MONGOLIA
m e e ti n g t h e Travelling through Mongolia’s dramatic landscapes, Tatyana Leonov discovers a land of ancient monasteries, soaring mountains and people with a penchant for vodka. Photography by Evan Dickson
A nomad family tends to their livestock. 86 get lost ISSUE 45
get in the know Ulaanbaatar used to be a nomadic city and was moved three times a year.
get in the know Ulaanbaatar is the coldest capital city in the world.
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MONGOLIA
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t’s been a whole two hours since we left Ulaanbaatar and I’m by no means comfortable anymore… nature is calling. I’ve been looking left and right in search of a tree but all I see are miniscule shrubs sporadically dotted across an ironed-flat land. Eventually I can’t hold on anymore and tell Shinee, our guide for the next 15 days, and Sansar, our driver, that it’s time for what we call a ‘nature stop’. A few of the other travellers in our group of six look on in relief. Evidently I’m not the only one who needs to stop.
Sansar pulls over and Shinee declares that men go left, women go We roam around the deserted grounds taking in the chiefly Chinese-style right, clearly having done this many times before. “This is how nomadic architecture until we realise we’re not in fact alone as two young monks Mongolians do it,” she chuckles, obviously enjoying this part of her job. hurriedly walk past chatting animatedly to each other. Shinee explains “You’ll manage.” One of the women in the group attempts to chat while that about 50 monks still call Amarbayasgalant home. I’m mid-nature stop but I politely explain it’s no time for small talk. It’s Our home for the night, like most nights, is a ger camp. These seasonal day one, after all, and we’ve got two weeks together. Back at the van ‘hotels’ are set up by semi-nomadic businessmen during tourist season I declare nature stops talk-free. Everyone agrees. and welcome everyone from lone travellers to large groups. In the We are journeying through one of the world’s most sparsely populated majority of cases, Westerners travel as part of a group tour as the countries in Sansar’s trusty UAZ Russian van, taking unpaved roads roads can be hard to navigate. Out in the countryside there are no that slash across a landscape millions of hotels, and gers and camping are the most years in the making. popular accommodation options. Around half of Mongolia’s three millionThe aptly named Amarbayasgalant Ger strong population live in the pulsating capital, Camp – comprising about 35 gers assembled Ulaanbaatar, or one of the other emergent in rows – is one of the bigger camps and cities. (The country is going through a mining has been operating for more than 15 years. boom and many former nomads are moving to Some gers have two beds, others four, and towns.) The other half live life much like they travellers generally share. A communal toilet have for centuries. Families reside in traditional and shower block is located towards the back gers and move three or four times a year with and there’s a restaurant where groups dine the change of seasons. Travelling with Intrepid together. There are no menus and the chef Travel, we are here to see the real Mongolia cooks whatever is fresh and available that day. – the seemingly endless plains, vast deserts, We quickly discover that lunches at ger camps towering mountains and the people that call are extravagant three-course affairs, while this wild and intoxicating landscape home. dinners are more toned down, but still ample. Shinee warns us that some days we will Camps such as this one offer an insight into spend up to eight hours on the road and traditional nomadic life, albeit with many of perhaps only cover 100 kilometres, and the creature comforts of home. although we have an itinerary, it is to be used Some days the grasslands stretch on forever as a guide only. “People are working on the with no trees, rocks or even shrubs in sight. roads so it’s very hard to estimate how long Other days we drive through steep terrain with travel might take. It changes from month to mountains so gargantuan you can’t imagine month,” she explains. Sansar doesn’t say much getting around them, but we do. We head and we assume he doesn’t speak English. north to Lake Khösvgöl and stop over at Blue Two-humped Bactrian camels Caption We pass sprawling fields of vibrant yellows, Pearl Tourist Camp. The owner cooks freshroam the Mongolian landscape. luscious greens and rusty browns. As the caught lake fish one night and laughs heartily afternoon sun dances across an impossibly as he sips on a drink that he won’t share. blue sky we sit and stare. This becomes my favourite activity. We have a day to relax here and some of us go horse riding through One of our first stops is the ancient Amarbayasgalant Monastery, a dense forest. Teamed up with a chain-smoking, mobile phone-talking which was completed in 1736 and houses the remains of Zanabazar, guide, our horses trot through the bleak grey and murky-green woodland, one of Mongolia’s great Buddhist leaders. Named after two boys, Amur then stop. Mongolian horses are petrified of yaks and we are forced to and Bayasqulangtu, who played where the monastery was later built, walk, leading the frightened animals back as dusk drapes over us. the complex is one of only a handful of monasteries still standing Most of the time we spend a night or two at a camp and have one (having escaped destruction during the Stalinist purges of 1937). free day to explore the surroundings. We stop at the picture-perfect
Horses are an intrinsic part of Mongolian nomadic culture. 88 get lost ISSUE 45
get in the know 0.5 per cent of the world’s total population is thought to be descendants of Genghis Khan.
get in the know The two-humped Bactrian camel is indigenous to Mongolia.
