I travelled the world and the seven seas.. [Part 3: 10/7-12/7 - Mongolia]
[continued from Part 2, here]
So, we were saying... just some 10 miles after leaving the Russian border town the train stopped again at the Mongolian border; this proved to be a much faster exercise however, in fact too fast an exercise probably, as after the passport control and formalities (which took just over 1h) we were told the train would stop at the station for another hour (they had probably scheduled a longer stop expecting it would take much longer)
The poverty of the place immediately hits you, hard, like a slap across your face; this is the third world and it shows, in the poor infrastructures of the station, in the looks of the people gathered outside the station and selling their products or just hanging around, in the way they look at us, rich westerners, in everything. Among the things some people are selling in the street is the 'famous' fermented mare milk, a kind of a national drink of the nomadic populations in Mongolia. A German woman bought some and then offered all the other westerners to taste it; in the end we all had a spoonful each, amid jokes about spending the next night on the train toilets and other such things; no unwanted side effect was experienced however (by anyone, to my knowledge) - as for the taste, it's quite similar to natural yoghurt, which I'm not very fond of, but at least I can say I've tried it. Soon it was time to get back on the train and travel on to Ulan Baatar, where we'd get early the following morning
Upon arrival I found myself some accommodation for the next 2 days - a nice 'guesthouse' 3 minutes walk from the station. Guesthouse in Mongolia means a private apartment where landlords/families rent out rooms/beds, pretty much like a B&B overhere. The people in charge was a woman in her mid-twenties, whose name was Khaliuna, and her brother, Bakhi, both of whom spoke fairly good English, helped by their mother, who had no English but instead (like most older Mongolians) spoke very good Russian. All were very friendly and helpful and really went the extra mile to made you feel at home - Khaliuna even walked me to the central square after I'd settled in, and showed me the main sights and the way to the city centre etc. I'll speak about the costs later.
The rest of the day was spent seeing the sights: Sukhe Baatar Square (the central square), where I managed to catch the ceremony of the laying of the wreaths at the feet of the statue of Sukhe Baatar, hero of the Mongolian independence and the man who turned Mongolia into a Socialist Republic in 1921 (the following three days would be National Holiday in Mongolia, and the Mongolian festival of Naadam - a kind of Mongolian olympics of the three 'Mongolian manly sports' of horse-riding, archery and wrestling would take place, and the official opening coincides with celebration of the anniversary of the Revolution and of the 'great mongolian state' founded by Genghis Khan some 800 odd years ago - all in one cos its easier to remember the date innit ;-) ), the Bogd Khan Palace, a couple of temples and the nation. I also went to the national stadium in the hope to catch some of the Naadam action (despite knowing the events proper would only begin the next day) like some qualifiers or warm-up events but by the time I get there whatever was on is finished, so it looked like I'd miss it(I had to choose between that and going out to the Terelj National Park the next day, and the latter won). Unfortunately, all of this was done under a SCORCHING sun, which finished the job Lake Bajkal had started and ensured that by the evening I could easily fry the eggs and grill the bacon for breakfast on my arms! Once again, it wasnt that the temperature was THAT hot (Ulan Baatar is on a plateau at 1300 m above sea level - that is higher than the highest mountain in the UK!), but the sun beat down relentlessly and there wasnt a single tree or other way to find shelter from it.
During my meandering I seemed to keep bumping into the same person over and over again, a young woman I had first seen on the train the day before but I hadnt really spoken to. On the 4th time we bumped into each other we finally decided to stop and introduce ourselves, and then we chatted a bit - her name was Linda and, surprise surprise, she was Danish too, and also travelling around Russia and Mongolia on her own. After a while we said our goodbyes and and went to get some dinner, but that would not be the last person I knew I'd bump into... after dinner, on my way back to my place I met Anthony (who was in the same hostel as mine in Moscow and on my train to Irkutsk), and so we ended up having a quick drink, with some other English and Nigerian guys. One of whom then persuaded me that I should get a taxi home despite only being some 10 mins walk from where we were, cos it was late and 'Ulan Baator is a dangerous place after dark, especially the area of the station' (he lived in Mongolia). Once again I didn't know whether he has a point or was just exaggerating, but as I was quite tired and the next day I have to get up fairly early I ended up following his suggestion.
