The roads (to the airport) are basically deserted, such a drastic change from Friday night! But kind of to be expected given its sparrows fart o’clock. The journey to Ulaanbaatar airport takes just under 30 minutes - must remember this for next Sunday as my flight back to HK leaves at 6.25am. Today’s flight to Dalanzadgad is scheduled to depart at 6.50am.
On arrival at the airport we collect our bags then head to the check-in counter. Passports are handed over to Duuya, then bags added to the baggage belt. Mine’s the third bag and thankfully the person in front of me has a bag that weights 7kgs - mine is 11kg. Thankfully no issue! As you can imagine it takes a while for the group of 11 to get through, nothing is rushed here.
Our carryon bags aren’t weighted which is excellent! Although I don’t think I would be over 5 kgs.
Walking down to the boarding gate I notice it’s light outside. As we get closer I spy a NZ / Australia looking coffee cart. No barista though. Finally she appears and a line forms quickly after. Not the worse coffee I’ve had.
The bus driver (to the plane) lives up to the mad driving label! Not easy holding on to a high holder while carrying a hot cup of coffee.
Once we are all on-board it’s up up and away (earlier than our scheduled departure time). Hello blue sky!
The views are amazing! Miles and miles and miles of wide open spaces.
We thump into Dalanzadgad at 8.11am, talk about a full on landing!
There is a small “shed” at the back of the airport which I discover is the baggage claim area. It’s nice standing in the sun while we wait for our bags.
Duuya introduces us to the three drivers and for today divides us into vans. When I say vans I don’t mean the soccer Mum variety. These are Russian vans which are hum-diggers of a van! Once the luggage is in the back it’s a giant leap up to get on-board. I literally just sit down when one of the ladies announces it’s too high a jump to sit in the front - no worries I’ll swap with you.
The views are amazing! Blue sky everywhere with the hills in the distance. My happy place. As are cruising along we pass horses grazing, a nomadic family with their sheep and goat herd and a herd of two hump camels.
Time to go off piste, there is at least a sign post telling us turning left will take us to Yolyn Am, a gorge.
At one stage we end up going backwards, heart rate is increased! We end going further back. Wholly Molley and bottles of rum plus a number of swear words. The driver goes behind my seat - it’s very tight with us both so I decide to get out. This also allows the heart rate to come back down! He’s then out fixing the wheel above where I’m sitting. Within minutes he’s back into the van revering it up and out. I jump back in along the flat.
We hike for 1.20 hours to and from Yolyn Am.
At the end of the hike we arrive to the drivers sitting up morning tea. Coffee and two types of tea are on offer along with a variety of snacks.
We depart at the exact time Duuya said we would - 11:45am. The drive out to the “main road” (which is tar-sealed) seems easier than the journey here.
Once we are back onto the tar-sealed road we are cruising down the highway in the hot hot sun when all of a sudden we need to head off piste again. Sure makes the journey interesting.
As we drive over a lip I notice the van in front of us is stopped - as we come to a stop Duuya comes to advise we are stopping to take photos and a bathroom stop. I know my photos won’t do it justice.
We continue on the bumpy road - more like a paddock. Then when we aren’t driving in a paddock it feels like we are driving on a river bed.
Thankfully along the journey, other than the amazing scenery, there are herds of sheep and goats, horses and two humped camels to look at. We also come across a herd of cattle. And have a stop for lunch.
We finally, and I meet finally, pull into Gobi Discovery 2 Ger Camp at 4.50pm - it’s been a crazy loooong day! We are told we have 2 hours to dinner. Bliss.
When Duuya reads out our rooms I’m in the thirties and everyone else seems to be in a low teens. This isn’t going to be fun later on! I then hear Kevin’s room is next to mine. Off we wander. We are on the outskirts with direct views onto the spectacular Gobi desert. Wow wow wow!
There is a herd of two humped camels very close to the ger camp. As time passes they start to wander closed to us, time to get out my camera again.
Happy hour is spent on he balcony of the restaurant overlooking the two humped camels and the Gobi desert. This is the life!!
The wind starts to pick up just before dinner time so we make our way inside. Dinner is actually tasty. A surprise given last nights meal. I want to buy our driver a drink as it was a long day for him. He doesn’t drink, no problem how about a soft drink. No thanks I’m told. Ok, perhaps another night.
