 |
| Sunset over the Russian border |
Boarding the early morning train
to Ulaanbaatar three clues all pointed to the fact we were now aboard a Chinese
train rather than a Russian train. Firstly the carriage was full of smoke from the coal fire. Secondly there was the morning chorus of people seemingly trying to cough
up phlegm that had the consistency of a raw potato and finally the most obvious clue was the male Chinese attendant in our carriage rather than a blonde Russian. We were greeted into our dirty cabin by a very
friendly (and randy) Frenchmen called Morgan, who was trying to become the
first person to tour
the world visiting Judo centres. Sounding like Inspector Clouseau he informed
us with a dismissive shake of his head that the Chinese were a
very ‘urrrgly people’, wearing an
expression of such distain that only a Frenchmen could manage. Carrying only one pair of trousers and three
pairs of pants for a two year trip Morgan blended into our dirty carriage
seamlessly. He had some interesting stories from his trip, involving Olympic
Judo gold medallists in Russia, exploits in Amsterdam and locked train cabins
as well and surviving ‘
meeenuz zirty’
temperatures in Kazakhstan. As the train
hugged the lake we were treated to the most dramatic views of our journey as
the morning sun burnt the water off of the lake to create a thin mist as far as
we could see. I was delighted to
discover that we were known as ‘
ruurst
bif’ in France and we struck up a good friendship with the charismatic frog
. ‘Zee
Howerz’ passed by quickly and we finally left the lake shore and headed
south from Ulan Ude, where the sunset lit the snowy plains orange and pink as
we passed the final Russian wooden houses before Mongolia. The border was a very easy affair as we did
not have to leave the cabin and our doubts about visa free entry into Mongolia
were quickly dispelled, much to our relief.
Sleep soon came and we woke up in Ulaanbaatar to be embrace the most
intense cold we have ever experienced!
 |
| The pollution over Ulaanbaator |
 |
| Central Square in Ulaanbaator |
Ulaanbaatar, the capital of
Mongolia, is a city of 1.3 million people living in an average January low of
-33ᵒC that would make the city seem almost uninhabitable had it not been
continuously inhabited for centuries. Nobody walks unless they can help it, but
with our aversion to taxis we obviously broke the rule and walked all over the
city wearing three pairs of trousers, five tops and our lovely huge coats! The city is experiencing a huge boom in its
population as nomadic people seek better urban wages. As the heating does not extend to the city’s
edge however they burn anything they can for heat. Coupled with the insane traffic, Ulaanbaatar
is one of the most polluted places on earth in the winter months. Some days you could not see the bottom of
buildings in the distance but could make out the top poking through the brown
layer of pollution that hangs above the city.
Needing to get a Chinese visa in just four days we spent our first few
days printing endless documents and visiting the Chinese embassy. In the end we successfully got the visa with
far less stress than we thought (having been warned for weeks that our plan was
ridiculous). We were therefore able to relax and enjoy the city and hostel for our short stay. We were lucky to meet some great people including a lovely French couple (it would appear the French are secretly invading Mongolia) who were at the end of their own round the world adventure and a budding Spanish film producer who had been out in the wilderness for the past month filming tribes using
Golden Eagles to hunt.
 |
| Terij National Park |
 |
| Genghis Khan |
I had never met anybody from Finland
before but a bearded man called Pete with a crazed glint in his eye told us we could hire a driver for the
day for $30 if we wanted to join him on a trip to the national park 55 km
outside of the city. Desperate to see a
little of the lifestyle outside of the city and the traditional gers/yurts of
the nomadic tribes we set off with him and the former editor of Ulaanbaatar’s
leading newspaper (now a tour guide) for a day out. As we rose up into the mountains the
visibility dropped to less than 20 metres in the thick snow clouds and we
crawled along the old Soviet road (made from separate blocks of concrete that
made for a bumpy journey) disappointed that we could only make out the
occasional local who appeared out of the gloom walking alongside the road. Our first stop was at the Genghis Khan
complex on the outskirts of the national park.
At the complex is a museum to his empire that is underneath a 40 meters
tall statue of Genghis Khan that has been wrapped in 250 tons of gleaming
stainless steel! A fitting monument to a
man who created the largest land empire in the history of the world! After visiting the museum we left and found
two local Kasack’s with a Golden Eagle and a Cinereous Vulture that has a huge
3.1 metre wing span. The locals use the
birds to hunt for them although we were unsure whether these had been captured
or were used in traditional hunting techniques. They were without doubt the two
most regal birds I have ever seen. Our
guide said they have problems with the Eagles as they have been responsible for
hunting children in the more remote parts of Mongolia (which we assumed was
everywhere as it is the most sparsely populated country in the world)! We then headed into the Terij National Park
for the afternoon to see the famous ‘turtle rock’ and walk through the deserted
valley to a Buddhist monastery on the mountain side. Thankfully the clouds cleared and we were
able to see the white peaks of the mountains and the yurt villages that
littered the valley floor. On the way
back to Ulaanbaator we saw a local with his camels along the icy river and we
arrived back in the city listening to Pete’s new idea to set up a Finnish
Embassy in the city (he was at this stage drinking).
 |
| Gandantegchinlen Monastery |
On our final day in Mongolia we visited the largest Buddhist monastery left in the country, the Gandantegchinlen Monastery. At the turn of the nineteenth century nearly 100 Buddhist temples and monasteries could be found in the city but Gandantegchinlen is one of the few Buddhist monasteries that survived the communist purges of the 1937. We were fortunate to see both young and old monks chanting in a number of the temples after we eventually plucked up the courage to go in having stood and debated the idea for five minutes. Having never been in a Buddhist temple it was a very interesting morning and another moment that made me realise how lucky we were to be having so many different experiences this year. The biggest temple held a 50 metre high gold painted statue of Buddha inside a five story high traditional wooden temple! After having sausage rolls for lunch (who knew they had made it to Mongolia) we spent the afternoon in the National History Museum before buying a traditional game that is played with ankle bones from the four spiritual animals of Mongolia. The problem with travelling is that the more you see the more you add to your list of places to come back to. We are already planning our next holiday to Mongolia one summer to see the famous
Nadaam Festival having had a taste of what this unique country has to offer!
No comments:
Post a Comment