The next morning I had arranged (via Khaliuna) a car and a driver (who in fact turned out to be her brother-in-law) to go to the Terelj National Park, some 40 miles out of the city, for the day, and she also came with us as the driver only spoke Mongolian. The journey there was actually a mini-higlight in itself, in an old Mongolian car (which for some reason was a right-hand drive, although in Mongolia they drive on the right like in Continental Europe!); I sat in the car and instinctively went and looked for the seatbelt... which wasn't there; I was informed that it had been removed cos the car broke down once and they needed something to tow it, so they took the belt cos nobody wears them in Mongolia anyway!
The day was absolutely fantastic, the National Park is simply amazing, with all the open spaces and wonderful landscapes, interesting rock formations, with horses and yaks roaming free, and lots of ger camps or isolated individual gers - the felt tents (also known as yurts) where the nomadic herders live, some of which are genuine and others have been made into tourist camps. I walked a lot, climbed rocks, did the stupidly obviusly touristy thing and rode a camel (I've never ridden a horse in my life, but I have now ridden a camel!), and the whole day was very relaxing, just what I needed after the chaos of the big city the day before. The sun moreover did the decent thing and pissed off elsewhere, leaving perfect temperature and conditions to enjoy the day.
When we eventually got back in the evening I asked to be dropped off by the stadium again and this time I was luckier - I caught a glimpse of the wrestling and the archery, both done in traditional costumes and of the general feel of the event. Gotta say, I made the right choice in going to the Terelj - the Naadam is interesting, yes, but if you dont know the rules etc (and I didnt) it does get boring fairly soon, and the half hour I saw was enough to be able to say I'd been there. More interesting than the event per se is the whole atmosphere in and around the stadium - it is a very important and popular event in Mongolia and there's a lot of people, stalls selling all sorts of food, drinks and stuff and a genuine party atmosphere all round.
In the evening then (my last before leaving for China) we went to the Central square again, with Khaliuna and Bakhi and an Argentinian couple (Fernando and Paola) who were also staying at the guesthouse, where there was a concert and then a very long show of fireworks.
Early the next morning it was time to leave again already, and having said goodbye and thanked my fantastic hosts I embarked on the train to Beijing. My travel companions this time were an English-Dutch couple, Andy and Petra, also travelling around the world for over a year and about a month into their journey, and a Chinese guy called Yuo, who spoke fairly good Russian and with whom it was therefore possible to communicate. He worked in Mongolia, on the railway, and was going home, to the first Chinese town just past the border. Then, although he wasn't in our cabin, we also had another Chinese, colleague and friends of Yuo, who spent pretty much the whole journey in our cabin. He didnt speak anything but Chinese, but that didnt stop him talking to us almost constantly and trying to strike up conversations. At times we had this funny chinese whispers-like situation of him speaking Chinese, his mate translating into Russian for me and me translating into English for Andy and Petra, and then going the other way around for the reply - quite mental to be honest! ;-)
Another funny moment is when we (the westerners) had a game of cards and the Chinese watched us play with great interest - I did my best to explain the basic rules to the Russian-speaking one, but in any case it seemed like they worked out what went on quite well and quite quickly, and the whole thing seemed to very amusing to them, as they kept laughing and commenting (in Chinese!) on what happened.
Through the whole day the train went through Mongolia, from the rolling hills in the north (where Ulan Baatar is) to then crossing the Gobi: I was told the parts we'd cross didnt quite look like postcard-desert, with sand dunes etc. but in fact it went fairly close, with sand, sand and more sand everywhere, the occasional group of camels in the distance and pretty much nothing else.
By the evening we got to the Mongolian border town, where the customs formalities took around 1 and 1/2 hour, and then to the Chinese border, where our Chinese friends left us and the train stopped for another 2 hours. Apart from the passport control etc, here the train needs to change the bogies cos Russian and Mongolian railtracks have a wider gauge than the rest of the world (including China); the train is thus taken to the bogie-changing shed, where the carriages are lifted up while the bogies are detached and changed underneath, and then lowered and attached to the new bogies. Again from what I read we were expecting to be asked to leave the train while this was going on, but instead they left us on it, so we could watch the procedure from the privileged point of view of being right in the heart of the action.
