We are about 8.5 hours later than scheduled. The joy of traveling by air.
We land into dark clouded Ulaanbaatar at 6.25pm. It’s dropped one degree already; 7 degrees is going to be a shock to the system. We have arrived finally!
7.02pm we pull out of Chinggis Khan Airport - I’m with a new bunch of people this time but kept with my van tradition of a van selfie before we depart.
It’s an interesting drive out of Ulaanbaatar city, nowhere near as much traffic as there was on Friday night when I landed. Once we get out of the city area the “highway” is a one lane “highway” (think state highway one in NZ). While it’s a tar-sealed road it’s not without its bumps and holes.
We have been going for about an hour when I start to get quite cold. The cold air is coming through the door. The driver notices this and takes off his jacket to give to me to keep my legs warm. SO kind of him!
At the one hour thirty minute mark we pull off the tar-sealed road and onto a dirt road (exactly like we drove down in the Gobi, just this time there is a lot more puddles around).
It’s quite slippery in parts which freaks me out a bit - reminds me of us getting stuck a few days ago. Thankfully we get out of it aok.
We finally pull onto our ger at 8.53pm (in the Hustai National Park, also known as Khustain National Park). I’m hungry, thirsty and tired. On exiting Duuya informs us where the restaurant is so we make a bee line for that, it’s too cold to stick around for the others to arrive.
Dinner is served basically as soon as we sit down.
I decide to have a bathroom stop before going to my ger. This way I can do my teeth outside of my ger....it’s dark after all!!
As I’m walking towards my ger Kevin is walking towards me saying he has my bag in his ger and is wondering if I have his. A few seconds later confirms that I do. He is two away from me so not exactly far to go!
For some reason I decide to head back down to the bathrooms for my teeth. Along the way running into Di who helps with me with mining light.
I climb into bed at 10.20pm - 18 hours since I woke up. It’s been a long weird day but we made it here which is all that matters! I’m hoping my wood fire keeps burning all night.
Oddly enough I’m quite wired. Within 5 minutes of being in bed the rain begins. I really hope it doesn’t rain all night - I don’t want a repeat of the slippery drive we had getting here!
In saying that I’ve always loved listening to the rain and this is no exception. Just praying the rain doesn’t get in!!
Thursday 6 September I first woke at 6.08am then again just after 7am. I did think at 6.08am I should have ordered the additional logs at 6.30am but I was toasty in bed.
Breakfast was from 8am so I was in no rush to get out of bed. It was definitely warmer in than out that’s for sure!! I finally got up at 7.45am with a clear plan of getting dressed in like 3 minutes.
Breakfast was packed! Julia and I ended up in a separate room.
Our bags were due to be collected from our rooms at 9.15am so I did the last minute packing. On exiting I could see the lady had just started to collect other bags so I decided to just take my own before wandering around the camp.
Prior to us leaving Duuya had us dancing to music - a great way to warm up! Then all of the ladies had a photo with one of the drivers, Duuya was then going to send to her colleague a message with the photo to say “we stole him”. Duuya was saying the reason for this is the guides usually stick with the same driver, but not this time.
We depart the ger camp at 9.25am, this time going in the opposite direction as we came in last night.
A few minutes up the “road” we stop to see the wild horses. Too far to get on my camera. The scenery is amazing!
We are cruising down the “road” when I see a man on a motorbike cruising passed us waving. He finally gets the attention of the van at the front so we all stop. Within seconds we are turning around and going back the direction we have just been, at an intersection we turn left.
We learn later from Duuya that the road we wanted to go on to visit the nomadic family isn’t in good shape which is why the ranger came to tell us to turn around.
This is the second nomadic family we have visited – after wandering around outside we are told it’s time to head inside. As we enter their main ger I have on repeat in my head right hand right hand right hand, let’s hope when the snuff bottle comes to me I still remember that!
As the host is still outside we can enter and sit where we like. The host and men of our group share their snuff bottles first before they are passed around the whole group.
Now that the more formal part is completed we sit back eating some kind of pancake and clotted cream (that was made this morning) while chatting with the host. It didn’t look appetizing but was tasty.
Duuya had informed us earlier that the Mongolian BBQ is always prepared by the man of the house. Our host starts to prepare lunch. The meat bones are already in the large pot, added to that are potatoes, carrots, sliced onions, some salt and then rocks that were in the cooker below. Yes that’s right rocks! On top goes the “lid” of pancake.
The first group headed off horse riding. It’s been awhile since I’ve been on a horse so decide to go in the second (and more relaxing group).
My driver and I play ankle bones then we play cards with another driver. It’s not exactly easy as they are teaching me the rules in Mongolian.....in the end my driver decides to play with me. I slowly get the hang of it (I think!) and win a couple of hands :)
Once the others come back the host announces lunch is ready. The meat is surprisingly good! I don’t think I’ve ever eaten as much meat in a week as I have so far in my time in Mongolia.
I decide to use the bathroom with a view - this is fancy though as there is a seat and cloth surrounding 3 sides.
Now it’s my turn to go horse riding. I don’t recall the last time I went so this will be interesting.
We are cruising along nicely when two of the horses get spoked - Kevin’s horse takes off completely. Wholly shit! Thankfully none of the others do. We are told to jump off immediately. Horse ride over!
We start to walk back towards the ger’s - once one of the van arrives I run back. First “proper” exercise since being in Mongolia.
On return we start to pack up. The hosts younger child is 8 years old so I decide not to give my gift. We wave goodbye and head off back onto the “highway”.
As we are driving back I take a video of the road. The driver then starts to do the same - ummm let me take your photo and film for you. Slightly safer.
We end up driving exactly the same route into Ulaanbaatar that we did last night. It’s slightly smoothly this way!
We come off the “highway” and into more civilization - not sure I’m a fan of this! Thankfully there are still animals on the side of the road to make me feel like I’m in the real countryside.
There is a herd of sheep coming in our direction, on the road.
As we pass what I think is a toll booth we drive through what I would call a mini car wash. Nice and handy! We then pull over. After a few minutes waiting Duuya comes over to advice we are waiting for the 3rd van which got a flat tire. Eeks, poor them.
We have a bathroom stop at a shopping mall for 25 minutes - the sink has hot water which is awesome!! On the bottom floor of the building are some life size dinosaurs.
We all fill up our water bottles before departing the parking lot - Duuya advises it’s 60kms to our ger. We are not staying at the one per our itinerary, it’s a mystery to where we are staying ;) Time will tell.
The sun is setting as we are driving out to Ulaanbaatar- it’s never a sight I tire off.
No comments:
Post a Comment