Wanderlust

Ulan Baatar, Mongolia.

What a wonderful trip we had! We went with Tseren Tours, and because we were on a short time-line, we didn’t find any other travelers who wanted to share the trip (and so lower the costs) for us. But it actually worked out for the better, I think.  We left Ulan Baatar on Tuesday morning around 9 a.m. We met our guide Sunny and our driver Beemba. They were both native Mongolians and Sunny was very sweet and spoke English very well. We learned a lot about her over the course of the week. She is twenty and a University student who wants to study overseas at some point. Before she started as a guide at the beginning of this summer she’d never seen the Mongolian countryside. We were her last tour group for the season, and I was the first American girl she’d ever met (she had two American guys on her first trip and none since). We learned a lot about Mongolia from her and hopefully answered her questions about America (and Germany) well. Some were a little difficult, especially ones about different social classes and the differences between rich and poor since it is so different than Mongolia. Beemba was an excellent driver who always wore a beret and had a wonderful face. I don’t think I ever got a good photo of him since he was a little photo shy, but maybe Nicole did….

Our first day of the trip we were well prepared with lots of snacks and drinks. We didn’t bring any extra water (since we were supposed to get boiled water along the trip) and Steve and I didn’t bring any extra money since Nicole owed as a little bit and we were told everything was included except museums, bath houses, and other extra things–like camel rides or souvenirs. What Nicole owed us would move than cover a shower and a couple of camel rides and we weren’t supposed to go to any museums or anything like that. We tried to get out some more money, but Steve had withdrawn his 24 hour limit the night before to pay for the trek, and I didn’t go with them to the ATM since we were running late.

On our way out of Ulan Baatar we stopped in a ger community where people from the countryside had moved to the capital and set up camp in gers (nomadic round tents) and hand-made wooden houses. It made me think shanty towns in theory but it seemed much cleaner and well-organized. I guess one good thing about the rural population being nomadic is that they bring their own home so you don’t have to worry about shacks surrounding the big cities. We weren’t there as tourists, though, but for Beemba to pick up some fuel for the camp stove and a case of cigarettes! (He was very good about smoking outside of the van, which was nice for because we got extra ‘cigarette breaks’ to stretch our legs and take pictures.)

On the way out of town we also stopped by a pile of rocks with a branch covered in blue and yellow cloth stuck in the middle. Sunny explained that this was a shamanistic site where people would walk around it clockwise three times and throw a rock on the pile after each round. This would ensure a safe and happy journey. We all ran around the rocks and performed the ritual while giggling and taking pictures!

It’s been so long since the trip now that it’s hard for me to break the days apart. I remember that the first day we saw our first two-humped camels and we were very excited. We tried taking photos out of the moving van, but Beemba pulled over for us to get better shots. We never did get to ride on a camel, which was a big disappointment for me. The first day was very rushed as it was actually two days put together since we only wanted to go (and to pay) for six days. We stopped for lunch at some sand dunes in the Northern Gobi Desert. We had a little bit of time to wander around, but since we had to make good time to get to camp before dark we were a little rushed. I think we were all a little disappointed the first day by how much driving we did. We only stopped a couple of times for pee breaks and for lunch. Our lunch was also cold with cucumbers, bread, sausage, and cheese. It was pretty tasty, but we basically had the same lunch every day (with a few notable exceptions–toasted cheese one day, and a tomato, apple salad with mayonaise which was surprisingly good) which was quick to prepare but left us little time to explore. But the sand dunes were interesting. There were a couple that were the classic piles of sand, which interested me much less than the ones covered in different grasses and plants. I saw a lot of piles of sand in Death Valley, but all the vegetation that could grow in the sand (including a small tree or two) was fascinating. I also found a pile of what looked like camel bones which was also interesting.

After lunch we were back in the van where we sang songs told each other riddles. We did a really good job the first few days entertaining each other in the car. I was still pretty tired from being sick, but my cold was almost gone and I had a box of tissues so I was okay. All hte extra sleep in Ulan Baatar had helped me a lot. But my nose didn’t heal from being all sore and dry until after the trip! Probably because it was so cold and dry where we were. The first day was actually pretty hot and we were all sweaty and smelly by the time we made camp near a bunch of giant rocks. We had a yummy dinner of pasta and soup and Nicole, Steve, and I sat up looking at the stars which were very bright in the moonless sky. We even saw a handful of shooting stars and Nicole tried to take a photo of the sky, which hopefully turned out well (her camera isn’t digital, so I have to wait for her to develop her photos and post them online).