Around 1 AM we finally left the station and the border and settled down for what would be the last night on a train of my trip.
So, what did I think of Mongolia? Like I said before you notice immediately how poor the country is; roads are MUCH worse than in Russia (where they're not exactly great, as I wrote earlier), buildings are often old and dilapidated, there are building sites everywhere, and in fact many people live in yurts even in the city (well, in the outskirts of), and if you think that in winter temperatures can go as far down as -40 C, well... There are also a lot of drunks and/or homeless people in the streets, beggars (especially children) and people selling all sorts of food and the most diverse things.
And the prices!! Mongolia is CHEAP - unbelievably cheap: $5 (that's £2.50!) per night in my guesthouse (including breakfast!) cheap; 40p for a beer (in a fairly central place, therefore presumably more expensive than in other parts) cheap; £5 for an eat-as-much-as-you-like barbecued meat buffet (you picked your meat and vegetables raw and took them to the grill, where they'd cook them for you), beer included, in a luxury restaurant for westerners, where the only mongolians in sight where the waiters cheap; 40p for a (very short, but still) taxi ride cheap!! The most expensive thing I did was hiring the car (+ driver and with petrol and all the rest included) to go to Terelj - that cost me £25, which you might think compared to all the rest is a bit pricey; except when you think how much you'd pay to hire a car WITH a driver for a day overhere you realise its not; and it was for the whole day, stopping wherever I liked, for however long I liked etc. My 2 days in Mongolia cost me a grand total of about 60 quid, and I certainly didnt live on the cheap, I did everything I wanted and without worrying much about the money!!
As for the rest, the nature is just amazing, the Terelj National Park has to be one of the most amazing places I've been to in my life, and I wish I could have spent more time there, like many do. And the people again are very friendly and generous. Mongolia is a young nation and despite its poverty it seems bustling with activity, the capital itself will probably change a lot in the next future as like I said before there are building sites literally everywhere across the city. Another place I'm very happy to have been fortunate enough to see, and which I would certainly not mind going back to.
So, another very positive experience, but it was now time to check out the third and final country I would visit on my trip.
[End of part 3, look out for the series finale with Part 4: China, coming soon...]
So, we were saying... just some 10 miles after leaving the Russian border town the train stopped again at the Mongolian border; this proved to be a much faster exercise however, in fact too fast an exercise probably, as after the passport control and formalities (which took just over 1h) we were told the train would stop at the station for another hour (they had probably scheduled a longer stop expecting it would take much longer)
The poverty of the place immediately hits you, hard, like a slap across your face; this is the third world and it shows, in the poor infrastructures of the station, in the looks of the people gathered outside the station and selling their products or just hanging around, in the way they look at us, rich westerners, in everything. Among the things some people are selling in the street is the 'famous' fermented mare milk, a kind of a national drink of the nomadic populations in Mongolia. A German woman bought some and then offered all the other westerners to taste it; in the end we all had a spoonful each, amid jokes about spending the next night on the train toilets and other such things; no unwanted side effect was experienced however (by anyone, to my knowledge) - as for the taste, it's quite similar to natural yoghurt, which I'm not very fond of, but at least I can say I've tried it. Soon it was time to get back on the train and travel on to Ulan Baatar, where we'd get early the following morning
Upon arrival I found myself some accommodation for the next 2 days - a nice 'guesthouse' 3 minutes walk from the station. Guesthouse in Mongolia means a private apartment where landlords/families rent out rooms/beds, pretty much like a B&B overhere. The people in charge was a woman in her mid-twenties, whose name was Khaliuna, and her brother, Bakhi, both of whom spoke fairly good English, helped by their mother, who had no English but instead (like most older Mongolians) spoke very good Russian. All were very friendly and helpful and really went the extra mile to made you feel at home - Khaliuna even walked me to the central square after I'd settled in, and showed me the main sights and the way to the city centre etc. I'll speak about the costs later.
