Saturday, September 19, 2009

Snowed in...

We were supposed to leave Ulaanbaatar on our second 12 day trip around Mongolia this morning but we've been thwarted by the weather.

We got back from a 12 day trip through the Gobi and central Mongolia on Wednesday which was absolutely awesome. Before leaving on that trip we left messages around the guesthouses in UB looking for people to join us on a second trip up north after we got back. As soon as we were back (pausing only to wash our clothes and have a shower - having only 3 showers in twelve days was pretty grim) we started following up our responses. Eventually we hooked up with another 3 people and were due to leave today, heading towards Lake Khovsgol.

We all piled into the minivan and headed off out of UB at 9.00am. We didn't get too far before we were stopped by the police at a checkpoint and turned around. Apparently a severe snowstorm is setting in throughout most of Mongolia and no one is permitted to leave UB for a few days. It was a bit frustrating because we had just checked out of our hostel and they didn't have room for us to come back, but thankfully we just extended our visa yesterday so we weren't too stressed about a couple of days delay. We're now hoping to head north on Monday or Tuesday and are currently enjoying the pretty snow which is falling on UB. It's very weird weather here as yesterday the temperature was about 27 degrees and today it's about 5 degrees and snowing!

The trip to the Gobi was excellent. We ended up joining an Italian guy Raffaele (who we met on the train coming up from Beijing) and his friends Sam and Steve (a couple from England) for 12 days, which included three days of horse trekking. With our driver and our guide/translator that made 7 of us in a Russian minivan. The minivan was awesome - it was really comfy (apart from the seat near the engine which was a bit warm) and powerful, which it needed to be to navigate the roads outside of UB. Heading south, within a short time the bitumen roads turn to dirt tracks through the desert - we had no idea how our driver knew the way each day as there seemed to be hundreds of different tracks through the desert all heading different ways and absolutely no signposts.

The Gobi was really dry and rocky rather than sandy. There seemed to be hardly any water around - we gathered that most of the people living in the Gobi draw water from a well for themselves and for their animals. Most of the people living out there have a herd of goats, sheep and sometimes camels. Our accommodation each night was with a local family in a ger. The gers were really comfy with 5 - 6 beds around the inside wall and some had a stove which made the inside of the ger really warm. Wood was a bit scarce though - there were a couple of nights where we were kept warm by burning dung in the stove. But hey...when in Rome... It was so beautiful out in the desert with hardly anyone else around - on most occasions you couldn't see anyone else around, sometimes you'd see the neighbours' ger about 10km away across the desert. We had fantastic sunsets over the ger most nights.

My favourite stop on the Gobi part of the trip was the night we spent at the Khongor sand dunes in the south. The sand dunes were huge, made of beautiful white sand and were stuck smack bang between a mountain range and a little wetland where some horses were grazing. We hired camels for an hour and rode around the base of the sand dunes which was fun.

After the sand dunes we headed north again and started our three day horse trek from Orkhon waterfall. Our driver waited for us at the waterfall while we all headed off with the camping equipment, our translator and our two horse guides. Soon after being assigned our steeds we asked what their names were - they didn't have any. Mine soon became Spike and Paul's horse was Princess (even though he was a boy).

We trekked around the Eight Lakes area which was really pretty. The second day we had to climb a mountain range on the horse and the going was pretty steep and rocky. I felt sure that Spike wouldn't be able to get through some of the areas but he did, even though he had to cross over big boulders etc. Sometimes the only clear path went right under a low hanging tree branch - I was pretty good at horse limbo by the end of the three days. That night we camped by one of the lakes. It was really cold before we went to bed but we were all standing around the fire so it didn't feel that cold. When we went to bed I put my half empty water bottle inside the tent in case I was thirsty in the night. When we woke up the next morning, the bottle had ice blocks in it! My shoes, which were outside the door of the tent were all frosted over and stiff. I had to go and thaw them by the fire before I could put them on.

