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Live the adventures of Dan Walker's travels through reading his travel journal. The travel journals are listed below in descending order of date. To search the travel journals, use the keyword search at the bottom of the page.

Journal Entry:

Monday, September 17, 2007 05:54:33

Rolls Around the World 2007: 21 - Mongolia

Friday, September 7, 2007

After an excellent buffet breakfast we were driven to where the car is snugly stored to take what we may need and leave what we don't want with us. In spite of the 28C (82F) temperature in Ulaanbaatar we have been warned we could have snow on the trip, so sweaters and jackets are a must.

The next stop was the large Gandan Buddhist Monastery, which was originally in the centre of Ulaanbaatar but moved to its current site in 1836, then was largely destroyed by the Communists in 1938 in their anti religion frenzy. It had 9 institutes, a library and a community of 5,000 monks at that time. Altogether about 900 Mongolian monasteries were destroyed and some 20,000 to 30,000 monks disappeared into Russia's gulags or were murdered.

As we arrived we could hear horns calling the monks to prayer. We walked clockwise around the inside of two different temples in which monks were chanting under the watchful eye of a superior. At times the chanting paused for drums to sound, and then continued.

The gem of the monastery is a tall building housing a 26.5 meter (87 ft) high gold plated statue of Vajradhara. The original was created in 1683 but was melted down by the Russians in 1938 ostensibly to make machine gun bullets. The copper replica was cast in 1991, paid for with donations. It weighs 180 tons, including 130 kg (286 lb) of gold plating and various precious gems. Of Mongolia's population of 2.5 million between 60 and 70% are Buddhist.

Once off the potholed paved road we were on smoother dirt tracks across rolling green, treeless terrain. The area looks like it is covered by green outdoor carpet, splotched with brown where the tufts of short grass thin out. Apparently the green is due to the lateness of this year's rainy season, a bonus for the herds of cattle, horses, goats, sheep and camels tended by nomads on horseback. The nomads pay a fee per animal to the government for the use of the unfenced countryside where summer gers are moved with the herds every month or so. There were also a number of big hawks and eagles soaring or sitting alongside the "road".

At times there were half a dozen tracks to choose from, sometimes running parallel to each other and sometimes shooting off to the horizon in various directions. Sometimes we took off cross country where there was no sign of a road. Our chauffeur, Enkh (pronounced "En kay", has been driving this area for 26 years, and our guide, Inderbayar, escorting visitors for 16 years, so fortunately they know the territory. Inderbayar just returned last night from taking Australian mining people to the site of a giant new copper discovery in the Gobi Desert.

The Mercedes 4 X 4 rides well on the rough tracks, and does not allow a lot of dust inside. The wind makes pee stops challenging, as it gust hard enough to make it difficult to stand steadily and the direction changes without warning. Marilynn is further challenged by the fact that 4 inches (10 cm) is the highest bit of cover in sight, so must duck behind the vehicle while the guys stare dutifully ahead. Fortunately we sometimes go over an hour without seeing another vehicle, and the nomads live up to 60 km (37 miles) apart.

We circled a small range of tall, stark mountains to find a camp where we had a nice 3 course lunch in a large ger restaurant. They had an outbuilding with clean washrooms and a number of smaller gers for accommodation. It was another 115 km (71 miles) of dirt track, which Enkh seems to handle effortlessly, until we reached the camp in which we will spend the night. Our ger had three single beds and a table with stools, although it is quite a hike to the building housing showers, sinks and toilets. We were welcomed with a tray of tea & thermos of hot water delivered to our ger.

A ger is usually 5 - 7 meters (16.5 - 23 ft) in diameter, with the door facing south. In a traditional ger the family shrine, usually a gaily painted storage place for valuables covered with family photos, faces the door. The family elder or most honoured guest is seated facing the door, and then younger or less important guests are seated in order towards the door. From the position facing the door the left side of the ger is for women and the right side for men. It is quite normal to walk into a ger without knocking, but impolite to tread on the door step. Camp staff usually knock, but then walk straight in - so it is a good idea to dress quickly!

