Colin's Mongolian Adventure: The Gobi Continues

Day 5 - Khongoryn Els to Bayandalay

Day 5 started early, with the intention to hit the road and arrive at our destination as early as possible. We made an early stop to see our guide from the previous day's camel ride. As I've mentioned, he turned out to be the park ranger, and we paid for our stay, and for our day in Yolin Am (we'll get to that). The man and his wife were an interesting couple who had recently returned from 2 weeks in Tibet. They shared, their snuff (ground tobacco that you at least pretend to snort from your hand), some cookies and airag. Airag is fermented mare's milk, but this wasn't ordinary airag, it was camel airag. This stuff was possibly the most vile and disgusting thing I have ever tasted. It was similar to liquidy sour yogurt that had been heated for too long. Nonetheless, I can now say I've had fermented camel's milk at 10 am. After a couple of hours on the road, Dava hit the breaks hard, and told Nora that there were a herd of gazelles to our right. He was right, and they were so close they looked like tiny specs in the distance. We were told that they rarely come into the areas that people regularly travel until the temperatures get colder, and they need to stay nearer the water sources. The rest of the day was somewhat uneventful, or at least should have been. We arrived in Bayandalay a little after 3. Nora went to buy some food, while Andrew and I searched for a store for him to buy a pair of socks. In our search we accidentally walked into someone's home and a pool hall. The locals seemed eager to have us play a game, but we thought we should get back to the group since we thought we would be back on the road shortly. Turns out, we weren't going back out on the road at all. We rented both rooms in the local motel, a nice change from sleeping the the ferocious wind. After a few drinks, some rummy, and dinner, I mentioned that I felt like exploring the town, as it was only 8:00. The others quickly agreed and we started to head out. We got as far as the back lot before we made our first stop. There were 3 kids kicking around a ball, so Andrew, Maureen and I decided to hang out for a bit a play too. The game quickly developed into a kids vs. the grownups (or locals vs. foreigners) game of keep away. Of course I began to cheat by picking up the kids as the ball came to them. They thought this was hilarious, and quickly tried pulling my tricks on me (with a little less effect). The game came to an end when one of the kids brought a week-old puppy out, and we couldn't stay away from it - the dirtiest trick of all. While the three of us played, Cat went in search of a bar, only to find out that it was close with the power off (this is a nightly occurrence in Mongolian towns, since the Russians provide the electricity). When she found that the bar was unavailable, she decided to stay at the motel, while the three of us and Nora went to the town hall to check out the goings-on. It turns out there was a show in town from UB. It started off "normal" enough with a bunch of dancing. Not dancing, like back home, but full-out waltzes and line dances. Maureen, who loves to dance, learned how to ask in Mongolian. She approached the local police officer, only to be shot down in front of the entire crowd. When enough people showed up, they collect 3000 T from everyone, and the show began. Three words: Weirdest Show EVER!!! So much so, they should make t-shirts with that slogan. First, a woman, sang a couple of songs, although the amp was turned up a little high for her voice she was pretty good. Then the show got weird. First, the contortionist took stage, followed by more singing, a dance, a belly-dancer, more dancing, an act they called "yoga", but was oddly reminiscent of a freak-show I saw at UWO, more singing and dancing, and finally a strip-tease. You heard me. Weirdest. Show. Ever. We went back to the motel, laughing hysterically and settled into the best sleep of the trip.

Possibly the most sketch-bag motel ever. It had a ceiling tile caving in, my bed had a piece of cardboard instead of wood holding up my "mattress", it had a whole 2 rooms, and 4 beds in each, with no space for anything else. The bathroom was a giant hole in the ground on the other end of the lot. I loved it.

Maureen, amongst a swarm of Mongolian children during a game of keep away.

Notice who everyone is staring at and laughing. Also, notice the embarrassed policeman behind Maureen.

The belly-dancing at the weirdest show ever.

Crazy waltzing. SO fast, my camera couldn't even capture it well.

Day 6 - Bayandalay to Tsogt-Ovoo

We started the day by driving to Yolin Am. Yolin Am is a very narrow gorge that is nestled in the middle of a mountain range, and can get up to 10 feet of ice by the end of the winter. On the way there we stopped at one of the world's oldest monasteries, or what WAS one of the world's oldest monasteries. Not surprisingly, the communists destroyed it during the 1930s. At this same site we the foundations of two of the oldest known permanent structures in human history. They date back to a few millenia pre-bronze age. I found an amazing brick carved that was from the monastery. Later, Cat asked if I took it, and I said "no, it belongs there." From the monastery, we drove down (and I mean down - a fairly steep slope) into the canyon. Not long after entering the canyon we spotted a herd of wild sheep - apparently even more rare than spotting gazelles. We continued along the toughest road I have ever experienced and stopped at a passage that was no more than 3 inches wider than the van we were driving. At this same spot, we looked up to see the Golden Vulture, which exists only in this mountain range and is the only type of vulture that does not have a black body. We then began the 2.5 km hike through the canyon, hopping back and forth across the stream an developing ice. The scenery was incredible. 1200-1500 foot mountain peaks on all side of us, and sometimes less that 8 feet between the sheer cliffs on either side. The canyon seemed to be trying to give me a good scare, as the ice caved beneath me at once (only the tip of my shoe got wet thankfully), and later, a rocked rolled over as I stepped on it, making a loud cracking noise, like a gunshot, that echoed through the canyon. After the canyon, we went to see the museum, but the caretakers couldn't find the key. It is supposed to have dinosaur bones and eggs, as well as stuffed ibex, wild sheep, and other wild animals. It seemed like it would be worth the 1000 T entry fee. We stopped at a nearby ger for lunch, and Nora got bitten by the owner's dog. We continued on the Dalanzadgad, the Airmag (provincial) capital, and Mongolia's third largest city, with a whopping population of 30 000. The biggest feature of the town (for us) was the paved roads. Nora stopped by the hospital to make sure she didn't get rabies from the deranged canine. We continued on, drive past sunset. As we approached Tsogt-Ovoo, we chanced upon a local doctor, riding a motorbike that would break down every 1/2 mile or so, and also had no headlight, so Dava drove behind to light the way. We found a one-room little house to sleep in, which was owned by the lady who ran the hotel, and rented it to people who thought the hotel was too expensive. Her son hung out with us, very excited to show off his toys, school work and awards - he was the local waltz and latin dancing champion, and had several academic awards. We gave him some batteries in case he had toys that could use them.

This is what remains of the monastery. It was made from stone bricks and sand. I don't know how anything survived the communists.

This brick would have been carved close to 4000 years ago. I wanted to keep it, but I just couldn't do it. Maybe it's because the Buddhist believe so firmly in Karma.