MORE ON MONGOLIA and RUSHING IN RUSSIA

The adventures of Bronwyn, Alastair, Ann and Chris continue apace. Our 30 day tourist visa for Mongolia not nearly allow enough time for the sites and destinations on our list. We head to the north-western corner of Mongolia, the beautiful great lake depression region, returning to Russia for a short time, travelling through the Russian Altai region to Omsk in Siberia.



There are many beautiful scenes in north-western Mongolia, snow capped mountains, wide open valleys and lakes just inviting the visitor to stop and stay. The landscape is huge with expansive skies and uninterrupted views in all directions. Typically we find ourselves looking a for a campsite in the late afternoon, Troopy and Essie pull up beside a deep blue lake, not a soul to be seen, we take a few minutes to set up for the evening, then out of nowhere along comes a local herder or two on horseback to pass the time of day with us, we don’t know where the locals come from, but they are a pleasure to spend some time with. One custom is for visitors to offer the herdsmen a kilo or two of rice or pasta and a tin of fish or meat, these gifts go down well, a change in the diet from mutton stew probably.



Bayangol is a small village in rural western Mongolia. Here on the edge of town is a community water centre. Local people come to the small brick water centre carrying empty buckets or plastic water containers, to collect water and carry it back home. We regularly need to replenish our drinking water, so ask to fill our water tanks also, this is a great laugh for those waiting for water. Troopy carries 60L of drinking water and Essie carries 80L plus 40L of washing water. There is a small charge for us to fill up, all with great smiles and laughing all around. Suddenly we are surrounded by about twenty primary school age children on vacation activity program from the adjoining school and student teacher from Ulaan Baatar, Shinee-Kh, who brings the students out to see the strange visitors from another land, some more active readers of our blog, maybe.






Heading north to the Russian border we stop alongside a stream for lunch. One kind Mongolian lady rushes over to us from her house about 500m away to invite us for chai (tea), taken with masla (butter) and various delicacies made from mare’s milk. It becosme quite a fair, the locals from the other houses in the vicinity take part also. Chris tries to print off some photos on our portable Canon photo printer, then as word spreads that free photo prints are available so requests came fast and thick, a great time all round.



Many village homes do not have piped running water, so a regular bath or shower becomes difficult for the inhabitants. In Arvaikheer a medium sized town we replenish food supplies and note the local bath house right next to the markets, so off we all go for hot showers, a welcome treat, but many inside waiting for their showers think it an invasion by the Martians again, oh well…...



The old capital of Mongolia is located near the town called Kharkhorin, established by Chinggis Khan in 1220AD, with the ravages of time, invasions and destruction by others, few of the historical items of the old city now remain. In the local area the first Buddhist monastery in Mongolia was built, Erdene Zuu Khiid started in 1586AD, took 300 years to build. Although closed for many years, it is once again functioning as a monastery and a local focal point for many Mongolian and international visitors. At its peak there were over 1,000 monks at the monastery and between 60 and 100 temples. Many of these temples were destroyed over the years, and now only a few temples are in existence, however these are quite magnificent and contain beautiful appliqués and scroll paintings.



Although some areas are free of biting insects, there are often mosquitoes in the northern parts of Mongolia and throughout Siberian Russia. The little darlings can come in ones and twos, and then again they can come in a plague. Even with the best repellents, covering up fully, mosquito coils and netting, they do become a nuisance in a very short time. It is not just the annoying bites and itching, their capacity to carry nasty diseases makes us very cautious.



For our journey south into Kazakhstan we arrange our double entry business visa at the Kazhak Consulate in Omsk. Although somewhat of an industrial city Omsk is a medium sized city with modern buildings and courteous drivers. The local car, truck and bus drivers make allowances for the foreigners, a very welcoming city in our view. Both Essie and Troopy are in need of a regular service each so off to the Toyota dealer. Some additional work is required to replace some minor suspension parts due to the rough roads we experience to date.



Crossing a country border for those flying is somewhat different to those silly enough to have with them three tonnes of 4WD, luggage, beds, clothes, presents, food and the kitchen sink. To us the crossings mean permission to leave one country, drive across 20m to 20km of no-mans-land, then asking permission to enter the second country, all in the space of three to seven hours, yes a border crossing can and often does take all day. Rather unnerving to see the border, being defined by rows of barbed wire and guards with automatic weapons. We see one poor Australian fellow being sent back over no-mans-land because his visa was not in order, not having a valid entry visa for the county to which he was being returned, oh what a mess that would be with your three tonnes of baggage!! All packed up and nowhere to go. Fortunately we have had nothing worse that slow crossings to date.



For cooking, Ann and Chris brought from Australia a 3.5kg gas cylinder and stove. Alastair and Bronwyn brought a small stove that uses disposable butane gas canisters. The disposable gas canisters are readily available in all of the centres we have visited, not so refilling the Primus/POL gas bottle. We manage to have it filled twice but with great difficulty and time wasted. Russia does have a similar gas bottle system but with completely different and non-compatible connections. After much angst Chris lashes out and buys a Russian 10L gas cylinder and compatible stove. We hope to have fewer worries about cooking our dinner. Usually we have camp fires most nights but this is not always possible so the new refillable gas system will be welcome.




Markets in both villages and large towns are the place where almost anything is available for sale. Some stalls in markets simply have a shipping container full of goods for sale, at the close of business the vendor swings the door shut and all of the goods are safely stowed away. Some of the items for sale we have seen in markets include household items such as wallpaper, plumbing supplies, vinyl flooring; car tyres and tubes, car and motorbike parts (Alastair determined there were enough motorcycle parts to build a complete bike); spare parts for gers (Mongolian felt yurts) such as furniture, sink, frame; all manner of food including spices, vegetables, grains, and hunks of well handled meat (you can determine the animal type by the head and feet nearby!)



While in Semey, northern Kazakhstan, Bronwyn and Alastair received sad news of the passing of their much loved elder pet Lloyd, made more difficult by the distance from home.

The following chapter of this the first Exploroz.com International Trip will take us through the western parts of Kazakhstan, across the southern border to Kyrgystan, on to Tajikistan via the Pamir Highway, over mountain passes up to 4,500m, until then, cheers from Ann, Chris, Bronwyn and Alastair.

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