The electricity generator came on at 8 PM and off again at 9PM, making it an early night. Dinner was good, served in the dining room of a permanent building, but there was no bar. It is already considered late in the season here - five of the gers were being dismantled for winter storage. The ger camps pay a monthly rent to the government for land use, but not in winter when all that is left at the camp are the foundations on which the gers are erected. The stars in the night sky are amazingly brilliant and plentiful.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

While daytime temperatures in the mid Gobi region now are comfortable at 25-28C (77-82F), at night it plummets to 8-10C (46-50F). The beds were the second hardest we have encountered, the hardest being concrete slabs covered with a sheet in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. Marilynn froze and my bed was too short so I did various contortions all night to keep all of me covered. I gave it up at about 5 AM and hiked to the ablutions building where the cold, cold water sorted me right out - there is no hot water when the generator is off. As the four sinks are unisex and the room has windows to the outside any cleaning from the waste down was out of the question, but there is apparently a shower room. Cleanliness was good.

We travelled through similar country as yesterday, but the track was rougher. With all four directions looking the same and tracks taking off at all angles it amazes me that Enkh navigates us flawlessly to each destination! Along the road are skeletons of various animals - apparently a harsh winter kills quite a few.

Shortly after leaving we stopped to look at the ruins of the 10th century Sum Khukh Burd temple, which are situated on an island in a long since evaporated salt lake. Several hours later we were surprised to drive into the Village of Erdenedalay, where we were able to buy a number of items we had forgotten to bring with us. Here in the middle of nowhere is the beautiful Sangiin Dalai temple, one of the few that survived the Communist purges.

After more driving we stopped on top of a hill from which it seemed we could see forever, to eat the tasty lunch last night's ger camp people had prepared for us. Descending the hill we crossed a huge steppe, over 110 km (68 miles) of super flat country. The flat earth society would love the area, with its 360 degree unbroken horizon. The wind today was slightly less and the temperature a bit cooler, which made changing a flat tire a bit less strenuous.

When we entered the Southern Gobi there was less vegetation. One plant that thrives is wild onions - the smell was strong in some areas, and apparently it gives the camels bad breath! When we came across a huge herd of camels beside the road and Marilynn got out to take photos, the hundred or more camels gathered around her in a 4 deep semi-circle to stare at her. The Gobi Desert is almost 2,000 km (1,243 mi) from east to west and 1,000 km (621 mi) from north to south.

As we drove further the desert changed radically to no more wild onions or grasses, but "Gobi Trees", actually bushes growing up to 4 ft (11/4 meters) high, but some are hundreds of years old and have quite thick trunks. Other bushes and wild daisies were sprinkled over the surprising landscape.

When we approached the end of today's 350 km (217 mile) drive we could see the famous Bayanzag Flaming Cliffs, where Roy C. Andrews from the USA found the first nest of dinosaur eggs in the 1920s. He also found skeletons of a number of species of dinosaurs, all of which were hauled by camel caravan through China and shipped to the US. The cliffs are vividly red coloured and distorted into fantastic shapes by erosion.

Our accommodation was in the quite new Bayanzag Ger Camp, near the Flaming Cliffs. It is still a long walk to the facilities, but the shower, sink and toilet area is better arranged. There are two beds, and more furniture. The food was great, the bar fully stocked and the place very clean. They run the generator from 6:30 PM until about 11 PM, so we got some batteries recharged.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

We both had a great sleep - the beds were comfortable and it was a bit warmer. For the first time in a while we heard the sound of rain on the roof! It was only a light shower - the ground did not even appear wet when we went outside, but the desert broke out in half a dozen types of white, yellow, purple and pink wildflowers.

Marilynn had a problem with her camera when she took yesterday's camel photos, so we went cross country camel hunting. She also wanted photos of running horses, so the intrepid Enkh charged across the unfenced flat ground chasing herds of horses. She got great shots of both.

After running parallel to the Zuun Saiken Mountains for a while, we turned up Eagle Valley well into the heart of the range. The idea was to hike up a very narrow canyon. My bum knee and ankle gave out before we reached the end, but I had a good look at the dramatic towering cliffs. At an altitude of 2,816 meters (9,237 ft) it was cold, with light rain showers and cloudy skies. Eagle Valley is in the Gurvansaikan National Park, which extends 320 km (199 mi) from east to west and covers 2.2 million hectares (5.32 million acres).

