Gers, yaks, camels and horses
Trip Start
Nov 27, 2004
1
37
40
Trip End
Jul 27, 2006
Ulaan Bataar, Mongolia
Saturday, July 8, 2006
We are back in Ulaan Baatar, the capital of Mongolia, after an amazing couple of weeks in the countryside. We rented a driver called Iskmey with his super cool Russian military style vehicle called 'Furgon', which we shared with a loud and very funny Australian woman, a French couple with matching scarves (what is it with French people and scarves?) and a very chilled out English bloke. We had the best of times.
The driver and the tank-style vehicle were necessary because in Mongolia there are no roads, so we went through rivers, over rocks and desert with Iskmey who knew exactly which direction in the steppe and the desert to take. It remains a mystery how he does it, the compass on his dashboard was all over the place and he never once looked at a map, which I guess would not make too much sense in a country without roads... well anyway, every evening he brought us safely to a ger to eat and sleep. He brought his huggable 5 year old son Oscar on the trip as his mum was in hospital, and Oscar was so cute, I almost brought him back with us in my backpack. The only reason I did not was that he was a real little urchin, with the smelliest feet in the universe and constantly covered in snot.
The first week we went to the Gobi desert where we rode camels and on one occasion also a bicycle lent to us by the son of our host family. We stayed with nomadic families who had set up an extra 'gers' for us next to theirs. What a lifestyle. So close to nature. The men bring the sheep/yak/goats/horses or camels out in the morning and round them up in the evening. The women milk and boil it to all states of fermentation. I do like yoghurt a lot, but when it is so sour that it gets fizzy in your mouth, it really tastes weird to say the least, and we also had horse cheese and yak's butter, yak. The food was really though. Apart from aforementioned dairy products the only thing they eat is a huge pile of carbs (rice-noodles-potatoes) with a few pieces of dried mutton. Mmmm. Survival food. Imagine how happy we were when at the White Lake there was the opportunity of fishing. Igor tried hard but only got a very small fish, but the son of the family caught us a huge pike. We cooked it up in a yummy batter his sister concocted and it was the best dinner ever.
Then, in the grasslands, I learned how to ride a horse, and I am so happy about it! Maz, the Australian is a very good horse rider and she showed me all the tricks and we went so fast over the steppe. Breathtaking! Mongolian horses are very small though, actually they are ponies but you can not mention that, so they are much better for beginners.
Now we are on our way to Moscow... ever closer to Europe - home!
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Queste due settimane di Mongolia sono state spetacolari! Dalla sovrappopolata Cina siamo arrivati nel paese con la piu' scarsa densita' di popolazione (2.5 milioni di abitanti per un'area che copre quasi mezza Europa).
La capitale Ulaan Bataar e' una delle citta' piu brutte che abbiamo visto fino ad ora. Casermoni dell'era sovietica lasciate nel degrado quasi totale mischiate con accampamenti nomadi stile favelas... Per fortuna ci siamo stati per poco. Abbiamo oraganizzato un tour con altre 4 persone,nolleggiando un pulmino (un mitico 4x4 Furgon militare russo) con autista locale (Iskme) che si e' portato appresso il figlioletto di 5 anni (Oscar).... Destinazione: deserto dei Gobi! 12 giorni di viaggio con pernottamento nella tipica tenda nomade mongola (Ger). Il totale isolamento di questi Ger sparpagliati per tutto il territorio e' stato mozzafiato. Abitati da famiglie di pastori con relative pecore, capre, cavalli, cammelli o yak a seconda della regione. E' inutile dire che il contatto con la natura e' stato totale anche fin troppo... La rudimentalita' della vita di queste famiglie, ci ha fatto mettere in prospettiva parecchie cose.
Il nostro gruppo era composto da una coppia francese (Jerome e Caterine), un inglese (Ian) e una australiana (Mez). Nonostante le diverse personalita' scelte a caso direi che siamo stati fortunati visto che nessuno si conosceva e di colpo si e' trovato a vivere gomito a gomito per 12 giorni 24 ore al giorno.
A volte ci si incontrava con altre piccole comitive di turisti che avevano pianificato simili intinerari e si celebrava a vodka raccontandosi diversi aneddoti sul viaggio.
Le highlights sono state: cavalcata al tramonto con cammelli sulle dune del deserto dei Gobi, galoppate nelle immense praterie con cavalli vicino alla zona dei laghi (White Lake), vivere nei Ger e gli impressionanti paesaggi mongoli incontaminati!
Ahime' non possiamo essere altrettanto entusiasti per quanto riguarda il cibo, che sembra essere una pura costante di carboidrati (riso/pasta, patate carote e carne di capra o yak...) atti puramente alla sopravvivenza...
La lingua e' totalmente incomprensibile, e questo ha creato una netta differenza con la Cina. E' un misto di russo e koreano. La pronuncia viene definita dalla guida come due gatti che tentano di sputare una palla di pelo...
