska, (665,380 sq. mi). 

DSC01418 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC01418 © DY of jtdytravels

With such a large land mass and small population it’s one of the least densely populated independent countries in the world with just 1.92 people per square kilometre (4.97/sq. mi.) Approximately 30% of the population are still nomadic.

DSC01426 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC01426 © DY of jtdytravels

Another 45% of the country’s total population of 3 million people now live in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. ( “Ulaanbaatar” is the way the Mongolians write their country’s name; so that is the way I’m going to write it.)

Mongolia is a parliamentary republic, a country that has, in the past, been ruled by various nomadic empires. It has also spent time under Stalinist communist rule.

Buddhism is the predominant religion which has been revived since the lifting of a ban on religion that was in place during the rule by the Communists.  Historically Mongolia has very close ties to Tibet.  A small group in the far north of the country still practice Shamanistic traditions while around 100,000 Kazakhs in the far west are Sunni Muslims.

DSC02240 © DY of jtdytravels

DSC02240 © DY of jtdytravels

So, this is the first of a new set of my musings and photos, another armchair adventure, this time to the vast landscape of Mongolia, known as the Land of the Blue Sky. I’ll show you spectacular scenery of wide open spaces and lots of snow covered mountains. I’ll take you to meet nomadic tribesmen and horsemen and families who live a very different lifestyle to that which most of us know.  We’ll trek in one of the ‘highest’ countries in the world; through snow and ice, dust and wind… and no two days will be alike! 

Why not join me for the journey!

David

All photographs copyright © JT  and DY  of  jtdytravels

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