The Khan Bogd Ger Camp, owned by Juulchin Travel, located in the shadow of the Zuun Saiken Mountains, was home for tonight. Today's drive was only 110 km (68 miles). We arrived at the camp at 1:30 PM to cold temperatures, light rain and thunder rolling out of the mountains. Larger than life statues of wild animals topped five of the surrounding hills. This camp is much older and looks it. The ger had two single beds with comfortable mattresses and skinny pillows, a table and the first mirror we have had, but was not up to the cleaning standards of the last two. The food was great, the bar well stocked and electricity available from 7 to 11 PM. As with all the camps, the staff could not be more friendly and helpful.

After lunch we were to visit the ger of a nearby nomadic family but decided to pass, as it would consist only of going into the ger, meeting the family and leaving. There was no way to let them know we were coming and although they are camel breeders their herd would not be near the ger. We opted to catch up on writing and video editing.

Tonight we had a TV dinner, watching a Mongolian movie called "The Crying Camel" in the permanent restaurant building. It was great - we'll try to get copies for the grandkids. Marilynn went back to the ger to get more photo editing done and I watch original footage of the Andrews expedition to the Flaming Cliffs. It was the coldest night yet, so we have piled blankets on the beds.

Monday, September 10, 2007

The clever 19 year old girl who looked after us came to see us off, along with her boss. At each camp the employees came out in the morning to wave goodbye.

Shortly after getting under way we passed a mother with a small boy milking goats. The custom is to line them up a dozen or more at a time then milk on down the line. The small boy waved, and Marilynn wanted a photo so we pulled up by their ger. She was very friendly, and her young son was soon smiling for the camera.

The vegetation on today's 180 km (112 mi) drive varied tremendously from place to place. The were areas with sparse, short wild onions but often there were bushes up to 1 ft (30 cm) high with yellow, purple, red and brown ground cover between them. At other times the bushes were larger, varying in colour from dark to greyish green. The sun was warm, and the air was sweetly scented by desert flowers and vegetation.

Inderbayar spotted a rare black tailed gazelle, so after looking at it through the binoculars we headed off cross country to get closer. The gazelle started to run, and two young ones jumped to follow her. Their speed is amazing! We got close enough for Marilynn to take some good photos. Flocks of birds were taking flight from beside the road regularly, and there were a number of giant condors circling overhead. This could be the definition of a living desert!

For miles we were driving parallel to the Sevree and Zuulun mountains, and the 180 km (112 mi) long Khongoriin Els sand dunes. These are literally sand mountains up to 200 meters (656 ft) high and 6 - 12 km (3.75 - 7.5 mi) wide, called the "Singing Sands" or "Musical Sands" because of the noise produced by masses of sand moving in the wind. They cover over 900 sq. km.

Our ger camp for tonight and tomorrow is the large Hongoryn Els base camp. For the first time since Ulaanbaatar we have a double bed, although it is rock hard. The facilities are well done, and although the shower was a trickle, there was hot water.

At 4 PM camels were waiting for us, so we mounted up and were guided out into the desert. This time instead of the camel being led by someone on foot, as with other camel experiences, we insisted on being taught how to manage camels, and then were able to ride on our own. The camels were very responsive and we had no trouble at all.

About 1 ½ hours into the desert we stopped to visit some nomads who were bringing in a herd of goats. We were invited into the nicely decorated ger (which included a TV run from a car battery) and given warm goats milk with salt (called "milk tea") and tried something from a bowl of assorted hard, dried items, none of which have yet been positively identified. Lengths of lamb meat hung along one wall drying. Before we left hand made goods were displayed for us. I bought a pair of slippers, Marilynn a knit water bottle carrier. Inderbayar opted for a lift on a motor cycle for the return trip, so Marilynn and I rode back with the fellow who brought the camels.

Tomorrow's program said "a lovely open-air breakfast precedes a 30 km excursion on camel back to the Seruun Bulag Oasis", however after the punishment our backsides took we changed to a 3 hour ride into the dunes and back to camp.

During dinner the sun set and thunder began in the mountains behind the dunes. By the time we headed for bed it was freezing cold and pouring rain. It was cozy inside, once in bed under a pile of blankets, but the hardness of the mattress kept us from getting much of a sleep.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

This morning Marilynn said "no way" to any camel riding, for which I was grateful, as we both have swollen backsides from the pounding last night. As we were discussing what we would do today at breakfast it started to rain - something predicted by the locals. We decided to huddle under blankets in our gers until lunch time in the hope that the weather may clear. We were envious of the gers of the nomads, which have stoves in them. I finally gave up trying to keep warm and moved into the marginally warmer restaurant building to do a little writing.