I slept pretty well the first night and woke up rested but chilly. We had a breakfast of bread, cheese, jam, tea, and cookies (which we ate every morning and by the sixth morning I almost couldn’t stand! It’s funny that normally at home I eat the same thing for breakfast every morning–either toast, oatmeal, or cereal–but somehow this breakfast really got on my nerves. Maybe because it was all cold and it was so cold outside.) After breakfast we played around on the rocks trying to take photos of us jumping off of them and other silly things. By the time we were back in the van my poor fingers were so cold from taking photos!

The second day was pretty similar to the first. It was beautiful watching the landscape slowly change. The first day was mostly grasslands but it was still really interesting because the grass was all different shades of gold and brown and red and it would change gradually as we went along. There were no cacti or anything else ‘deserty.’ Just grass and tumble weeds and other little plants. We saw lots of sheep (which had the funnies tails that were like little trap doors for their bums!), goats, camels, hawks, and horses. Mongolia has some of the last wild horses and we kept trying to see if we could spot any (some of the horses had their manes cut and some didn’t, but who knows if that meant anything!).  The second day was similar with the grasslands but we eventually started seeing some hills in the background and the grass went from clumps here and there to fields. We had lunch by a lake where we took photos of cows and wandered around, and we camped near another lake in a field of tall yellow grass. It was beautiful. There were a couple of gers in the distance and I sat by the lake while the sun was setting and tried to take photos of horses drinking (but the mama horses were nervous about a couple of babies, so I left them alone once I realized). Dinner the second night was also good with more pasta and soup. But the second night was terrible for sleeping since it was incredibly windy. It felt like our little tent was going to collapse on us at any minute and the wind was blowing really fine sand into the vents in our tent so we were covered in a find dusting. I slept with my scarf/shawl thing I bought in Ulan Baatar over my head to try to keep myself from breathing too much of it in.

The morning of the third day was freezing and windy again. We ate our cold breakfast in the car and started off pretty quickly since none of us wanted to doddle. I don’t think I’ve mentioned so far that the roads weren’t really roads, but were more places where other cars had cut through the grass before us. They were very bumpy and sometimes we would go flying around in the backseat (we didn’t have seatbelts!). We all got very good at riding at the bumps and I think we would be excellent bull riders if we ever got the chance! Although that might be more of a front back motion instead of a side-to-side, but I think we could adjust.

The third day we stopped in a little town where we all took sulphur water showers. It is supposedly good for your skin, but it was really just smelly and more a necessity than anything else after 2 1/2 days in the van. The weather was starting to get a little more chilly during the day, and in the little town we saw some of our first trees. We were working our way up into the mountains from the desert and you could really feel the change of climate. We also bought water in the town since it was not, in fact, included as we were told. This was the first little annoyance with the company, but at that point we still had all of our money so it wasn’t a big deal (Sunny couldn’t give us water because she just didn’t have enough with us to cook with and for us to drink other than our little glass of tea with meals). We also went on a well search the third day for good water to fill up her supplies. It took a while of what seemed like aimless driving in the grass, but Beemba amazingly always seemed to know just where he was and just where we were going. We eventually found water that was okay for us to take and then we were on our now clean (but slightly annoyed about the drinking water situation) way. We were all a little grumpy the third day after being couped up in the van for three days and not really doing much in the line of walking around. And also after not sleeping well from all of the wind the night before.

For lunch we had our toasted cheese in a field with a herd of cows and yaks! They were funny and like cows in most ways except they had furry bellies. The three of us decided that we had had just about enough of camping, and even though the last two nights we were going to stay in gers as part of the tour we were opting to pay for the night in a ger if it was possible. I’m so glad we did because with the search for water and the time it took for us all to shower we didn’t stop for dinner and sleep until it was pretty dark and the road was terrible. We stayed in a tourist ger that was set up by some nomadic families. It was basically just a ger with stove and a lot of beds. It cost 10,000 tukric (about $10) and was well worth the money. Sunny, sadly, burnt part of our dinner when she couldn’t get the big cooking bowl out of the top of the stove. Steve tried to help but ended up burning his finger and by the time it was all sorted out our dinner was very, very black! Poor Sunny! She was also obviously tired from lack of sleep and our long day on the road and she was so upset about dinner! It was getting pretty late but she eventually sorted it all out and made more food on the extra camping stove. It was a delicious meal! My favorite part was the rice which she mixed with sunflower seeds, seaweed, and mayonaise! It sounds weird but it was really tasty (and their mayonaise isn’t quite as strong as ours is back in the U.S. It’s more like European mayonaise if that makes any sense to anyone but me!).

