Good Bye Mongolia

I will upload more photos when I’m not in China, these photos are on my blog Database and I don’t have much room to put the big files on there, I have plenty to show you. Geek talk over now, on with the show.

10 days out in the Mongolian countryside, this time I’m heading north west to the Russian boarder and to Mongolia’s deepest lake called Lake Khuvsgul home to the Tsaatan….. The Reindeer people. Once at the lake I shall be doing a 4 day horse trek north along the edge of the lake.

So this time I was in a smaller group, One girl from Manchester (Seems to be a fair few Manc’s in Mongolia) and a Canadian girl who enjoyed speaking about politics. This was fine because if I couldn’t get to sleep then I’d just tune in to her for a few minutes and it would be lights out for Random Sam.

So we set off, first stop was a monastery called Amarbayasgalant where we would be staying with a local family for the night. The monastery is in the middle of nowhere, a few Gers and wooden shacks dotted around but that’s about it. Its a rather tranquil place set in a valley with mountains towering around it. I can see why they chose to build it there, its a very peaceful place indeed.

The next day was an 11 hour drive (only 300km, that’s how bad the roads are) to our drivers family. Once we arrived there we made are way in to the Ger where we were given fomented horse milk (see a couple of blogs ago) and as it was Sunday night the family invited us to watch Sumo. So we pop in to their Ger and low and behold a black and white TV rigged up to a satellite receiver that was running off two car batteries that was getting charged by solar panels and a wind turbine. All very high tech!
Sumo is a big sport in Mongolia this is in part because the number 1 world champion is a Mongolian. When that fat bastard came out and won his battle everyone in the Ger went nuts. None more so than the 91 year old grandma who was shouting at the TV. She looked like she was woman prosiest, she wanted blood.

We said our good byes to the family and headed on to the lake were we would be driving in our Russian Mini van for the next 14 hours. The tracks got worse and worse and to make matters worse our van couldn’t get up hills as it had a few problems including broken fuel pump and a overheating issue. On top of most hills we had to stop and let the engine cool down, this gave us time to walk around the pray flags that had been placed along the route to wish us a safe journey. I made a point of walking around all of them just to hope this would be enough to get us to the lake on time.

Bang on time we made it to the village by the mouth of the lake. Its the number I tourist destination for Mongolians. I’m no way saying its like Brits down the Costa Del Sol in fact there is only a few guest house in the area and they are full of travellers.

An early night for a Early start, today I get to meet my horse that will be carrying my fat arse around for the next few days. He looks much like all the other horses in Mongolia but I’m sure he had smaller legs that the others so I named him stumpy!

This time I knew how to control my stumpy. after 3 hours on a horse I knew what I was doing (yeah right) I thought in my head I was a Mongolian cowboy until we met our 17 year old guides that made there horses seem to glide on air. It is quite a sight to see how they handle their horses.

So the first day was spent riding through the mountains and valleys just to reach the lake. 4 hours in to the ride was our first break and fuck me my legs needed it. We stopped at a very unusual Ger, It looked just like a wig-wam. This was the first type of Ger’s the Mongolians used but is stilled used by the Reindeer people. No they are not half human half reindeer, though that would be rather cool. In fact they heard reindeer for a living. After drinking some reindeer tea and swapping gifts, I gave the kids some candy and they gave us a neck-less made out of reindeer skin, lovely!

Getting back on Stumpy we made it down to the lake when the heavens opened and it started to piss down. luckily we were close to a ger were a family welcomed us in and gave us food. The Mongolia generosity is unfounded, still I was yet to see what was going to be dished out to us. The grandma bent down between my legs (stop thinking that you dirty bastards) and pulled out from under my seat a large ice cream tub full of meat and bones. I was the lucky one who she sat next too as she began to chop up the parts and feed them to me. I think it was a goat but I’m not to sure! First the stomach lining then the liver and kidneys then finally a sausage looking part sliced up, yep you guess it BBQ cold cock. mmm!

After the rain had stopped it was time to jump on Stumpy for a short walk along the lake to the another family we would be staying with that night. They couldn’t have chose a better location to place there Ger’s, right on the edge of the lake. What a view when you open the door of Ger at sunrise.

The lake its self is the smaller sister to Lake Baikal so looks very similar just on a smaller scale, very clear blue fresh water with mountain leading all the way up to the Russian boarder 272km away. Again being a British bulldog or just plan silly I had test the water to the delight of my host family who watched a hunk of a whale scream and shout as the cold water attacks his legs like daggers. What makes matters worse is that unlike Baikal the lake floor is made up of stones. So not only was I screaming like a girl I was walking like a spacker!

