Meet Bill...

Bill (real name is Bazaraa) was our guide/translator/friend for our week long trip touring around Central Mongolia. He is a 22 year old computer engineer by trade, but is currently unemployed and therefore doing some guide work with travellers passing through Mongolia - just because he simply enjoys it. Whilst he was brought up in the city and lives a very western lifestyle, he spent a lot of time in the country when he was younger, therefore recognises the contrast and differences of people who live in the city and people who live in the countryside. His passion and knowledge for nomadic lifestyle and Mongolian history is incredible and he is clearly proud of his country's traditions and culture.

Several conversations we had with Bill where he has shared some of his views with us-

Bill on Films
"Harry Potter rules, Twilight sucks"

Bill on Guiding:
"Last month I walked up this mountain with tourists and we got sooo lost. Ha ha"

Bill on the Chinese
"They burnt down our capital city once, but in history we burnt there's down over a hundred times, so we're better"

Bill on the English
"I always thought everyone in England was like Mr Bean"

Bill on Music
"I sooooo love hip hop and...Blue"

Bill on Family
When asking Bill what he would do if his sister brought home a Chinese man -"I'd kill them. I'd kill them both"

Bill on Food
With absolutely everything that Bill ate throughout the day, from the mutton pasta, to the mutton rice, to the mutton soup and dry stale bread in a morning being described as "sooooooooo delicious" we can only imagine what his other favourite Mongolian cuisines when explained to us would taste like...

*One of his favourite meals that is "sooooooo delicious" is what is known to us tourists as 'vitals'. This involves the lungs, stomach, intestines, heart and liver of one sheep all thrown in to a steaming pot of hot broth

*On his birthday, as it is "sooooooo delicious" he loves to eat the head of a sheep, including its cheeks and eyes

*In the summer he loves drinking fermented mare's milk - although hard to believe, it is apparently "soooooo delicious"

*And for no other reason, but simply because it is "soooooo delicious" he is often partial to Marmot. A marmot is a rodent (think big squirrel) type creature that is first killed, skinned and gutted and then roasted from the outside via a blowtorch, while at the same time is delicately slow-cooked from the inside using fiery-hot rocks. Yum.

Shockingly however, when we were to describe chicken liver pate to him, he pulled his face in absolute disgust and responded "ewww nasty".


Although he has his quirks, a very distinct palate and a somewhat scary view of the Chinese, Bill was excellent. His knowledge about everywhere we visited was superb and he certainly made our trip. We really couldn't have asked for anyone better to show us around this amazing country.

The first stop on our itinerary was to Gorkhi-Teralj National Park, just a couple of hours drive away from the city. The park is located in a huge valley which holds a Buddhist monastery (that is open to visitors) and has many rock formations, including the famous formation named after what it simply resembles: Turtle Rock. Most of the park is underdeveloped and difficult to access, however a small portion has been developed for tourists with a few cafés, shops and where we were specifically heading too - one of the many tourist ger camps.

On our way there we visited a small cave known as the "Cave of 100 Monks" where In 1937, for one full year, 100 Buddhist monks took shelter and hid in the cave to avoid execution by the communist government. They were fed and watered by local herdsmen and how they did this is amazing as the cave was a squeeze with just three of us.

We also visited the Genghis Khan Equestrian Statue - the biggest equestrian statue in the world. It is an impressive 40 metre tall statue made entirely out of 250 tons of gleaming stainless steel, which is located on the bank of the Tuul River and depicts Genghis Khan on horseback. To the outside world, Genghis Khan, the fearsome Mongolian warrior, is remembered for his brutalities and destruction that he brought when he conquered half the world in the 13th century, which resulted in the death of 40 million people. But to the Mongolians, he is a national hero - he founded the Mongol empire and cemented the positions of the Mongol's on the world's map and his face can be found on everyday commodities, from liquor bottles to bank notes.

