From Diary 1.
14. We take two busses out to
Dragon Terminal to buy tickets for Darkhan. Through the centre of
Ulaanbaatar, which looks very "Soviet". But here, there are many new
high-rise buildings with homes and shops on the ground floor.
In front of the large high-rise building with the brand new terminal stands
the old waiting room, a wooden version of a traditional tent. The benches
around a fireplace are still in use.
The new building contains a lot of shops with cheap Chinese junk and a
hairdresser. We get a double hair wash, haircut and another double hair wash
for €4 each.
Then it's time for gadget shopping in several large malls, where Claus goes
a little crazy, and I fail to find anything useful.
We find the old town, with wooden houses, dirt roads and tents. We end up at
the large temple area; Gandantegchenling Monastery. Here are
Bhutanese and Chinese temple buildings. Some are old and frayed, others
brand new.
In front of a newer temple, a lot of monks sit, and sacrifices are burned.
Claus spins all the prayer wheels in the endless row around the temples.
Unfortunately, the wrong way, and I dread the consequences.
A temple-like building has a cafe with some good, rare and appreciated
vegetarian dishes. I get rice and raisins and Claus today's fifth?
strawberry shake.
Then we meander through the centre, from cafe to cafe, and end up at the
National Department Store. Not exactly the restaurant and souvenir
market I had hoped for, but we will have dinner at one of the countless
 Korean restaurants in the city.
It's getting dark and we're heading home. UB Street Foot Market entices with
live music, strawberry smoothes and locals. Then we take a bus home. They
run once a minute and cost ten €-cents. All busses are brand new, while the
trolley busses have some years on the meter, but all look well maintained.
The highlights from day 3.
15. We get another late
start to the day, but just have to stock up on food and drink in the local
supermarket, before we head for the wilderness. We take the bus out to the
nomads - we hope. East out of town, and we are out in the green hills
after fifteen kilometres.
We take a walk along the river and find local delicacies; "Khuushuur" which
are deep-fried pancakes with sheep-filling. It take some effort to
 get them
to make it without, but I get four plain.
Across the main road, and into a new settlement, it is partly wooden houses,
tents and newer fundablock houses. We follow a dirt road and then a ravine,
far into the green hills.
Here are some interesting herbs and flowering mini bulbs in the gravel
between the scattered rocks. Each hilltop offers fantastic views to - more
 green hills. Scattered herds of horses, the river winding through the valley
and blue sky with scattered white clouds. Knowing all the photos are
identical, I try to control myself.
Claus get to philosophize about life, while I aim for the highest hill. I
turn around at an altitude of 1500 meters at five o'clock, and board a bus
directly, when we finally get back to the main road.
We jump off near the centre, cross "The Red Square", which is called
Sukhbaatar Square. Weekend seemed a bit dead and Monday is actually no
more lively. Many cafes, shops and restaurants are closed, but this may be
because of the holiday.
We drop into UB Street Food for Thai spring rolls that obviously have to be
flown in. We wait for an eternity for five small and tasteless spring roles.
We drive home with a trolleybus which, unlike the other buses, is more than
a year old.
The highlights from day 4
16.
 We are up early, and
find a couple of buses, bringing us out to the Dragon Terminal. Quick second
morning coffee, and then we get our front seats in a new and full bus,
heading up to Outer Mongolia. It goes through green hills, with
horses, cows, a herd of yak oxen and goats and sheep in large herds.
The white tents are spread in a thin layer over the land, where smaller
rivers meander beautifully in the valleys. We see some ravens and crows as
well as a few buzzards.
A large and almost flat valley has some agriculture. I recognize oats,
rapeseed and potatoes. Many fields are barren by now. Despite the size of
the fields, the tractors are tiny.
It is really beautiful here, but the film on the bus windows, along with the
movement prevents any useful photos. It is a really pleasant four hour
bus ride, with smooth roads, good temperature and subdued modern Mongolian
music. We only stop a few times, one at a restaurant.
We land on the outskirts of Darkhan (meaning Blacksmith), the
country's second or third largest city, with around 100,000 inhabitants. It
was founded by the Soviets in 1961, and does not offer much for the
discerning tourist. But it was also for the drive that we are here for.
We
 walk through a huge park called Mini Mongol. We come to a
seated Buddha figure looking out over the plains. Close by, Genghis
gallops off across the same plains while playing his sitar. We turned out to
the surrounding grassy hills, some of which are almost sand. Here there are
common sparrows, larks and crows.
Back in civilization, we stroll through the city to our five-star hotel, and
take a short break.
Then
 the hunt is on for dinner. The Donner restaurant has delicious salad
and sizzling sheep. Then we dash down to the train station, and have to
realise that our bus tickets are better after all, even if it's in the back
seat; the last ones available. A long sleeper train, similar to the one we
drove to Moscow in 1984, leaves the station noisily. Each carriage still has
a stewardess.
Rounds a supermarket, where Claus finds puddings
 to his great delight. They
turn out to be unreasonably expensive, and he settles for one. I'm sure, I
enjoy it significantly more than he does: It's fermented mutton fat, and it
takes a long time for his face to return to just about the usual wrinkles. A
little more seasoned, I find chocolate biscuits for the journey home.
Then we find the old part of town, which now mainly consists of auto repair
shops. The temperature varies from 26C to 20C, when the sun disappears
behind the horizon at nine o'clock.
The highlights from day 5
It is time to enter the last
Mongolian Diary: 3 |