It was still drizzling after lunch, but we decided to go exploring anyway. It appears the stove situation is easily solved - a wheelbarrow full of stoves was on the way as we headed for the vehicle. They simply sit one in the centre of the ger, stick a smoke stack through the roof and light it. They are surprisingly smoke free.

The "road" was slippery mud, but Enkh had no trouble handling it. We stopped at the highest sand dune and hiked a little way up, but there is no way I was going for the top. What a contrast to the rest of the desert we have seen - on the dunes there was nothing living, only golden sand.

The next stop was the Seruun Bulag Oasis. Here a spring bubbles out of the ground creating a stream that runs along parallel to the dunes, feeding some small lakes until it is absorbed by the desert. There were not a lot of animals as the desert is unusually green this year, but the area provides important grazing in dry years.

There were three other small tour groups staying at the camp tonight, the first time we have not had the whole camp to ourselves. We were beginning to think we were the last of the tourists! By dinner time the skies had cleared, the sun came out and the temperature soared. A wood fire had been built in the stove in our ger, so it was warm even after sunset.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

This morning was damp and cold, with a heavy fog. The hard bed was conducive to an early morning, so we were on the road a bit after 7:30 AM for today's 275 km (171 mi) drive. We were out of the fog before we crossed the wide Ikh Bogdo Mountains, where we used dry river beds for roads. At the top of the pass was a Buddhist shrine with prayer flags and offerings of a muffler, a milk pail, several sets of Ibis horns, some money and various other items. Enkh walked once around the shrine and I circled it clockwise three times for luck.

On the way down the mountain Marilynn spotted a huge eagle perched regally above us. After photographing it from the car so as to not scare it, she wanted a shot of it in flight, so I got out, making a lot of noise, but to no effect. Everyone got into the act, whistling, tooting the horn, shouting and jumping up and down but the eagle only stared disdainfully down at us. Finally Enkh climbed the cliff with the eagle watching him curiously. He was within stones throw before the eagle lazily flew one rock outcropping away, but Marilynn did get her shot.

We hadn't moved a hundred meters (330 ft) when Inderbayar spotted three Ibis silhouetted against the sky in a saddle in the mountain. The male had an enormous rack of horns. We watched them until they climbed the next mountain and disappeared on the other side. Once again Marilynn did well with the photos. As we left the valley we could see fresh snow on the next range of mountains - winter is moving into the Gobi!

It was a great day for animals and weather - warm and sunny. As we crossed the flat land on the other side of the mountains we saw a number of gazelles and another huge eagle surrounded by vultures. When we checked it out we found a goat had been torn apart, likely caught by the eagle. These are giant birds! I had my photo taken with a domesticated one in Ulaanbaatar and could not hold my arm up it was so heavy!

We ate our packed lunch near a herd of camels with a number of colts, so Marilynn kept clicking away. By about 3:30 PM we had reached Saikhan Ovoo and the ruins of the Ongiin Monastery. This is a beautiful, tranquil area with the first trees we have seen since entering the Gobi. There is a road leading from the newer monastery, started in the 1800s, to the old monastery across a small river, started in the 1600s, lined with ancient shade trees. At the time the communists destroyed both there were about 1,000 monks. Today the little that has been restored has 17 monks and novices, all young. When Marilynn asked where they were, the answer was, "In the village going to school". Schools in the Gobi are boarding schools, as the distances are too great for daily transportation.

The ger camp tonight is called "Great Gobi", on the bank of a river looking up at the newer monastery on the hill. It is a magical site, with soft beds, good pillows, shampoo, comb and toothbrush provided. Very uptown! The wash house and toilets were pretty sad, only one toilet in 4 worked in the women's and the odour was not great, but it seems every time something is gained something else is sacrificed! I'm typing this is an open dining area on the riverbank, in the shade, in shorts and T shirt at 5 PM and am still warm. This area has its own micro climate.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Another 7 AM start on a very cold morning for the 300 km (186 mi) journey which took us from South Gobi through Mid Gobi and out of the Gobi desert to the north. Apparently north Gobi exists only in east Mongolia. The landscape was relatively flat, gradually turning to grass from wild onions. Most of the track was quite smooth on this sunny day.