We arrived at our ger camp late afternoon and Bill led us the way to our accommodation for the rest of the day and night - tonight we were sharing our ger with Brian, another traveller from Holland. A ger is a portable circular structure used by nomads as their home (a cross between a tent and a caravan). It is built around 2 large wooden supports, with 76 wooden poles on the roof extending to the walls, of which there may be between 3 or 8 dependent on size. It is held down by a heavy weight in the centre of the structure to ensure you don't blow away and is covered in sheep skin and woollen rugs to provide shelter and warmth in the winter, but also keeps cool and shady in the summer. Beds are placed to the side and in the centre there is a fire with a chimney that is usually fuelled by dried animal waste (poo), which also doubles up as the kitchen stove. Traditionally, a nomadic family will own a ger (along with some livestock), and these portable homes are designed to be dismantled, usually every 3 months to take advantage of seasonal changes and the parts carried compactly on camels or yaks and then rebuilt on another site.

There are rules to a traditional ger which Bill informed us about as we pulled into the camp - the small doorway (small enough for David to bang his head on at least 3 times a day) must always face south to ensure you always get sunlight and showing that you are a welcoming family; the two wooden supports in the centre represent the father and mother of the family, and you should never pass between them or lean against them as it shows disrespect; on entering the ger, you must always enter to the left and move round clockwise; you must never whistle in a ger as this sound to invites snakes; you must always accept offerings with your right hand; and you must never point your feet to the back of the ger, as this is disrespectful to Buddha.

Within 30 seconds we had broken the majority of all these rules, as Claire went to the right, Dave walked through the mother and father posts in the middle and Brian, our travel buddy started whistling. We then all sat down with our feet pointing towards Buddha....oops.

Now, there are 4 things that we had prepared ourselves for upon arriving into the countryside of Mongolia. The first being the squat toilets - which were EVERYWHERE and it took about 3 days to overcome the fear of using one without one of us standing guard. The 2nd was how there is no access to fresh water - we therefore armed ourselves with Johnson's baby wipes. The 3rd was the nomads diet of mutton (meat of sheep as Bill called it) which we soon discovered was given with every single meal of every single day, and last but not least - Suutei Tsai (literally meaning, tea with milk). Suutei Tsai is served to guests when they arrive at Mongolian homes and to Claire's horror throughout every given part of the day also, along with a hospitality bowl filled with sweets and snacks. Although hot milky tea sounds quite 'English' and with the description from Bill as being "sooooooo delicious" we were not fooled, so believe us when we say that it is most definitely absolutely 100% not "soooooo delicious"...

The ingredients to Suutei Tsai is typically, boiling water (about 3 litres), mixed with milk (about 1 litre of either goat or cows milk), 1 tea bag (that is dropped in for approximately 3 seconds) and then finally for some added flavour...salt. Yes salt. The amount of salt in the tea is also varied between the cook of this disgustingly foul liquid drink - sometimes it is like drinking the sea and other times it is still like drinking the sea. You soon however become a master at drinking it by preventing your face from contorting in repulse and smile and nod that you are enjoying the taste and flavour of this foul beverage.

Make some at home now whilst you read this to soak in the atmosphere (as we have lots write...), and also when you drink it ensure that you make the lovely loud slurping noise as you suck it out of the mug that all the locals make to savour the flavour even more. Surprisingly, David developed a taste for the tea and drank it a lot throughout the trip, though Claire only had it the once.

Our first ger was on a small tourist site. When we say tourist, it would be wrong to assume it was luxurious. The toilet was as presumed, a 'squat toilet' which consisted of a wooden box, with the middle plank missing from the floor revealing a 10 foot drop below and the companionship of 3 million flies, there was no sink or running water, the sleeping bags we had kindly been given by our hostel smelt strongly of mutton, and the 3cm thick mattresses that we had been provided were a nice brown stained colour. There was however a nice present waiting for Claire though as when she got tucked up into bed that night she found a half eaten sheep rib under the bedding.

