Travels with Kathryn

Its 7.33am and we’re on the road. Breakfast this morning included the usual egg and bread, but there was a bowl of very tasty (slightly spicy) congee.

Today we’re driving the furthest south we will go on the trip and another day where the van was loaded with my bag at the bottom. This is a theme of all trips, but currently it only weighs about 14kg so doesn’t deserve having 2 other rucksacks and 2 wheelie bags on top of it. Might try carrying it myself tomorrow as late as possible to be loaded…

We drove along the dune towards the town of Bayandalai. We are still in the Gobi, but its much greener and although we have seen very little in terms of human life but did see our first antelopey things running along.

It has been a very bumpy ride, probably the bumpiest we have had – possibly due to the fact that there was no semblance of a “road” so it really was just bumping through scrub.

After about three hours we reached the town and there was a distinct lack of zebra crossings, but there was tarmac and no fewer than two shops and two cafes/restaurants. You can tell we’re on a tourist route. I brought a bottle of water, a chocolate bar, a tube of (much cheaper than in the UK) Korean sunscreen and a stunningly beautiful new water bottle:

Leaving town, something miraculous happened. We joined a road. An actual tarmac road. The luxury.

It was only another 30 minutes to Khanbogd Ger Camp. There had been some excitement as it was rated as 4.8 on Google. To be honest, it seems very much back to a standard ger experience – perfectly nice but none of the upgrades. I have noted that next door’s ger also has a mirror, a coat hanger, and a satin lining. I am a bit jealous, but do not begrudge them as we did get our one night in an ensuite house.

The first thing we noticed on arrival to our ger was a pika (photographed below). These are small animals which are apparently a member of the rabbit family. They seem to have free reign in and out of gers so I am going to make sure that I encourage them into other people’s ger rather than mine. Maybe the ger with satin lining…

Today’s activity is a “hike” into the Yolyn Am. This translates as “vulture’s mouth” and is a narrow gorge between the Altai mountain range. This first became a designated conservation area to protect bird life in the area, and in 2017, lammergeier began nesting in the canyon. Lammergeier are also known as Old World vultures (so it is living up to its name), and today, it is a poplar hiking, bicycling, and horse riding route. As well as birds (which I struggle to get that excited about), there are reports of year-round ibex, and maybe even the odd snow leopard if we are extremely lucky. It is also famous for its deep ice field, which can reach several meters thick and several kilometres long by the end of winter. We shall have to see if any is left in summer.

Well, there was a distinct lack of ibex and ice. It was a good walk along the valley and again giving Welsh vibes. Apparently, there was a chunk of ice that had I been prepared to walk past the “technical” section (which involved bum sliding) I would have seen. I shall live. However, there were lots of opportunities for nice views and pika spotting, even without ibex.

By now it was after 6.30pm as we had to wait for the people who did walk past the waterfall (bless them). It was then a drive back to the ger (off- roading again) via the museum. It had many, many stuffed animals. Perhaps this is why we couldn’t see them in the canyon?

Back to the ger for dinner. I have honestly been both surprised and relieved by the food in Mongolia -yes, there is a lot of meat but we do get vegetables and carbohydrates. The gers also do try and mix things up so it is not the same meal every day. Generally speaking meals at the ger camps are either: (i) a buffet (rare) or (ii) simply placed infront of you. There are no menus/options. Portion size can also vary greatly from absolutely huge to a little on the ladylike size. Today’s dinner was served in courses of soup, followed by a slice of meatloaf with a few sides and then a rather odd limey yogurt. It was all perfectly nice, but most of us could have eaten double the main course. Particularly given the fact that we had lunch at 11.30 and then there has been hiking.

I have just returned from a lovely hot shower with pressure (yay!), and I am about to sit down and read about tomorrow’s itinerary. We are adding an unscheduled stop to see the petroglyphs – they are in the guidebook, so must be worth seeing…