Mongolia 2018 continued

The following day we had a morning flight back to Ulan Bator (UB). In the we had a short city tour Bodj King’s Palace (Religious ‘King’) Zaisan Memorial which is on the hill overlooking UB and depicting the Mongolians gratefully celebrating their ‘liberation’ by the Soviets.

Later that day we visited the big Ghengis Khan a huge stainless-steel statue erected outside UB where he won a decisive battle against the Chinese. 250 tons of stainless steel was used and it is possible to get an interesting view by making your way up to the head of the horse. It was definitely an overwhelming experience.

The stainless-steel statue of Ghengis Khan

Another morning departure this time to Ugii Lake which is in the centre of the country and the vegetation is lusher than the Gobi. We end up taking a roundabout way due to quarantine in the area. We arrive at the lake settle into our gers and walk to the information centre as 150 type of water birds visit the lake. Unfortunately, not while we were there. That evening we watched as a while terrible storm cross the lake, with strong winds and a downpour of rain. We now understood why they had sandbags weights on the gers.

The next day we drive to the little town of Tsetserleg and visit the Buddhist monastery which is now a museum, then to Tsenkher hot spring after lunch we head for our accommodation.

Milking a mare

We have a free day but  were given the opportunity to taste fermented mare’s milk, I heard it was disgusting but it to me it tasted like vey acidic yoghurt, we also had some yak milk yoghurt as well as dried and fresh curd. They showed us the still in which mare’s milk vodka is made and we also had a taste of that but the alcoholic strength was more like beer than a spirit.

We even were lucky to see how they milk the mares. The foal is brought to its mother so the milk will be let down then the mare is hand milked. They milk the mare 7 times a day, but the foal still has access to its mother in between times.

While at this accommodation we saw some men constructing a ger and many little ground squirrels, some who used our ger a short cut, also there were a number of wild flowers around.

A drive to Kharkhorin, to visit Erdene Zuu monastery is the earliest surviving Buddhist monastery in Mongolia, it is a huge complex surround by a wall of stupas. In 1939 the Soviet government destroyed the monasteries however in 1990 they were returned to the lamas. Now Erdene Zuu has a monastery (one temple) and a museum which entails the rest of the buildings. It is a very impressive complex. After this visit we went to the Archaeological Museum also very interesting and informative.

Erdene Zuu

In the evening a group of performing arts students and their teacher gave us a concert of traditional Mongolian music which included throat singing the whole performance was very professional and enjoyable.

Another long drive to the Khustai National Park with the hope to see some marmots and the native Takhi horses. We visited the information centre and we went hiking with a biologist we learnt a lot about the area and flora and fauna but unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the horses who were so far away even with the binoculars they were hard to see.

Another early start to attend the horse races at Kui Doloon Khudag as part of the Naadam Festival/ It was a rainy day but we preserved. We huddled in one of the ‘foodie’ gers and some meaty pancakes. Then out to watch the race at the finishing line.

Only children are allowed to ride (5 -13 years) the distance of the race is 10 -25 km depending on the age of the horse. It’s a tough race and the children are responsible for their horses but there are also trainers around.

We returned to UB for a free afternoon. That night we went to cultural show similar but more extensive than the one we had seen earlier.

Opening Ceremony Naadam Festival

We were looking forward to the opening ceremony of the Naadam Festival the next day. It was disappointing that it was raining but it didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits. It was wonderful to see some of the participants wandering around before the opening. It was beautifully done like a mini Olympics opening ceremony. After its conclusion we stayed on to watch the wrestling, very big in Mongolia, the wrestling is different to the western style, then onto the archery, the targets are small and close to the ground and harder to hit than the large round targets we’re used to, the knuckle bone shooting, all the events are considered the manly arts, but girls are allowed to be riders in the horse racing and women can participate in the archery contests now.

Last day in Mongolia we spent it wandering UB again discovering a few other interesting areas, buying some presents and a cashmere beanie for me for our European winter trip on the horizon.

I loved  Mongolia and would love to see a different area of this huge country.

Mongolia 2018

We left Beijing late in the evening and arrived in Ulan Bator nearly at midnight. As we decided to go on a small group tour, we were relieved that we would be met at the airport and whizzed to our hotel without having to think.

We had a whole day to check out the city before we met up with the group and tour leader. We visited Genghis Khan Square there was a lot of activity there with groups of locals visiting the city, wedding parties, associations etc many in the local costumes, from there we went to the National History Museum which was well worth the visit, then we found the Lama Temple Museum originally built in1904 it is worth a visit but has a hefty fee if you wish to take photos inside.

Genghis Khan Square

In the evening we met the tour leader and the rest of the group (12 in all including us). We discovered we were having an extremely early start the following morning as we were flying to Dalanzagad it seemed quite a large but unremarkable town, though we had no time to explore much as we shopped for snacks and water then into one of the three four wheel drives and we then sped off to explore the Gobi Desert. We stopped for a short hike at Yolyn Am /Vulture Canyon. It was really an easy stroll and I saw a cute native rodent, birds and interesting flora. We arrived at a slab of thick ice between the walls of the canyon rocks that looked like it could have been part of a glacier, but it’s just the remnants of the ice field. After this we had lunch then headed to our first ger camp (Gobi Mirage). We were allocated our gers, I learnt very quickly to bend low to enter and leave due to low doorways.