Our first day was therefore our first introduction to 'proper' Mongolia where we were greeted by our host family with a teapot that contained our steaming salty, watery, milky tea - which also had the distinct smell of mutton... Upon asking Bill why this is, we were to discover that Mongolians tend to only have one saucepan that they use to not only fry and boil sheep meat in, but that they also use to make our tea, boil water in and more than likely wash themselves in. How nice. Our food soon followed and after being on the road for the majority of the day with very little to eat, we were ready for some food. Mmmmm, just what we were craving - a mound of fried fatty, chewy mutton and rice for lunch.

With our bellies full we went off to do some exploring of Teralj national park. We hiked to the Buddhist monastery where monks still meditate today, which was a lot more interesting than we expected - thanks to Bill who was able to explain lots about Buddhism on the way. On your way up the hill there are a series of Buddhist teachings and sayings and when you reach the top the view of the park is pretty impressive. The whole valley lies in front of you and Turtle Rock stands proudly in the distance. The temple itself was bright and colourful, filled from floor to ceiling with mantras and decorated with paintings of the Buddhist gods. Our eyes however were drawn to the graphic pictures on the side of the temple that depict the guardians of the temple and what happens to you if you end up in hell...not pleasant experiences. Next to the temple there is another small meditation room which holds a statue of a monk who had meditated for so long that he turned to stone...

Following our hike we returned to our ger and was welcomed back to dinner (fatty, chewy mutton soup with pasta) - although hard to believe, the soup even though it had an inch thick of fat floating on its surface, it was actually quite tasty. Either that or we were just starving.

All in all, the first night in a ger was fun. Listening to the sound of wild horses running past the camp, the sheep, goats and cows milling around the fields outside, and looking up at the clear sky which held 1000's of shining stars above us is something that you don't experience very often.

It was on the drive to and from the park that we also learned a great deal about driving in Mongolia, both in the city and in the countryside. So much so we decided to give you a set of rules taken directly from the Mongolian Highway Code:

Rule 1- Get a Mongolian driving license
This can be achieved traditionally via the 10 hour driving course, or if time is short feel free to simply buy an illegal license with no training whatsoever.

Rule 2- Understand the 'Mongolian right of way'
Simply put, when you are in a moving vehicle it is always your right of way. There are no exceptions. If you are driving you must always assume that it is your right way.

Rule 3- Ignore any marked lanes
Lanes are not to be followed under any circumstances, when seeing lanes painted on the floor feel free to move amongst them as you see fit, don't forget Rule 2 whilst doing this.

Rule 4- Shortcuts
If you are driving from point A to point B but the road adopts a route other than a straight line it will be quicker to turn off the road and go directly over the countryside.

Rule 5- Mentoring
Occasionally other drivers may get in the way, they have obviously not known that you are attempting to follow Rule 2. Teach them the errors of their driving by good long presses of the horn, accompanied by winding down the window and shouting words of encouragement in an aggressive manner. It is not uncommon in Mongolia, to have to get out of your car and fight a fellow driver to defend your use of Rule 2.

Rule 6- Police
The police have a duty to protect the drivers and citizens of Mongolia. Should they pull you over, be prepared to offer a small bribe to ensure they can continue their fine work.

If you are fortunate enough to know our friend Michael Bann, you will have no problem in understanding these rules.

The next destination on our trip, after 6 long hours of driving and stopping only for a quick Mongolian picnic (mutton with pasta), was a traditional nomadic family ger in the Semi-Gobi. So called because it's a bit like the Gobi Desert but smaller. To really see the true Gobi Desert you would need to head a long way south and spend a few days there, days that we didn't have as we wanted to see other parts of Mongolia in the short time that we had. The Semi-Gobi is a small piece of desert land in the centre of Mongolia in which a huge sand dune (80km long) sits. Soon after dropping our bags at our ger we hiked to the top of the dunes and enjoyed the view into the distance of the surrounding landscape and mountains.