Day 2 at the lake and Cowboy Smith is back in the saddle for another long trek. tonight we will be camping but first we must ride 20km to a suitable place to camp. On the way we saw a flurry of activate outside a reindeer herders Ger. Inside was a Shaman (Not Mr C, Shotman). Before we could meet her we had to wait in the ‘Waiting Room’ Ger and had more Reindeer tea. After 5 minutes of waiting it was our turn to go and see her. There she was the Mongolian Dot Cotton. A Fag hanging out of her mouth with the ash still hanging on the end, A Dot Cotton style head garment and surround by men and gifts being mostly Vodka, Beer and Fags (I like this ladys style. A shaman can see in to the future as well as look back at the past. She also has the power to heal the sick….. A lot like Trisha off Five TV. After many questions that she kindly answered I was back on good old stumpy and we were off to find a good camping spot. After about 6km more we set up camp in a forest next to the lake. After dinner we started a fire the traditional Mongolian way and that is to uproot as many trees and make the fire as big as fucking possible. The girls crashed out early and it was left to us boys to chew the fat under the clearest nights sky I had seen since South Africa, I miss SA and a certain girl there but more on that in a future blog.

Day 3 and we start the long ride back to the village, during the night our Golden Gobi guide caught the flu, now if he didn’t sleep outside in the cold without a sleeping bag then maybe, just maybe he wouldn’t of been sick. Any how on the way back we were going to stop at the previous families Ger for the night. As I’m a fully trained horse rider now Rose and I decided to see if we could make our horses gallop…. And they did, a horse, running, with Random Sam on the back! quite an unbelievable sight! You certain cover some ground fast when these animals run.
When the rest of the slow cowboys arrived at the ger the guide went straight to bed. He beckoned me over like he was on his last legs and I kid you not he said to me ‘Sam, ‘cough cough’ I need Mongolian medication’ I was thinking oh god am I gonna have kill a Yak and make him drinks Its blood. No, It was half a glass of Vodka with pepper on top and this is coming from the man who earlier in the week said he never touched a drop. After making a speech he downed the drink and went straight in to a deep sleep where he was shouting and speaking in his sleep for hours. I couldn’t quite believe my eyes the next day. There he was his normal, happy, cheerful self cooking us breakfast. Quite unbelievable, was this the same guy who was chucking up his guts the day before?

A spooky thing happened that morning, Sitting outside the Ger eating my breakfast when 3 horses rode up to our Ger. 1 local Mongolian and 2 very sweet French girls. We got chatting as you do, and asked the generic backpacker questions, Where are from? Where are you going? What you do for a job ‘Oh, I’m a TV listing writer for Red Bee Media’. Now, what is the chances of not just going to Mongolia, but going to a remote part of Mongolia and bumping in to someone from the same workplace. I bet Andrew and Nick sent her to spy on me!

We took a different route back to the village, this time next to the lake. On they way back Stumpy wasn’t being his normal self and kicked me off. Luckily I fell off on my backpack so no really problem, I just looked very silly.
The way back I we travelled right next to cliff edges (which got me a bit nervous after my fall) and through forests until we finally reached the village 6 hours later. I’m quite glad we were back as I’m not sure how much more my knees could take.

After a good nights sleep we packed our bags and said good bye to our guides and we were on our way back to UB.

The way back seemed longer. we stayed over at our drivers family once again. Again it was a Sunday so again more Sumo. After Sumo dinner, only the thing is we had to catch it and kill it. Mr sheep was a goner. They showed us how they kill it, by slicing open its belly and crushing its heart. He was dead in under 10 seconds and in 15 minutes he was skinned, cooking away in the pot for dinner. He did taste very good!

Last day I felt awful, I think I caught a cold from sleeping on the floor of the Ger so the drive back was hellish! 14 hours later and I’m back in UB asleep in my bed. Only 4 days left in Mongolia so my time was spent writing blogs, emails, eating really good curry and watching movies. I watched the new Transformers movie, it was so bad it was one of the best movies I have ever seen. If it doesn’t win an Oscar then there is no justice in the world.

I did promise myself that I would make it to a Mongolian night club and I’m so glad I did. Still not feeling 100% I wasn’t drinking but I’m still glad I made the effort go. It started out as a ‘normal’ club but at the stroke of midnight the place just got very strange indeed. They cleared the dance floor and 12 Mongolian ladies came out with….. well nothing on and did some bad Pam’s people dancing for a while. After them it was time for the ladies as a masked man came out in a man thong and jigged about for a while. When the heart throb finished playing with his bits another guy came out and started swallowing knifes and swords, laying on glass and a bed of nails. Basically he was a double hard bastard. What a crazy place, if you go to Mongolia you must check out the clubs. Best £1 I’ve spent.

Well its time to say good bye to one amazing country and the warm hospitable people that really make this place special. I wish I had more time, could have spent months in the clubs, errrr I mean countryside.

Mongolia, probably the best country in the world?

I think so!

Next stop China!