It is now time to officially Colin's Mongolian Adventure. If you care to follow my adventures further, you can find my Indonesian experiences at colindonesia.wordpress.com where I will share my views and experiences of living on the outskirts of Jakarta as well as my adventures throughout the country.
Thank you to everyone who found the time to check out my experiences in Mongolia.
Bayarteh and Sain Yavaraa.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Bayarteh, Mongolia
There is one thing to be said about the late spring/early summer in Mongolia.... it'll make you fall in love with the country all over again. With only a week left before I leave this land for good, I find myself rather reminiscent and nostalgic about my time here. There have been some crazy adventures and slowly over the past two years, the completely absurd has become commonplace and often not even noteworthy.
Here's a brief glimpse of the past two years of Mongolia:
Elk Attack
Yes, you read that right. My first real experience with Mongolia came slightly more than a month into living here. Two friends of mine and I decided to go on an overnight hike to go to an old monastery that has ancient rock-paintings at the sight. A few hours into our hike, we ended up being confronted by four young elk - one buck, three does. At first they seemed curious, they just wandered away. When we followed them into the clearing, they changed their minds about us being harmless and chased us around for the next few hours. We eventually escaped the wrath of these beasts and found ourselves in some random ger (felt tent) camp, which was not even close to where we planned to go, where they fed us, gave us a bed to sleep us and provided plenty of beverage.
Gobi Desert
This one is particularly strong for me as I visited the Gobi (which is the Mongolian word for desert) on two separate occasions. The first time through was probably a bit more exciting because I had no idea what I should expect. There are so many unforgettable experiences from the Gobi. The glowing red cliffs at the break of dawn while standing in the middle of the Flaming Cliffs; Climbing the tallest sand dunes in the world - twice; riding a camel along the bottom of the dunes for about 3 hours longer than my rear-end appreciated; crashing in a family's ger for the night without warning and sharing vodka shots all night with the fathers; realizing that we bring more on a on-week trip through the Gobi than the people who live there own; drawing water from a well to give water to the flocks and herds of cows, goats and camels that would visit without a herder; being crammed into an old Russian Turgon with seven other people for as much as 8 hours a day every day for an entire week; going on not one, but two road trips where we didn't see anything that resembled a road.
Off-road Biking to Terelj
Terelj is a fairly large national park located about 70 km east of Ulaanbaatar. For March Break a small group of us decided to rent bikes to ride out there and back. Of course, I hadn't been on a bicycle since I was in high school and we didn't even remotely follow any roads. I got bitten by a rather ferocious dog chasing me, lost the nut on my back wheel and crashed with surprising grace. We rode about 170 km is 3 days and pushed myself to do something I didn't think I was capable of or even interested in.
The Rainy Season
The "Rainy Season" in Mongolia isn't really a season at all. It's about 2 weeks of continuous rain. Unfortunately, this is primarily a desert country and the city had no water drainage infrastructure to speak of. For 2 weeks, the city, check that, the country floods. Last year alone, over twenty families perished as their gers slid down the side of a muddy hill. Five people in the countryside were killed by rain (newspaper's words, not mine). On the positive side, a country that can look very brown, grey and uninviting for a large portion of the year quickly becomes green and full of life.
Eagle Festival
Once in a while it is worth braving the -40 degree temperatures in the winter to experience something unique. Last year, the Mongolian Eagle festival was moved from the West of the country to Terelj. Here we got to watch very large hunting eagles strut their respective hunting talents. One of the events involves a man releasing a live fox for some eagles to hunt. This was a little disturbing until we realized that the foxes were, in most cases, smarter than the eagles and more often than not got away.
Food
Mongolian cuisine is not wonderfully well known around the world. Right now most of you are thinking of Mongolian Grill, aren't you. There is basically nothing Mongolian about Mongolian Grill. Mongolian food involves a great deal of meat. This meat is usually supplemented by fat and noodles. Virtually every Mongolian meal consists of these same ingredients in one way or another. There is one exception - dumplings. Mongolians love their dumplings. I can live without the buuz (pronounced boze) - a small doughy shell with goat or mutton in the middle - and the bansh - a larger version of the buuz. The huushuur (ho-shoor), however, is magnificent. For my birthday this year, I told my students not to bring me presents. Instead, bringing my huushuur was more than welcome. I ended up with roughly 200 of them. They resemble a Jamaican patty, but the crust is a little more doughy, and the filling is simply beef and onion, but the seasoning is unbelievable. I still maintain that good huushuur would make the best after-bar snack ever. Since arriving in Mongolia, I have tasted the milk of five (yes, five) different types of animals. I didn't like any of them. Especially when they were fermented. For those of you wondering, they are cow, goat, horse (both fermented and not), camel (also tried it fermented) and yak. If there is one thing I miss about Canada, it's the milk.
