Round the World with Ann and Katie

Hi again
Thanks for your comments Noel and Andy – glad Ullapool was a success. For info. Colin Thubron is a writer (books include In Siberia, Shadow of the Silk Road etc) You would like them, Noel.
Anyway we are now in Mongolia having got back on the train in Irkutsk and travelled to Ulaan Baator. Only about 9 hours crossing the border with our legs firmly crossed as the toilets were kept locked the entire time! Mongolia is a big contrast to Russia – everyone is much more friendly. We were met at the station by the owner of our guesthouse, which is very luxurious for what amounts to two quid a night. We spent the first day exploring UB and trying to access our money at various ATMs: I find it a bit un-nerving withdrawing 200,000 at a time but 1000 is only 50p!. Then we got the bus to Tsetserleg, a bone shaking 12 hour journey, mostly on dusty tracks rather than proper roads. They sell a rather optimistically titled Road Atlas in town but really proper roads are virtually non-existent. Every now and then we went over a particularly deep pothole to remind us that are bums were not quite as numb as we thought they were. After getting off the bus we had another two hours in a jeep and arrived at the ger where we were to spend the first night of our 7 day trek. It was organised by a company called Ger to Ger, based in UB. As the name suggests we trekked from ger to ger! We camped outside the gers but had alll oour meals provided in the gers themselves. The diet is based entirely on yak milk and mutton so whilst we were very well fed it was all dairy products (milk tea with salt in it, yoghourt, various types of cheese, butter, cream, dried curds etc) I could feel my coronary arteries closing up by the minute! It was all extremely tasty though. We were a party of 6, 3 French people and a Mexican woman. Each day we loaded our gear onto a yak cart and trekked for about 20k to our next camp. The scenery was very varied: woods, rivers (good for swimming), steppe, mountains, lakes. Various highlights of the trip included seeing the cooking of a marmot over an open fire: they cut off its head and pull the entrails out through the neck before stuffing it with hot coals from the fire. The fur was then burned off. We had noodles that night! The vodka night was also very enjoyable (good thing we had Katie in training in Fort William). We all sang songs, including my rendition of “Donald where’s yer troosers?” Powerful stuff Mongolian vodka. All the herders and their families were very welcoming and we had some fun playing with the children as well. We attempted to chat in Mongolian, having had a crash course before we left UB. It was very difficult but we did manage to communicate reasonably well. The day is based around caring for the livestock, mainly yaks, goats, horses and sheep. The yaks are milked by hand every morning and evening and then the milk has to be processed into cream and cheese etc. The children all help and are expert horseriders, rounding up the animals with great skill. It is just like being in an episode of Rawhide (Rollin’, rollin’ rollin’) – all I needed was Clint Eastwood and it would have been perfect.
We survived the bus journey back although it was close, and are now spending a few days exploring UB before catching the train for Beijing on Saturday – more fun anticipated at the border as this time they have to change the wheels on the train.

Tags: Travel, Tag Index

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