Outdoor adventure in Mongolia and the Gobi Deasert
In the country there is no car rental without a native driver in Mongolia, why becomes clear as soon as we leave the capital for the adventure trip into the wide open panorama. Here is the lowest population density in the world with 1.7 inhabitants per square kilometer. A third of the population lives in the capital which is Ulaanbaatar which is the capital, the remaining two million spread over an area that is more than four times the size of Germany.
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| Mongolia Outdoor Trip Pics by Peer Bergholter / Jochen Müller |
When on your own the outdoor trip quickly can become a nightmare. Along the highways are truck stops from "time to time" serving rather simple food e.g. in our case veal with noodles plus a thin hot drink. Animals do it differently as seen with this vultures.
In the evening we reached the ancient capital of Karakorum, long time ago the seat of the Khans and today a loose collection of small houses and tents. The Mongols are nomadic people never staying too long at the same place.
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| Car rental with a native driver |
In the country there is no car rental without a native driver, why becomes clear as soon as we leave the capital for the adventure trip into the wide open panorama. Here is the lowest population density in the world with 1.7 inhabitants per square kilometer. A third of the population lives in the capital which is Ulaanbaatar which is the capital, the remaining two million spread over an area that is more than four times the size of Germany. When on your own the outdoor trip quickly can become a nightmare.
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| Mongolian truck stop |
Along the highway are some truck stops serving rather simple food e.g. in our case veal with noodles plus a thin hot drink.
In the evening we reached the ancient capital of Karakorum,
long time ago the seat of the Khans and today a loose collection of small houses and tents. This are nomadic people never staying too long at the same place.
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| Jemmy a national dish of boiled sheep's head |
For dinner traditional Mongolian food is served in one of the typical round tents, known as yurts. What to eat? Jemmy, the national dish of boiled sheep's head which tastes good and the meat is real tender meat. After eating, a old man come in for an entertainment session. His face consists of wrinkles only; he probably spends all of his life outdoor where wind and weather tanned his skin. On his cloth proudly showing a medal which he got as an award for his efforts to preserve Mongolian culture.
The rather unfamiliar sound and song creates a atmosphere of melancholy he played string instruments, each decorated with horse heads .
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| The silent cold |
A look into the outside shows, it’s silent and cold. At night the temperature drops to minus 25 degrees Celsius. The only heat comes from a small oven in the center of the tent is the small oven fired by dry wood.
The next day, the road suddenly ends, the trail continues through the frozen steppe. How the driver finds the way, remains his secret since signs no longer exist. Later we arrived at the Terelj National Park and entered via a canyon which leads to a waterfall which is completely
frozen.
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| Frozen waterfall a day's drive from the Gobi Desert |
From here we continue the journey on small, shaggy ponies. As the animals start galloping without warning, everyone has to struggle to keep himself in the saddle, they kids are laughing.
Next day, the Jeep rumbles across the steppe, the last road is a distant memory. For crossing a stream the driver take the direct route and when the front wheels find ground, the ice gives way, and the back sinks into the icy water. Our driver shouts" Shit " and that says everything, he laughs and lights a cigarette.
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| The SUV stuck in the stream |
He tries to get out from the stream but no way to do so. Coincidently there was a village not far off, he went there and an hour later a truck came to help and pulling the car out.
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| Phlegmatic camels with dense fur |
When we arrive at the edge of the Gobi Desert in the evening had substantial delay it was only a gap for a ride on some phlegmatic camels with dense fur. We experience a beautiful desert sunset with a red-golden glow, it's beautiful out here but terrible cold.
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| The Gobi Desert |
