The great Kahn himself
After arriving in Mongolia and seeing the
statue of one of the greatest conquerors and leaders of all time in the city
square of Ulaan Bataar, Karoline managed to get us in on a deal spending four
days out on the Mongolian plains with the natives, sleeping in their patented
gers, eating their food and riding their horses and camels. What more can a
huge Genghis fan ask for?
A ger
We where lucky to end up with two very nice
Germans for our trip and together with them started our drive into the endless
plains which is Mongolia. The sea has always astonished me and just having it
close by lifts my mood considerably. Well, Mongolia is a sea of land and
everything that walks upon it is in beautiful harmony with nature.
Our guides, ze Germans and Keeero
The first night was spent in the semi-Gobi,
meaning it’s the northern part of the Gobi desert and that it contains some
vegetation rather than being just sand dunes as far as the eye can see. Here we
got to ride some nice camels and spot the shade of several eagles soaring above
us. I have never in my life thought that there might be so many eagles at one
place, but Mongolia is packed with them!!
Karoline strolling out into the semi Gobi
All this fresh air and the return to living
with nature gave us a remarkable urge to get in some exercise in between the
riding and eagle spotting, using all the tools we could find.
Karoline doing some pushups with a chair
twist
Then camels where magnificent animals to
ride and all of them had his/hers individual haircut that made the ride even
more entertaining.
Yes, I ride the camel very well
When night eventually came and the sun set,
seeing as we are used to lights out at around 5-6ish, around 9-10 it showed us
once again how beautiful and magical this land truly is with its clear air and
immensely wide and open landscape.
The sun is setting over our gers in the
semi Gobi
After a night on the hardest mattresses
ever we moved to another ger like true nomads and meet a new nomadic family. I
was in awe to see how the children of the family rode horses like they where
born to it and how the young three year old taunted the Jak-oxen in their
enclosure.
This one didn’t scare easily
Then we spent a day riding the charming
Mongolian horses over the plains. I must say that these are some beautiful as
well as pretty gassy animals, and after some hours in the saddle I actually
felt like I was getting the hang of it. Oh, and it was COLD as the north of
Norway (as a southerner I am assuming that it is always cold in the north of
Norway) and im am truly happy that I brought my wool sweater and long pants.
Not quite ready to ride with the Kahn yet,
but im getting there ;)
The nomadic family brought us a big bowl of
Mongolian style barbequed mutton (sheep) thinking we would not touch it seeing
as we where picky tourists. They where wrong… We ate the whole thing and
cleaned it to the bone to our guide and my own astonishment, as I cannot claim
to enjoy sheep very much. It this context it was no problem on my part and I
enjoyed every bite of mutton, homemade yoghurt and cheese filled with sweet,
natural fat and protein!!
Ze Germans and the Norwegians feasting on mutton
More Mongolian fat and protein for the ride
After spending some fabulous days and
nights in the legacy of Genghis Kahn, living as nomads in the Mongolian
wilderness, we got some short hours to shower and eat in the capital before
rushing to the train once again (its turning out to be our style).
Leaving Mongolia I swore to be back and
explore more of this untouched wilderness of the descendants of the great Kahn
someday in the future. For those of you who are considering it, stop
considering and go, you wont regret it…
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