The nomads as mentioned before move every season and all families own livestock, which is typically their main source of income (as well as occasionally putting up a smaller 'guest ger' for curious people like us). Livestock consists of a combination of either cows (for milk and beef), sheep (for wool and of course 'delicious' meat), goats (for milk, wool and meat), horses (for herding, meat, trading and riding) yaks (for milk, beef and transporting dismantled gers), camels (for transporting dismantled gers, eating - usually only in the gobi regions, and riding).

Apparently, you can assess how rich a man is by size of his herd and this family looked after just goats and sheep. Goats are the best for wool as it's used in cashmere clothing and demands a high price. Sheep are the least expensive at only $60 a sheep, and the easiest to look after. Every morning the herd is allowed out of the pen to graze for the day and they wander off into the vast wilderness, but always stay together (the only animals who join together are goats and sheep, as the sheep follow the goats as they know where all the grass that is "soooo delicious" is). In Bill's words "sheep are soooooo dumb". When the sun starts to set the animals all make it back home, as the family round them up either on horseback or more common nowadays, on motorbikes.

This family were a young couple who had moved away from all their family in the north and set up home following the birth of their new baby Itchiko - she was 12 weeks old and weighed about 3 stone. After eating our tea (mutton soup), we spent some time with the family in their ger and Claire got chance to spend some time snuggling Itchiko. It soon made us realise that seeing a young family completely alone in the middle of nowhere with no electricity, fresh running water, central heating and fancy technology raising a perfectly healthy thriving baby, who in 4 years time will be riding her first horse that we lead quite sheltered lives. Our view on sterilising EVERYTHING for a baby and placing them safely in cots at night is completely thrown out of the 3ft ger door over here.

One thing that really did take us by surprise was when Itchiko wouldn't settle following feeding and winding, becoming very irritable and appeared uncomfortable. Natural instinct took over from the mother who took Itchiko's nappy off (which was just a piece of furry sheep skin), and simply held her in between her lap and placed her into a sitting position. Now this is a technique that Claire has most definitely not seen on the ward to comfort babies, but it certainly worked - Itchiko exploded, sending poo and wee all over the linoleum floor. Mother laughed, Bill looked horrified and we sat there in amazement, moving our feet slowly to the side to avoid the pool of urine that was edging closer. After which the nappy was placed back on a now very smug Itchiko and the mess was mopped up from the floor.

After a very rough and uncomfortable sleep on what could only be described by David as 'bed of rock', and regularly being disturbed throughout the night by the baa-ing of sheep, followed by the barking of dogs telling the sheep to shut up we set off on another long drive to Orkhan Valley Cultural Landscape. It sprawls along the banks of the Orkhon River in Central Mongolia is listed within the World Heritage Sites in Mongolia and the main sites that we would be visiting over the following few days are the ruins of Genghis Khan's capital Karakorum and Tuvkhun Hermitage Monastery.

We stopped en-route for mutton and rice and then after a gruelling 4 hour off road drive we finally made it to the bottom of the mountain where we began our hike to the Tuvkhun Monastery. Again, this was made interesting by Bill's fantastic guidance to the surrounding area whilst also discussing films, music and traditional English lifestyle. At the top we found the small monastery where a lone monk still resides and practices full-time (he however, wasn't there as he was on holiday...?). There were several small meditating temples and caves within the monastery, all used for praying or meditating. Bill told us a story about Zanabazar, the first religious leader of Mongolia, who in ancient times was meditating on the cliff side and looking out to the pine forest when he saw the trees turn into an army of loyal soldiers and as he stood in amazement his boot footprint was imprinted into the rock which is still there now. There was also a very tiny sacred cave called 'mother's womb cave' which leads to spiritual rebirth. You have to enter the tiny cave head first, and wriggle your way down the passage tightly turning around in the dark, damp cove at the bottom. You then wriggle back out of the opening head first, and after which you are spiritually reborn. David was reborn and basically described it as climbing in and out of a man-size rock vagina. Claire on the other hand didn't want to go into the tiny cave so she still has all her evil thoughts onboard. There was also a superstar part of the mountain, probably the best part, where only men were allowed to venture but Dave can't tell you about that in case women read this.