Vulture Canyon

The following day we drove to our next camp, the drive through the Gobi Desert was fascinating, it is not sandy but made up sparse shrubs and gravel there were a number of wild horses that look very emaciated some on the verge of death. We also saw many herds of goats and sheep, however goats predominated as there is more money to be had from there cashmere fleece.

Cashmere Goats

We arrived at our next ger accommodation at the Khongor Dunes we had a packed lunch then we were on our way to visit a nomadic family.  The family we were set up to visit had moved on our drive we went in search of another family. We literally saw a ger with children playing and asked them to get their parents and our guide asked if we could visit. The 12 of us plus our guide shuffled into their ger sat around while the woman made us a milk tea with barley then dried meat cooked in it. We all had a taste not wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Our guide had bought supplies on our behalf to give the family as a thank you.

The next day we had a camel ride. The Bactrian camels have an ideal place to sit between their humps, unfortunately it’s on the spine and the saddle was not comfortable so the whole ordeal was very painful. I have ridden both types of camels and neither has been an enjoyable experience (never again). We arrived at some of the dunes and in front of them was a stream and the area was green with a number of families with their flocks camp by.

Sand Dunes

The Khongor dunes are beautiful and extend 180km along the north side of the mountains and due the prevailing winds they don’t encroach into the countryside. We climbed the dunes which was not too difficult but nearing the top it seemed one step forward two back but eventually made it with a little help from those already at the top. We then had a free afternoon to wander around the countryside near our camp.

The next day off to Bayanzag, The Flaming Hills where the first fossilized dinosaur eggs were found. It’s a stark brilliant russet red landscape similar to Central Australia. I was exhilarating to walk around the area imagining the excitement of making that discovery.

We then headed off to a rather nondescript town for lunch followed by a long drive to our next ger camp (Gobi Mirage).

Back again with Beijing 2018

Temple of Heaven

I was interested in visiting Beijing again with my husband as he had never been there. We had accommodation near the Forbidden City which was handy. It was a basic little courtyard hotel in a Hutong which we enjoyed. After booking into our accommodation we went to the Temple of Heaven, I still enjoy this place even after visiting for the third time. It is a huge temple complex with so many remarkable highlights. Many of the locals come here to meet for various recreational activities as well as socialise.

On the first full day we were going to go to the Forbidden City but it was closed. I booked a trip to visit the Great Wall at Mutianyu a little further out than Badaling so not quite so crowded, the trip also takes in the Spirit Way which is a 7km approach to the tombs which is lined with 18 pairs of giant guardians – stone statues of court officials, imperial warriors, animals and mythical beasts.

After booking our trip we went to the Lama and Confucius Temples. The Lama Temple was a major centre for Tibetan Buddhism however during the Cultural Revolution it was shut down and only saved from destruction by Zhou Enlai. The Confucius Temple also suffered during this time the temples within the complex being converted to other uses or just abandoned. The attitude to Confucian values has changed as the leaders now can see how they use them for their benefit; however, it is disappointing to see the important temples in the complex neglected.

Our trip to the Great Wall followed the next day and it certainly was an eye-opener for me. I had visited this part of the wall 5 years earlier, apart from the fact the weather was very different, the whole entrance had changed so much that I thought there must be two entrances to it. On the first visit, a cobbled path led to the entrance with souvenir shops on either side, now there is a wide paved path and a cable car up to the entrance to the wall proper. On the first visit there was only one large souvenir shop that also had a small café which sold hot drinks, now there is the franchise of a ‘Subway’ that not being a great improvement in my mind.

The Great Wall Mutianyu

The Forbidden City beckoned on the following day and another change which was very noticeable was the security around this area, you have to pass through this just to get to buy a ticket, they scrutinised our passports thoroughly even checking our visas. Not only police but military were everywhere with large intimidating police trucks on the corners of the streets.

The Forbidden City is just awe inspiring and the crowds are even greater than my previous visits. I’m still not sure what the optimum time of the day is best to avoid the hordes.

We then went to Hou Hai Lake north of the Forbidden City. We took the subway to Gulou Dajie, then got was talked into taking a Hutong tour in a pedal rickshaw, I agreed only if he dropped us off next to the lake when finished. The tour was enjoyable and interesting and even passed Mao Zedong’s house. The lake is very picturesque and worth a visit.

Mao Zedong's house

We also visited Tiananmen Square also with the same high security checks to actually set foot in it as was to buy a ticket for the Forbidden City we wandered through the square to the south and came across the street Liulichang which has had old buildings restored Chinese old world feel about it and sells a range of local products. We had a very nice lunch in one of the many little cafés along this street.

Hou Hai Lake

We left Beijing after just over 4 days as a stopover before heading to Mongolia