We stopped in the small village of Sayhan-Ovoo to purchase some diesel. Young nomad children were leaving the dormitory building to walk to the dining hall - all very well dressed, so we stopped to talk to some. After picking up snacks at a shop we carried on to the north, through countryside inhabited by lots of eagles and buzzards - great for photos. Buzzards here are not the ugly variety; they are regal looking, like large hawks.

After we crossed the paved highway to Ulaanbaatar we met with two other Juulchin Travel vehicles headed the opposite direction with 3 Brazilians on board, making it 4 people from Brazil we have met - quite surprising as that is not a major source of tourist for Mongolia. After a chat in Spanish (they didn't speak English, and we don't speak Portuguese) we carried on to the town of Karakorum, population 4,000, driving alongside a new highway is being built to service the area. Like other major construction projects in Mongolia, it is being built by a Chinese construction company using Chinese workers. When we arrived in town we were driving on the first paved road in days.

Karakorum was the capital of Chinggis Khaan's empire. (Apparently the spelling "Genghis Khan" is a westernized version) He is the major hero in Mongolia - the cover of my Mongolian map has a drawing of him and "Chinggis Khaan, man of the millenium" on the cover. We had lunch at the Anar Ger camp where we will spend the night. It is situated near town on the banks of the fast flowing Orkhon River. There are irrigation canals starting from the river, permitting vegetable and wheat farming. The ger was great but the bathrooms beyond bad - Inderbayar complained and by the time we returned they had been cleaned.

We drove to the Erdengzuu Monastery, now largely a museum. A local guide walked us through the large complex, surrounded by a wall with 180 stupas built into it. This was the first monastery built in Mongolia, started in 1516. All but three of the 65 temples were destroyed and the 1,500 Lamas either murdered or imprisoned. Today there is a Tibetan style monastery operating on the grounds with about 40 monks.

There was a graphic story of the policy at the time of the religious purges on the gift shop wall. The purges were considered necessary by the communists as the Mongolia people would not show up for communist rallies unless requested by Buddhist leaders, and if the communists wanted anything done they had to make a request through the temples. All senior Buddhist leaders were murdered on the spot, either by a bullet in the head or where ammunition was short, by clubbing to death. They were dumped into mass graves. Lamas or monks more than 10 years of age were sent to prisons, usually in Russia. The vast majority were never heard from again. Children 10 years or younger were sent back to their village with the promise that if they even spoke of Buddhism they would suffer the same fate as the others.

There were souvenir vendors at each of the sites we visited, but as in other parts of Mongolia they were not aggressive - there was no harassment.

As always, when the sun went down the temperature went down with it. We had a supply of wood in our ger where we were both working on computers, so I got a fire going and it was soon cozy warm. Inderbayar arranged a special lamb BBQ for us tonight, a real treat.

Friday, September 14, 2007

We decided on a late start this morning, as the beds seemed comfortable and we had only 120 km (75 miles) to drive. The bed part turned out rather badly. When I got into bed the mattress pad was bunched up so badly it was impossible to get comfortable, so I took it off and remade the bed with the sheet on the mattress. On returning to bed two of the wood slats holding the mattress fell out, so back to the drawing boards. When I finally got into bed and lay down the reason for the mattress pad became clear - every spring, clip and clamp in the mattress was sticking into me at one point or the other. Not having much option, I did my best to sleep, but it has given me a much better understanding of how fakirs who sleep on beds of nails feel!

Marilynn bought some diet coke and snacks in town and we left pavement for dirt tracks parallel to the highway being built. At the village of Harhonin we headed for open countryside. Marilynn got up close to some wild swans on a river, but what she thought were the best photos of the trip didn't come through as the camera was on the wrong settings. She did get some good duck and goose shots - there were a lot of migrating black and white geese. The terrain became more and more mountainous.

When we stopped for a photo above the Village of Tuvshnuuleh we could see hills forested with thin fir trees. All these villages have abandoned factories, mines or concrete buildings, built during communist rule; this one looked a bit like a war zone.

The countryside was stunningly beautiful, with clear rivers, fir trees and leaf trees decked out in fall colours. We stopped overlooking a pretty lake and saw the first road sign since Ulaanbaatar. It said 19 km (12 mi) to tonight's camp.

