Mongolia, revisited

Finally sorted through the images i took during my summer vacation in 2006 and made a montage from the unedited images. Sometime Later i'll get around to editing them all as well. I think i'm missing some, but maybe my memory is sketchy.

My Other Job

What i was working on before i left:


It's a two-sided picture frame, took me a few months (ideas come quick, real work is tough) but finished it before i left. The outside is a simple red oak with an inside groove wide enough to hold a piece of glass, white matte board, newspaper, black matte board, and the cut wood (also red oak veneer). The Japanese girls i met while traveling in Kenya said the characters were indeed very legible.


What i'm working on now:


Yes that's me, and from the length of the hair, the Cass beer in my hand and the dry, rocky plains surounding me, you can tell i'm in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia. Figured it was time i went through some of those old travel photos, not to mention i have a Plan for some of them.

(so the French guy we were travelling with says to me, "Why do you Americans feel the need to wear shirts and caps proclaiming where you're from?" I look at his Quechua brand jacket and bag and respond, "Why do you feel the need to advertise a native language from my home country?")

The Omen

The last day of Desert travel was a little more uneventful than the rest; my mind is too blanked out (maybe overwhelmed by my stench?) to think of much more to say; i also have to rush through a few errands before the end of the day. If all goes well, i'll be in Frankfurt in about 30 hours.

One good point to mention - on the way back we passed by some tourists heading out of UB for 20 days (desert and western forests). One of them was Italian, from Rome. Figure that's a good omen.

Go Go Gobi

After an hour of broken paved road the driver veers off onto a dirt road. In places the road diverges into two or more paths, only to converge a hundred feet ahead. It is bumpy and dusty, and the further out we go, the windier and chillier it becomes. The landscape slowly changes from small, rolling hills, no trees, some grass, to flatter, broken sandy land with sparse plant clumps. The sky is blue with some clouds, at times a few drops sprinkle down.

There is very little traffic past the paved road - we will meet no more than 5 vehicles today.

After some time the dirt road turns into a dirt trail - at points the tracks of other vehicles are barely visible. The trail is little smoother than the surrounding landscape, your only reason for following it is that someone else did.

At one point the car starts to overheat. We stop and let it cool down, then drive a while longer. The driver stops at one of the few gers that dot the area and asks the inhabitants something, then we're off. A couple turns later he backtracks to follow a different set of vehicle tracks, and we finally end up at a well. I think this is what he asked about at the ger.

Along the way we've stopped at a few ovoo (shamanistic piles of rocks and trinkets generally in high places), a shrine, at various points just to see the landscape (or because the old Russian jeep needed some work), and at a small town. Now the driver moves into the desert, no tracks to follow, and after another 30 minutes we arrive at the ger we'll be sleeping in tonight.

As dusk descends, the wind begins to die down. Perhaps the temperature differential of the sun's heat against cold ground creates the wind.

We are served soup comprised of pasta, some vegetables, and small pieces of either mutton or marmot.

After dinner we walk into the desert for a bit, eventually going our separate ways. I see some lizards, a few wolf spiders, lots of beatles, some small birds, and a strange insect, looks like a stink bug coloured white and tan. When i can no longer see the campsite, i stop and listen: some wind, and a few birds chirping. It is a very empty place.

Looking up, there is still cloud cover, and no planes. It's like 9/12/2001 - no planes, and no cloud streaks from where the planes had flown. It is quite a different, beautiful sight to behold.

Only in a few spots were there running wires. A few gers we passwed have solar panels on top, some have satellite dishes out front. The owner's ger at our current campsite has both.

I fall asleep easily at night, and wake up easily to kill the multitude of insects that are crawling all over me. I think they are mostly harmless beetles, but i try to kill while i still can.

Frankfurt, Rome

Forgot to mention that i bought a ticket to Frankfurt for the 15th. I'm flying Aeroflot, the Russian airline. The ticket lady asked me if i had life insurance when i said i'd take the Aeroflot ticket - something she didn't ask when i mentioned i wanted the MIAT ticket. Looking up Aeroflot, they have a spotty record, though they've been ok the past 13 years. That's good, right? Ask me in a couple weeks...

I've also a plane ticket out of Rome on the 21st, so most everything is arranged, just need to get out of Gobi alive (and on time) and figure out the leg between DE and IT.

Until 1 week, drink a pint or two for me.

First Days

Haven't done much in Ulaanbataar, just lounged about, walked a lot, drank a lot of beer, and eaten a lot of animal products.

I ordered Kale soup, it came with mutton.

I ordered tofu and rice, the tofu came with chicken.

