khovsgol lake trip

we just got back from an 8-day trip to central and northern Mongolia with erick's friend Bryan and two Chinese girls who did the same trip but in a separate car. we really enjoyed the trip, Mongolia is an amazing place, very beautiful and undeveloped. just as it's described outside the cities nomads with large herds of livestock- horses, goats, cows, yaks, sheep (and a few camels) everywhere.

before the details, the highlights. 8-days of driving 8 hours a day (except one day) on horrendous roads. picture backcountry unmaintained 4x4 roads, averaging about 22 mph except for the last day where it was almost all paved. and there's not one dirt road but many. in many stretches, the "road" is 1/2 mile wide with 8 - 10 parallel but sometimes interconnected roads to choose from. it's like those choose your own adventure book. lots of nothing, just big plains and mountains with the occaisional ger and livestock, pretty awesome. we had an awesome driver and a cool Russian 4x4 minivan/jeep which was very durable (only one flat tire, one fuel filter problem, and a brake fluid lake, all of which he fixed within 10 minutes) but which always smelled of gasoline. and the driver only listened to one tape though he had more. we calculated and we heard that one tape ~60 times. erick, bryan, and i can now sing those Mongolian songs in our sleep. the other car (an old Japanese SUV) lost its exhaust system, spewed black smoke, and had some other problems.

we stayed with families in gers for tourists and got dinner and breakfast as well for $3.70/night. ate in local restaurants for lunch. food was hard for erick (vegetarian) and he had a couple days of stomach problems (from inadvertently eating meat we think) and ate clif bars for a few meals. bryan was brave and ate some BBQ marmot today that the drivers bought off a girl on the side of the road yesterday. we also bought some fresh airag (fermented mares milk) from a family yesterday and got to watch them milk horses and go in their house.

sights besides the vast emptiness and nomads. small sand dunes, ancient city of kharkhorin and the erdene zuu monestary (very Chinese style with Tibetan Buddhism), beautiful terkhiin tsagsan nuur (great white lake) with a cool volcanic crater and an early morning horse ride, khovsgol lake- beautiful large fresh water lake. we did a great hike there around the lake and had good smoked fish. a remote monestary restored by UNESCO, amarbayasgalant khiid, then back to UB.

we all had a great time despite the the rough conditions (bad roads, no showers, all outhouses, camping conditions- which erick and I are used to).

next up, most likely a 7-day gobi trip with a trip back on the public bus, then a flight to western Mongolia to see the big mountains for a week. will try to post pics tomorrow.

of other interest, our north Korea visas are approved and our trip is still on for mid-September.