Hello from Thailand!

It’s been a whirlwind of events up to this point so it’s going to take me a while to get out all the blog posts. We have had a lack of wifi lately here in Bangkok. It’s a little expensive to sit down and type an article but I have some free time at the moment.

We left Mongolia with our tails between our legs. It went from t-shirt weather to needing a coat on all the time. The “cab-vultures” were circling us waiting for one wrong move. And the trip we did book we didn’t fully get what we had paid for.

In Mongolia Steve and myself booked a trip to go out and stay with a nomadic family. Eat what they eat, sleep how they sleep (they sleep in what is called a ger or a yurt), and ride the horses they keep. Well we started our little venture with a small man named Hoki. Hoki seemed to only know four words in English. Sleep, hot, cold, and hello. There was a quite a language barrier, which most of the time is the fun part. However Hoki was supposed to be our translator as well. We got to see some of Moingolia’s most beautiful country side, and it was a blessing to not hear any honking at all for 2 days. We got just 10 minutes out of the city where we passed a religious site. This religious rock pile is called an ovoo. You pick up three pebbles and you circle the ovoo, three times clock wise throwing one pebble each time. Hoki then proceeded to say something and motion like he was honking the horn three times. Once we had passed a few more ovoo it was clear that he was trying to tell us that it’s customary that you honk 3 times when passing one if you don’t have time to get out at every one and do the same ceremony. We passed probably twenty of them so it’s good we didn’t stop.

There was a small restaurant not more than 5 minutes from the ovoo. This was the first real taste of Mongolian food that Steve and I got. Hoki ordered us some massive platter of Mongolian food each. And some Milk Tea… Now Milk Tea is basically very creamy milk with a taste of salt boiled with some sort of a tea leaf. It curdles while you drink it, and this is what stopped Steve from continuing to drink it. I was about half way through my cup and a curdled hunk of it stuck to my lip and swung down to below my chin. Steve had the most horrified look on his face, while I was laughing. Back to the meal, we got a bowl of beef soup, some mystery meat in almost an enclosed taco shell, a really doughy bun, almost like it wasn’t cooked the whole way through, and a small helping of salad and carrots. It was a very interesting meal to say the least.

The total trip time to get out to meet our nomadic family was about three hours. We spent a lot of time going from ger to ger asking where the family was located. The road out there was more like goat trails. I also forgot to mention Hoki’s vehicle was a small car slightly larger than the Toyota MR2 parked in the garage back home. Our nomadic family had just moved from 20 kms out of Ulaanbaatar, to 100 kms out. And I am guessing they take a relatively different spot each time they move.

Finally arriving we said our welcomes, drank some more Milk Tea and got used to our surroundings. The family we stayed with was , from what I could tell one of the more wealthy in the area. They had solar power, with a satellite dish, and a small LCD TV. After about and hour of sitting around while Hoki and the family spoke in Mongolian, we were taken our side to ride some Mongolian horses. Now I have never rode a horse before, and Steve said he was very young when he rode one. So there we are sitting on a couple horses when the gentleman that got the saddles on them for us proceeded to explain how to control them. Pull to the left is go left, pull to the right is go right, and pull back is stop. Then he walked away. I looked over at Steve with a huge smile on asking how the heck we get the horse to go forward. It wasn’t a few moments later and Steve’s horse took off in a hurry, causing a chain reaction spooking mine into running. So there we were, riding horses in Mongolia having no idea how to really control them. Later in the ride we were told “choo” and whipping the horse makes it run. Just to mention the saddles that they use, they are small, wooden, and really hurt. We still have bruises from the horses.

For supper we got to eat noodles, beef, potatoes and yams. The meat in Mongolia is very fatty. This is what they like to eat, so that is what we ate. We finished our one helping and were pretty full. After that two older Mongolians from a town close by came to visit, not with us though. They did how ever offer us the snuff bottle. Apparently there is a special way to hand the snuff bottle to people which Steve learned pretty quick. He grabbed and handed me the bottle because he didn’t want any. You have to hand the bottle in your right hand and place it face down, and then turn it up in the other persons hand, like a hand shake. So we both tried it, and it is what I imagine the snuff back in Canada is like. But it is a ceremonial offering in Mongolia so it was pretty great to be a part of it.

After supper Hoki asked me to come with him and gave me an extra coat. We went out side and gathered cow patties. This is what they use to fuel their stove, which in turn heats the ger and allows them to cook food.

