Travels with Kathryn

7.30am and we are back on the road (well, the off roading). Today is going to be a day of rocks, big rocks. Our first stop was Tsagaan Suvarga which translates as “white stupa”. To be honest, I can’t see it – apparently its like many stupas? All I can say is that its no turtle rock.

The white stupas are colourful low hills which flatten out into the lumpy valley below.  The stupas are made of sand stone with veins of different chemical compositions such as iron (creating the red), and calcium (creating the white).

By 10am we were back on an actual road. I must not forget how amazing tarmac roads are, or running water, or toilets… Lunch stop for today was the city of Mandalgov which is the capital of Dundgovi province with a population of 10,500 people. We actually pulled into the restaurant at 12.01 so perhaps actual lunchtime. We may not have eaten until 1.30pm but there was mountains of it: soup, salad sides, a pile of differently stir fried meats, chicken strips, and two of these platters:

I am very full.

It was then on to Baga Gazryn Chuluu nature reserve. We had a fun time driving around on some kind of shortcut which seemed to add at least another 1.5hr to the drive. In my view, we turned off the tarmac road too early. We had Enke (our guide) in our van today so we were able to find out exactly what was happening, turns out the “lead” van (who is also the boss) likes to take shortcuts and in this case the other two drivers disagreed with him (and they were right by the way) so we tried to instigate a mutiny. Either it worked or eventually we found the right road, although that did involve some interesting driving through a rocky gap at one point where I did have concerns that was the closest we have come to tipping over…

Anyway, it was a fun drive in any event as we serenaded the driver with a collection of sing-a-long classics from Dolly Parton to Men At Work. We also had a good selection of Mongolian classics from Enke. Alongside throat singing (which really amazing),  modern Mongolidan music sounds good to a Western ear (unlike, say, Chinese opera) as it is almost all sung in a major key within an alto-tenor register. I am a fan

We finally arrived in the nature reserve at 4.30pm for our walk (good to stretch the legs and burn off lunch). The name translates as “rocks in a small place” and is famous for its granite rock formations. The whole area is 15km long and 10km wide and rises to a height of 1758m above sea level. The tallest point is effectively an island surrounded by a flat land which would once have included a lake.

Halfway up the hill/mountain (probably mountain is  slight exaggeration as even I went up it without complaining) is the ruined 10th century temple Sum Khokh Burd. This is now a ruin, but interestingly, it was built from rocks only found 300km away. It was abandoned sometime in the 14th century, and then in the 1700s, two pilgrims moved here to live and meditate, and then later, a renowned monk Zava Damdin lived here to create his works. It was then abandoned -who knows what was so bad about this delightful place?

Having Enke in the van with us means we were able to find out more about Mongolia, and our driver. He is ex-army and effectively retired, so he just drives tourist buses during the summer for fun, pin money, and quite possibly to escape from his six children. Apparently, this is a relatively normal family size in Mongolia with medals being awarded to mothers who have more than four children. There are two classes based on number of children: Order of Maternal Glory (second class) for 4-5 children, and Order of Maternal Glory (first class) for more than 6. The medals also come with an annual payment of £80 per child for 6+ children, and £40 for 4+ children.

We also stopped to visit a spring which is said to improve the eyesight. Obviously, I gave my eyes a good rinse with more hope than expectation. I could immediately see better, but that may have been more to do with getting the dust out of my eyes than anything else. However, always worth a try and I shall report back tomorrow.

It was then a very short drive to our ger – our final ger stay in Mongolia as its back to Ulaanbaatar tomorrow. Somewhat disappointing, there is no electricity in the gers, so we are all sitting around in the dining room clustered around the plugs charging various devices. A few multi blocks wouldn’t have gone a miss.

Dinner was delightful this evening – a salad to share (with such foreign exciting things such as feta) followed by a beautiful plate of a sort of burger on a bed of garlic mash with a mushroom sauce, a roast vegetable medly and rice (one carbohydrate is never enough). There was even watermelon for desert. It is not true “pudding” but at least it was something.

I then headed off for a shower (good pressure and heat) and to do a bag sort. We are heading back to Ulaanbaatar tomorrow where it is forecast to be cool and rainy so I shall be abandoning my two pairs of cropped trousers (both of which I have had to darn whilst I am here) and all but the final few tshirts. My bag will then be nicely empty for shopping! Right then, it is off to sort (my bag, myself) I go.