Six Bloody Noses and a Mongolian
First Steppe
After an eternity of driving on what is essentially a path leading into the desert we stopped for our first Mongolian dinner in the wild. There was no menu. It cost one dollar and consisted of meat and noodles accompanied by a bowl of hot milk. The landscape is pretty desolate. This is the rainy season. Things started looking up when we approached Baga Gazrin Chuluu, a granite rock formation. Chinggis Khan is reputed to have grazed his horses here. The rocks form one of many worship sites for locals and prayer flags and piles of offerings are plentiful around here. I clambered up the rocks in my flipflops and admired the landscape from the top of the formation. The Mongolian steppes are more exciting when viewed from above.
Back in the car and we were off to our camp, a hotel, essentially a brick building surrounded by three other brick buildings (a bar, a restaurant, a games room). Luckily two bottles of vodka and the sound of vitality (aka Cass beer) were on hand to help us get used to the long night with each other. I was mistaken in my previous post about my tour mates. Turns out there are no people from the UK. There's an American who has lived in Siberia for the last year and is happy to be speaking English again. A cute red headed German girl. A quiet French dude and a married Italian couple. At one point we realized that the aloof French guy wasn't around. He had opted for playing volleyball with a group of local youths. He brought one of the youths back with him, a nice 18 year old chap called Alan. That was his English name. I for one have no problems with people that give themselves English names to make it easier for the rest of us. Heck, I've done just that for all my friends and colleagues. So, back to Alan. He told us of how dangerous Mongolia was while we were downing vodka shots in teacups. After a few beer chasers we were ready to rock the house. The music from the bar promised a very good time. I believe it was a foxtrott. Funny how some of the useless things you learn become very useful once you are in Mongolia. My useless thing was the waltz. Yup, I taught young Alan how to waltz. His grandparents were supervising from a nearby table. The waltz was followed up by some Black Eyed Peas. We shook our tooshies for hours and finally the Europeans and I retreated into our fancy ger (a traditional Mongolian yurt).
The next day Alan and I took a goodbye picture. He promised to mail it to me. It was a sweet moment. We shook hands. His grandparents watched the interaction from their window.
More Ger
Today we drove and drove and drove and finally got to the badlands, also known as the painted desert. It was magnificent. Red sand, cliffs and once again a view from above across a hillie countryside. I believe it is on these rocks that I realized I stank to high heaven. Man, day two without a shower and I could kill a small animal with my stench. Another dinner of meat and noodles. The entertainment tonight was a one year old boy. I spent a few minutes carrying him around and then decided it might be best to put him down before he pees on me. We (and by that I mean the American and I) spent a few hours discussing various pickled people that are now on display in parts of Asia. Mao, Lenin, Stalin was pickled and then burried in a concrete grave somewhere by Krushev. I went outside to look at the stars and realized the herd of camels that had been grazing nearby had left and was now dissapearing into the darkening emptiness behind our ger. There was more vodka and beer but no disco in the desert tonight.
The Bathhouse of Dalanzadgad
This is where the 15000 people of Dalanzadgad shower. One dollar and fifteen minutes of bliss later I was clean and less stinky. There is a ger of Korean girls next to ours and the American is very excited about the prospect of getting them drunk tonight. This could be good. I am tired of drinking vodka. The American has been tired of drinking vodka pretty much since he got to Siberia. We stopped at the store and bought some wine. The Korean girls don't know it yet but they are in for a good time.
After an eternity of driving on what is essentially a path leading into the desert we stopped for our first Mongolian dinner in the wild. There was no menu. It cost one dollar and consisted of meat and noodles accompanied by a bowl of hot milk. The landscape is pretty desolate. This is the rainy season. Things started looking up when we approached Baga Gazrin Chuluu, a granite rock formation. Chinggis Khan is reputed to have grazed his horses here. The rocks form one of many worship sites for locals and prayer flags and piles of offerings are plentiful around here. I clambered up the rocks in my flipflops and admired the landscape from the top of the formation. The Mongolian steppes are more exciting when viewed from above.
Back in the car and we were off to our camp, a hotel, essentially a brick building surrounded by three other brick buildings (a bar, a restaurant, a games room). Luckily two bottles of vodka and the sound of vitality (aka Cass beer) were on hand to help us get used to the long night with each other. I was mistaken in my previous post about my tour mates. Turns out there are no people from the UK. There's an American who has lived in Siberia for the last year and is happy to be speaking English again. A cute red headed German girl. A quiet French dude and a married Italian couple. At one point we realized that the aloof French guy wasn't around. He had opted for playing volleyball with a group of local youths. He brought one of the youths back with him, a nice 18 year old chap called Alan. That was his English name. I for one have no problems with people that give themselves English names to make it easier for the rest of us. Heck, I've done just that for all my friends and colleagues. So, back to Alan. He told us of how dangerous Mongolia was while we were downing vodka shots in teacups. After a few beer chasers we were ready to rock the house. The music from the bar promised a very good time. I believe it was a foxtrott. Funny how some of the useless things you learn become very useful once you are in Mongolia. My useless thing was the waltz. Yup, I taught young Alan how to waltz. His grandparents were supervising from a nearby table. The waltz was followed up by some Black Eyed Peas. We shook our tooshies for hours and finally the Europeans and I retreated into our fancy ger (a traditional Mongolian yurt).
The next day Alan and I took a goodbye picture. He promised to mail it to me. It was a sweet moment. We shook hands. His grandparents watched the interaction from their window.
More Ger
Today we drove and drove and drove and finally got to the badlands, also known as the painted desert. It was magnificent. Red sand, cliffs and once again a view from above across a hillie countryside. I believe it is on these rocks that I realized I stank to high heaven. Man, day two without a shower and I could kill a small animal with my stench. Another dinner of meat and noodles. The entertainment tonight was a one year old boy. I spent a few minutes carrying him around and then decided it might be best to put him down before he pees on me. We (and by that I mean the American and I) spent a few hours discussing various pickled people that are now on display in parts of Asia. Mao, Lenin, Stalin was pickled and then burried in a concrete grave somewhere by Krushev. I went outside to look at the stars and realized the herd of camels that had been grazing nearby had left and was now dissapearing into the darkening emptiness behind our ger. There was more vodka and beer but no disco in the desert tonight.
The Bathhouse of Dalanzadgad
This is where the 15000 people of Dalanzadgad shower. One dollar and fifteen minutes of bliss later I was clean and less stinky. There is a ger of Korean girls next to ours and the American is very excited about the prospect of getting them drunk tonight. This could be good. I am tired of drinking vodka. The American has been tired of drinking vodka pretty much since he got to Siberia. We stopped at the store and bought some wine. The Korean girls don't know it yet but they are in for a good time.
posted by LOTC at 3:25 AM
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