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Orient to Occident
  • Rachel Horton
  • Rachel Horton

Orient to Occident

A 106-day adventure by Rachel Read more
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  • Rachel HortonOrient to OccidentRachel Horton

    Day 1

    November 17, 2017 in Mongolia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Got on the road around 10am, accompanied by some Mongolian rap courtesy of Bimba our driver.
    We headed towards Ambergayasalat monestery in the north, passing mountains of the hangai mountain range as far as the eyes can see, dusted in snow, small gers with herders on horseback, dotted throughout very sparse countryside. I'm surprised at the abundance of wildlife, both domestic and free. I saw my first double humped camels this day...and a dog that I mistook for a wolf, plenty of birds, Mongolian hybrid yak cow's (they're very hairy!), Sheep, goats, and of course many, many horses.
    We stopped for lunch by the road, perhaps the only road going north, the driver, Idra, says to me reassuringly "no meat no meat.....just a little bit of sausage".... I laughed at had to explain. The Mongolian people, understandably, do not quite get the idea of vegetarianism. They are survivalists, through and through, eating white foods in the summer and red foods in the winter, sharing with eachother the odd leg of a cow. Maybe throwing in some green food, maybe. Creating any and every item of clothing you can possibly think of from any and every part of any and every animal you can think of. I have the upmost respect for them.
    Ambergayasalat Monestery is nestled 35-40km off road, after a rally drive through a frozen river, trying to follow some sort of direction I think by intuition, we arrived in the cul-de-sac of the mountains. Sat in the base is the monestery. I was overcome with a sense of reflection, peace, calm, stillness. Home to the monks and families of monks who still attend the monestery, we were offered a place to stay in the ger and wooden house of one such monk. We kept the wood fire going throughout the night to keep us warm.    Read more

  • Rachel HortonOrient to OccidentRachel Horton

    Day 2

    November 18, 2017 in Mongolia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    A travel day, full of driving, passing locals selling hides at the side of road, still bloody. We stopped for the night at a friend of Idras on the way to Khuvsgul Lake. A place with no name, one wooden house, some of his gers, wooden huts and two or three small ger settlements in the far distance.Read more

  • Rachel HortonOrient to OccidentRachel Horton

    Day 4

    November 20, 2017 in Mongolia ⋅ ⛅ 0 °C

    A day at the lake. Near the Russian border, the lake lies 162km long and 262 metres deep....now many parts are frozen solid so bikes and horses can cross.

  • Rachel HortonOrient to OccidentRachel Horton

    Day 5

    November 21, 2017 in Mongolia ⋅ ⛅ -11 °C

    What a beautiful day, they obviously call Mongolia the land of the eternal blue sky for a reason. We left khovsgul lake to head towards ? Volcano and the white lake.
    It was a beautiful day of driving over mountain passes and vast plains, lenticular clouds, the countryside with dustings of snow again.

    We stopped for lunch in shine-idle, rice and vegetables cooked next to some sort of animal carcus.

    After heading to the town after shine-inle to ensure the most of the day after (volcano, lake and also my 25th birthday!), we had to find a place to stay. The local school put us up in an old dormatory, slightly creepy but warm with central heating. It means we can sleep through the night without tending to the fire. I'm overwhelmed by the kindness I've been shown by the Mongolian people. They are tough people, but soft inside I think.

    The herder children live here in a dormatory building, four to a room boys on the bottom floor and girls upstairs, it was quiet and clean and full of inquisitive faces not knowing how to interpret us being in their small mountain village.

    We had veggie soup for dinner.    Read more

  • Rachel HortonOrient to OccidentRachel Horton

    Day 6

    November 22, 2017 in Mongolia ⋅ ☀️ -12 °C

    Waking up in the school dorm, warm. Happy 25th birthday to me! Off we go to the white lake and to hiking its volcano (name).

    An absolutely stunning drive completely off road through the mountains.

    The white lake is stunning, quiet and very clean (it turns out after a long conversation the nomads of the lake are very concious of this), and completely frozen. Beautiful patterns lace it from dark blues to pure whites.

    We arrive around lunch time at our local familys gers by the lake for the night, one of my favourite gers so far, three beds in our one (we'll only use one for warmth) and a round log fire, it's the perfect size. It's windy by the lake front with a slight snowfall in the air, the wood doesn't last long and the son of the owners bring us literally a metal bathtub of extra logs to set us up for the night.

    We reach the summit of the volcano around 4.30pm and boy is it chilly...and snowing slightly. It bears an impressive crater with a few trees growing down into it. The view of the lava flow from above is impressive and clearly reaches for miles.

    We play yam and rummy until dinner. When we go into our driver and guides tent for supper they had bought wine, lit candles, made a 26 sign (near enough!) and served cake too. Not forgetting a red, sparkly, feathered birthday hat! The man of the gers joined us and Idras snuff bottle was passed around (it smelt really nice) as is customary when meeting and greeting other people and families. The owner had even made me a traditional Mongolian puzzle game out of an animal leg bone and two ankle bones, inscribed with the name of his ger camp (name). It was very touching, he tried to show me how to solve it but Idra later informed me he had had some vodka at lunch! What lovely people is something I think every day. We passed it around for each of us to have a go at.    Read more

  • Rachel HortonOrient to OccidentRachel Horton

    Day 7

    November 23, 2017 in Mongolia ⋅ ⛅ -13 °C

    When we arrived in Kharkhorin we visited the archealogical museum, witnessed an impressive display found recently in a newly discovered tomb of an unknown man. Gold from India, statues as old as 1300 years ago, Turkish style and progressive artefacts found from Neolithic era till ancient times in Kharakhorin. Then we visited Erdenezuu monastery, built in 1585 by AbtaiSain Khan, much of which was destroyed during the purge in 1990. Many believe the Khans' palace is undiscovered hidden underneath the monastery.

