17 Days in the Wilderness

Hello everyone,

Why Mongolia isn�t the top of everyones place to travel to list I don�t know! It has to be the most beautiful country I�ve ever visited. The nature is made even more spectacular because its so unspoilt and has practically no-one living in it.

From grassy plains so vast that you can see the perfect outline of clouds shadows, to never ending moutain ranges, rocky canyons and winding streams through the valley floor. One day you feel like you�re in the Swiss Alps, the next like you�re on the moon and the next feels like you�re walking on the hardened crust of the earths core.

The wildlife here adds a wonderful dimension that is practically impossible to experience in other countries. Herds of wild horses, camels and yaks roam throughout the land. We often camped near nomadic gers with the sheep, goats and cows wandering around freely. The bird life is astounding from vultures to falcons, kites, eagles, buzzards and many songbirds. We also saw marmots, gazelles, rams and Rudolph (reindeer). If you could venture just a little more into the wild it is possible to see so much more.

Outside Ulan Bator, there are no roads just numerous tracks in all directions. How our driver knew which way to go was a miracle. His name was Bimba and he was a big Mongolian who looked tough but was sweet and funny. He could speak a little English and was a life-saver in finding places to camp out of the wind.

If I had known how cold it was going to be here I would never have come. The first 10 days the winds were merciless and the tempretures freezing. At the Lake Khovosgal in the North it got colder! We had no idea that the lake was still frozen! It�s a very big lake � we spent 2 days/3 nights there and saw maybe 1/4 of it. However, Im glad that I didn�t know because I got through it and loved (almost) every moment of it : )

It would be an extremely long email if I try and described everything that made my trip here so special, so Ive made a list of the biggest WOW moments (in no particular order):-

1) The sound of hundreds of wild horses galloping past my tent at night to drink at the lake

2) Our driver bribing a National Park entrance official with half a bottle of vodka to let us in for free (to be fair we always paid when we knew the money was going to the park)

2) Walking on a frozen river in the desert

4) Watching a sunset in the Mongolian version of the Bungle Bungles (Australia)

5) Drinking yaks milk tea (yuk!) with nomadic people in their ger (tent made of felt)

6) Seeing a skinned horses head, complete with teeth, in the meat market

7) Soaking in hot springs after 5 days with no shower in the wind and cold

8) Watching a hawk swoop down out of the sky to pick up some meat barely 5 metres away from where I was standing

9) Camel riding in a sand storm in sand dunes

10) Using a skull (think of a goat) to weight down the tent flaps when there were no stones

11) Carpets of wildflowers (purple, pink, yellow, white, orange, blue) on the forest floors

12) Watching a nomadic Mongolian catch a new horse to ride (to replace the one he was using)

13) Skeletons of wild animals picked clean and bleached white scattered about the prairie

14) The awe-inspiring creaks and groans of the ice coating a frozen lake moving together

15) Riding a horse up into the mountains to vist the Tsvetan people who are nomadic reindeer herders.

16) One of the many unemployed in Mongolia pointing a gun at me with hate-filled eyes (probably not real but as I walked away was still thinking don�t shoot!)

We spent many hours every day in the car on bumpy roads, driving on average 250km a day. I tried to walk at least 2 hours a day either in the morning or evening. Frequently I would climb up one of the many hills to marvel at the view and then jog back down again. My fellow campers were rather lazy and hardly ever walked anywhere!

The French girl and I were more similar in our attitudes to want to get out and do something, but the Israelis wanted to sleep till 10 every morning and then stay up late at night with the fire! As a group we couldnt have been worst matched, but we all got on well despite our differences. In the end there was 6 of us � 2 israeli girls, 2 boys and the French girl + me. We left the French girl camping by herself at the lake.

I hope she is Ok. For the most part, the Mongolians are friendly and curious. They would often come to just watch us setting up camp, maybe try and sell us something, help us start a fire or invite us to their ger. It was cute.

Then you have the towns full of unemployed men. The rate is about 37%. The towns are full of dilapidated buildings and apartment blocks that should be condemned. Other people still have gers but all property is surrounded by a 2m high fence � crime is rampant here. Shops are always barred up.

The men sit around on steps or on the floor looking like they have no life, which they don�t. Mongolia is one of the poorest countries in the world, there is practically no business here, no foreign investment. Many drink. We had one drunk guy throwing rocks at our mini-van and all of us had someone pushing us at some time or expressing dislike of tourists. Ususally other Mongolians would step in if it went too far.

You cant help but feel compassion for them though cause there are a the bottom of an economic hole and there is no way out at the moment. It just sucks. The nomadic people live a tough life but it is a life. However, in 2000 there was drought and famine. Many of them lost everything and were forced to the towns.

In Ulan Bataar there are approx. 6,000 street kids without homes.

So there you have it! My time in Mongolia! Its been pretty amazing. I wanted to leave today (Saturday) but the train is full so I leave for Irktusk on Monday. Because Ive spent so much more time here than I expected, I probably wont get back to England now till roughly 10th August. Im looking forward to going to Russia. One step closer to coming back home!

Hope you are all well and happy,
Lots of love
kathryn