We were supposed to camp again the next night but we all thought we should try to head back to the ger at the waterfall so we could actually get some sleep. That day was a pretty hard ride and we all had pretty sore legs from rubbing against the rough stirrup leathers that our saddles had. By evening we reached the waterfall but were still two kilometres away from the ger. Our horse guides enticed us to camp again by saying that we could fish in the river for dinner. That decided us and after a hairy crossing of the river which was flowing through the bottom on the canyon, we made our camp on the opposite ban.

That evening, a man from the ger on the other side of the river bank came over to say hello. We had told our guide that we wanted to try traditional Mongolian food. This guy said if we bought one of his goats, we could make a traditional Mongolian dish which is cooked with hot rocks. It seemed like this was our opportunity to try some "real" Mongolian food. We started building up the fire while the guy went to collect a goat (which, by the way was only 30,000 t - less than AU$30 for those of you who are interested in the going rate of a small goat in Mongolia these days).

I'll skip over the bit where the goat went from being alive to being dead but suffice to say in short order we were all sitting down to "hot rocks goat" wondering where our appetites had gone. The meal was actually really nice though, despite the only ingredients besides the goat being potatoes and salt - once we started eating we felt a lot better (how quickly we forget). Everyone sat around the fire on the horse blankets eating out of the massive cooking cauldron with their hands.

The next morning we headed back to the ger, said tearful goodbyes to our trusty mounts, promised to visit the ger family again next year and departed for the old capital of Karakorum. Karakorum was interesting, but by this stage we were ready to get back to UB and have a meal which didn't consist entirely of mutton. (Sometimes it seems like everything in Mongolia has some element of mutton in it. Even the hot water we got at the gers tasted like mutton - we suspected that everything was probably being cooked in the same one or two pots most of the time). We were also missing toilets which had a door. The most basic toilet we had on the trip was a pit dug into the ground with a short wooded wall around three sides, which wasn't even high enough to cover your head when you squatted down. Even though it was a little way away from the ger it never felt quite private because everyone knew when you were in there! Also, if the minivan or a motorbike chose that moment to leave the ger, it usually drove round behind the toilet - where the only open side was! I think there were times when we all found a nice clean spot behind a rock to do our business instead of face the pit toilet!

Friday, September 4, 2009

Oops - Map Dramas

Hmmmm, I am still working out Google Maps and I have made a bit of a boo boo with the blog map.

At the moment, it's not working properly. It'll take a few hours fixing which I'll get to as soon as possible.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

1st September 2009 – Trans Mongolian Railway

Here we are! Finally on the Trans-Mongolian railway after years of talking. I am so excited about finally getting to see Mongolia and getting to experience the nomadic lifestyle first hand. I am not really sure why this remote country fascinates me that much. Perhaps it's its glorious history, or perhaps it's the unchanging lifestyle of the people over the past 3,000 years. Perhaps it's the raw beauty in its natural environment. Either way, I am dying to see it and make this stop one of the highlights of this big overseas trip.

First thing first, after we left Beijing 2.5 weeks ago, we travelled to Ji-nan, Qingdao, Tai-an, Nanjing, Suzhou then Shanghai. I have to admit China was a lot more bearable outside Beijing. The train ride was still mostly unenjoyable (until we coughed up double the price for the deluxe express train from Suzhou to Shanghai!). However, these cities have their own special charm. Qingdao was especially relaxing with its port-town vibe. The only thing funny about it was tonnes of seaweed on the beach and hundreds of people collecting it for dinner. It also has an abundance of seafood. We saw this guy walk up from the beach with a whole bucket of pippies that he collected from the beach. We also had a grilled seafood platter and a few seafood sticks for like $6.

We climbed Tai-shan in Tai-an. It was a bit small for our current standards at 1,545m (although Naomi nearly gave up after we almost reached the top). It is one of the 5 sacred peaks in Taoism and there were heaps of temples along the way for people to worship. We saw some people carrying incense that were literally longer than 2m. Very devout people. I would have given up after the first 5 minutes! We caught the local buses there and back which only cost us Y1 each one way (bus no3).

Nanjing was interesting too. We went to see the Nanjing massacre museum which was in memory of the 300,000 plus people who died during the Japanese occupation. We also made a visit to the Confucius temple complex and saw some old style Chinese canal boats. We could have easily spent another 2 days in Nanjing to visit former Ming dynasty palaces and the Nanjing museum but we just didn't have the time.

