The following is a series of journal entries that I made while traversing Outer Mongolia this week. It was quite an adventure, and I learned a lot more than I expected about Mongolia, her culture, people and history. I met some amazing people and saw breathtaking scenery. So I will give you a daily dose of my Five days traveling to the province called "Arhaingai". These are actual journal entries that are only being edited for spelling and grammar (more or less) - therefore they may be a little disconnected and little more "stream of consciousness" writing than I usually produce. Nevertheless, I hope you find this somewhat interesting. I am including some photos here, but I also have a new Photo Gallery where you may view a larger portion of my photos from this trip.
So with that bit of explanation - here is day 1:
We left the State Department Store at 8:30 AM. It was supposed to be a 9 hour bus ride. It was a 15 hour bus ride. There were reasons for that. However, I get ahead of myself.
I traveled to Tsetserleg, Arhaingai, Mongolia today, by way of a Russian van.
Some people that I know from language school (they are a part of the JCS organization here in Mongolia) were heading this way anyway - and I was able to hitch a ride with them. They are going on to a place called Bayanhainger, which is south, toward the Gobi). I am going north - to Tsagaan Nuur (translate: White Lake). In any case, I rode with seven girls, two drivers (Mongolian guys) and a cat. Yeah, a cat. It wasn't as bad as one would expect, however. The cat was really pretty well-behaved. The drivers did okay, as well - other than the fact that they somehow missed the road that we were supposed to be on, and drove about two hours out of the way. Of course, I can see how this would happen. Roads in Mongolia are not really roads at all, but more cow paths (I am talking literal cow paths....sheep paths... yak paths... you name it) that vehicles have decided to take in order to get from one province to another. We took the road to Hustai, and after Hustai the tarmac disappeared and the road degenerated very quickly (not that it was great to start with) to a spaghetti bowl of winding, rutted dirt paths. The scenery was beautiful, but the roads were atrocious - but that's Mongolia. There are plans for a good paved road all the way to Tsetserleg - and you can see where some attempt is being made for that road to be built. However, when we asked the driver when he thought it would be finished, he simply said, "many years".
After the driver found his way back to where we were supposed to be, we hit tarmac again for a little while. But it didn't last long. We were back in the fields heading west. That was part of the reason the trip took 15 hours.
On the other hand, I confess that we made several stops along the way, apart from the standard (and frequent) stops at local "guanz" (little hole in the wall restaurants that serve greasy Mongolian food and milk tea) or Tea Shop (not nearly as quaint as it sounds). We stopped at the following:
1. A wide open place in the middle of nowhere for lunch by the side of the van. This was actually quite nice, as long as we stayed in the shade by the side of the van. I had peanut butter sandwiches and a Snickers bar. The girls brought a watermelon to share. The Cat had Tuna.
2. A sand dune area in a little finger of the Gobi Desert. We stopped long enough to stretch our legs and see camels. Yeah, Camels. It's a desert. There are camels.
3. A stop a few hours later in Khar Khorin. This was quite interesting, as it was the capital of Mongolia in the 13th Century. We're talking Chingess Khan's hang out. Chingess and the Mongol Hordes actually camped out in this place, and it didn't take long for my imagination to rebuild the ruins, to hear the horses, to smell meat being cooked over open fires and to watch the place bustle with activity while in it's former glory. There had been talk at one point that this should be made the current capital of Mongolia. Not sure this will happen any time soon. Methinks they will need to build a road ...
4. We stopped to simply view the scenery (and find a semi-private place to use the restroom - which is really quite an ironic thing to say since there is no room, and it's not all that restful - and it's in particular times like this when I am glad that God made me a boy). The Arhangai province (called an aimag in Mongolian) is absolutely beautiful. I couldn't believe the number of sheep and goats and horses and yaks and cows that this land contains. The van would drop into long valleys dotted with gers and strewn with livestock. It was really quite beautiful.
So we followed the sunset all the way to Tsetserleg and I stayed at a very nice guesthouse called the Fairfield* (NOT by Marriott) and am now writing from a comfortable bed, a cool breeze through the open window and looking forward to a nice breakfast in the morning. We pulled in at about 11:30 PM. It is now after midnight. My next task will be to find a ride to to Tariot after breakfast in the morning. Now I must sleep.
*Note that this hyperlink goes to a website parking place at the writing of this blog. The Fairfield Guesthouse may be redoing their website so check back. I am choosing to leave the hotlink for now.