While I can't convey every great memory, or the amazing people I've met while here, I'll leave you with this: If the opportunity ever arises to visit Mongolia, seize it. It is a beautiful and magnificent country that is still largely untouched but modern life. That being said, think twice before choosing to live her for an extended period. It is not a country for the feint-of-heart. It can be trying and difficult at times. Without question though, I will forget the hardships of this country and remember the beauty and adventure it brought to my life.
Mongolia, bayarlalaa, bayarteh. (Thank you and good-bye)
Here's a brief glimpse of the past two years of Mongolia:
Elk Attack
Yes, you read that right. My first real experience with Mongolia came slightly more than a month into living here. Two friends of mine and I decided to go on an overnight hike to go to an old monastery that has ancient rock-paintings at the sight. A few hours into our hike, we ended up being confronted by four young elk - one buck, three does. At first they seemed curious, they just wandered away. When we followed them into the clearing, they changed their minds about us being harmless and chased us around for the next few hours. We eventually escaped the wrath of these beasts and found ourselves in some random ger (felt tent) camp, which was not even close to where we planned to go, where they fed us, gave us a bed to sleep us and provided plenty of beverage.
Gobi Desert
This one is particularly strong for me as I visited the Gobi (which is the Mongolian word for desert) on two separate occasions. The first time through was probably a bit more exciting because I had no idea what I should expect. There are so many unforgettable experiences from the Gobi. The glowing red cliffs at the break of dawn while standing in the middle of the Flaming Cliffs; Climbing the tallest sand dunes in the world - twice; riding a camel along the bottom of the dunes for about 3 hours longer than my rear-end appreciated; crashing in a family's ger for the night without warning and sharing vodka shots all night with the fathers; realizing that we bring more on a on-week trip through the Gobi than the people who live there own; drawing water from a well to give water to the flocks and herds of cows, goats and camels that would visit without a herder; being crammed into an old Russian Turgon with seven other people for as much as 8 hours a day every day for an entire week; going on not one, but two road trips where we didn't see anything that resembled a road.
Off-road Biking to Terelj
Terelj is a fairly large national park located about 70 km east of Ulaanbaatar. For March Break a small group of us decided to rent bikes to ride out there and back. Of course, I hadn't been on a bicycle since I was in high school and we didn't even remotely follow any roads. I got bitten by a rather ferocious dog chasing me, lost the nut on my back wheel and crashed with surprising grace. We rode about 170 km is 3 days and pushed myself to do something I didn't think I was capable of or even interested in.
The Rainy Season
The "Rainy Season" in Mongolia isn't really a season at all. It's about 2 weeks of continuous rain. Unfortunately, this is primarily a desert country and the city had no water drainage infrastructure to speak of. For 2 weeks, the city, check that, the country floods. Last year alone, over twenty families perished as their gers slid down the side of a muddy hill. Five people in the countryside were killed by rain (newspaper's words, not mine). On the positive side, a country that can look very brown, grey and uninviting for a large portion of the year quickly becomes green and full of life.
Eagle Festival
Once in a while it is worth braving the -40 degree temperatures in the winter to experience something unique. Last year, the Mongolian Eagle festival was moved from the West of the country to Terelj. Here we got to watch very large hunting eagles strut their respective hunting talents. One of the events involves a man releasing a live fox for some eagles to hunt. This was a little disturbing until we realized that the foxes were, in most cases, smarter than the eagles and more often than not got away.
Food
Mongolian cuisine is not wonderfully well known around the world. Right now most of you are thinking of Mongolian Grill, aren't you. There is basically nothing Mongolian about Mongolian Grill. Mongolian food involves a great deal of meat. This meat is usually supplemented by fat and noodles. Virtually every Mongolian meal consists of these same ingredients in one way or another. There is one exception - dumplings. Mongolians love their dumplings. I can live without the buuz (pronounced boze) - a small doughy shell with goat or mutton in the middle - and the bansh - a larger version of the buuz. The huushuur (ho-shoor), however, is magnificent. For my birthday this year, I told my students not to bring me presents. Instead, bringing my huushuur was more than welcome. I ended up with roughly 200 of them. They resemble a Jamaican patty, but the crust is a little more doughy, and the filling is simply beef and onion, but the seasoning is unbelievable. I still maintain that good huushuur would make the best after-bar snack ever. Since arriving in Mongolia, I have tasted the milk of five (yes, five) different types of animals. I didn't like any of them. Especially when they were fermented. For those of you wondering, they are cow, goat, horse (both fermented and not), camel (also tried it fermented) and yak. If there is one thing I miss about Canada, it's the milk.
While I can't convey every great memory, or the amazing people I've met while here, I'll leave you with this: If the opportunity ever arises to visit Mongolia, seize it. It is a beautiful and magnificent country that is still largely untouched but modern life. That being said, think twice before choosing to live her for an extended period. It is not a country for the feint-of-heart. It can be trying and difficult at times. Without question though, I will forget the hardships of this country and remember the beauty and adventure it brought to my life.
Mongolia, bayarlalaa, bayarteh. (Thank you and good-bye)
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