We rushed to Suzhou after just 1 full day in Nanjing. We were very lucky to find accommodation that night as there simply weren't any cheap hotels around Suzhou. We somehow ignored all these touts around the station (they were soooo annoyingly persistent) who tried to sell us expensive hotels (as Naomi is supposedly not allowed to stay in normal guest houses) and jumped on a random bus (happened to be the last bus of the night) and got off in the middle of nowhere and found a great small hotel (Yin-Chun Guesthouse) just right next to the bus stop. The owner was very welcoming and hospitable. She even told the next door restaurant to deliver our dinner to our room while we could have showers and unpack as it was quite late at night. It was just so random and we were so lucky. We got a huge room with wooden floor, ensuite, air-con and TV and all for Y110 (A$20) per night.

Suzhou was another must-visit little town in southern China. It's well-known for its traditional gardens with ponds and man-made hills etc in them. We took a stroll in one of the famous ones (Garden of the Master of the Nets) and spent a few relaxing hours there. Rich people in the old days had great taste I have to say. We also climbed up the tallest temple in Suzhou (Beishi Ta) which was first built in 502AD. It was really quite amazing to walk on the same ground that people from the ancient past once walked on. We also went to the Silk Museum at Naomi's insistence. At night, we went for some Suzhou specialty food at some street (Shi-jie) that was on the other side of the city.

Shanghai was a lot bearable than Beijing. After a successful start with the express deluxe train that went around 240km/h we were all pumped and ready for Shanghai. We spent much of our time there shopping in celebration of Naomi's 28th birthday. Despite our enormous effort, I think we visited around 5% of the shopping malls in Shanghai! We also visited the famous Bund and the Oriental Pearl tower there. While Naomi was having a rest day, I went to visit Yuu Garden (300 year old garden) and the French concession area with my friend Cheng Hang. It was quite interesting to compare the ancient buildings in the Garden to more modern (100 year old) Chinese brick houses to the grand traditional European style housing all within the same suburb.

Cheng was very generous in showing us Shanghai and took us to the best local eating places. She studied in Australia before her job in Shanghai. I think she really misses Australia and want to return ASAP. Apparently it is quite difficult to get a visa for Chinese nationals.

We flew back to Beijing on the 30th August. With strings of good luck comes unfortunate events. I managed to lose my camera somewhere in Shanghai. I was certain that I left in the hotel, but the cleaners claimed that they never saw it and they also never saw my earplugs and some other items that I accidentally left behind too.

It was unbelievable. I was sooooo upset that I nearly caught the next plane back to Shanghai and search for my camera in the room! I only pray that my travel insurance will cover it.

Besides this event, our 2 week trip to the south was fun. I think it was also quite lucky that I speak some Chinese and was able to communicate to a certain extent. I only wish that we could have spent time to see some of these places properly!

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Being of Taiwanese heritage, it is sometimes pretty difficult in China. Chinese people tend to believe whatever their government says and believe that Taiwan and China are the same country. Well, I believe otherwise. Because of this issue, I usually tell people that I am of Singaporean heritage or Malaysian heritage when Chinese people ask to avoid confrontation.

When we were eating in the street stalls in Qingdao, the chef just randomly asked me where I am from and I of course said Australia. He then asked me which province in China did my family originally come from. When I replied that they weren't Chinese and were Singaporean, the chef suddenly got excited and said he's from Singapore too and he lived in some suburb before he moved back to Qingdao.

I was gobsmacked and was speechless. He then continued asking me how Singapore was going lately etc which I have obviously no idea and just made up some story on the spot based on what we saw in Kuala Lumpur. He then got all the nearby vendors over to talk to us and suddenly I was the tourism hotspot of the night. They wanted to know everything about me including my ancestry, what language they speak in Singapore, where in Singapore did I live and what I was doing in Australia etc. We bolted as soon as we finished our seafood platter. Boy, I think I made record time in skulling down that plate of seafood. I have to develop a story in case this happens again.