Go mad for the Nomad!

1st October 2010

We arrived in Ulaan Baatar (UB to the locals) early on Thursday morning and as soon as we stopped our carriage was beseiged by local currency exchange touts. It was crazy as most of them looked about 130 years old but ran around on sprightly legs and got right in your face waving wads of notes that resembled used toilet paper.

We managed to squeeze past them and were eventually met on the platform by our guide who was to whisk us off to the Ger encampment. Not an overly pleasing prospect having consumed a large quantity of Vodka the night before with a scandinavian couple and I was feeling as rough as anything. To make matters worse the encampment lay 80kms to the north of UB on a road that was originally paved in 1613 and hadnt seen an ounce of resurfacing since.

Somehow my stomach managed to stay intact and we arrived at the camp heavily shaken but otherwise all in one piece and I have to say it was magical. Our camp (Chinngis tourist camp) lay nestled between rolling hills surrounded by other small camps. We were shown to our Ger and it was amazing, we had previoulsy been advised that we would be sleeping on solid wood beds and that the floor would be covered in spiders, however ours had three beds with matresses and even electricity, which felt like we were cheating a bit but were so please we didnt care. The camp even had its own toilet block and restaurant so we had really fallen on our feet.

When we were introduced to our local guide he advised us that we would be the last tourists of the season which meant that we were pretty much on our own. We were asked if we wanted breakfast and knew that we were really living the nomadic lifestyle when they presented us with sausages and eggs, I was in heaven. No sooner had we finished and left the breakfast Ger they started to dismantle it and it seemded that ours was to be one of the last few to remain intact until we left.

We were then left to our own devices for a few hours, during which time we scoped out the reserve and went up to the viewing podium that overlooked the valley beneath, an absolutely stunning view which once againt my photos will not do justice for. Tyler seems to have discovered an infatuation with bones on this trip, so much so that we went scouring the countryside for them everywhere and much to his excitement we found ram skulls and cow jaws. He wanted to bring them all with him which would have made us all look slightly more freaky than we already did, perhaps we could have fashioned them into hats to ensure everyone gave us the widest birth possible.

Just as my hangover was starting to subside the guide reminded us that we would be starting our hourse riding tour just after lunch and having read the guest book over breakfast it was a pretty daunhting prospect with many reviews stating that they had never ached so much in their lives.
I prepared myself and tied my padded jacket around my arse to provided an extra layer of cushoning over and above the hefty fat deposits that already reside there. We were shown our horses and whisked off across the country side. I had expected a 5 minute ride and then be back in the camp but ohhh no they wanted to take us to the giant 50 ft Chinngis Khan Museum that we had passed on the way in, approximately 45 minutes ride away.

Although we were far from professional, you cant help but picture yourself in a western (much the same as playing guitar hero makes you think you can actually play guitar), that is right up to the point where the guide decides that it would be good to do a gentle canter and your arse starts to lift off of the saddle and then collide once again with it at break neck speeds.

What ensued was that every ounce of fat on us rippled up and down in a very fast rythmic motion whilst our bums were polverised by the hard mongolian saddle beneath, rather like ridding on a pneumatic drill whilst someone slaps your arse with a paddle. Still eventually we made it to the museum and what a site it was, litterally in the middle of nowhere someone thought that it would be a great idea to erect a giant statue of Ghengis Khan and stuff a museum beneath it. We went in and you can climb right up to the top and come out on a viewing platform about half way up his body. Tyler found it emmensly funny that we all walked out of where he penis would be and insisted we took pictures there.

Although the horse riding sounded rough we all loved it and I would highly recommend it to anyone, we could even walk in a straight line this morning so it couldnt have been that bad!

We went back to the ger just before nightfall and realised that there seems to be two temperatures in Mongolia, scorching hot or freezing cold, we even managed to combine these so that it was scorching hot in the ger (thanks to Paulines arsonistic tendancies) and sub zero as soon as we opened the door.

We settled down for the night in a hot sweat and woke up early in the morning in the freezing cold, it was quite an experience and to be honest although reading through this it sounds like some peoples worst nightmare, I would move here tomorrow, the place is amazing and I have never felt so relaxed.

As they were closing up camp we offered to move into a hostel for the evening so that they could dismantle our ger but first they took us on a tour of the nearby Terelj national park, an area of incredible beauty and amazing stone monoliths. I even got to pose with an eagle on my arm, which was an amazing experience and quite terrifying at the same time and once again Tyler managed to find a giant ram skull so he was in his element.

Once again the road journey anywhere was like sitting in a blender and there is every chance that our internal organs have merged together thanks to the complete exclusion of suspension on our tour bus. However this didnt deter the driver who decided that the perfect place for a picnic would be at the top of the steepest, bumpiest hill that the area had to offer. At one point I believe that I became as one with the chair I was sitting on and was worried that getting out would cause me to lose a layer of skin from my back.

Still we had a fantastic day and we are now settled into the Mr Gomez Hostel in UB, which seems full of charm if you manage to overlook the cast iron railings over the windows and the fact that its an awfully scary place in general. The main thing though is that it has a shower and we all once again feel clean and happy! Its the small things in life that keep you going!