The rest of the day was spent seeing the sights: Sukhe Baatar Square (the central square), where I managed to catch the ceremony of the laying of the wreaths at the feet of the statue of Sukhe Baatar, hero of the Mongolian independence and the man who turned Mongolia into a Socialist Republic in 1921 (the following three days would be National Holiday in Mongolia, and the Mongolian festival of Naadam - a kind of Mongolian olympics of the three 'Mongolian manly sports' of horse-riding, archery and wrestling would take place, and the official opening coincides with celebration of the anniversary of the Revolution and of the 'great mongolian state' founded by Genghis Khan some 800 odd years ago - all in one cos its easier to remember the date innit ;-) ), the Bogd Khan Palace, a couple of temples and the nation. I also went to the national stadium in the hope to catch some of the Naadam action (despite knowing the events proper would only begin the next day) like some qualifiers or warm-up events but by the time I get there whatever was on is finished, so it looked like I'd miss it(I had to choose between that and going out to the Terelj National Park the next day, and the latter won). Unfortunately, all of this was done under a SCORCHING sun, which finished the job Lake Bajkal had started and ensured that by the evening I could easily fry the eggs and grill the bacon for breakfast on my arms! Once again, it wasnt that the temperature was THAT hot (Ulan Baatar is on a plateau at 1300 m above sea level - that is higher than the highest mountain in the UK!), but the sun beat down relentlessly and there wasnt a single tree or other way to find shelter from it.
During my meandering I seemed to keep bumping into the same person over and over again, a young woman I had first seen on the train the day before but I hadnt really spoken to. On the 4th time we bumped into each other we finally decided to stop and introduce ourselves, and then we chatted a bit - her name was Linda and, surprise surprise, she was Danish too, and also travelling around Russia and Mongolia on her own. After a while we said our goodbyes and and went to get some dinner, but that would not be the last person I knew I'd bump into... after dinner, on my way back to my place I met Anthony (who was in the same hostel as mine in Moscow and on my train to Irkutsk), and so we ended up having a quick drink, with some other English and Nigerian guys. One of whom then persuaded me that I should get a taxi home despite only being some 10 mins walk from where we were, cos it was late and 'Ulan Baator is a dangerous place after dark, especially the area of the station' (he lived in Mongolia). Once again I didn't know whether he has a point or was just exaggerating, but as I was quite tired and the next day I have to get up fairly early I ended up following his suggestion.
The next morning I had arranged (via Khaliuna) a car and a driver (who in fact turned out to be her brother-in-law) to go to the Terelj National Park, some 40 miles out of the city, for the day, and she also came with us as the driver only spoke Mongolian. The journey there was actually a mini-higlight in itself, in an old Mongolian car (which for some reason was a right-hand drive, although in Mongolia they drive on the right like in Continental Europe!); I sat in the car and instinctively went and looked for the seatbelt... which wasn't there; I was informed that it had been removed cos the car broke down once and they needed something to tow it, so they took the belt cos nobody wears them in Mongolia anyway!
The day was absolutely fantastic, the National Park is simply amazing, with all the open spaces and wonderful landscapes, interesting rock formations, with horses and yaks roaming free, and lots of ger camps or isolated individual gers - the felt tents (also known as yurts) where the nomadic herders live, some of which are genuine and others have been made into tourist camps. I walked a lot, climbed rocks, did the stupidly obviusly touristy thing and rode a camel (I've never ridden a horse in my life, but I have now ridden a camel!), and the whole day was very relaxing, just what I needed after the chaos of the big city the day before. The sun moreover did the decent thing and pissed off elsewhere, leaving perfect temperature and conditions to enjoy the day.
When we eventually got back in the evening I asked to be dropped off by the stadium again and this time I was luckier - I caught a glimpse of the wrestling and the archery, both done in traditional costumes and of the general feel of the event. Gotta say, I made the right choice in going to the Terelj - the Naadam is interesting, yes, but if you dont know the rules etc (and I didnt) it does get boring fairly soon, and the half hour I saw was enough to be able to say I'd been there. More interesting than the event per se is the whole atmosphere in and around the stadium - it is a very important and popular event in Mongolia and there's a lot of people, stalls selling all sorts of food, drinks and stuff and a genuine party atmosphere all round.
In the evening then (my last before leaving for China) we went to the Central square again, with Khaliuna and Bakhi and an Argentinian couple (Fernando and Paola) who were also staying at the guesthouse, where there was a concert and then a very long show of fireworks.
