The Gobi - Days 3 & 4

Day 3 - Flaming Cliffs to Khongoryn Els

We awoke pre-sunrise to catch the magnificence of the cliffs. We could not have been prepared for what we saw. The cliffs were an incredible almost blood-red in the rising sun. We drove a short way to Bulgan, a small town, where we reloaded on water, gas and some food supplies. Andrew went to the hospital to recharge the battery on his camera. We realized how absurd this concept would be back home. I can't imagine anyone walking into the local hospital to plug in a camera to let it recharge. After our short break, we continued on with some relatively flat driving. We stopped for lunch in an amazing spot where a herd of horses were dining on some grass and water. At this point I realized how salty the water in the Gobi is. Everywhere water has been in the past few years has massive amounts of salt left behind. After a pleasant and peaceful lunch, we finished the day's journey by passing through a chain of mountains where the road followed a dried up riverbed. When presented with the choice of sleeping in a ger or camping out, we opted to camp. After sleeping in the Flaming Cliffs, who could turn down the chance to camp under the world's tallest sand dunes. That's right, world's tallest, from bottom to top, not in elevation. Ironically, the Gobi is also the desert with the least amount of sand in the world. Before dinner, we decided to work up an appetite by climbing to the top of the tallest dune. About 1/4 of the way up, the girls chickened out, and turned back. The climb was insanely difficult. It took us about an hour and a half, but we got there. At the top, in my great intellectual way, I turned to Andrew and commented, "Wheels, I have sand in my eye." After a few amazing photos, we decided to bum-scoot all the way to the bottom. We looked back at the bottom and realized we cause a landslide that could be seen from miles away. The view was spectacular. When we returned, Andrew and I found that Nora, Dava and Maureen had set up the tents. Dava had a campfire started, and had managed to get some of Gobi wood. This is the most amazing woods of all time. It is so dense, that you can't chop it with an axe, it burns for hours, produces an immense amount of heat when it burns, and ignites quickly and easily.

The Flaming Cliffs at sunrise. (I hate you Dan, cause now I have to laugh every time I say/hear Flaming Cliffs)

The water source. Is it wrong that it seemed normal?

Our horse friends at lunch.

The dunes.

The top of the tallest sand dune in the world.

The view from above.

Day 4 - The Dunes

It was a nice break from driving on our fourth day. Instead, we rented camels for the day. We started with the best grilled cheese sandwiches of all time before Dava drove us over to our guide and our camels. It turns out we had the "park ranger" as our guide. It was widely acknowledged that My camel, Jerry, was by far the most intelligent. He went fast when I asked him to, turned when told to, and even bit Andrew's camel on the butt a couple of times. We're told this either means he thought the other camel was too smelly, or too slow. Since Andrew's camel wiped snot all over his leg, I was glad to get out into the lead. We stopped at our campsite for lunch, where Andrew decided to go climb the dunes again while the rest of us continued on for a few more hours. Big mistake - my butt had bruises for days, and I had to sit on a pillow in the van the next day it was so sore.

My camel can kick your camel's ass.

"You love my humps. My humps, my humps. My lovely camel humps. Check it out."

Maureen, in her transition from tropical climate, and Cat's camel, doing whatever it pleases.

Notice the camel on the left. He didn't start the day with us. He eventually joined in the line.

A few notes about camels - the camels here are the less common Bactrian Camel (2 humps) and much furrier than the 1-humped Dromedary Camel. The Bactrian Camel will only live in domestication within the next couple of decades as wild ones are severely endangered. Camels like to walk in straight lines. If another camel is within 30 feet in front of one, it will automatically follow the lead camel's path, no matter what you want it to do. We joked about how a camel's single's ad might read "Likes - walk in lines. Dislikes - not walking in lines."

Two more installments to come....

Gobi - Days 1 & 2

So, I have returned from my week long venture through the Gobi Desert. I'm not really sure how to tell the story in a way that will give an accurate representation of such a trip, but I'll give it a shot.

Day 1 - UB to Erdenedalay

We started our trip when our driver, Dava, and our guide, Nora, picked us (Andrew, Maureen, Cat and I) up at the school at 9 AM. We made our way to the tour office, and picked up some last minute things at the State Department Store. We were initially had a 7 hour drive that day, but it was full of excitement. The landscape changed every 20 minutes or so (this was the case throughout the journey). We were amused for the first hour or two by the thousands of mice that would scurry from our path to their holes along the side of the road. The roads of course were what Mongolians call "natural roads", which basically means that they have been carved out by hundreds of cars that have travelled these paths over the years. Our first lunch found us parked on the side of a low mountain. We walked to the top for our first real photo-op before sitting down to our first experience of Nora's fabulous cooking. When we were back on the road, we began noticing the vast number of eagles and hawks that were sitting, watching the steppe for food. This was not our only wildlife experience, as Dava chased after a couple of foxes in the van so we could try to get some pictures. We arrived in Erdenedalay slightly before dark, but our arranged accommodations had decided to travel to UB for the night, so Nora spent the next hour finding us a place to sleep. In the middle of the afternoon we stopped at a mountainside lake for a little climbing and some magnificent pictures. We ended up sleeping in a ger with an older woman who was the mother of another driver for Tseren Tours. She was a lovely lady, who was kind and welcoming, and happy to have company.

