The Real Mongolia - Kind of...

We were on a tour today, that took us into the Terelj National Park. This was our attempt to see the real Mongolia, not just Ulan Bataar, the capital. The day started at 9:00 when our guides picked us up at the hotel. Jamie was feeling more than a bit ill from the dining experience the night before, and threatened to ruin the day from the start. Fortunately, the upset stomach brought on by the copious consumption of spicy Indian food was brought to heel, in time for our departure.

Travelling in the car through Ulan Bataar rush hour, it took about 45 mins to clear the city proper, during which time, we passed three separate car crashes. We also passed the aquarium of our Uzbek dolphin trainer. Once out in the wilderness, we made our way to the statue of Chinggis Khan, in all its 30 metres of stainless steel glory. Like the Statue of Liberty, we were able to walk up the statue, only to emerge in the head of the great Khan's horse. And who would we find there, but five of our fellow travellers from Russia.

After the statue, our next stop was for lunch with a local family. The drive there took us deeper into the national park, where the sights became more and more beautiful, though we couldn't help but notice the enormous number of fences, partitiioning what was once open and communal grass land, and the large number of ger camps set up, for the flood of tourists in the summer time. There was still a great deal of beauty, but as tourism continues to grow, and the many new tousists camps we saw being built, come online, the beauty, of that bit of Monglia anyway, may be lost very soon.

Lunch at the locals camp was quite delicious. We had milky tea, and curd treats to begin. The curd treats were not sweeteded like they might be in the west, and so they were very sour. Too sour for Courtney to manage more than the one - eaten out of politeness. Next we had soup, which was made with beef stock. Courtney ate the vegetables out of the soup, again so she was polite, and then gave up. The main dish was a local delicacy, which was a savoury pastry filled with meat and finely chopped vegetables - think cornish pasty, with a thinner pastry skin. Courtney got a vege version, which was similarly pretty tasty.

Following lunch, we jumped on some Mongolian ponies, and rode them up a nearby hill. The Mongolian riding style is different to that in America and Europe, and seems much more akin to the way a jockey of a race horse would ride, with knees bent at 90 degrees. Courtney was chuffed with her horse riding experience, having been thrown from her horse the last time she rode, many years ago. In the spirit of honesty however, we rarely got above a slow walk, and the fastest Courtney got was a fast trot, just short of breaking into a canter. The view from the top of the hill, across the valley was pretty amazing.

Our final stop, was a Buddhist monastery, deeper into the mountains. After driving along a metal road for about 1km, the road became a dirt tracked, and we followed that for a further 1km. We were only in a sedan car, but this is Mongolia, and taking road cars offroad, is entirely normal. In fact, when we got to the monastry, down the rather rutted and potholed dirt track, we found a school group was there too, and had arrived in a three axle luxury bus.

After climbing the many steps to the top of the Buddhist monastery, we turned around, to find another beautiful view, back down the valley, with rocky mountains on three sides, and a green treelined stream flowing through the middle. It wasn't hard to understand how the area could become a Buddhist retreat.

We then headed back into Ulan Bataar, arriving in the crush of rush hour, at 1830. It was then time to find something light for dinner, to make up for the disaster th night before. There was no issue with the quality of th food, only the rather large quantity that we managed to order for ourselves. After a bit of research, we settled on a vegetarian restaurant close to the hotel, only to find that its location was not as advertised. Searching around for somewhere else to get some dinner we settled on a Korean reastarant, of which there are a great many in Ulan Bataar.

Heading to the 14th floor of a tower block, we found our Korean restaurant, and proceded to place our order. There were a few issues, with items that we wanted on the menu, not being available, but eventually we managed to settle on some food, and waited for it to arrive. And when it arrived, were we shocked. For the second night in a row, we had ordered an obscene amount of food for a pitance. Between the two of us, we had enough food to feed a family of ten. Remembering the lessons of our childhoods, we ate the meat/main vegetables, and then worried about what we could eat of the remainder. We left feeling pretty full - yet again - and headed straight to bed.

Another day completed - it was good fun.Read more