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Mongolia is one of those countries that most people have heard of yet know nothing of.

Mongolia

Raphaelk
2004-02-02 20:29:15

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one is supposed to walk round the site three times, throwing a small stone on each circuit. As we circumambulated this tree Mart managed to smash a glass bottle with each stone despite there being only a few there and not aiming, an impressive talent.

The scenery as previously mentioned was quite desolate much of the time, this made a minor breakdown a potentially more worrying prospect than anything that could happen on the M1. Fortunately Seren had an appropriate set of spares and dived under the bonnet. One day when I asked Seren how far we would be travelling that day he told me we had forty kilometres of road , a particular luxury given the regular bouncing and thumping of traversing the country without roads or often even any tracks. Not all the country is as barren as first appears and there are nice mountains and rocky outcrops at times.

One night we stayed with very nice bloke called Saaraa and his family. Whilst there Saaraa shot a fox with a fifty year old Russian .22 rifle. He then skinned it and sold me the pelt for about 90 US cents (approximately 60p). Saaraa had an impressive great grandfather who had a selection of medals from when he had fought against the Japanese during the second world war, which he was very pleased to model for us. He was over eighty years old, an impressive feat given the harsh Mongolian climate, even more impressive as he had not a single tooth in his head. Saaraa had a very modest command of English, which we all very much appreciated and he tried to teach us basic Mongolian. He also showed us how to milk a horse as well as how to catch foals and ride horses bareback, in the Mongolian style. In addition he was good fun and another excellent host.

The Bactrian camels (photo below) found in Mongolia are left semi-wild, in a similar vein to most of the domesticated animals there. The problem this creates is that even for there owners, separating them from the other camels and then recapturing them is a tricky task. We managed to finally get hold of one and went for a ride on it. It was surprisingly comfortable, even without a saddle. With a broad girth, thick pelt and good sized gap between the two humps, it almost seems built for riding. The front hump acted as an effective windbreak, whilst the rear one made a comfortable backrest. Certainly more comfortable and attractive than its Arabian counterpart.

The ancient capital of Kharkhorim (photo below) (also known as Karakorum) is home to an important monastery and temples. They also have a massive Ger there that can house two hundred monks.

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