Following this, we made our way to the open countryside and set up base with another nomadic family and spent a relaxing couple of days, enjoying the hot weather, impressive scenery and obviously eating copious amounts of mutton either with pasta or rice. We went horse trekking following the river to Orkhon waterfall which still has ancient scriptures and paintings carved into the rocks - our horse guide however failed to show us these. It was a special moment as we crossed the surging river on our horses and slowly trotted across the amazing landscape in the hot sunshine to the sites around our camp. Our guide couldn't speak any English but sang songs and whistled. After 4 hours on horseback however and on our way back to camp, it was less wonderful and more just bloody painful. Neither of us could walk well afterwards and it was painful as we sat down to eat our mutton soup and salty milky tea with the family.

Our next stop was a tourist camp at Tsenkher hot springs, and this time we were travelling in convoy with 4 other travellers - a couple from Bristol and 2 girls from the States. Tsenkher hot spring is rich in natural minerals, is released from the ground at a rather warm 80 degrees and stinks of rotten eggs. Several ger camps surround the spring and have their water fed from the hot source. But what really caught our attention though and made us all giggle like little children was when we heard that the camp has 'hot showers'. After 5 days and using only Johnsons baby wipes to wash, you can only begin to imagine our excitement at knowing that we would soon be having a proper shower.

All the driving to the springs was now done off road, which was fun at first but soon become a little uncomfortable (especially after the previous days horse riding). We have no idea how the drivers find their way around Mongolia. There are no signs, no roads, just endless green mountains and the occasional river to drive through. At one point we wondered what we would do if we broke down, if there was a Mongolian RAC or anything? Bill just laughed and said "if we break down, the driver and I fix the car and every time that works". That's confidence.
The drivers also calculate other things such as weights and physics. We came to an old rickety wooden bridge that looked as if it was about to fall apart. There was actually a sign here, one we most definitely recognised - 'NO ENTRY' with some Mongolian writing underneath. As we crossed the bridge, Bill cheerfully translated the sign for us as "don't cross bridge, unsafe, may collapse".

We stopped for a picnic en route (mutton with pasta - served appetisingly cold) before finally pulling into paradise. After 4 nights with no shower, no sink and no western toilet the tourist camp was heaven. As it was all piped from the nearby spring, this meant that the water whether it be direct from the spring, poured from the tap or came from the shower it was nice and hot and due to the sulphur smelt of rotten eggs. But, we didn't care - any smell other than mutton was a nice change, and after our mutton and pasta for tea we all went in the hot tub for a 6 hour hot tub party drinking the beer from the bar which was being sold for an extortionate £1.

The last stop of our trip was back to the Semi-Gobi, but this time at a different side of the dunes. En-route, we stopped at Karakoram, the city that the Chinese burned down centuries ago - but in place of the city, the Mongolian's decided to build another monastery. By this time, we were a bit monastery'd out, but nevertheless we took a look round. We enjoyed a story told by our tour guide about one of the twelve protective gods (the only female one), who stopped an evil demon by marrying him, giving birth to his evil kid, killing him, using his skin to saddle her donkey and then eating her evil baby. Nice. The guide then reiterated to us that this was all legend and not actual real life... We then visited a history museum which told us all about Mongolian and Nomadic history and displayed a tomb with its cremated remains of an old Turkish lord dating back over 1000 years.

We were intrigued about the last stop of the day as Bill couldn't stop laughing to himself when he mentioned it earlier in the day whilst we were eating our mutton and pasta soup for our lunch. We drove into seemingly just another patch of green countryside to find in the distance an outstanding piece of artwork, a very old sacred statue of a willy. Erected (no pun intended) over 300 years ago by an old monk as a warning to the younger monks. There used to be a nunnery near by and some of the younger monks had been fornicating with the local nuns. Tut tut. The penis was put there to act as a gentle reminder that should their terrible behaviour carry on, they would be getting their young monk willys chopped off.

