We are back and as expected wifi was in most places non-existent so we were not able to post daily updates.
That said, for this trip, we have decided to post on various topics rather than specific days. The trip was split into two sections, a circular drive from Ulaanbaatar (UB as it is known to the locals) through mid-Gobi, down to South Gobi and the Sagsai Eagle Festival which was held in the far west of Mongolia in the mainly Kazakh province of Bayan-Olgii Aimag.
Mongolia is not a country I knew much about before going there so I though I would set out a few facts. It is nearly 6 times the size of the UK and has a population of 3.2 to 3.4 million with half of those living in and around UB. UB is a sprawling city with many new apartments being built as more Mongolians desert the nomadic life and move to the city for a different style of existence. Those still out in the vast countryside do continue to embrace a nomadic lifestyle and their wealth is measured by how many sheep, goats, camels, cows and horses they have. Fellow travellers of ours were asked by a nomadic family how many animals they had, and when they said one dog and two cats, they were asked, “are you poor”.
So a very different way of life for many in Mongolia compared to the western world. That said, all the nomadic families have mobile phones and satellite tv so are not as “cut off” as one may think from the outside world. Those who follow the nomadic life live in “gers” for the summer and nowdays move to a small house in the winter when it can get down to -50 centigrade. Living in a ger in those temperatures would be harsh as we found out to a lesser extent when we visited the Eagle Festival.
As you would expect, Mongolia’s history is linked heavily with its two big neighbours, Russia to the north and China to the south. Mongolia had been ruled by the Chinese Qing dynasty for circa 300 years until 1911 when a revolution broke out and on 1 December 1911, Mongolia declared independence. This ushered in the Bogd Khan era (Emperor of Mongolia) which lasted until 1924 after which Mongolia became a socialist state until 1992 under the leadership of the Mongolian Peoples Revolutionary Party. During this period Mongolia had close ties with the USSR. Today Mongolia is an independent country although we were told that many Mongolians are not happy with the current Government, who have a stranglehold on politics in Mongolia. It seemed that people were very sceptical as to how the Government was using tax payers’ money, so nothing new there.
Most Mongolians are Buddists and the Kazakh’s over in the west of the country are Muslims. There were many Buddist monastries dotted around the country, usually at the top of a hill, and in the west many mosques. Islam seems to be much more relaxed in the west with the Kazakh people – no head scaves or other dress code and many people preferred to worship at home rather than go to a mosque. For those muslims living out in the wild as nomads, worshipping at home seemed very sensible.
Mongolians drive on the rightside of the road but I have never been to any country that has so many cars with the steering wheel on the wrong side ie the right side. Also, I have never been to a country where the majority of vehicles are Toyota Prius. We were told a politician in the ruling party was able to purchase a vast amount of Toyota Prius’s directly from Japan and sell them on to the populus. It was very interesing seeing Mongolian drivers trying to overtake lorries and having to get the whole car out on the wrong side of the road.
Coming to roads in Mongolia, those who had seen the Top Gear special would probably have got the impression that the road system in Mongolia was very underdeveloped. It certainly is and 95% of our travel was off road on varying levels of rough terain. Lucky our drivers had the UAZ Van, a Russian vehicle that can still be bought brand new today, that is good off road but not so good on tarmac.
More to follow.
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Copyright: Words and photos John Cruse 2022