Mongolian Green Hills

And there it was, the land of new adventures, the land of coldness, the land of horses, the land of fat, the land of green hills........ MONGOLIA

 A country with a population of 2.600.000, almost all literate, 35% living under the poverty line and to every person there are 14 horses.

The Mongolian lady beside me in the plane got picked up by her kids and brother and waved me along in their car. So at 7am I got dropped at the biggest temple in Mongolia, in the heart of Ulaanbaatar, it's capital. Sitting here, writing my first impressions, a girl walked up and insisted we should meet again tonight so she could drive me around town.

So here were are in the evening. My stuff put away in a guesthouse, money extracted, gas for cooking bought. Driven to a nice lookout by Oenroo. Later we picked up a friend of hers and had a beer and cigarette (in Mongolia the cigarettes are very thin) in an expensive hotel with view.

Next day, strolling around, eating a skewer with good meat and disgusting sheep tail fat pieces on the street, I paid a visit to the Choijin Lama Temple Museum. For a first time visitor to Asia it was really nice. The temples smelled dusty and herby and were extremely colorful. Every day at 5pm they have a little performance with traditional instruments, throat singing, contortion (snakegirl), mask dancing, a shaman dance and folk dancing. Super private for just the ten of us. 

Underway, out of Ulaanbaatar. To get out of the city I took a bus. The seat beside me was crawling with three kids who were tamed with pushing pistachio shells on your fingertips and ticking against anything for sound. Before I went on I had a good plate of everywhere-to-get noodles.

Whiehoo, after two long hitches I made it in record time to this valley with the Amarbayasgalant Khiid (monastery) and last resting place of the great sculptor Zanabazar (for who knows him). Gers were dotting the plains, grass grew till the tops of the mountains, the sky was blue with hazy clouds, men herded their sheep, goat, horses, cows and yaks and the smell of strong herbs and dung filled my nose. This is where I put my tent. Just when darkness fell a guy came up to my tent, he had visited me before with a small kid. This time he came alone and it was clear he was interested in more then just my Lonely Planet. He sneaked closer and closer and made hugging gestures. A bit disappointed that I had to deal with this on my first night in Mongolia I pushed him a little out of the way. He was almost sitting IN my tent now. A nice view, but I did not sleep very tight....

Between all the shit and flowers you would find tiny wild strawberries.

Around 10am, the little kids in the monastery blew their shell horns to announce school/ceremony was started.

And then the humming starts, many prayers are mumbled by little and small monks and old sanscrites wrapped in sun bleached cloths are undone and 'aired'-through to let the prayers fly I guess. 

A brand new stupa. Luckily the lights weren't working yet, it would have ruined the view of the dark sky.

Going for a walk. Here an Ovoo, a shamanistic collection of stones, wood or other offerings to the gods, usually found in high places. In Mongolia they are almost always hung with blue silk scarfs, representing their endless blue skies.

From top to top along the bridges I picked flowers and got deaf with all the crickets who jumped around my ears. Once again I felt free, into my element and full with power. This is what I love.

A lonesome rider on the plain.

After two nights at the monastery I hiked and hitched further to the town of Bulgan. Another hill supported my tent and as always an Ovoo. This time a boy came and visited me. He brought his binoculars too and together we watched the birds and city below us.

A very typical valley. Greenness dotted with white gers, the traditional houses of the nomadic Mongolian. A wooden frame, 5m in diameter, and canvas (before hide) is used. At the top there is a circular opening for air and the wood stove pipe which is to be closed by a cloth. If it's really warm, like these days in July and August, they roll-up the bottoms so air can blow through.

On to my next ride, walking down the hill, this family waved me closer and fed me airag (fermented mare milk). It's very typical here, most people who are not used to it don't like it. It's very very sour, like karnemelk/buttermilk but then more fermented. If you drink little bits it's not to bad. Maybe I should carry a bottle of sirup, that would make it lots better. And then there was a bowl of tsai as well, their way of tea......not with sugar but with salt. I was happy I already knew what to expect before I got here.

Next on was this family. The paved road ended and the regular dirt road started. This is more the norm in Mongolia. It's pretty hard to hitch hike as well. Not just one road disappears behind the hill, there are at least five or six tracks to take, whichever one is best and least muddy. We picnicked just somewhere and the kids and I swam in the muddy river. It was too far to Moron, so we slept in a Ger camp (business ger, made for tourists like a hotel) and arrived the next day just in time for.....

