Absolutely adore Mongolia. It is my new favourite place. Apart from the 2 minutes when I was careless enough to get my bag nicked it was wonderful.
The people are lovely, very calm and gentle and hospitable also incredibly strong. They need to be to survive the harsh climate, it's between freezing and -40 for 6 months of the year and very dry, the first rain of the year began just before I arrived in mid July when the landscape turned from brown to green. The mountains were carpeted with wild flowers so really this was Spring.
The temperature was comfortably in the 20's for the whole month apart from 2 of my 6 days in the Gobi Desert when it went uo to 32.
It was raining when I arrived and the desert bloomed, surprisingly with wild chives. Mile upon mile as far as the eye could see, a pink carpet.
The few people who manage to live here chop and store them in salt. I had pictures of this :( and other domestic activities like making fermented mares milk. Delicious, like alchoholic fizzy yogurt.
Lots of camel photos (2 humps) and video of myself milking a goat, climbing a giant sand dune, swimming in a river, exploring a cave and canyons with ice which will last until the end of July, all lost.
I had to hire a car and driver for the trip, there is no alternative but it was great because we could go wherever I wanted. Lots and lots and lots of driving across the seemingly endless plains on tracks; there are no roads. V. happy to have landcruiser, unlike the old Russian mini vans of some tourists.
The driver searched all over for the petroglyphs I wanted to see. They are everywhere including here in Kazakhstan and Georgia. 8000 to 10000 years old. Beautiful and incredible that they survived.
I stayed in gers, all the same, round tents with painted wooden frames covered with thick felt and canvas, containing only beds.
The family's gers usually had 2 beds, a cupboard, a stove burning dried animal dung, (no trees ) a vanity unit for hand washing and teeth cleaning with a little water tank, no plumbing obviuosly and big piles of blankets.
Oh, and a flat screen tv, telephone, solar powered generator. They are modern people.
The loo was always miles away. A pit with planks over in a hut, sometimes with a door, sometimes not.
We were always greeted with some refreshment, either tea (very weak, milky with salt, no sugar) yoghurt or ai- rag (mares milk) and a bowl of thick biscuits, dried curd cheese and sometimes sugar cubes.
Dinner was included in the £3 per night stay. I'm afraid I declined the meat and noodle soup and once, a special treat, boiled sheep head and entrails. I just asked for hot water and had instant noodles for dinner and meusli for breakfast. They had the same for breakfast.
There was a lot more to the desert than sand, actually I hardly saw any.
The people are lovely, very calm and gentle and hospitable also incredibly strong. They need to be to survive the harsh climate, it's between freezing and -40 for 6 months of the year and very dry, the first rain of the year began just before I arrived in mid July when the landscape turned from brown to green. The mountains were carpeted with wild flowers so really this was Spring.
The temperature was comfortably in the 20's for the whole month apart from 2 of my 6 days in the Gobi Desert when it went uo to 32.
It was raining when I arrived and the desert bloomed, surprisingly with wild chives. Mile upon mile as far as the eye could see, a pink carpet.
The few people who manage to live here chop and store them in salt. I had pictures of this :( and other domestic activities like making fermented mares milk. Delicious, like alchoholic fizzy yogurt.
Lots of camel photos (2 humps) and video of myself milking a goat, climbing a giant sand dune, swimming in a river, exploring a cave and canyons with ice which will last until the end of July, all lost.
I had to hire a car and driver for the trip, there is no alternative but it was great because we could go wherever I wanted. Lots and lots and lots of driving across the seemingly endless plains on tracks; there are no roads. V. happy to have landcruiser, unlike the old Russian mini vans of some tourists.
The driver searched all over for the petroglyphs I wanted to see. They are everywhere including here in Kazakhstan and Georgia. 8000 to 10000 years old. Beautiful and incredible that they survived.
I stayed in gers, all the same, round tents with painted wooden frames covered with thick felt and canvas, containing only beds.
The family's gers usually had 2 beds, a cupboard, a stove burning dried animal dung, (no trees ) a vanity unit for hand washing and teeth cleaning with a little water tank, no plumbing obviuosly and big piles of blankets.
Oh, and a flat screen tv, telephone, solar powered generator. They are modern people.
The loo was always miles away. A pit with planks over in a hut, sometimes with a door, sometimes not.
We were always greeted with some refreshment, either tea (very weak, milky with salt, no sugar) yoghurt or ai- rag (mares milk) and a bowl of thick biscuits, dried curd cheese and sometimes sugar cubes.
Dinner was included in the £3 per night stay. I'm afraid I declined the meat and noodle soup and once, a special treat, boiled sheep head and entrails. I just asked for hot water and had instant noodles for dinner and meusli for breakfast. They had the same for breakfast.
There was a lot more to the desert than sand, actually I hardly saw any.
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