Duuya gives us the lowdown for tomorrow - there is an optional sun rise walk on the sand dunes that’s leaving here at 5.30pm, thank you but no. I feel every time I get up to watch sun rise it’s always quite blah. I’ll stick with the leisurely wake up and departure at 9.30am.
We leave dinner as the sun is starting to disappear on the horizon. I know my photos won’t do it justice!!
It’s cold now, well the wind is cold so it’s time to head back inside. I had left my external battery charging - apparently charging hours are to 10.30pm - so I check on that before chatting to the Aussie’s for a bit. 8.10pm is just far to early do bed. As 3 of them flew in yesterday they don’t last much longer. I decide to go and prepare for bed while it’s still kind of light. As I’m walking back to my ger I notice a lot of the other gers have half their roof open. Perhaps this is standard. Just hope it doesn’t get lot cold in the middle of the night!
I bang my head as I leave - must remember the door is for real shorties!!! Decide on one more bathroom stop before collecting my charger. As I wander back to my ger Julia is still out star gazing. They are becoming more and more apparent. I chat to her for a bit then the cold starts to hit me.
Walking into my ger I realize the reason (well my reason) for leaving the roof half open is to Star gaze.
I decide one more bathroom run at 9.20pm before saying goodbye to September 2nd. I run into Duuya in the ladies, as we walk back to our gers she points out Mars, Venus and Jupiter – WOW WOW WOW!! Now sure if I’ve ever seen them before (or if I have I don’t remember). They are so bright. Julia had mentioned earlier she thought that’s what they were. Great end to a great (but long) day.
At 9.50pm I’m aware of people walking around the ger, then within minutes my star gazing roof is closed over.
Monday 3 September I’m woken by the van starting at 5.30am to head to see the sun rise. I’m happy where I am thank you! It has been another restless night. There is someone around me that snores which has kept me up and for hours and hours I’ve needed the bathroom. Finally I get up at 5.50am, night is turning into day. On the horizon you can see the sun rising. On returning I take a photo - again won’t do it justice. Time to return to bed :)
I finally rise just after 7am. The sun is well and truly up and has some heat in it. It blocks out some of the wind which is nice.
I attempt to have a shower - Duuya has said the hot water would be turned on at 7am. When I arrive at 7.30am I can assure you there is not even one drop of hot water. Desert shower it is then!
Breakfast is actually quite tasty, other than the instant coffee. One of the girls has a coffee bag which she shares with me.
We have about two hours until we depart at 10.30am. Today is going to be quite chilled and not much driving which is nice! Means we get to enjoy our beautiful surroundings.
Three of us head out for a walk towards the sand dunes. It’s so nice and peaceful. Along the way we spot numerous camel foot prints in the sand. We walk to the starting of the dunes. They are super impressive!
At 10.30am we are given a briefing of what to expect at the local nomadic family. Certainly hoping I remember everything!
On arrival the host (male) ushers us in. It’s a get probably 1.5 times the size of the one I’m in so not exactly huge. In it are two single beds, a few chests with lots of photos as well as a tv (with cable) on them. Strange in some ways to see such a modern item.
Once we are all in we proceed with the traditional snuff bottle ceremony. As a female you smell it on both sides of your nose then hand it to the next person (with your right hand while your left hand is holding your right elbow). You need to collect it from the person sitting next to you in the same manner, to start with I was using the incorrect hands so had to quickly switch.
Duuya has a conversation with the male then translates back to us. He has four children, all who live here with him and his wife. One of his daughters serves us camel milk tea, which tastes a lot better than I thought it would.
Conversation over we head over to his herd of camels. It’s great being up close to them! Some are babies. As you can appreciate millions of photos were taken!
Duuya then explains what’s going to happen as well as how we get on and off the camels. I’m up third - once up it’s actually quite comfortable.
It’s takes forever for all 9 of us (2 didn’t ride) to get on our camels. We are then out into groups of three and led to the sand dunes.
I’m in the middle of the group which makes for some fun! The lady in front of me keeps dropping my lead, Di’s camel keeps wanting to wipe its nose over me. A few times I get the nose ring in my leg which is rather painful.