Ah yes, some camels along the way, you see them too like wild cattle, very funny.

....... Just in time for the Naadam!!! This traditional festival with archery, horse racing and wrestling is always on the 11th of July, just before i came. i was a little bummed I missed it, but here in Moron, because this province exists 90 years, it was held extra big and a week later. And we arrived just in time for the opening ceremony with famous singers, a speech, dancers, traditional reindeer people from the north, a big show with kids and a long parade with old players. After that the wrestling started. As soon as one of the participants touches the ground with hands or knees he's out. There is no ring, they can go anywhere, just like in the rest of Mongolia. That's really tru, you feel really free here, you can walk, camp and pee anywhere you like.

A mountain of goat or sheep fat.

A plate of well done sheep or goat meat with fat. EVERYTHING tastes like goat or sheep. The milk, the bread, the tea, the yoghurt, the people (they smell like it). And in my opinion it's not such a nice aftertaste. The plate on the picture is really nice, this is not the norm. There was very little fat with the meat and so we ordered another plate to be really full for once. A plate like this costs 2600Togrog/1,50Euro.

From Moron I took a lift to the famous Khovsgol Nuur (lake). This is a place where almost all tourists go to track on horse or by foot. I thought about a horse as well, but getting your own is very hard. They all get stolen at night so nobody lends you their horses. So I went hiking.

The lake is 136km long and one of the biggest freshwater reserves in the world. Mongolians have no taps in their houses, they get their water from little water-houses all over town and they have to pay a small amount for it. As a traveler this is very unhandy, you can't just walk into a restaurant or home and ask if they can fill your bottle. Buying new bottles is very much against my principals and finding this water-house is not always that easy. So hiking along the lake was very nice. As much drinkable water as I would like. I had packed food for six days and had no further plans when I started to walk up the road along the more remote Eastern shore when a handsome Russian family picked me up and drove me along this very bad road to a halfway point, four hours and 100km out. Just in time for a swim before a big thunderstorm came.

So many flowers in July in Mongolia

The panoramic photo's are very nice, but very small on this site. This is the view from my tent that first night.

Fields of flowers.

A butterfly dries her wings in the morning sun in front of  my tent.

Crossing a 15km valley on the second day, many many flies, a nice sun (which burned my nose a little) and boring endlessness.

On that tiny peninsula with the few trees I camped the third night. It had a bright green grassy hill with lovely flowers, a white-stone beach, no flies or mosquitos, a gorgeous sunset and all the water in the world. Where was my boyfriend..... The last part I hitched a ride with a petrol truck, it was raining and would be very boring to walk, more grassy plains.

Half a day of rest, after the drizzle came the sun and so I took off again the next morning up the West shore. This side has mountains and I wanted to climb one for a nice view of the whole lake. Doesn't it look like I'm on a tropical palm beach?

Straight through the forests, the pinetrees are wide enough apart to just make your own way. It's very easy to hike in Mongolia.

Those four dogs followed me 12 hours that day, they came all the way to the highest top, slept when I rested, were happy to see water when we went down again and then started to guard my tent at night!

View from a 2500m top.

Down at the lake. We made it. The dogs and I hiked a loooong way and we slept like roses on this pretty peninsula. We had been so lucky with the weather. Normally it always rains some part of the day.

This petrol truck brought me back to Moron. They are building a new road, but nobody likes it, so they all use one of the five old sand roads that go parallel to it. Here we had to make the side a little less steep so the truck would make the dent.

And this is this morning with the milk and yoghurt ladies. I'm eating fresh yoghurt with goat taste (a little sugar helps a lot). Again it's such a quick impression of what I've done. so much more has happened, so many more people I've met. I write pages a day in my diary and still I have more to tell. So far Mongolia is a good country to travel. The people always help you, not that they like it, it's more that they need to, next time they are beside the road hoping for a lift. It's hard to get in contact with them, they are very independent and not always do I trust them. The harsh land has made it's people harsh as well I think.Well, this is all I can do for now, we're four hours further and I want to get out again. Thanks for reading!