The Tsenkher Jiguur camp has the potential to be a great destination resort if it were redone and modernized. A pipe runs into hot pools from a hot spring about 300 meters (985 ft) away. The flow of water from the spring is scalding hot, so besides providing water for the pools it is the source of hot water for showers and taps. An outdoor pool at a perfect hot tub temperature is constructed with local field stones, and looks out onto forested hillside. Unfortunately, lack of maintenance marred the image, as it has in so many camps.

After lunch Inderbayar summoned horses for us. The Mongolian ponies are small, but strong. Although I couldn't put my legs straight down, my horse had no trouble carrying me. Inderbayar started off with us, but within 10 minutes decided to visit the family of the horse owner who was accompanying us. He is not a fan of riding animals! We had a great ride up into the hills and down the next valley. Grass has been grazed to golf course length both on the open hills and among the trees - it is perfect horse country.

After the long ride we relaxed in the hot pool. We had the place to ourselves, as the French group who spent the night didn't arrive until late. The weather was perfect, warm and sunny, but as soon as the sun went down it became freezing cold so we had a fire lit in our ger. The altitude here is 1,781 meters. (5,842 ft).

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Thinking they were doing us a favour, we were assigned a large ger with 5 beds, but it was so cold that the stove would not heat the large space. The beds were rock hard, and even with a duvet and 2 camel hair blankets we froze in the sub-zero temperatures. The walk to the wash house was, to say the least, refreshing - as was washing in cold water. When I got to the breakfast building five minutes before we were to eat it was still locked, so I retreated to our cold ger to wait for them to open. (We let the fire go out when we go to bed - the wood burns quite quickly.)

We stopped at the camp of the horse breeder who took us riding last night, as it was on the way. Marilynn got photos of the women milking yaks and of the life of a herder in general. Besides his 50 or so horses he has a quite substantial herd of yaks, some of whom we heard grunting away behind our ger last night.

We had to retrace our steps to leave the valley. When we passed the lake Marilynn took photos of cranes, herons, ducks and a pair of swans with 7 cygnets. After passing through the Village of Tuvshnuuleh we turned for our destination at Lake Ugii. There were a lot of raptors of various types and Marilynn finished off 2 gigabytes of photo cards in short order. A fox ran in front of the vehicle for quite awhile, and then bounded off across the desert. It was slow going on very rough tracks for most of the 150 km (93 miles).

At Lake Ugii we settled into our ger before lunch. The Ogii Tourist Camp, though old, is well maintained. There is a great view of the lake from our ger. We have dropped to 1,354 meters (4,441 ft) so are hoping it might be a bit warmer tonight. It was hot in the afternoon - we had lunch on the balcony of the restaurant building in T shirts. Today's options were horseback riding or fishing, but I chose a siesta, having not slept well for two nights.

At 4 PM we went photo hunting with Marilynn. The 25 sq. km. lake was like a mirror, but thunder storms moved in from both sides. We came across a large group of people swimming and playing ball in the lake, so we tested the temperature and it was warmer than I had expected. We didn't get rain from either of the storms, but the lake was churned into whitecaps by strong winds.

There were a lot of water birds - terns, seagulls, various ducks, geese, herons and swans. One group of swans had 14 adults in it - Marilynn got some good photos before heading back to camp for dinner.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Thunder sounded. At 1 AM the rains came, this time serious rain that carried on through the night. The camp had a large contingent of Germans, so when I braved freezing rain to go the full length of the camp to the washroom and toilets there was already a line-up. There were two showers in the men's and ladies, however one in each was locked. There was a line-up for the two toilets, so I had a wash and trekked back to our ger.

Inderbayar had ordered breakfast for 7:30, so Marilynn and I arrived at 7:25 to be served a plate of eggs, sausages and fried toast that looked great but was stone cold. Apparently because of the number of people staying everyone's breakfast had been cooked and put on the plates at 7 AM! We sent the eggs back for further cooking, but that was all that we ate. Although this was the first camp with good maintenance we had to give up adequate washroom facilities and hot food!

The rain stopped after we'd been driving across desert for 2 ½ hours, but it was slow going in mud and puddles for a long way. It was very pleasant to find about 90 km (56 mi) of newly completed asphalt road, but the rest of the 280 km (174 mi) was over rutted, dusty track. After 5 ½ hours we reached the very upscale Hustai Tourist Resort. This is a ger camp, but also has four hotel rooms in a permanent building that has the dining room and washrooms in it as well. There is permanent electricity, a well stocked bar and we have the deluxe ger that has a brand new ensuite bathroom with high tech shower, sink, toilet and its own hot water heater. They even offer a hot towel before meals! We are in awe!