We all slept pretty well and the next morning were in better spirits. We were especially happy on our end because the fourth day we were going to see waterfalls and a monastery and other fun things that would get us out of the van and out walking around–what we’d expected for the entire trip. We started off at a beautiful little waterfall with yellow trees all around and the mountains in the background. Sunny pushed us along as this wasn’t the best one, and we were all very happy when we arrived at a bigger waterfall that was just gorgeous. It went down into a chasm and we climbed down onto the floor where the river was and there were the beautiful yellow trees all around. It was like a fairy wonderland. I never wanted to leave. I took so many pictures of the trees! I want to remember them forever. Next we had lunch at some ancient stones that had been inscribed. They were very pretty and the day was so nice and we had the yummy lunch with the apple and tomato salad. We were all pretty happy and ready to go to the monastery.

It was a pretty steep drive up a very holey road up a mountain. We stopped along the way when the van couldn’t make it any longer and it was time for us to walk. We were about to jump out of the van when Sunny told us that it was going to be 2,500 tukric each for the monastery today and 3,500 tukric each for the monastery tomorrow! We were shocked! Everything (especially things marked on our map) was supposed to be included. What was she talking about? Surely this was a mistake. But no. We had to pay. Technically the monastery was a museum and we had never been told this. We were all stunned and annoyed. It wasn’t a lot of money, but with paying for the ger (which was our choice) and buying water (which was not) we were running pretty low on money and we needed to buy more water soon. We were upset and Beemba and Sunny could tell it. They were upset that we were upset and the whole rest of the day was sullied by this dark cloud. I was sad. Beemba and Sunny had been so wonderful and were doing such a good job and we couldn’t quite explain to them well enough that we weren’t upset with them but with the two people we’d talked to at the tour agency that had both told us the water was included and never said anything about paying for the monasteries.

The monastery was pretty nice, but in the end I didn’t see all of it because a big part was up a steep mountainside and I’m a little afraid of heights. I don’t mind going up, but I don’t like going down steep parts and I didn’t realize that they were coming down a different way. By the time I did realize I was already happily relaxing on a rock looking at the see of yellow trees that I liked so much and listening to the sound of the wings of giant crows. It’s amazing what you notice when you sit quietly by yourself at a monastery in Mongolia.

When we got back to the van it was getting pretty late and we still had to make it to the old Mongolian capital where we thought we would be staying with a Mongolian family. We stopped along the way at some gers when Beemba noticed that another Tseren Tour van was there. We played for a little while with some Mongolian kids and were excited about our own upcoming ger homestay. But it turned out that we weren’t staying at a nice ger with a family and funny little kids, but we were staying in a tourist ger that lacked all of the charm of the one in the mountains the night before. This one was surrounded by houses where the people actually lived and there were a handful of gers that were just for tourists. There was even a bathroom where you could pay for a shower and have laundry done! Not at all what we had pictured. We listened enviously while a man played classical Mongolian music in a ger next to ours and were very sad when he offered his services to us but we couldn’t afford it! We had enough money only for the next monastery and more water. I was annoyed and tired and after dinner promptly went to bed.

The next morning we had a sort of tense cold breakfast and then went off to the monastery. I didn’t really want to go, both because of the annoyance with the money but more because it just looked like all of the Chinese architecture I’d gotten bored with in Beijing. But Nicole and Stephen made an executive decision that we’d all go, and in the end I’m glad because we got to sit in on the monks chanting and having tea and I found a pretty orange bead that I put on my camera string! My own little Mongolian souvenir.

