Episode 14

On a bright and sunny morning the car was packed up, me in my usual possy, and we set off out of town towards the east. My humans planned to follow the route of a suggested tour in the LP guide book. That was to prove easier said than done:

First we were going to call in at the big, fairly new, Chengis Khan statue some 50k's out. Getting there was no easy matter because there is an unmarked turnoff that D sort of remembered from last year and kept a lookout for, but the road was in much worse condition that then. It took us nearly 2 hours to cover this distance and one stop to ask directions though it seems we were going the right way.

This statue was opened in 2010 and landscaping etc is an ongoing task. It sits shinning bright silver in the sunlight, 30m high above a building that houses a sort of visitors centre and museum. Here Chengis sits astride his horse facing east with a not so happy look on his face.

Inside the centre is a 'golden whip’, not sure how much gold is in it, and a big boot. A young girl who spoke an English L could barely understand rattled off a load of statistics about the boot, all L can remember is that it stands 9m high, 6m long and 2m wide. She was told how much rope was used in decoration and how many cow hides were used and other stuff but her brain couldn’t cope with it all and seized up.

We all enjoyed the small museum but I did get a bit concerned that I might become a museum piece too, but it was only for the purposes of taking photos that I was put with exhibits. That was a relief: One room was mostly dedicated to armour and war materials dating from the 11th to 14th centuries. Some of those helmets must weigh many kilos, then there is the chain mail vest, many more kilos, the poor ponies carrying all this are not large animals like stockhorses in Oz. A second room displayed archaeological finds dating from the 8th to 3rd century BC mostly. There are some very lovely tiny bronze miniatures, ever so intricate that really stole L’s attention.

After this we made our way to the viewing platform that forms part of the horses neck for a closer encounter with Chengis. More photo opportunities:

Continuing eastward we passed a massive mine, don’t know what mineral but there must be plenty of it, it went on for several k’s before we saw the town that houses the workers. It’s not coal that’s all L is willing to say.

As a point of probably no interest to anyone what-so-ever the world’s largest copper mine is being developed, and the world’s largest known single deposit of top quality coking coal is here too. Don’t know if that is being developed yet or not.

We turned off the main road roughly where the ‘gertie’ said, following a track and little more than intuition made our way in the general direction of what we hoped would lead us to Khoh Lake, and by sheer luck nothing more, we came across it, or at least what we think was it.

To get there we had to cross some very damp black soil valleys where the track got really muddy and only D’s skill at 4WDing saved us from getting bogged. Set in the valley floor with some pine forest about it and a few scattered buildings that are probably some sort of tourist accommodation it was quite pretty. That was until we got out of the car, then the flied descended upon us in force, everything from tiny midges to massive horse flies, all with ferocious appetites. Didn’t want to hang about here: The lake is described in the book as ‘alpine’, not sure what that writer was smoking!

On our way to Batshireet there were a couple of things to see according to LP but without GPS co-ordinates we failed to find them, any sign posts that we did see were rusting away and unreadable. However, we did almost make it to Batshireet, getting within about 5 k’s before we came to the ‘wonky’ bridge. Although we sat and watched a few vehicles cross it while my humans ate their lunch D, upon close inspection, decided that there was too much risk of spearing a tyre on large splinters of wood or big nails stickling up. The river was too deep to ford with the car, a big tractor however did so, apparently feeling it was the safer option. We would have had to return over the same bridge.

So we made our way to Binder. Along the way we drove through lovely meadows full of wildflowers and little else. For a long way we saw only a few horses, and my humans wondered if perhaps this is an area where they keep the animals in winter. We did see some sheds that appear to be for housing animals although they are not fully enclosed as one would expect for the very severe winters they have here. Although the hills were somewhat barren and rocky they sprouted some stunted pine trees, the meadows were lush with tall green grass and wildflowers aplenty. We passed an ancient buriel site with carved standing stones:

At Binder we visited a Buddhist temple, it is fairly new and built in the shape of a Mongolian hat and painted bright orange, it certainly catches the eye as you come over the hill and first see it. Near to this a large number of people and horses were gathered, it was the day for having the Naadam festival in this town. We had been following a horse race on our way in, 20k’s long someone told us it had been. It had finished by the time we arrived.