Once we were settled in and fed we viewed a short video on 90,000 ha (220,000 acres) Hustai National Park, established in 1993. It is classified as a Strictly Prohibited Area, which means no driving off the tracks, no habitation, no hunting and no domestic animals. It is the home of the Przewalski Horse, known in Mongolia as Takhi, the only living ancestor of the domestic horse, although they are more like a zebra in that they cannot be handled, haltered or mounted. They have 66 chromosomes where domestic horses have 64.

They became extinct in Mongolia, but The Netherlands and Germany had some on semi reserves, so 7 shipments between 1992 and 2001 airlifted 84 horses via Irkutsk and Ulaanbaatar to Hustai National Park for reintroduction into their natural habitant. There are now some 200 of the horses in Hustai National Park, 100 in the Gobi preserve and a lesser number in another preserve. They are entirely on their own in the wild, and in spite of the fact that wolves kill about 50% of the new colts each year, man does not interfere with nature.

The park has a lot of wildlife besides the horses, but our purpose was to see horses in the flesh in the wild. Our first encounter was a sole stallion, then later another single. On the next distant hill we could see a herd of about 7, and then high on a ridge another 5. Marilynn's big photo opportunity came when we encountered another herd of 5 having a wonderful time frolicking around, chasing each other, kicking their hind legs into the air, and generally enjoying themselves. They were in photo range for quite awhile. Well satisfied, we retuned to the lodge for dinner and to do some work on the computer in our ger, made cozy warm by a wood fire in the stove.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Breakfast was pretty sparse. Eggs are not a big item in Mongolia - we have yet to see chickens. The short drive back to the highway under construction went quickly, but it was 1 ½ hours of driving beside the highway-to-be before we hit pavement. The Mongolians call this the thousand year road, as it is to go right across Mongolia from East to West, and they figure it will take that long to complete.

Once in Ulaanbaatar we checked the car to find it clean and polished. We put in some items not needed tonight, and then went to the offices of Juulchin Travel where contact was made with Lifeng Liu of CSITS, who has put together the China portion, to arrange meeting times and trade mobile phone numbers and names of the guides. It was nice to be back at the Khan Palace Hotel - a complete culture shock. After lunch with Inderbayar we both connected to the complementary wireless internet in the room to get caught up - something that took the entire afternoon. Dinner was at the excellent Japanese Restaurant again.

Tomorrow we will leave early for the drive to Saynshand, our last overnight stop in Mongolia and the beginning of the dreaded stretch of road to the Chinese border.

SUMMARY

The real Mongolia, outside of the capital, is not ready for mainline tourism. It is certainly worth seeing, but would appeal more to adventure travellers, or those who are well enough travelled or young enough not to be put off by the lack of basics such as electricity, hot water, en-suite plumbing, mirrors, soft beds, heat and maintenance. The food has been consistently good, and the staff anxious to do anything they can to help out. Our vehicle was great, and the driver, Enkh, one of the best I've had anywhere. Inderbayar, our guide, was more than anxious to please, and he spoke English well enough to be understood, however his comprehension was poor which made asking questions difficult.

Rainy season is in June and July, also the main tourist season. In the summer months temperatures can soar to over 40 C (104F), but the nights would be warmer. Late August may be a good compromise, as the volume of tourists start to drop off. There are special tours for festivals that may be well worth attending.

If you want a quick visit to Mongolia, visit Ulaanbaatar where there are world class hotels. A full day of sightseeing will cover all the main sights, so two nights and one day would be a minimum. There is good shopping here - the 7 story State Department Store has a lot of upscale items at good prices. To get a little experience of the country without roughing it too much, spend a couple of nights and a day in Hustai Tourist Resort. There is only one ger with bathroom and shower - number 2 - so request it well in advance.

To book a trip to Mongolia I'd recommend going through Bestway Tours and Travel (bestway@bestway.com ). They introduced me to Juulchin Travel, and although I communicated directly with Juulchin they are not great at replying to emails, so I went back to Bestway a couple of times to have them make contact on my behalf. It would be easier to let Bestway handle all the arrangements.