Into the Great Wide Open

The presence of snow in Mongolia in mid October came as a surprise to us. Yes, we knew we would be toying with the beginning of winter and of course Mongolia receives snow storms quite often throughout the season, but for some reason we were surprised to encounter it during our visit. Our newly purchased layers from the black market kept our bodies and legs warm but we had neglected to give enough thought to our feet. Nearly 9 months into the trip, our shoes are running a little thin and now the cold white stuff seemed to find its way into every crack and crevice of our shoes numbing our feet as we bounced our way down the road in our tour van.

Our group stood at 6 travelers plus a local guide and driver. Colleen and I shared the back bench seat of the van with a Frenchman, Siso, who was on a journey of personal enlightenment. Then there was Whe, a Trader Joe’s worker from San Jose, and Stuart and Lesley from Ireland sharing the middle seat. Stuart was actually on a year long leave of absence from Accenture (same former employer as Chad) and was traveling with his girlfriend Lesley who had left her job as well. Our driver, Baterdene, was a man of few words but endless smiles and our guide, Hurlee, was a recent graduate of a Mongolian university who was using her knowledge of her country and respectable English ability to advance herself.

The decision to sign up for this specific tour was a combination of knowing what we wanted to see and then making the rounds at the various guesthouses to see what tours were scheduled this late in the season. We lucked out in the fact that our selected tour was at the 6 person maximum thus minimizing the shared costs. For $33 per person per day we got our driver, guide, van, gas, food, accommodation, park fees, road fees and activities paid for. It turned out to be some of the best value for our money we have seen on our trip.

Our tour was 10 days of ‘ger to ger’ touring throughout the countryside. We first headed south into the Gobi desert. The desert, it turns out, was covered with snow, not the landscape one imagines when thinking of the Gobi. As we moved further south the snow cover slowly lifted and we continued to be surprised by what the land had to offer. The Gobi Desert is actually quite diverse offering snow topped jagged mountains, vast rock outcroppings, rolling hills and patches of shrubbery along with the occasional sand dune and periodic water oasis’s one would expect.

The path/direction we followed was not really dictated by any sort of road but more so by Baterdene’s knowledge of the land. In some sections there were light tire ruts that we seemed to follow for a short while only to suddenly turn off into a vast nothingness and continue on. There was no pavement, shoulder/ditch or road markers at any point. Essentially you felt like you were driving hundreds of kilometers each day through open fields. At first we wondered if we were just missing some markers or if the driver was lost but this trend of driving continued throughout our tour.

At the end of every day we would pull up to a ger camp and our guide would go in to ask the family if we could stay in their extra ger. We would then tumble out of our van to claim our beds, with the ones closest to the fire being most valuable. The families we stayed with were wonderful and cheerful, showing us great hospitality, binging us tea and coming in every night and early morning to stoke the fire. Each morning, prior to departing, we would present any children in the family with the coloring books and pencils we had brought with us from Ulaanbaatar and it was magical to see their face light up in joy from such a simple gift.

The hardest part of the entire trip was not the cold or traveling with people we didn’t know for 10 days, it was the food. Mongolians love meat, and in particular they love mutton (lamb). Besides Chad and myself, there were two other people who claimed to be vegetarian on the trip. I thought that would make everything easier, but it turns out they were ‘pretend’ vegetarians, willing to eat meat whenever they felt inclined. Unfortunately that makes people think that all vegetarians are this way and I spent a few meals watching everyone else eat.

The Mongolian landscape is extremely diverse. There are over 34 million head of livestock and only 2.5 million people. We encountered countless animals with their herders during our travels. The herders were interesting people. Like the rest of Mongolia, they had moved forward with some modern advancements but still held on to their traditional way of life. We would see them on horseback or camel, but it was not uncommon for them to be on a motorbike and all the while talking on their cellphone. Half of the Mongolian population lives in gers (many in cities), but these traditional houses are almost always equipped with solar panels and satellite tv! It was quite a site to pass a ger in the middle of nowhere, fully decked out with some modern technology Another interesting fact - only people that live in Ulaanbaatar own land (and this just came about a few years ago). Everyone else claims land by moving their ger to an open part of land, whether it be in the countryside or towns.