However at the next town, Dadal, we arrived in time for the big day. We all sat and were watching some women archers when my humans were invited along to the officials tent where they were offered a cup of the local firewater. L doesn’t know that it’s called, but is not impressed by it’s taste. It is fermented mares milk. She says that it smells and tastes like the sourest goats yogurt you can find though it is quite watery. The cup must be taken and held in the right hand only. Everyone uses the same cup, it is just topped up when needed, never washed.

After a while here they were sent off to see the wrestling. Well, that was a bit bloody boring. We had quite a wait until it started then the 6 competitors came into the arena and strutted their stuff before they paired off to make three wrestling matches. One must have lasted all of 4 minutes before the winner, however that was decided, did his ‘Ali" act in front of the audience. The other two pairs where both at it for 15 or 20 mins without much at all happening, just seemed to be locked together head to head and shuffled around a bit. The spectators got a bit bored too and wandered about a lot, usually right in front of L’s camera as she was about to take a snap. Some not so choice words were spoken.

Before leaving my humans enjoyed some local kebabs and some deep fried pancake thingy fill with mutton, bit greasy but quite tasty, not that I got any.

Just out of town we found the spring that supposedly has very good water but it seems to have dried up, all there was was a bit of a muddy puddle. On the hill just a kilometre away is a monument marking the birthplace of Chengis in 1162. There is some debate by historians over the actual year. That would have made him 80 years old by the time his all conquering armies reached Poland in 1241 or 1242.

Whatever way you look at it that’s quite some feat, in a straight line it must be 6000k’s, and added to that is the fact that there isn’t and wasn’t then all that many Mongolians, or the ‘Golden Horde” as they were often refereed too. L read somewhere a long time ago that Chengis always said that the easiest thing in war to replace was the humans, they bred without any encouragement at all.

We forded many streams along the way however, the Onon river is just too deep and swift for that and so when we came to the crossing we found a great little ferry. It may have just been large enough for 2 cars but only a single truck and very basic. The floor was planks, the ramps, 3 saplings tied together for each side wheel and human and river powered. A steel cable stretched across the river with the ferry connected to it then using the strong current and by pulling on the steel cable the ferry man propelled us across the river. At over €8 it wasn’t cheap but it was an experience.

The tracks are very dusty despite the fact that we had storms and rain most evenings. Poor Rosie (the car) is full of dust and L keeps telling me that I am an absolute grub, I’m in dire need of a wash, but will have to wait.

Our second crossing of the Onon River was over a real bridge, fairly new by the look of it, built of steel and rough concrete. It’s such a novel thing to have a bridge here that every one parks off one end and walks back to have a look and take photos. The view is worth it.

Then the car having come all the way from Tyumen in Russia without giving more problems decided the good times were over. This time it was the automatic gearbox that was giving trouble. On the rough roads D noticed that it wasn’t changing up when it should. He couldn’t give it a real test because 50kph was top speed here. In Bayan Uul D found a place where he could park on some flat concrete then he crawled under for a look, after which he decided that we ought to make our way back to Ulan Baatar in case the whole kit and caboodle packed up. So this we did:

Now we are back at the Oasis: D and a mechanic spent all yesterday afternoon and evening working on something but it seems to have only made matters worse. Whereas before it was changing gear, just not when it should, now it doesn’t want to change gear at all, so it’s back to the Land Rover forum on the internet for inspiration and hopefully some answers. Parts will have to be ordered from the UK, when it’s decided what parts are needed. Fortunately it seems that things runs quite smoothly in Mongolia for bringing in such items and they are usually cleared through customs quite quickly at a cost of 15.5% of their invoice price.

Don’t expect a further update for a while as I expect I shan't be doing very much but sitting in ‘my office’ here at the Oasis for the foreseeable future.

© Lynette Regan 9th July 2013