Gobi Trip Part 2 - Fishes and Poker

On the forth day of our travel we made three stops for a change but they were laying very close to each other: Yoliin Am, the Ice Valley; Khongoriin Els, the biggest dune field in Mongolia and Bayanzag, the Red Cliffs. Our briton had to be back in Ulaanbaatar the next day therefore he had his own driver that would take him back to Dalanzadgad after Bayanzag. We would continue our journey north to the next ger. On the way to the Ice Valley we were still driving together in our van.

This time I made a short video. It is a time lapse showing exactly one hour of our drive.

Have fun!

We reached the entrance of Yoliin Am  after a spectacular drive through the countryside. The rest of the gorge we had to walk. Along the path were numerous interesting rock formations to which signs referred as "camel rock“ for example. This felt strangely familiar to me... The gorge itself was beautiful but we thought the frozen waterfall at its end would be more impressive. The chasm is so narrow that snow and ice will outlast until summer. When the temperature is over 20°C snow and ice are probably more exciting than when it's below -10°C. According to the original plan we should be visiting Khongoriin Els afterwards. But the way was too dangerous due to the large amount of snowfall this year. As an alternative we were supposed to visit a "medium“ sand dune. This time the other driver lead the way and we followed. Our driver Baatra got more and more nervous about the direction we were going and suddenly we stopped. There was a short discussion in Mongolian, we turned around and drove on. We should have reached our destination by now. The new direction did not seem to calm Baatra and soon we saw the reason why. We caught a glimpse at Bayanzag which meant we have been driving too far north! There was another Mongolian discussion, we turned around one more time and drove on. "Somos perdidos!“ ("We are lost!“) I joked with the Spanish guys.

After about twenty minutes we arrived at a small sand dune. In its wind shadow we ate a late lunch and realized that we were definitely not where we were supposed to be. I was a little disappointed because I had imagined a huge dune landscape surrounded by endless sand. Instead I stood on a tiny dune in a small patch of sand laying in the middle of a step partly covered by snow and dry grass. After all we reached our last destination the Red Cliffs, a red sandstone formation, where up to this date numerous fossils can be found. The wind blew so strong that I had difficulties standing still to take a picture of the nice view. We had to say goodbye to Joe and looked forward to our warm ger. This time it was a real winter ger isolated with two layers of felt. In the evening we started our poker games for which we used small snack fishes as stakes since we couldn't find anything else. "I raise two fishes!“ became a frequently said sentence.

The next morning started with an incidence which took me some time to find it amusing myself. As everywhere else the outhouse was situated a few hundred meters away from the ger. Just this time it presented a new challenge: There was no door! Using it in the dark at night was not so bad but in broad daylight it appeared more difficult. When we were about to leave I pushed my concerns aside. (Mainly because otherwise I could not endure the following four hours drive.) I tried to hurry up. I was nearly finished when our host came around the corner, made an astonished jump backwards and disappeared again. I returned embarrassed to the car where everyone was laughing. All of them had seen the whole scene. Next time I'll go earlier... 

In the afternoon we arrived at the ruins of Ongi monastery. It was one of the biggest complexes in Mongolia until it was destroyed by the communist government in 1939. The sky was bright blue as most of the time during our trip and we strolled between the ruins in the deep snow until the sun set. Our accommodation was an interesting double ger construction, through the kitchen ger we could enter the sleeping ger which had an impressive Buddhist house shrine on its northern side. During our stay we were able to observe our host praying. Later in the evening many visitors arrived and assembled in the kitchen ger. We sat in the back ger a little overwhelmed and astonished how so many people fit in such a small space. After a while we noticed another visitor that was sitting  on the warm roof window, a black cat. We spent the night sharing the sleeping ger with the family. As there were not enough beds for everyone there were carpets and blankets spread out on the floor to sleep on. This is very common in Mongolia since there is usually no room for guest beds.

Because the "road" conditions were bad due to the snow we were supposed to have an overnight stop before arriving in Kharkhorin. Baatra consulted with some locals and ensured us that we could make the whole journey in one day. (Which would give us more time at the White Lake). But we were not able to take the usual road and therefore got an impressive demonstration of the "Mongolian navigation system". We had to ask a few times for the way, meaning we drove up to a ger and honked until someone came out, some of them still wearing their pyjamas. They described the way friendly and as if it was totally normal to be disturbed in the morning by a lost stranger. It is still fascinating that we actually found the right track without any signs, marked roads or other obvious landmarks (at least I didn't notice any). When we arrived in Kharkhorin in the late afternoon we were spoiled with a public shower. Unfortunately its effects didn't last long. Our ger was heated by a red hot stove and we even sweated wearing shorts.

Maybe the heat was the reason that we finished all of our beer. Around 11 pm we talked Baatra into getting new ones. He said there was a shop around the corner which was supposed to be still open but we found ourselves facing a closed door. Very disappointed we wanted to go back when Baatra started hammering against the door, the windows and the gate leading to the backyard. Nothing stirred inside so once again we wanted to retreat. As a last effort Baatra took out his phone and called our host who in turn called the owner. A few minutes later two women in their pyjamas opened the door. We felt a little uneasy having caused so much trouble and bought a more than planned. The decision to get a bottle of vodka might not have been the best...