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MONGOLIA Terkhiin Tsagaan Lake with its absurdly crystalclear water. Some sit and gaze, others partake in activities such as horse riding or trekking, and one of the bravest travellers in our group attempts a swim. He spends the following day rugged up still shivering. Although travellers have come from far and wide, everyone has one thing in common – the desire to immerse oneself in the vast and magnificent environment. While we predominantly stay in ger camps, two homestays are incorporated into the itinerary and the group looks forward to this unique cultural experience. I assumed these were pre-organised and am very surprised one afternoon when we find ourselves scouring a barren landscape for two gers side by side that might accommodate us. Sansar (who after a few days begins to talk and we quickly learn his English is rather good) explains that two gers close together probably belong to one family, and a two-ger family will be more likely to squeeze in eight of us. And so we get a taste of real nomadic etiquette. Sansar and Shinee stock up on meat in a village and give us a quick lesson in ger protocol: bring meat, ask to sleep on the floor. We find two promising-looking gers and sit in the van as Shinee and Sansar knock on the door. Half an hour later they emerge and our eyes light up inquisitively. They quietly get back in the van and Sansar starts the engine. “This has never happened before,” Shinee says quietly, then giggles. “Usually families always say yes but the man and woman of the house
It’s rude to say no to anything that is offered in a Mongolian home and we have no choice but to stay up drinking with the nomads. are away and the grandma who is looking after the children is unwell.” With every passing kilometre nightfall descends. The road meanders like coiled veins and we quietly scan the panorama for two adjoining gers. As the flickering sun sets on another day Shinee points out a couple of gers in the distance. Sansar veers off the snaking road and goes cross-country. The large family living here happily takes us in. They’ve never had tourists stay with them and we have a lot of meat to share. Although they don’t own mobile phones somehow the message of our arrival spreads and soon the ger we are planning to sleep in fills up with other nomads. Some come by horse, others come by motorbike, and they all bring 90 get lost ISSUE 45
Our travelling group settles in at our homestay.
The peaceful Amarbayasgalant Monastery.
Nomads perform the twice-daily ritual of milking the cows. get in the know Mongolia is one of the most sparsely populated nations in the world.
get in the know Whistling inside gers or buildings is frowned upon in Mongolia.
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MONGOLIA
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The chain-smoking horseman takes a break.
Mongolian horses are petrified of yaks and we are forced to walk, leading the frightened animals back as dusk drapes over us.
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homemade arkhi (vodka) in preparation for a fun-filled night. We have no common language but laugh for hours, shooting first the homemade vodka and then a bottle Sansar produces later that night (“I always have one for just in case,” he titters). It’s rude to say no to anything that is offered in a Mongolian home and we have no choice but to stay up
Get There Air China flies to Ulaanbaatar via Beijing from Sydney, while Korean Air flies via Seoul. Return flights start from about AU$1800. airchina.com.au koreanair.com
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drinking with the nomads. Eventually most go home and we collapse on the floor to sleep. A few hours later it’s sunrise – and the beginning of the day for the nomads. There are no sleep-ins when it comes to the nomadic way of life and everyone is up early milking the cows and tending to various other chores. We gather our belongings and
Stay There
Tour There
Many new hotels are popping up in the bourgeoning capital, Ulaanbaatar. Opened in 2013, Best Western Premier Tuushin Hotel occupies a prominent position with some rooms overlooking Sükhbaatar Square. Deluxe king rooms start from AU$232.
Intrepid Travel’s 15-day Wild Mongolia tour starts and ends in Ulaanbaatar, with prices starting at AU$2920. The trip includes accommodation, transport, meals, activities and an expert local guide. Guests stay in ger camps for 10 nights and hotels for two nights, as well as experiencing two homestays.
bestwesternmongolia.mn
intrepidtravel.com
stumble outside where a compelling 88-yearold woman who was drinking arkhi with us the previous night is leaning on the ger with a grimace on her face. I guess she, too, has a headache. And so we set off again. There’s more to come. We’ve got more camps and another homestay to look forward to, as well as a visit to Little Gobi where two-hump camels roam across the rocky, sandy landscape. And this time when we break for a nature stop with no trees in sight, no one dawdles. Men go left while the women go right.
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Lake Khösvgöl Selenga River
Terkhiin Tsagaan Lake Tsenkher Karakorum
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Amarbayasgalant Monastery Khogno Khan
Ulaanbaatar
MONGOLIA
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get in the know Sheep outnumber humans 35 to one in Mongolia.
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