Korean Air took me first to Seoul...Met Tomoyo, she speaks no English, I speak no Japanese, but we both like kimbab...Finally in Mongolia!!!Next day met Rafaelito, Ana Maria and Uyanga...This would be the default meeting point: State Department Store...First meal in Mongolia: a massive Hungarian goulash...With Uyanga in front of Chinggis Khan in the government building...Sukhbaatar square...Met Oyuna again, after 2 years...Uyanga took us to Ukrainian restaurant for dinner... Delicately flavoured pork fat for entree, good start...Next day, habibi arrived...At once went to Ger to Ger and started our journey to Tsetserleg...Most of the 500 km way to Tsetserleg lacks a real road, but cars just run through the prairie...
This Japanese cars are hardcore, stand road conditions that would break a truck...Brief break for some milk tea...Summer sky at 8 PM... And at 9 something...After 14 hours we finally arrived to the first ger, had our first nomadic dinner and set our tents up...Next day, the beauty of the ger's surroundings stroked me...Fake archer...Real archer...Anklebone shooting game...
We walked 20 km to the next ger, our luggage on a yak cart...Crossed prairies, forests, rivers...Rafa (just like the rest of us) covered in flies, like a horse...Arrival and tent setting...I'm addicted to juggling...Full bath in the river, would be our last real bath for the next 5 days...Next day, hot...Interesting puzzle-like game with bones in a string...This family's girls spoke some English, and helped us a lot... Later we would realise countryside people is very nice and kind in Mongolia... Here the grandmother with kids...First horseback riding, it took some half an hour to get used to the horse (except for Ann Marie, who is an Amazon)... Running crazy from the flies...Refreshing....First school in Mongolia...Break...Arrival to Sumyadash's ger... Communication using the booklet and signs...Horse...The world...Skilled kid...Little ferret/chipmunk/thinguie/bichito we captured (by puting water in his hole and chasing him)... There are millions of this little animals in the prairies... Of course we let him go after bothering him...Sumyadash is a tough yet tender guy... Here with his baby son... Here breaking Rafael's arm... Cheesemaking with Sumyadash's wife... Sumyadash and his neighbour set up this fire for us, it was a bit chilly...Next day, more horseback riding (with broken ass)...Break by the ovoo at the mountain pass...Next ger, and a cheese-making habibi...Twins...Tough guys...Mongolian dogs are puppies in daytime, and vicious beasts in the night, protecting the gers from the animals and the animals from the wolves...Kids...Habibi on the motorcycle...Walking the mountain pass...Break...Cig time...Rafa and Anita...Crazy mofo...Photovoltaics...Juggling-mania...Tenderness...Naadam kid...UNO time...Farewell to Rafa and Ann-Marie... from this day they continue to the next ger and Maha and me return to Tsetserleg with the hope of renting a car and reach Khovsgol, the lake in the far north of Mongolia...Waiting for Batmunkh, the guy who took us to the first ger and that would take us back to Tsetserleg...The car was an auto, and suffered a lot to climb a mountain pass... Here the car resting and Maha reading the book to finish it before meeting Rafa in UB, in a few days...The World!!!120 km to Tsetserleg, crosscountry: 5 hours... Arab encore...Near Tsetserleg, Ikh Tamir and a ger to ger ad...Tsetserleg, capital of Arkhangai aimag!!!Dinner and hostel lady who explained us how things work here...Next day: pigs and dogs...Mongolian Barbie...Local monastery/museum...Unexplainable... Mongolia deity... Mongolian patriot and Lenin...Buddha...Piggies...Another monastery...The hostel and decent meat...Beer...Bad news, no possibility of reaching Khovsgol from here... We decided to return to UB, by minibus...Luckily it only took 14 hours, overnight, because we were 15 people plus luggage on a 11 people minivan... Midnite coffee with the driver...Near UB...UB and massive breakfast...We called the day before to reserve room in Zaya hostel, but when we arrived there around 8 AM, the woman in charge treated us like shit... Boicot Zaya Hostel and its stupid rude manager!!!! May she take all her rooms and stick them wherever they fit...
Anyway, went to Ger to Ger, got another hostel, dined, wandered, rested and ready for Ulaanbaatar sightseeing next day...
In the next post, UB sightseeing with Ariuna and Uyanga, new countryside adventure and my birthday...

Labels: Mongolia, Uyanga