We were heading for the guide's extended family around the Black Stallion (or horse) Mountain Range, South of Altai City. Somewhere around here, http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&sour ... 8&t=h&z=13 but I have not been able to find out where exactly.
I have posted pictures of the car used to get from Altai City in this thread.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3736
The 'road' into the area
We stayed with the Uncle ofthe guide for 3 nights in this Ger.
Baby goat!!!
Their way of life is amazingly difficult.
This area of the country had been one of the least affected areas by the "Dzud", where over 8,000 herder families have lost all of their livestock.
http://www.mongolia-web.com/business-an ... 60-billion
To see the sheep and the goats digging in the rocks and the dirt and then eating something was quite unreal, and quite depressing to know that these people were some of the most 'fortunate' in this winter.
Mongolians eat a lot of meat. In fact, every meal includes boiled meat. Sheep in this case. For 5 days I ate boiled sheep. Luckily I knew this was going to be the case, and the guide told us to get some potato, carrots, cabbage and onions, the most readily available vegies in the country. Their sheep is so fatty, gristly and to watch Mongolians share the meat bowl is also a great experience. They cut meat off for each other, pass it around, always offering everyone else some more. The great Mongolian culture of hospitality is true and still about, and with every uncle's and cousin's ger we visited, we were always offered tea, vodka, boiled sheep and lollies. They do this without even thinking about it.
One day we went for a walk in the mountains and the views were superb.
The full pictures speak for themselves, so I hope the small ones work alright.
It would have been around -20, and that's cold for me. Even the Mongolian was rugged up, so it might have been colder on top of the mountain.
We walked for about 4 hours, climbed a small mountain and came back down the steep way.
Some pictures of the barren and breathtaking surroundings!
Trees
Hills
The road into the area, came directly from somewhere straightish ahead.
The Mongol and myself
Resting on top of the highest hill we visited. A bit cold!
I did a bunch of other things, like help a family move house (ger), get given names by Mongolians, rode a 2 humped camel, relearned that instead of tv and computers, people play cards and laugh and sing together until 2am, made Mongolians laugh by not eating fat, centimetres thick, made Mongolians laugh by liking vegies, wear the same clothes for 7 days straight because it was too cold to change and learned that Mongolians must be the best Asians, and maybe the best people ever.
These guys came from nowhere as we were driving home and it is one of my favourite random pictures.
How far from home can you be in the world?
Sometimes the answer is unthinkable.
I will always sound like an idiot when I talk and write about Mongolia , but it really is a simply amazing country. Rough around the edges, a lot of problems, but the landscape, culture, people and the spirit and welcoming nature of the people, as well as the chaos of the capital city compared to the serenity of the rest of the country, make it a brilliant place to visit.
DO VISIT!
The photos are amazing - They've inspired me to create a new International Trip Reports forum, just for it. OK - done!