Our van, named Vladmir, at our lunch stop on the side of the mountain.

The road ahead.

A mountainside lake. Wheels & I climbed the side of the mountain.

The monastery at Erdenedalay. There are no monks here currently.


The bustling metropolis of Erdenedalay. It's a town of about 2000 people.

Day 2 - Erdenedalay to the Flaming Cliffs

We were on the road around 10 after a simple breakfast. We had a very long stretch of nothingness, where we stopped for lunch. I loved the though that I was the tallest thing as far as the eye could see. The roads were a little rougher that the previous day, and Dava seemed to choose the most roller coaster router possible. As the driving for the day was getting close to an end (another 7 hrs) we started to see the incredible beauty of the Gobi. First, we drove by the Gobi Forest, which sadly will disappear in the next 15 years if nothing drastic is done. This is tough, since the nomads depend on the wood, which burns for a very long time, and very warmly, as we found out later in the trip. We arrived at the Flaming Cliffs about an hour before sunset. The cliffs are aptly named, as the glow red with the sunrise and sunset. There was a souvenir shop at the cliffs where I purchased a dinosaur bone and a piece of petrified wood for a total of T 3000 ($2.50). We wandered through the cliffs for a while to take some incredible pictures, which resulted in me almost sliding off of one cliff. Dava had parked at the edge of the cliff, so when we piled back in the van, Cat said something to the effect of, "Please don't roll forward at all." In response, Dava drove over the edge and down to the bottom of the cliffs. This convinced me that the Russian van that we were in, while not designed for comfort, could kick the snot out of any North American vehicle. That night we camped in the middle of the cliffs, something that would never be allowed in North America for conservation reasons. WE set up our tents, with some difficulty. Andrew and I decided to climb the cliffs in the dark with the aid of a headlamp.

Watering the goats at a roadside stop.

In the middle of nowhere... or maybe the egde of somewhere.

The Gobi Forest.

Me and Andrew at the Flaming Cliffs.

I almost died taking this picture, so I insist that you enjoy it.

A small portion of the Flaming Cliffs.

Our crazy awesome campsite inside the Flaming Cliffs.

A small sample of the amzing rock formations.

To Be Continued...

Call Me

So, I've been dying to hear some voices from back home. I, by no means, expect you to call me from your actual phone, since it would cost you an arm and a leg (although if this seems like a valuable use of your money, you can reach me at +11-976-95695612). Alternatively, for those of you who are subscribers to Skype, please, e-mail me your Skype account, or add me (I'm the only person with my name in Mongolia, I'm quite certain.)


Secondly, for all of those wonderful teachers back home, if you are interested in setting up a pen-pal program with a Mongolian class, let me know. There are a few classes in the school who are interested in doing this, and I can try to set it up for you. I have a grade 2 class and would LOVE to have a program with a class back home.

That's all for now. I'll be camping in the Gobi Desert for 8 days starting Saturday, so expect one heck of an extensive entry around the end of the month.

Running on Empty

I've been here, what? a month and a half? Today, I saw the rarest of sights it would seem..... a car whose gas tank was ALMOST empty. That's right, I said almost. That is to say that I had not seen (and neither had anyone else, it seems) a single car that had a needle that read anything more than empty. In fact, it is a common concern as to whether or not the vehicle will actually have enough gas to get you home. Last week, we experienced a car that actually ran out of gas. Thankfully this happens just seconds after we arrived. I have heard many a story where the car, or fake taxi, actually runs out on the way home. The reaction seems to commonly be a shrug of the shoulders, you pay, get out, and flag another fake cab. The other day I actually experienced a bus running out of gas. At least it wasn't the one I was on, but at least 20 people piled out, and began to push it to a nearby gas station.

If you're not concerned about the car running out of gas, it's usually because of the overriding fear of it breaking down, or possibly exploding. Mongolians have a remarkable way of making a car work when it should have been junked years ago. If a car wasn't purchased in the last 3 years, there's little chance it would be able to pass a safety inspection in Canada.

Even the English isn't in English

I bought a bottle of GEM draght beer, which is bottled right in the store for you. This is the card they give with your bottle (Aunt Moe, you will love this):

Side 1:

GEM Draft

"Living" Beer

No Conserving, No Pasteurization ,No Filtering

Living Beer

GEM DRAFT beer is pure natural product and was made by European the best quality of barley, hop and new yeast.

