Mongolian Countryside

July 4th:

This day turned into the coolest day I have spent in Mongolia. Today I went to the countryside for the first time ever. I went with Nadiya, Chinzo (my host's 24 yr old son) and his friend Badaarna. Badaarna speaks great English as he went to school in the U.S. and lived in Chicago for 8 years. He served as a great translator for the trip and provided valuable insight into my hosts thoughts.

We drove for about an hour into the countryside. The roads are shit and you can’t drive more than about 45 mph. As soon as the office buildings were out of sight, the ger districts began. Here the rubble and trash is at a maximum. There is no waste management system here at all. When piles of trash get high, they are set fire to. Everywhere you can see the charred remains. We passed the Tuul River, an incredibly polluted river where Mongolians swim and herders get drinking water. On such a hot day, it looked like a pretty tempting spot to hang out.

The first stop was statue of Chinggis Khaan. As soon as you arrive in the middle of nowhere, a giant metal statue of Chinggis Khan appears. I asked about why they chose this location, and apparently this spot was where his spirit stick was found, which is seen in his right hand in the picture below. The statue was pretty epic, and inside the building below is a museum which highlights bronze-age Mongolian artifacts.




There was one lone soldier statue positioned in front of the Chinggis Khan statue. According to a friend, they are planning to put up 10,000 of these surrounding the statue. This was the number of men in Chinggis’ “platoon” and each of his 9 other “generals” had forces of the same size. Apparently you can pay to have your face engraved on the statues. I heard a rumor that Jackie Chan has already purchased 3 for such a purpose, but I do not know the accuracy of this statement.



I also befriended an eagle. It is hard to see in the picture, but the eagle is wearing an interesting leather headpiece. In western Mongolia, the Kazakh minority utilizes these eagles for hunting. My host says they can take down foxes. Seeing those claws though and feeling the heft of the bird, it is not that astonishing.


Inside the building, there is a museum with artifacts from the Bronze Age of Mongolia. There were also people wearing the traditional Mongolian clothing. We climbed many flights of stairs and ended up on the horse’s head. From there, we saw a wonderful view of the countryside.



Next we went to Terelj National Park. The Tuul River flows through the park and certain regions, like the one shown get plentiful water. It is incredibly beautiful, as this rich swatch of green blazes through the otherwise brownish-green mountains. Here lots of animals roam free. For the first time in my life I saw a yak. Many cows and goats were grazing in the area as well. My mom would be thrilled - I saw thousands of goats today. These animals are not fenced in and they are typically allowed to roam during the day and return home in the evenings. Wild horses were also an incredible sight to see.


We stopped at a mountain (large hill), where we went for a short hike. At the base of the mountain there were lots of Mongolians with horses for tourists to ride. Mongolian horses are like ponies in America. They are very short in stature. While American horses are faster, these horses can run very far and have great stamina. Most of the horses competing in Nadaam next week are wild horses that have been corralled and trained for a couple years before they race. They are also ridden by young children, as young as 4 of 5 years old. It seems incredibly dangerous but Mongolian children on the steppes learn to ride at such an early age that it is not a big deal.





There was also a camel. Nadiya was trying to get me to ride the camel. I would have loved to, actually, but I was wearing a short skirt and did not want to give a show to all the people standing around. Instead I just looked. Mongolian camels have 2 humps, as opposed to the one that Arabic camels have. He was a pretty cute camel…


Next we visited the only 5 star hotel in Mongolia. It is located in the national park, along the river. This was the view from the patio, where we ordered drinks. It was a beautiful place with an indoor pool, a golf course and beautiful views. The inside was wonderfully decorated and had artifacts in cases lining the hallways that you would find in museums. It also costs about $150 a night for 2 people (the cheapest rooms) and up to $800 for a 2 bedroom suite and they had a presidential suite which went for $3500 a night. It was a fun time. My iced coffee was almost $6 and while I was very hungry, the cheapest food option was about $22. I decided I could wait.


After the hotel we headed home. On the way we stopped at a few tourist ger camps to see what the prices were like for a night. I definitely want to come back to some of these. For about $10 per person, you can stay in a ger with 3, 4 or 5 people. The gers are all pretty similar with beds lining the sides and a stove in the center. I want to come back with the interns sometime and make a night of it. Hiking during the day, drinking games at night. Sounds like a ton of fun.




This has by far been my favorite part of Mongolia. The sky is so blue and the air is very clean compared to the city. I can really see why people would want to live a life like this. It is so simple but so beautiful. So natural.

I had a fantastic time and I cannot wait till I can come back to the countryside.