The last family we met was like meeting your very own Mongolian grandparents. They were both in their seventies and constantly quarrelling, though in a way that people do when they still love each other after having spent 50 years living together in one room. We compared wedding stories and found out that they met whilst he was herding his sheep flock. Their wedding lasted over 4 days and once they found we were on our honeymoon they explained that they spent their honeymoon herding sheep. They now have several grandchildren who they hope will continue the traditional way of life.

Bill also explained that they must be a rich respected family as they have a large herd containing all five points of a star (cows, sheep, goats, horses and camels). Their technique for herding was slightly different to the other families we'd met. Though the 76 year old man was more than capable of riding his horse, they would both simply stick their head out of the ger and if their herd was too far away they would simply shout "Oi!!!" At which point the herd would look up, turn and head back.

We also got to watch the lady prepare our dinner of fresh homemade pasta (to go with the mutton). In between kneading the dough and rolling the pasta, she would occasionally tend to the fire ensuring that the ger stayed nice and warm - this however meant that she would rummage through the bucket of dried horse and cow faeces to find a decent sized piece, give it a roll around in both hands and toss it onto the flame. With our mouths open wide in what can only be described as "utter horror" she would then continue preparing our dinner and carry on kneading the dough with her bare hands, making sure her fingers and fingernails were well and truly stuffed within the mixture.

In the morning the old man took us out trekking on his camels, which whilst more fun to look at than the horses, it was actually definitely more painful to experience. Much to the delight of Bill and the driver as David limped off the camel.

We could write a lot of information about the entire history of Mongolia and all we have learned about current Mongolia. It would feel an injustice to Bill if we didn't share some of that, but also we understand that this is just a blog and in fear of boring you which we may have done already we shall sum it up as brief as we can:

Mongolia used to be largest continuous land mass empire in history ruling for hundreds of years under the legacy of the great Ghengis Khan. Ghengis Khan was noted for several areas of politics, society and military tactics - many of which are still in place today, and many of which would perhaps make the world a better place today, specifically on his views that religion was choice and all religions should respect each other allowing no preferential treatment to either - and that was over 700years ago.

Over the years, though the Mongolian empire has dwindled, warring with various countries through the years, namely Russia and China. Bill sees the Great Wall of China as a trophy for the Mongolians as in his words "they had to build it to keep us out". It's a love/hate relationship now with both their neighbours China and Russia and you get the feeling that they always get the short straw in dealings between them.

It is however an important time for Mongolia as their economy is growing at 80%, after several minerals have been found including gold, copper and coal, meaning it's time for change in the city. They say they are trying to keep all the money within the country but it's yet to be seen and it is a wonder to the majority of us as to what the country will be like in 10-20 years time... Bill has a great pride in the country, especially in its achievements in history but also in current times, with the 3 gold medals they won at London 2012. It's hard to imagine that with the upcoming industry and development that that the traditional nomadic way of life will continue and it may end up becoming just a tourist attraction, which will be a shame.

Overall our experience of Mongolia has been a positive one. The tour was a unique experience where we have witnessed a lifestyle that is so far from our own. The nature and the landscape is truly out of this world, namely because it is so unspoilt. Gers, wild horses, green hills, never ending sheep and natural beauty is the essence of a beautiful country which is by far the majority of Mongolia.

And in case he reads this - a big thank you to Bill. It has been soooo good.



Things we have learned:

1. When Mongolians are getting married, the groom has to 'find his bride' on the morning of the wedding who will have been hidden somewhere in her fathers house (usually a cupboard)

2. Hand hygiene isn't really practiced in the Mongolian countryside

3. When poo is burnt, it has a distinct odour

4. We no longer enjoy pasta and mutton based food


Dave's Transport stats so far:
Planes used - 1
Buses used - 1
Trains used - 3
Metros used - 1
Cars used - 3 (+1)
Russian Campervans used 1
Horses used - 1
Camels used - 1