Gobi Desert 

2 July 2014 - 7 July 2014 

Day One- Gobi Desert Tour 

As previously discussed we decided to hit up the Gobi for our first week in Mongolia, Court’s arm was still pretty sore and we thought weeks more rest would mean better chance of no further injury. 

We hopped in a Russian Mini Van and headed south to the Gobi.  

Our trip consisted of Dempee, our driver, Mendee, our guide and Phillip our new Italian Irish Friend. 

The first day consisted of around 200km drive south through Dungov Amig. (an “Amig" is a province or state). We had lunch at an eye sore of a granite mountain. 

 We asked Mendee our guide what the mountain was called and he informed us that the name could not be said because it was sacred, so we called it no name mountain. Mendee cooked us “traditional Mongolian lunch” - (Mendee’s version) which included potatoes, pasta, carrot and capsicum and salt. 

We climbed a bit of the way up the mountain... it was mega windy but views across the countryside were pretty spectacular. 

After lunch we checked out the Baga Gazariin Chuluu Ruins.

This is an Oovoo - Shamanist use these to pray to the sky god, the blue is for the sky god and the yellow for the sun god.

We spent the night at a local Ger. We stayed with a Mongolian family who had cashmere goats and sour cheese… it was all very beautiful.

We both slept well despite the dog right outside out Ger barking in Mongolian most of the night. 

Day Two 

Today we woke to Mendee’s speciality deep fried scrambled eggs with what some might describe as sausage but was more like devon in stick form. (Courtney’s favourite). Today we drove a long way!! we did about 500km which in a Russian Mini Van takes about ten hours… it was super bumpy, however I managed to master the art of reading over the bumps and got through a few good books. 

We did have a nice sweltering lunch in the middle of the Gobi, always good for the soul.

After a few more hours of bumpy driving along classic Mongolian roads and across the dusty dessert we stopped off at a village a paid for a shower, it seems most locals living in villages don't have showers, however there is one bathhouse per village where people can wash. 

We arrived at Yolliin Am quite late and crashed out in a local Ger. 

Our Ger for the night. 

Day Three Yollin Amm 

Today was awesome! We went walking up Yollinn Am which means "eagles mouth" and is basically a gorge with crazy rock formations and beautiful scenery. It also came with some hilarious Mongolian tourists. 

We walked about 3 km into the gorge until we reached some ice, then we wobbled and slid our way along the ice through the gorge a bit more. 

Yollin Amm has the highest peaks in the Gobi, so it was pretty great place to experience some spectacular scenery. 

After our walk we jumped back in the van and headed for the sand dunes… Our driver was pretty rad and drove through this....

. I’m not sure how it was done, but he had skills. 

We ended up in Khongryn Eels for the night ready to spend a few days at the dunes with some camels. Phillip decided to take over the cooking and made a tuna and rice salad, which by all means was pretty tasty. 

Day Four and Five Khongryn Eels 

Possibly the highlight of the trip... these Sandunes had it all. Cute kids, Camels, wrestling, an oasis, hot days and barmy nights and fun times. 

We spent the day in the Ger mainly sleeping and chilling out. In the evening when it cooled down we took a camel ride (which was hilarious) to the dunes and then made the 45minute one step forward one step back trip up the mighty Eels. 

The dunes are about 300metres high and make a killer noise when you are up the top. We had a blast running down and meeting the Oasis at the bottom. It was all very Lawrence of Arabia. 

Apparently the Camel ride was a bit too much for my camera and unfortunately it broke. I put it down to the point where our guide decided to inform the camels to go as fast as they could with us on the back. Generally the camel ride was reasonably pleasant, as I was informed by the guide camel riding is "fun" for girls. I was subsequently sneezed on three times by the camel. Much to my despair my camel was obviously suffering from some form of diarrhoea... I had the most enjoyable ride. 

  

Day Six and Seven- Drive back to UB 

The next few days we headed back to UB, lots of driving. We spent some time at Bayanzag, which is pretty much Mungo Lakes on steroids.

Lots of Love Eliza

DAY TWO

This is Eliza writing....Well, after some discussions with people at Idres Hostel, we decided to skip Terelj NP and spend the day in the city instead.

We spent the morning at a Monastery soaking up the peaceful atmosphere and then headed for some Mongolian food. We found a great little local fast food joint filled with locals and opted for Buuz. Buuz are pancakes filled with lamb and deep fried.... YUMO. The dish was accompanied with the standard pickled cabbage and salad covered in mayonnaise.

After food we headed to the Natural History Museum, on arrival we discovered it was closed for unstable building reasons, the sign looked sufficiently old so Im thinking my Lonely Planet guide is pretty out of date. We headed for the Modern Museum instead, which was pretty interesting - lots of history about Mongolia, I didn't really take in due to my swollen feet from the plane. I'm hoping to get back there on my way home for a proper look.

Then we headed back to the Hostel for a wee rest. I have since had my feet up and they are slowly getting better. Courtney had an adventure to the Russian embassy which involved and interview with Mongolian TV (I'll let her elaborate on that one).

We have dived head first into the tourist trail and will be heading on a tour of the Gobi tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it, apparently its hard to get to without a guide, so we have decided to give it a go.

We will have a week in the Gobi, before returning to UB and heading off on our bikes next week.

Oh and my feet are still swollen, but the doctor checked me and I seem to be fine... off to find some compression stockings, I plan on rocking them as a fashion item as well as practical way to encourage circulation in my body.

Eliza