Travels with Kathryn

Well, I have had a couple of hours sleep…

It was an interesting night including a 1am walk into the wide yonder to use the “toilet”. At about 5.30am it was evidently morning, the family were up and getting the horses ready for Nadaam, there was a trip to provide water for some kind of animal (a car trip). So I accepted my fate, put my bra back on (I have stayed in the same clothes mind you – I am grubby, they are grubby, my hair is feral) and got up.

Breakfast was prepared by the guide (working hard) assisted by the girls (Dad and boys off horse Nadaam-ing) but I did slice some tomatoes. I had an egg sandwich and a bowl of museli with homemade yogurt. The nomad diet genuinely is as I was expecting ie just meat and dairy, but I would struggle with the sheer amount of red meat though could definitely embrace the diary.

Staying with a nomad family is a unique experience and I am glad I have done it. However, I am also much relieved to do one night of it and not the whole trip. I just struggle with being this grubby and need more sleep.

We packed up and waved goodbye to the family, and to our minibus (which will meet us again when we’re back in Ulaanbaatar) as for the next leg we will be in UAZ vans. These are known colloquially as “Russians Vans” and are the preferred bus for tourists as: (i) they can cope with all terrains (off roading); and (ii) they look cool. The one we are in is a 90s/00s reproduction and seems to have been recently re-upholstered. It’s 5 people to a van, so we’re traveling in a convoy. In my view its actually more comfortable and breezy than our minibus.

Today we will be driving around 6 hours to Karkhorim (mostly on actual roads – hurrah!). A couple of stops on route (to use an actual toilet, and a sink with running water with soap. Bliss).

We passed by Elsen Tasarkhai (mini sand dune). This is an 80km long and 5 km wide (at its widest) strip of desert – effectively, this is where visitors to Mongolia come if they are not making the trek down to the Gobi. Also note that there is a planted row of trees. This is a plan of de-desertfiication whereby they plan to plant 1 billion trees on the edge of deserts (where there is still soil to plant them) to attempt to hold back the desert. So far, Mongolia has planted some 50 million.

Modern Karkhorim is a rather uninteresting soviet style city, however, it is next to the site of the original Kharakorum. This was the location where the successor (and second son) of Chinggis Khan, Ogedei decided in the mid 13th century, that he needed a permanent capital unlike the moving capital of gers that Chinngis had used. The strategy of the Mongols as their empire expanded was that cities/territories were given the option of surrendering or being annihilated. When they failed to chose the correct option (surrender), the Mongols had to decide what to do with any prisoners they hadn’t murdered. Whilst many were murdered, tradesmen/artisans were one of the categories of people considered valuable to the Mongols (as they had none themselves) and therefore kept alive. These people were sent to Kharakorum to construct the capital (including a Paris jeweller and sculptor Guillaume Bouchier captured in Paris, and created a fancy silver tree fountain) which then attracted more skilled workers. Unfortunately for Kharakorum, Kublai Khan moved the capital to Beijing just 40 years later and Kharakorum was essentially left and ultimately abandoned when the Mongol Empire fell.

We briefly stopped on a hill overooking Karkhorim for the view and to see a stone turtle. These were installed at the four waypoints of the old Kharakorum and were intended to bring prosperity and protect against flooding.

Today, part of what was the old Kharakorum is today the Erdene Zuu Khidd – the first Buddhist monestary in Mongolia (founded in 1586). What was left of Kharakorum was used to help build the monestary. At its peak, it had over 650 structures and was home to 1,500 monks. It was closed in 1937 as part of the Soviet purge, but reopened in 1965 as a museum with the 18 remaining temples. In 1990, it reopened as a monestary and is considered to be Mongolia’s most important monestary. One small area seems to be in working use as a monestary, the other side temples and buildings are dedicated to displays of Buddhist art.

In 30 degree heat and blazing sunshine (whilst being somewhat feral), it felt rather empty and desolated. We did see a grand total of three monks, and only one of them was on his phone. Even had I not been told, I would have recognised these buildings as Tibetan and walking around them today, if it had only been colder, I could have imagined I was in Tibet again.

By now, it was close to 6pm, and we headed to our first “tourist ger” for tonight. Well, this was much better – two to a yurt, beds, places to put stuff, a dining yurt with table and chairs serving cold drinks and OH JOY OF JOYS running water (in the form of showers, sinks and toilets). I feel this is much more of an acceptable standard for me, and hopefully will be the experience from now on (as I have been led to believe). I resisted the urge to immediately throw myself into the shower and instead decided to have dinner, then shower, then put on my clean pyjamas and retire to my yurt (which I have of course now done as I am a writing this). Dinner was a bit of a change as well, there was a soup to start, followed by marinated chicken and a yogurt to finish. This is 5* luxury.

I feel I could write much more about how great that shower was, one of the best of my life, and considering it was in a communal block that is saying something. I am also resisting the urge to post photos of clean parts of my body as I suspect no one is interested in seeing my feet however shiny they currently appear to me.

It will be an early start tomorrow before an 8 hour drive to the edge of the Gobi desert where it is forecast to be 36 degrees. I will probably need another shower again tomorrow. Good night.