During the 10 days we made a few stops to see families that our driver and guide knew, just to say hello and introduce us. We would sit inside the ger, and the family would offer us airag (fermented mare’s milk) and homemade vodka made from yogurt. It is considered offensive to turn down a gift, so we would all take sips and pass around the bowls, sometimes for hours. It was a great way to see how people lived and meet the families who find great satisfaction in entertaining guests, especially from the western world. At one point a local man actually produced two fish from his dal (traditional overcoat) and presented them to us as a gift! All families also have big huge, Mongolian dogs. We were warned in advance many times about the dogs in the countryside. They are not considered pets but are working dogs. They protect the flocks and families, keeping wolves and strangers away as no gers have fences. We were told to be very careful of them, that they are mean, ferocious dogs that would bite you if given the chance. Turns out the were big softies that couldn’t have been more different. The dogs were massive, but extremely friendly and loved a nice belly rub. They would trot up, sniff you to make sure you were not intruding, then sleep outside the gers at night, barking at the birds and sometimes chasing the cars that would pass by.

Our days weren’t all filled with driving and visits to the small towns in the countryside. We spent a full day riding camels at the Khongor sand dunes. Unlike the camels we rode in Jordan, these camels were shorter and have 2 humps. They were great fun and filled with personality. The old women who guided them sang to her animals and hugged them whenever we got off. She truly loved her camels, which is understandable as we were told she made the equivalent of 30,000USD in the summer high season from tourists! We also spent a morning on a horseback, although I would opt for a camel any day. The horses are all semi-wild in Mongolia. The day we were to ride we had to wait as the handler went out to “catch them”. They are famous for throwing riders and dragging them as they gallop away. None of that excitement happened to us, but they were very interesting creatures to ride.

The last night of our countryside adventure was Chad’s birthday as well as a driver and a guide from another group that had been traveling on and off with us so a celebration was in order. There was a big feast for dinner and the drivers and guides gave Chad a nice birthday present, a bottle of local vodka! Of course that had to be drunk along with airag, wine and more vodka! Drinking is definitely a group event here, no one drinks on their own, but everything is communal and passed around in a circle. After dinner a local traditional Mongolian throat singer wandered into our ger and played for us, even singing Chad a song for his birthday. It was one to remember and I have no idea how I will be able to top it next year!

We returned to Ulaanbaatar tired and in great need of a shower (we had only had 1 on the trip at a public shower house) but extremely happy and it was evident that we had fallen in love with Mongolia. It is a simply amazing country, with some of the most breathtaking landscape and friendliest people that we have encountered. The journey to get here is long and expensive but worth every bit of effort. The people and their country have been incredible hosts in sharing their culture and ways of life with us and we are very thankful for that.

*The Mongolian pictures are up. Check them out to get the full image of Mongolia!

Discovering Mongolia

Simply put, Mongolia is Eastern by ethnicity and Western by culture. The dynamic here is something to observe. Women in designer jeans and high heeled boots mingling with businessmen in traditional Mongolian full body overcoats known as ‘dals‘. Even within Asia, Mongolians have a completely unique language, music and food balanced with Western TV programming, upscale bars, shopping plazas and European SUVs.