Beer will not be contained filtering, pasteurization, conserving in its content for to be kept for a long time.

LIVING BEER is contained combination of vitamins, mineral substance, including, protein, carbohydrate, iron, potassium and new flavour of barley, hop and beer can be expressed unrepeatable flavour and quality.

The living beer was equipmented by the best know-how refrigeration systemof motile tank. And motile tank was installed at the sales point.You can flavour GEM DRAFT at your desired time ,

Side 2:

Clarification

Please, clarify me what is the difference between kinds of beer

The beer is contained with a lot of benefit mineral substances which is helpful for the human body.

"Simple" beer is contained with pasteurization, filtration conservation which is used for lenghtening term of preservation of beer. Nutrimental substances of "Simple" beer was filtered and about 20 percent of nutrimental substances was left. Nutrimental substances of "Living" beer was left 100 % pure in the result of filtering.

What is the Filtration, Pasteurization, Conservation?

Filtration - in the result of filtering majority of the nutrimental substances of beer is lost

Pasteurization - it is heat treatment activity to eliminate bacteria of yeast and for lenghtening preservation of beer

Conservation - all kind of chemical substances for used preservation term and improving stabilization.

GEM DRAFT - is "Living" beer and it is not contained pasteurization, conserving, and filtering, any additional content.

When you flavour "Living" beer, you can feel Fresh Airag/mare's milk/of/Khukhuur/leather bag for used storing airag/.

"Living Beer" - is contained all kind of nutrimental substances, multi proteins, Polisugar, monosugar, B6, B5, B2, B1, vitamins, potassium, iron, organic acid

Storing Term:

It can be kept for 72 hours after package

Package:

1.5, 1.0 liter

Leave you the choice

Werespects the interest of consumers.

"GEM INTERNATIONAL" Co., Ltd

Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar city, Khan-Uul district, Chingis Avenue, "Erel" complex

"GEM INTERNATIONAL" Co., Ltd

Phone: 345700, 345528, fax: 976-11-34570

Learning Mongolian

I'm not sure how, but I'm finding the Mongolian language to be rather simple to pick up. Dan and Tina were quickly able to get the grammar, since they know Japanese fluently, and the grammar is the same. Most people have had a particular problem with pronunciation. This, I have found to be the easiest part.

I should mention, that some of the staff have been taking Mongolian lessons for the past 3 weeks, for 1.5 hours each Thursday. The teacher is the Mongolian language teacher for the school. We felt it appropriate to give 1000 tugrug ($0.85) per person, per lesson. The school was trying to force Ganaa into doing it for free, so we just pay her under the table.

The other day, Ganaa was talking to some of the T.A.s and told them that my pronunciation is very clean and surprisingly good. Considering the closest languages to Mongolian are Hungarian and Finnish (both of which were highly influenced by Chinngis Khaan's Westward advancement), I don't know how I'm understanding it so well.

I have also learned the whole alphabet now, and it is pretty common to see/hear me just reading random Mongolian words. I often check with the nearest Mongolian (usually one I know) to check that I have pronounced it correctly. About 98% of the time, I'm told that it was just right. It helps that the language is mostly phonetic. I also practice my spelling. I often spell the names of my students on the board while the class is settling back down after lunch. There are a few things that should be mentioned about the Mongolian alphabet. First, it is NOT the Cyrillic alphabet, only based on it. The Cyrillic alphabet has 33 letters, Mongolian has 35. Second, some of the letters are extremely hard to write, so they Mongolians have a lazy way of writing them. Third, some letters have no sound. Fourth, the letters that look the same as those in English don't always get pronounced like their English counterparts. The differences and similarities are something like this:

Mongolian letter Pronunciation
Aa A (like in cat)
Бб B
Bв V
Гг G (like in gear)
Дд D looks like a triangle in handwriting
Ee Ye (like in yellow)
Ёё Yaw
Жж J (like in jury)
Зз Dz (the emphasis is on the z, so that the d is almost inaudible)
just saying Z is acceptable it seems
Ии I (like in in) also can be E (like in green)
Йй This is "hagusee" - and technically sounds like I as well, but it changes
the sound of whatever vowel it follows (it always follows a vowel)
Kk K
Лл Lsh (the SH is very slight, and said like someone with a lisp would
say it)
Mм M
Hн N
Oo Aw (like in claw)
Өө (supposed to look like an O/o with a horizontal line through it)
O (like in Go, but with a slightly longer O)
Пп P
Pр R (with a slight SH at the end, like in Л)
Cc S
Tт T
Уy This is a combination between O and oo
YY Oo (like in bruise)
Фф F
Xx Kh - this is more of an H than a K, the K part is like you have a wad of
phlegm you need to clear out of your throat, but it is done very
quickly
Цц Ts - mostly an S, but tongued like you would if playing a trumpet
This is the hardest sound to make
Чч Ch (like in change)
Шш Sh
Щщ Shch
Ъ This letter has no sound - it's kind of like a space... I don't get it
Ыы E (like in green) - I haven't figured out the difference
Ь Also, no sound - more of a change in intonation
Ээ E (like in beg)
Юю You (like in you)
Яя Yah (said emphatically)

Just thought You would like to know.