We spent the better half of the night watching some Mongolian television. Before hitting the sack. It was about -7 that night. Did we ever feel it. Steve and I tossed and turned all night trying to keep warm, and every time you moved you were cold again.

The next morning you couldn’t help but be up at the crack of dawn with the family. I got up and had some bread and tea, before going out side and walking around to warm up. By lunch time we were eating basically the same meal as before but Steve was given two bowls to my one. Which I think is because he didn’t eat breakfast and they wanted to thicken him a bit.

We said our good byes and set off back to Ulaanbaatar shortly after lunch. Spending one last night in Ulaanbaatar Steve and I boarded a plane to Thailand and that is where our next post will start.

We are now at our third hostel in Ulaanbaatar. It’s kind of tucked away to the point where you can now barely hear the traffic noises.

We’ve had an eventful day since our last posting. We had to move hostels first thing in the morning because we were only able to book for 2 nights. After moving in we decided to go down to the Black Market. When you hear somebody talk about a Black Market, usually the first thing that comes to mind is crime. Well in Ulaanbaatar this is not the case.

After a 15 minute bus ride we arrived at a neighborhood that has dirt sidewalks and old Russian apartments. In a very large open area we found a large market with overhanging sheets to block out the sun. This would be the Ulaanbaatar Black Market. After walking up and down the rows of Mongolian vendors you start to see the same small trinkets and pocketknives over and over. You can purchase anything from extra ger parts to small motorcycle parts. I was kind of tempted to buy a long sleeve shirt that said iPhone, and actually was surprised that Steve did not buy himself a ger to sleep in for the remainder of the trip. We walked around the market for about 1 and a half hours before leaving.

Jumping back to the bus situation, motion sickness hits me really hard. So the short 15 minute bus ride had me sweating and shaking trying to not throw up on the small Mongolian lady seated in front of us. So after we had seen the market we decided to walk back to where we were staying. It really didn’t matter if this was a long walk at the time, I was willing to do anything to not ride a bus again with out Gravol.

Steve and I must have walked for about an hour before we met a gentlemen from Belarus. I stopped him asking if he knew English and if he could point us in the direction of Peace Ave. He then walked with us showing us some good places to visit. He had been staying in Ulanbaataar for 4 years now and showed no fear when crossing streets so his information was gladly received.

We ended our eventful day with drinking fermented mares milk and Chinggis Khan vodka with some other travelers. Surprisingly Mongolian bars don’t seem to have an early last call either. So myself and some fellow travelers went to a karaoke bar just 2 minutes away. Three of the Mongolians that worked at our last hostel took us there. Putting that night into perspective I spent most of the next day in bed and I can’t speak for Steve on that one. I blame the fermented mares milk.

Today we started our trek to get to the UB Golf Course. After hailing down 3 cabs and not agreeing on a price we ended up with a pretty nice cabby. The only problem was the language barrier. He didn’t speak a lick of English. We ended up driving to a pretty snazzy hotel to get a translator. Said translator knew some English but there was still a bit of a barrier.

After we had gotten prices and where we wanted to go in order we set off to, from what I could tell the industrial part of Ulaanbaatar. We pulled up to a building that said “Eldorado Golf Driving Range”. We then said goodbye to the cabby and his son.

It wasn’t the UB Golf Course but it was a good hour and a half of amusement. This driving range has a back drop of some barren mountains and it is fully covered in netting. The grass is just AstroTurf, and they have 2 levels where you can hit golf balls off of. They also have an inside putting green and an area for winter or bad day golfing, inside.

After finishing one bucket of balls each we got the front desk to call a cab company for us. As we waited outside we met a young man eager to try out his English speaking skills on us. He helped us get to our next destination, the Gandantegchenling Monastery.

The Monastery, from what we could tell, was mostly being visited by locals. The grounds of the Monastery were also populated with lots of pigeons, and a few monks. You had to pay roughly 10 dollars to see and take pictures of a 26.5 meter tall statue of a Buddha (the Janraisig Statue). The statue was destroyed by the communists in 1938 and rebuilt/completed in 1966. It is made of copper and gilded in gold.

We ended our day by eating at one of the most popular places in Ulaanbaatar, Venezia. It is a small Italian restaurant, located right on Peace Avenue, just a small walk from where we are staying. Upon finishing our delicious pastas we walked down to the State Department Store front and entered a small tent run by Uzbek vendors. We had a few beers here watching the very lively nightlife of Ulaanbaatar, before heading back to our hostel.