Our transport in the desert - a Russian four wheel drive mpv

Tuesday 12^th May

Our Drivers Bayra and Mishka arrived with transport and we were also introduced to our guide Baggie. We helped to pack everything in to the two mini van type vehicles. Alan and I were in one van with Bayra and Baggie and everyone else was in the other with Mishka. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get out of UB as we had to stop for fuel and then we stopped for Bayra and Mishka to speak to friends who they saw in another vehicle. Apparently this is quite normal in Mongolia as the country is so vast that people donot see each other very often.

We finally set off, the road was a tarmac road but still very bumpy. After about an hour we set off across the desert. NO ROAD AT ALL just tracks across the desert. We thought the other road was bumpy, this was something else. We soon realised that the rule was relax and think that you are a rag doll and you should be OK. This track lasted about another hour and then we stopped at the side of a river for lunch.

Laziz said that we had another 2 – 2 ½ hours before we reached the camp site. Most of the journey on dirt tracks across the desert.

On arrival at the camp site we got stuck in and erected our six tents and sorted sleeping bags out. Our beds were just polystyrene foam mats.  Alan was commandeered into digging our facilities. He did a good job but none of us relished the thought of using it.

When we had eaten dinner Alan, Patrick and I went for a short walk and then as the sun was setting we settled down for the night. We soon realised that our tent was on a slight slope so we didn’t  sleep very well. The next morning we emptied the tent and turned it round which proved  to be much better.. 

Wednesday 13^th May

Laziz and Baggie had prepared breakfast. Cereals, Bread and Jam and Fried Egg sandwiches. We all helped clear up and then we set off to visit Old Man Monastery. We expected it to be a fair walk but it was just about ½ stroll, where we had been the previous evening. It was very warm and part of the trail was a climb up a very stony path. A lady from the village gave us an explanation of the monastery and Buddhism in Mongolia.

One of the temples was highly decorated with banners and pictures. The significant colours of the banners are

White signifying Milk

Green signifying Earth

Red signifying Fire

Gold signifying Love

Blue signifying Sky.

These colours are the same in every monastery.

The old monastery was destroyed in 1937 by Stalin and all of the monks were killed. There are now only 5 or 6 monks who live in the area.

Laziz gave us the choice of walking further up into the mountains, but as it was very hot we all declined. We went back to camp and rested until dinner time. After dinner we had a game of President and Donkey and then retired as the sun went down.