For our fall break, Jeff, Jen, Jonny, Megan, Gurgit and I took a tour of the Gobi. The first half was to be a similar experience as what I had the previous year, however, this year would find us turning west instead of east. Rather than a play-by-play of each day, I'll give you a "snapshot" view.
Just starting out, Jeff is drooling with anticipation.
Typically, the first thing to do is get gas. The blown tire on the bottom of the truck was a bit of a bad omen. We had our share of problems with the vehicle this year, including a near-accident in the first few minutes of the trip.
We stopped for a little hike and some lunch in the protection of this mountain. Our guide, Inga, told us it was bad luck to day the name of the mountain while in sight of it. It clearly made her nervous, so we didn't push.
Our first ger stay of the trip, featuring a 7 year old girl that was giddy playing cards with Jen and drawing pictures of each of us.
Because it was so cold, our van wouldn't start in the morning. Dawaa (the same driver as I had the year before) lit a fire under the van to warm it up. To keep from freaking out, we lent the family a hand in rounding up their goats for milking. I ventured in and grabbed them by the horns to line them up, while Jen and Megan tried their hands at the actual milking.
A hare hiding in the dirt. Megan and I were standing just 5 feet away and didn't notice him at all. Dawaa had to point it out to us.
Dawaa asked us all to get out so we could take pictures of him driving by.
We got up nice and early to see the Flaming Cliffs at sunrise. We were greeted by the silhouettes of a few camels. Jeff and I trekked about a kilometer over the the cliffs proper for the photo op of a lifetime.
The sun breaking the horizon.
We weren't disappointed.
Stopping for lunch in the middle of nowhere. It was warm enough to take the coats off for a little while.
Wildlife watching. Dawaa spotted a fox on the side of the mountain, so we stopped for some pictures. We saw a couple of foxes, some vultures, and a ton of tiny little gopher-like animals.
Picking our way down through the gorge at Yolin-Am.
We stopped to fill our giant canteens with the water from the stream. The stream doubled as a road. You have to ignore the fact that we just along this stream for about an hour before we decided to collect some of the water.
Most tours detour around these mountains. We went through them. This pass is barely wider than the Turgon. Jeff, Jonny and I got out to tape and photograph the van travelling through the gorge. It must have been funny watching the three of us running around to film the very van we'd been riding around in for hours and hours each day.
After surviving the very serious terrain in the mountains, the flat, open plains broke the van. I don't know a lot about cars, but as I understand it, the bracket holding the leaf-plates (suspension) snapped, so we couldn't drive anywhere without risking serious damage.
Looks safe doesn't it?
We had to keep warm somehow during our 2 hour wait while Dawaa magically fixed the van.
Possibly the happiest looking camel in the world.
Climbing the tallest sand dunes in the world. Jonny just charged up the 300 metre high dunes.
Snow on the dunes. Inga said she couldn't remember that ever happening before.
I mastered the sand dunes again.
We lost our radiator cap (van problem number 4 if you're keeping track), so we needed to get water to refill the radiator. Some camels came by for a drink, so Jen obliged while Dawaa (again magically) fixed the van.
Ovoos, they're everywhere.
At Kharkhorin, the ancient capital of Mongolia. This is inside the monastery. Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman visited this in their adventure mini-series "Long Way Round".
Jeff & I heated some water on our stove, and got to half-shower. We only really wet our hair, but it was so refreshing, and we even felt clean.
We were entertained in our ger with some traditional Mongolian music.
Tarmac. Glorious tarmac.
Chinngis Khaan believed that turtles were the greatest animal in the world because the could survive equally on land and in the water. There are four that protect Kharkhorin.
Penis Rock. Mongolians swear that it's natural. I have a hard time (no pun intended) believing that.
On the "road"
No comments:
Post a Comment