When we arrive at the sand dunes Duuya takes individual photos of us with the amazing backdrop! Stunning. My camel much preferred to be eating than the photo shoot!
I end up walking back to the ger camp with another group - this time I was in front so only had to content with the camel behind me. Thankfully it seemed to push into my camel more than me which I was happy about. The sky was amazing.
The old body needed a bit of stretching when I got back down to earth!
We passed our gifts to the family then said our goodbyes. What an awesome experience!!!
I was tempted to walk back to the ger camp - which took less than 5 minutes to drive here - but as we were going straight into lunch I didn’t want to muck up the routine.
The first stop when I got back was hand washing (a few times) before I headed to the restaurant. Lunch was tastier than expected. Seems to be the running theme - “actually not too bad”.
We have 2.5 hours now to chill before heading to walk up a sand dune. The ladies that did it this morning said it was hard work so I’m hoping the sun will lose some of its heat before we start!
In an hour Duuya is going to teach those that want the local ankle game - yes please I definitely want to learn this. For now I’ll retire to my ger.
After changing into my jandels I get to to remove my roof. I sort of thought this would have been done for us earlier but alas no. Thankfully it’s an easy task that I can manage alone.
I sit outside for all of 3 minutes - just too hot. Instead I chill in my ger looking out the door to the beautiful scenery. This is the life!
Duuya teaches me ankle bones – thing knuckles NZ style. Except there are a variety of different games you can play. She tells us she can play for hours and hours with her sisters and gets very competitive.
4.30pm we meet to drive to the sand dunes. Our driver has a bit of difficulty getting out of the car pack, it’s like a 6 point turn. In the end he gets up and moves the chair - nice and easy!! As we are a few minutes behind the others it’s a bit of a gamble on where we go until we notice dust. Bingo, we are off.
Walking up the sand dunes is quite hard going in a few places. It definitely seemed like it was one step up and two steps backwards. Very close to the top I didn’t think I would make it at all – I was going more downhill than uphill. Finally I go for it and within minutes am with the others on the top. YE HA!
The views from the top are amazing! Totally made the climb up worth it. I know if I hadn’t made it I would have kicked myself later.
Coming down was much easier and quicker but a lot scary! Duuya, Julia and I went straight down!! Half way down I started to freak out; finally managed to get down. My no fear factor is slowly leaving me over the recent years.
At the bottom we watched 4 locals, on three motorbikes try to cross the make-shift bridge. They were beyond wasted - one bike ended up in the mud, one decided to go the long way around. Crazy people being so drunk on motorbikes.
I decided to empty my shoes once we were back on the other side of the river, I swear I had half of the Gobi desert in there :)
A few of us walked to the river where we got picked up.
Back at the camp the first thing was a shower. Aah hot water and semi decent water pressure. This is the life!!
I joined the others on the balcony for a happy hour beer before dinner.
Dinner was spaghetti bolognese and a salad. Both tasty and better than expected.
Post dinner Duuya had some questions for our drivers then translated back the answers. They are only tour drivers during the non-winter months.
At least half the group listened to one of the local staff signing in their local outfit. What I heard from outside was super impressive!
Once the sky finally turned dark the stars and planets were out in full force. Amazing to see Mars, Venus and Jupiter again. When I return home I must do more research on the stars as I find them fascinating and download the star app that a few had. Made the spotting ooh so much more fun when you (read the app) can see what is what.
I continue to sky gaze while my phone is charging. There is only electricity for charging from 6pm is to 10.30pm. They have a great set up for this, with the option to charge using your USB cable only.
Tuesday 4 September is another restless night due to the snorer. I even slept with ear plugs in but that didn’t seem to help. I had the majority of the night without my roof on then at some stage between 3.30am and 6am it was put on for me. When I left my ger at 6.30am the sun was already up. Directly outside my front door is clouds, clouds and more clouds but between the east and north (handy to have a compass on the iPhone!) there was blue sky with the sun. Let’s hope that stays like this.
After a bathroom run, can’t wait for the ensuite bathroom tonight!, I sat in the doorway of my ger enjoying the peace and quiet (well apart from the snorer). I will definitely miss this view!
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