After the museum we had a traditional Mongolian lunch in the van that was mutton in a sort of dough pocket. It was tasty, but a little greasy and would have been better with a giant green salad to break up the meatiness. We had a little chat with Sunny about the toursit ger camp and how today we really wanted to meet an actual nomadic family and stay with one since it was our last night and this was important to us. We ended up going to a beautiful lake where I first had the insight (when we stopped for photos on a hill above the lake) that during this trip I had peed in some really beautiful places. What a funny thing to realize! We ended up spending our last night with a nomadic family who spent their summer by the lake. They were probably going to move their home in a couple of weeks for the winter. We tried mare’s milk (female horse milk!) which they ferment into an alcohol but what we tried was fresh but still tasted sort of alcholic. It was interesting and very strong. Sunny told us that during the summer everyone in Mongolia drinks it and with two glasses you feel very full and don’t need to eat for the day! We also tried milk curd that had been hardened into crackers. It also had a very strong sour taste and I wasn’t a big fan. The ger was decorated with medals the children had won for horses and for wrestling and the obligatory two photos of the family in front of the government building and the monastery in Ulan Baatar. The family seemed nice but very shy. They let us watch them milk the horses which was crazy for me! Who knew you could milk a horse! And we played with the two littles girls for most of the evening–stealing their stuffed bunnies and running away from them! They loved it! The littles one had the cutest little face but I think was actually a little evil! The older one seemed quieter and sweeter. I liked them both a lot and gave them stickers and a hair tie with plastic baubles I found near the lake. We slept in the family’s ger which ended up meaning we kicked the family out! I felt so terrible. It was interesting meeting the family, but in the end it felt like going to the zoo where they were on display and we sat and asked questions across the ger. The oldest daughter (who was also the mother of the two little girls) had a ger there also and they had a little wooden house that they stayed in, so it wasn’t so bad. But I hated that we were taking their beds and I wished for a stupid tourist ger! In the end playing with the kids was the best and we made them little origami baskets and Steve made the one little boy a paper airplane which he seemed to really enjoy. Hopefully it was not a totally negative experience for them.

The last day was just a lot of driving, with us leaving the family around 9 in the morning and getting to Ulan Baatar around 6 pm. I didn’t get much sleep the last night since there were only three beds and they were all tiny. I made Steve take our bed and I slept on the floor where I froze half to death. I sleep so much better than him that I thought it would be okay, but I underestimated how cold it would get. When we got back to UB I wanted to just eat, shower, and get some sleep, but we also really wanted to talk to the Tseren Tours people about all of the misunderstandings. I want to stress that we were all very happy with our trip, and while it wasn’t exactly what we expected it was beautiful and lovely and an experience I’ll treasure. But the Tseren Tours owner was the biggest jerk I’ve ever met and I’m surprised he’s still in business. When we went to him with our (very small, really) complaint about the water and the monasteries he was terrible. He never once apologized or even acted sorry or that he cared. For the longest time it didn’t even seem like he understood what we were saying (which shouldn’t be a language barrier thing since he was Dutch and spoke perfect English). At one point he got into Steve’s face and was yelling and spitting because Steve used the word ‘misled.’ It was absolutely ridiculous. We had such a little complaint which in the end wasn’t even a big deal it was just annoying and put us in an awkward position with our guide and our driver. It was unfortunate and all any of us wanted was an apology and a little understanding. Maybe even I’ll try to be more clear about the monasteries (which were actually museums) in the future. But no. We got yelled at and critized and he told me that I didn’t need to teach him how to run his business when I suggested that in the future he should mention that the monasteries were actually museums that you had to pay for since he never told us that. It was stupid. I think that the only reason this tour agency is still in existence is the wonderful drivers and guides and the fact that they don’t have to count on anyone coming back! If anyone goes to Mongolia and wants to go on a trip, I’d highly recommend them, but just make sure you ask lost of questions, bring lots of money and water (even if they say you don’t need it) and be very clear with both the people in the office as well as your guide about what you expect from the trip. Maybe ask to speak to your guide before leaving so everyone’s on the same page (we would’ve liked to have done this but it was such short notice we didn’t have time).

In the end I’m going to try to block the stupid man from my memories of the trip. I’m looking forward to printing out some of my photos and seeing if the pictures of the yellow trees do them even the slightest justice. I’m sure there’s a lot I’m leaving out about the trip (just off hand I can think of all the little mice creatures that ran all around the road on the fourth day and were very entertaining, and the cave and ruined monastery we saw on the morning of the second day near our camp) but it’s just too much for me to write about. Already I’ve gone over my hour limit at our hostel (we’re in Shanghai now, but I started this days ago…). All of the photos are up on the smugmug site. Mongolia will always have a really warm place in my heart. It was truley an amazing (and unexpected) experience.

Tags: Mongolia, Mongolia, Tseren Tours

This entry was posted on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 7:00 am and is filed under Mongolia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.