At first sight the capital city seemed a little bizarre but a look into the country’s history helps to sort things out. In most minds the looming historical reference of Mongolia is usually attached to the name ‘Chinggis Khaan’ (yes, it is Chinggis and not Ghengis). From our childhood education as well as references in pop culture, we know Chinggis and his band of Mongols to be ruthless, heartless thugs who slaughtered their way to one of the greatest empires known to man, covering 90% of Asia. Yes, indeed they were ruthless but no more than any other empire or crusade the world has known. Chinggis was actually well ahead of his time preaching religious tolerance, promoting education, enacting fair tax laws to promote trade and building up his empire’s infrastructure beyond his own front door. Fast forward several centuries to 1937 and Mongolia found itself at the center of what is referred to as the ‘Russian Purge.’ Essentially the Soviet Union absorbed Mongolia into it’s own empire and in the process destroyed much of the Mongolian culture. All Buddhist Temples were destroyed (Mongolia is 80% Buddhist) and monks were murdered or sent to the streets, museums and government buildings destroyed, cultural relics were shipped off and any references to their beloved Chinggis Khaan were banned. This all came to an end with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990 and Mongolia struggled for the following decade to stand on its own, independent of Soviet subsidies and support. Lucky for Mongolia, they have a solid foot planted in their historic past and much of their culture is vividly present today with new statues of Chinggis everywhere (as well as the odd Beatles monument). They continue to hold on to their traditional beliefs, traditions and housing but practice modern economics and business.

Mongolia is VAST. It is the second largest land locked country and is the least densely populated country in the world! Points of interest are scattered around the country and we immediately knew that if we were to see much in our 15 days that we would need to be organized. We talked of two smaller trips but settled on one large 10 day trip that would take us south into the Gobi Desert and then back north into the forests, mountains and grasslands of central Mongolia.

Another thing that was immediately evident as we stepped off the train in Ulaanbaatar, it is freaking cold this time of year! We had recently spent time on the beaches of SE Asia and we were not prepared in any way as we saw snow falling on our first morning in the city. Lucky for us, Ulaanbaatar has a very healthy blackmarket where you can pick up everything from livestock (live or dead) to school supplies to secondhand clothing and electronics and even everything you need to make a traditional ger. The whole big party goes on every day on the edge of town in a massive parking lot with makeshift blue tarp tents covering tables of goods. We hiked the 4 kilometers out in the snow, shaking cold with thin layers of clothing, and returned home warm with 6 pairs of wool socks, 2 pairs of long underwear, 1 sweater, 1 flannel, 2 pairs of gloves and some coloring books and colored pencils (for the kids of the families we were to stay with in the countryside). All of this was had for a meager $15USD.

The next morning the Soviet relic below pulled up in front of our guesthouse. It would be our mode of transport for the next 10 days and we knew we were in for an adventure.

Trans-Mongolian Beauty

At the beginning of our journey we both marked countries that we anticipated to be highlights of our year on the road. We both noted the entire continent of Africa and were not disappointed. Colleen achieved a dream and visited Borneo. I marked Nepal, a place which I was anxious to return to and also noted Mongolia, more out of curiosity and intrigue than anything.

We were slightly anxious to get out of Beijing. Kudos to their blossoming economy but the resulting tradeoff including neglect of the environment and a spotty human rights record left us hoping for more changes in the future.

Our long road out of Beijing was actually a train track, most commonly known as the Trans-Mongolian Railway and ends in the Mongolian capital city of Ulaanbaatar. The journey took us 31 hours and oddly we were the only two souls (plus one guard) on our train carriage. Nearly the whole rest of the train was completely empty. The scenery was amazing; some of the best of our trip thus far. We passed vast open fields, desolate desert, mountains ranges and small villages with their tidy train stations proudly proclaiming their names. We watched as foxes, wild horses, hawks, wild dogs, geep (goats/sheep), herders and cattle passed outside our window appearing almost as some sort of film reel for our constant entertainment.

The border crossing took place in the middle of the night. First the Chinese officials came on the train, searched our cabin and left wordless with our passports. Polite but very brisk and directed. They eventually returned with our passports and the train moved for 15 minutes. The train then sat idle another 2 hours while they changed the track gauges as the Mongolian tracks run on Russian gauge, which is slightly larger (I remember that they had to do this when crossing from Sweden to Finland as well). Next the Mongolian officials entered. They were friendly, smiled, spoke English and when they returned our passports to turned our lights off, shut the door and told us “sleepy, bye-bye”. We knew we were going to love this country.