    We had a shower at the local shower house for 3000 tugrik each, the first in a week and headed back to our first coal fired ger nearby the monastery for the night.    Read more

  • Rachel HortonOrient to OccidentRachel Horton

    Day 8

    November 24, 2017 in Mongolia ⋅ ⛅ -18 °C

    We started the day with a visit to the Erdenezuu monastery exhibition displaying appliques and Buddhist statues, then on to the reconstruction of the pavilion that used to be situated in the middle of ancient kharkhorin (Aka Ho-Lin/Qara Qorin). I found it very impressive how a whole city, not even just a city, one with the power and influence it had, ruling the great Mongol empire, can just disappear. It makes me want to grab a spade and dig in to find the hidden messages and treasures.

    We stopped for a quick resupplying and the weather turned. We stopped for lunch (and ran into three French travellers also stuck by the weather) and decided to change plans, as we did the car broke down.

    After trying to fix the car unsuccessfully, a local nomadic family Idra knew from the gobi in the summer came with their truck high with hay for the expectant harsh winter ahead. We piled in the front and Idra and Bimba clambered on top holding on tightly, as we drove through the snow to their winter camp, mongolian music blaring. Their gers and pens for their animals were tucked away sheltered by the surrounding rocky mountains.

    The elder man and woman have the most amazing faces, wrinkled and dark by a hard life in the elements, but kind.

    We camped by a cow dung fire (argal in Mongolian), suprisingly not so smelly, ate drank tea and enjoyed the new company. Graciously, the lady of the place kept the fire going for us during the night.    Read more

  • Rachel HortonOrient to OccidentRachel Horton

    Day 9

    November 25, 2017 in Mongolia ⋅ ☀️ -19 °C

    Spent the day relaxing in the camp, observing true nomadic life, drinking tea whilst waiting for the van to be fixed.

    80 79

  • Rachel HortonOrient to OccidentRachel Horton

    Day 10

    November 26, 2017 in Mongolia ⋅ ☀️ -13 °C

    Left the family, sad grateful

    Headed to ongiin khiid monastery
    Aggie

    Played Korean cards game umo
    No one at the camp so we set up in an open ger

  • Rachel HortonOrient to OccidentRachel Horton

    Day 12

    November 28, 2017 in Mongolia ⋅ ⛅ -10 °C

    After waking up to the six camels outside our ger, we had some tea and breakfast and headed into town for a shower and some lunch. Vegetarian bouz and a potato salad.

    We headed to Khongoryn Els, a seemingly everlasting wall of sand dunes, jutting up out of nowhere on the vast flat expanse that is the gobi desert, a natural barrier for wind and whatever lies on the other side.

    The land dotted with hundreds of white gazelles, darting off here and there as we disturb their grazing.

    Quiet and empty, we eventually find a family with three gers where we can stay. The family invite us in, serve Georgian tea (with animal fat and salt) and Arias eats what only looks like horse penis. It doesn't go down so well and let's leave that story to the imagination. Let's just say it involves digging an emergency hole. The man of the ger shows us some of the gold he has found with his metal detector, Aggie says these people are known as 'ninjas'.

    Aggie tells us about how it is custom in the gobi to be able to stay wherever there's a ger, occupied or not, it is ok for you to sleep there and use their home as if it is your own.

    She tells us of the drought in the summer, and how it is predicted to bring an extremely harsh winter, why many nomads are slaughtering many of their stock in preparation so at least they can get some money, and why meat now is very cheap because of this. How mining companies have made an already dry gobi drier, rivers and lakes completely gone, particularly because of gold mining. It's heartbreaking, knowing how resource rich and beautiful the country is, and hearing how it is being exploited by other countries taking the majority of the profits. Yet the people remain hopeful. Hopeful for a protective and prosperous future.    Read more

  • Rachel HortonOrient to OccidentRachel Horton

    Day 13

    November 29, 2017 in Mongolia ⋅ ☀️ -26 °C

    What a wonderful day. After a lazy morning in our ger playing our newly learnt card game, umo, or 108, and listening to the eagles, we headed over to the dunes to climb the biggest one we could. After an hour or so of climbing, using desert grass to help us up when we could, we made it to the top. Wow was it worth it, sand dunes for miles, some giant, some tiny, sculpted beautifully by the wind. Pristine lines in nature, untouched by man. When silent, the singing dunes sang their earth song, vibrating under our bodies, reminding us of connection, oneness, the great power of nature.

    After breathing it all in, appreciating the view, we attempted to play in the world's biggest sand pit by sliding down, which turned into running and rolling as we werent slippery enough.

    After emptying the equivalent of a whole dune out of our shoes we drank tea and rested until supper.

    Supper was a team effort and lesson in making khuushuu, a traditional Mongolian fried filled dough pocket, resembling a friend Cornish pasty. Terrible for you, but delicious.    Read more

  • Rachel HortonOrient to OccidentRachel Horton

    Day 16

    December 2, 2017 in Mongolia ⋅ ⛅ -13 °C

    The white Stupa, that isn't white, or a Stupa.

    Stopped in the desert to buy some camel milk

    Headed to baga gazrin chulu

    A temple destroyed in the purges of 1930s

    Pancake rock park, world's biggest climbing frame

    Vegetarian booz    Read more

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