Early the next morning it was time to leave again already, and having said goodbye and thanked my fantastic hosts I embarked on the train to Beijing. My travel companions this time were an English-Dutch couple, Andy and Petra, also travelling around the world for over a year and about a month into their journey, and a Chinese guy called Yuo, who spoke fairly good Russian and with whom it was therefore possible to communicate. He worked in Mongolia, on the railway, and was going home, to the first Chinese town just past the border. Then, although he wasn't in our cabin, we also had another Chinese, colleague and friends of Yuo, who spent pretty much the whole journey in our cabin. He didnt speak anything but Chinese, but that didnt stop him talking to us almost constantly and trying to strike up conversations. At times we had this funny chinese whispers-like situation of him speaking Chinese, his mate translating into Russian for me and me translating into English for Andy and Petra, and then going the other way around for the reply - quite mental to be honest! ;-)
Another funny moment is when we (the westerners) had a game of cards and the Chinese watched us play with great interest - I did my best to explain the basic rules to the Russian-speaking one, but in any case it seemed like they worked out what went on quite well and quite quickly, and the whole thing seemed to very amusing to them, as they kept laughing and commenting (in Chinese!) on what happened.
Through the whole day the train went through Mongolia, from the rolling hills in the north (where Ulan Baatar is) to then crossing the Gobi: I was told the parts we'd cross didnt quite look like postcard-desert, with sand dunes etc. but in fact it went fairly close, with sand, sand and more sand everywhere, the occasional group of camels in the distance and pretty much nothing else.
By the evening we got to the Mongolian border town, where the customs formalities took around 1 and 1/2 hour, and then to the Chinese border, where our Chinese friends left us and the train stopped for another 2 hours. Apart from the passport control etc, here the train needs to change the bogies cos Russian and Mongolian railtracks have a wider gauge than the rest of the world (including China); the train is thus taken to the bogie-changing shed, where the carriages are lifted up while the bogies are detached and changed underneath, and then lowered and attached to the new bogies. Again from what I read we were expecting to be asked to leave the train while this was going on, but instead they left us on it, so we could watch the procedure from the privileged point of view of being right in the heart of the action.
Around 1 AM we finally left the station and the border and settled down for what would be the last night on a train of my trip.
So, what did I think of Mongolia? Like I said before you notice immediately how poor the country is; roads are MUCH worse than in Russia (where they're not exactly great, as I wrote earlier), buildings are often old and dilapidated, there are building sites everywhere, and in fact many people live in yurts even in the city (well, in the outskirts of), and if you think that in winter temperatures can go as far down as -40 C, well... There are also a lot of drunks and/or homeless people in the streets, beggars (especially children) and people selling all sorts of food and the most diverse things.
And the prices!! Mongolia is CHEAP - unbelievably cheap: $5 (that's £2.50!) per night in my guesthouse (including breakfast!) cheap; 40p for a beer (in a fairly central place, therefore presumably more expensive than in other parts) cheap; £5 for an eat-as-much-as-you-like barbecued meat buffet (you picked your meat and vegetables raw and took them to the grill, where they'd cook them for you), beer included, in a luxury restaurant for westerners, where the only mongolians in sight where the waiters cheap; 40p for a (very short, but still) taxi ride cheap!! The most expensive thing I did was hiring the car (+ driver and with petrol and all the rest included) to go to Terelj - that cost me £25, which you might think compared to all the rest is a bit pricey; except when you think how much you'd pay to hire a car WITH a driver for a day overhere you realise its not; and it was for the whole day, stopping wherever I liked, for however long I liked etc. My 2 days in Mongolia cost me a grand total of about 60 quid, and I certainly didnt live on the cheap, I did everything I wanted and without worrying much about the money!!
As for the rest, the nature is just amazing, the Terelj National Park has to be one of the most amazing places I've been to in my life, and I wish I could have spent more time there, like many do. And the people again are very friendly and generous. Mongolia is a young nation and despite its poverty it seems bustling with activity, the capital itself will probably change a lot in the next future as like I said before there are building sites literally everywhere across the city. Another place I'm very happy to have been fortunate enough to see, and which I would certainly not mind going back to.
So, another very positive experience, but it was now time to check out the third and final country I would visit on my trip.
[End of part 3, look out for the series finale with Part 4: China, coming soon...]