Mongolia, "Where Polar Opposites Collide"

First, I must thank Dan for providing me with this turn of phrase.

Many people have asked me what Mongolia is like. If you haven't figured it out yet, it's a world of juxtaposition. No matter what I speak of, this is always the case. For example, there are classy-looking hotels, yet no road to them. Only in a country such as this, could such an establishment exist. There are examples of this everywhere you look. This country has the lowest population density of any nation in the entire world, yet, people have absolutely no sense of personal space. I mean this. It is not uncommon to have someone sit on your lap on the bus. If there is 40 square feet of open space, the only other person in it WILL be touching you. This country is in such a furious rush to develop, that the little details seem to get over looked, like when putting paving stones in a parking lot, the foundation is made of sand, so any vehicle heavier than a bicycle pushes the stones around, causing ripples. The prevailing attitude seems to be "if it's there now, that's where it was supposed to be in the first place.

There is one striking similarity to Canada in the identity of Mongolians. Where Canadians form their national identity around not being American, the Mongolians have a pretty intense hatred of everything Chinese... except when it's more convenient. It is commonplace for construction companies to employ Chinese workers. They can be paid less, and will work all hours of the day (not so wonderful for those who live next door). Also, more than half of the investment in Mongolia comes from China. This means China technically has the controlling share of Mongolia.

Visually speaking, the surronding scenery is magnificent (and I've only seen a fraction of it). This is presented in stark contrast to a recent influx of Western-style sky-rises, yet none of which are actually completed yet. There is a handful of ancient Mongolian architecture, primarily seen in the monasteries that survived to communist regime. The communists are responsible for everything else. From the run-down, Eastern-European style apartment blocks that line the streets, to the hot water pipes that run throughout the city. When the Soviets pulled out, they took everything possible. If that means they could only take one section of a fence, that means they took the one section of fence. There are pieces of fence missing all over the city, mind you, this is a fence that separates an area of absolutely nothing from another, yet somehow separate, area of nothing. Unlike Canada, where fences actually designate the boundaries of a piece of property, here, they just exist, and sometimes, just end. Many of the newer structures are painted in extremely bright colours, like the school, for example, which is a very bright yellow, white, blue, and some sort of rust colour around the foundation.

To summarize, everything in Mongolia can accurately be explained by merely adding the words "Crazy Mongolian" at the beginning of the name. (E.g. Crazy Mongolian bus drivers; Crazy Mongolian jungle birds; Crazy Mongolian construction workers; and Crazy Mongolian liver diseases.)

This is truly the best I can explain the country. The only way to get a realistic idea of how insanely weird this country is, is to visit it yourself, which I recommend for everyone. As Dan has said on a few occassions, "This is country numer 27 for me, and it's the weirdest one yet."

A Glimpse of Terelj

A handful of staff members decided to make a trip out to Terelj for the weekend, which is about 55 km, and about 2 hrs away. The trip was a nice tourist ger camp where we did some socializing, horse-back riding, and sight seeing. There wasn't much adventure other than the Mongolians friends that Sue and I made when we crashed their karaoke party. I just thought that some people may enjoy some photographs.

Some horses just hanging out by the edge of the river.

Apparently, this rock, which is almost completely hollow, hid over 100 monks from the communist soldiers during the purges.

The ger camp at Terelj.

Beautiful scenery. This is from the front door of my ger.

My horse, Harold, and Moe.

Turtle Rock.

The bridge to the monastery in the mountains that we walked up to. It seemed like on of those rickety wooden bridges from cartoons. It even had a sign telling us that there could only be 4 people max.

The monastery from the side. 115 steps to the top, but only 108 count.... not too sure why.

This is one bad-ass looking eagle just hanging out at the side of the road. Note the aviator goggles.

A Mongolian golf course. That's right... we got them too. They may not have any fairways (yet contain 400+ yard holes), nor any patrons, and the greens may be perfectly flat and made of compressed sand, and painted green, but we still have golf courses.

Another bout of horseback riding. This time my horse was named Francois... I think I got a lemon. I'm not this far behind to take the picture, my horse just didn't have an accelerator.

On the way home. We are about 30 feet from and actual paved road at this point, but who needs roads when you can drive through a river instead?