Luckily beer comes sans animal products, at least none that i am aware of (unlike Guinness).

I've been staying in a hostel that costs a whole $5 a night. In Cambodia that got me a room by myself, with AC (w/o AC was $3). I wish there were less people here, i am too antisocial for this. It doesn't help that a lot of the folks here talk the same as the folks at home, wanting to drink and dance and watch movies all night and make a big event of it. Did i come to Mongolia just to live the same as at home?

There are some folks here that are a little different than the rest, like the 50 year old Taiwanese man who is here researching business prospects (and staying at a hostel...). He claims to have made a fortune in the past via investments in Central America, but that he gave his riches away to his sister and girlfriend. Hmmm, i'm a little old to believe everything everyone tells me.


Tomorrow i head into the Gobi Desert as part of a group arranged via the hostel. There are 3 other tourists - one French man who speaks decent English with an accent, and a Korean couple that speaks very little English, though understand a little bit more. There will also be a driver, but i doubt he will speak much English. I will be gone for 7 days 6 nights, unless something Very Bad happens.
We were told that there is a 99% chance the vehicle will break down, but that in most cases the driver will have it fixed in at most 1 hour. Hopefully i won't have to hike back, but i'm taking my gps unit just in case.

Among other desert experiences, we will ride horses and camels and stay will locals for most of the trip. And we're supposed to take enough water and half the food we will need (the other half to be provided). If it comes down to it, i hope i remember what i read in those books, how to find food and water in rough terrain - i should have brought my cat, just in case the End does draw nigh.

Wish i'd taken the train

4200m and -10°C outside. I've been higher and colder before. Part of the plane wing (fuel tank?) has been shaking since takeoff; as long as it stays on for another 2 hours i'll be fine.

6400m and -25°C. The height of some of the highest peaks in Peru, and i've been colder. The mountains outside are awesome fog covered creatures, and wooded.

Still rising - the landscape is clear, no fog like Beijing, and the mountains are dry, some green interspersed throughout. In the distance, the fog covered mountains are still visible. The plane part that was shaking no longer is, and is still on the plane.

Levelling off, i see a sloped dam with a fat, winding lake behind it. The river bed in front is thick and dry, appears silt-covered. Perhaps a recently built dam?

Further, rolling hills and terraces throughout - straight lines of differing contrasts cutting through the curved hills. Small towns abound, projecting small roads like sun rays. There are a few circular farms like the ones found in the far midwest and west of the U.S. One or two factories.

Small sand dunes and a few bushes. Only one road cutting through them, very small settlements of but a few houses, and Mr. Bean is playing on tv. A few lakes as well, but no rivers visible - perhaps collected rainwater from infrequent storms?

Only sand, we follow a river but i can't tell whether or not it's dry. Keep my eye on it; if we crash i'll make my way towards it.

Sand doesn't even look wind-blown now. Either it's not sand or it is hot, dry, and no wind down there. This must be Gobi.

Beginning approach to Ulaanbaatar, still dry outside, but some vegetation. I see a few white dots - Ger camps? I guess they are real...

Hills now, and a winding dragon-like river - lots of extending rivulets - with many more collections of white dots speckled about.

Real buildings in increasing density along the riverside, forest along the mountainside, and spots of snow? Perhaps i shouldn't be wearing shorts.

City density, and some strange shapes by factories - conical but no point, and large. I'd say nuclear power, but not here, and they don't appear cement (later i realise they are next to the power plants, all which appear to be coal based).

Landing gear down, we're on final approach. Looks like only a single runway, and the airport has only 2 gates.

I'm in Mongolia now.

Around the World

Tomorrow i leave for LA. I'll be there for just over a day, visiting my brother and family, after which i'll head to Beijing. There i'll see Tiananmen Square, the world's largest public square and site of the infamous 1989 protests. Maybe stop in and say hi to Mao, resting in eternal frozen state, and ask him "Why?"

From Beijing i'll hopefully train it up to Ulaanbataar, where i'll horseback ride along the same steppes as the greatest horseback rider of all time. After 1-2 weeks i'll try to make my way to Europe (hopefully by plane not horse) to see my parents and extended family in Germany, and then down to Rome to see a couple friends. If all goes well, i'll be heading back to DTW on the 21st, 58 days under those other folks.

For a bit i was stressing about the cost of this trip, but then a friend of mine mentioned some yoga workshop that headed to Peru for a week, at a cost of $3600, not including airfare. There's no way i'll spend more than that on this trip, unless i get real drunk. Or lost. Or bored. Or mugged.