Thursday July 4th to Wednesday July 10th, 2019 - The Brief Version of Travels in the Gobi

The Gobi is a big place - 500 miles from north to south, 1,000 miles from east to west (although it angles to the northeast). It is a rain shadow desert formed from precipitation from the Indian Ocean being trapped on the Tibetan Plateau. It is also a cold desert due to both latitude and altitude.

As a result, our journey involved many hours of driving most days, with stops for comfort, animal sightings and sometimes repairs. Usually our destination was a feature of natural beauty which was being developed for tourism. 

After about an hour of driving on a paved road the first day, this was a typical view for the remainder of the trip. As one of our group observed, it always seemed as if we were headed toward the mountains, but it never seemed as if we ever got there.

Sometimes the roads were a little rougher, but generally speaking they were managed without four wheel drive.

As mentioned in the previous post, bathroom facilities were few and far between! If we saw a blue structure like this, it was cause for celebration, even if it was generally a 'squatter'! Amazing to see a bathroom line in the middle of the desert - an absurdity reminiscent of Blazing Saddles!

It was ironic, that even though this was a desert, we experienced quite a bit of rain. It had rained the night of our homestay and we were told that if guests bring rain it means they are very good people. 

We must have been REALLY good people, then!

Our first destination was the ruins of the Ongi Monastery. As we approached it after six or more hours of pretty desolate driving, I found myself thinking the monks must have been crazy to set up here. Of course, within the blink of an eye, we turned the corner into this lovely little oasis.

The monastery itself truly was a ruin. Another sad testament to the purges of the 1930's, it was founded in 1660 and was one of the largest monasteries in its day, housing close to 1,000 monks. In addition to their religious roles, the monks also formed universities here and taught math and science.  Altogether it had 28 temples on both sides of the river. It was completely destroyed in 1939 and 200 of the monks were shot on a site across the river. The remaining monks were either imprisoned, forced to become laypersons or conscripted in the army.

There is now a functioning temple there with one monk.

The branch of Buddhism it represents, is the 'yellow hat' or Gelugpa school - the same as the Dalai Lama. It seemed both odd and reassuring to see this very recognizable and stylish image of him in this very remote and struggling place.

There were small remnants of beauty carefully placed here and there - treasures that were not lost. This was on a stupa commemorating the names of the 200 monks who were killed. 

The next day was the first of the occasions where we could appreciate the mechanical skill of our drivers. This van was having trouble getting into gear and after the diagnostic exploration, we were informed that he just needed some sort of disc to fix it. As luck would have it, we were only 5 km from a 'town', so with a combination of push-starting and towing, we got the van to a place where he could get help. However, 'discs' in the Gobi are not a dime a dozen, so word was that we would need to all get in the other two vans to get to our destination and he would get it repaired and join us the next day. During the next 24 hours we stayed in regular contact with him by phone and were told that he would find just fine, as he had GPS!  I have no idea how he got the disc, but it all worked.

The place that we had stopped near was a somewhat typical representation of the towns in the Gobi. Whereas the land was mostly without fences, the towns were intensely fenced. We were told that during the 1990's, after the fall of the Soviet Union, things had got really tough, so there had been a lot of stealing. Thus the fences.

There was also a very ghost-town feel - this abandoned gas station had seen better days.

We were fascinated with this Mad Max post-apocalyptic pig pen. Everything was re-purposed!

It was a relief to finally arrive at the Khongor Sand Dunes after being squished together in the two vans all afternoon. It was also lovely to know we would not be packing up the next morning as we were to spend the next two nights here and had the added bonus of en-suite bathrooms in the gers.

The first outing the following day was the camel ride. The fact that they are bactrian camels with two humps made it a much more comfortable prospect than would be the case on a dromedary.

I felt sorry for them, though, as they had a stake through their nose to tether them. It gave them a crooked face. They have been domesticated and a used as pack animals here for millennia. They were a vital part of the silk road in its day. They seemed soft and gentle, but I wouldn't say I got up close and personal with them. They are a lot bigger than me.

Photo by Bat-Orgil Bat-Erdene

Here we all are on our camels. It was a very sedate journey, but after an hour I could barely walk when I got off and I felt my sitz bones for the remainder of the day! It was fun.

Photo by Vicki Potts

So what do people do when they are within sight of a 1,000 ft sand dune! Of course it has to be climbed. Happily, we had the middle of the day to just chill, but that evening set off to face this challenge. As you see there were many more people than just our group. It may not look like a big deal from where you sit, but let me assure you, it wasn't until I finally got to the top that I thought I was going to make it. It was VERY steep.

Some people brought sleds and there was lots of whooping and hollering and spills as they came down on them. Watching these folks gave me the idea of using both hands and feet to get up the steepest section near the top. It was reassuring, as even if one's feet slipped backward in the sand, one's hands felt as if they were staying put.

Photo  by Tom Starling

So Nadine and I got down to serious work and plugged away until we got there! (No, we are not crawling on the beach - we are virtually standing up and our hands are reaching in horizontal to the ground - it seemed VERY steep.)

We were very happy to get to the top! Coming down was enormous fun - with the sand giving way under one's stride, it felt like moon-walking.

Our next day's stop was a place called Bayanzag Flaming Cliffs. It is a wonderful sandstone cliff rich in iron, which gives it a vibrant red color. If it catches the evening sun, the colors become even more vibrant.

I was looking forward to seeing this, partly because of its name and partly because it is a site where significant dinosaur fossils have been found, in particular the first fossil eggs.

Sadly for me, I did some funky setting to my camera by mistake and the sun did not make a showing, so between the two of them, I failed to catch the splendor that I'm sure this place can offer. This long shot from a saxaul forest nearby, has a nice variety of textures and colors in it, but no 'flames', I'm sorry.

The following morning we had the pleasure of a walk in Vulture Canyon, in the Gurvan Saikhan National Park near Dalanzadgad, Mongolia. By contrast with the areas we had been traversing, it had a beautiful green lushness. It evoked the heather-colored hills of Scotland with its coloring.

There were abundant wildflowers.

The walk led to a narrow rocky gorge, which still had snow in it. According to Wikipedia it is known for forming an ice shield that is quite thick, but notes that in recent years it disappears through the summer.

If you have been to the Painted Desert in Arizona, you would recognize the type of landscape we encountered next at Tsagaan Suvarga, or The White Stupa.

It was quite a lovely place - not as sheer as the Flaming Cliffs - softer and more eroded. Some layers have the red coloring from iron, but the colors are more variable. It erodes into more clay-like formations and greenish layers suggest copper.

The layering can be seen clearly from the base and the lowest levels have a very ancient 'otherworldly' feel to them.

Our last full travel day had a couple of interesting animal encounters. First, we came across a herd of camels. I don't believe they were wild - as they had tags on their ears - but they did not have the nose piercing, so it is probable that instead of being beasts of burden, they were being raised for their hair, which is used to make clothing.

We came across a herd of horses in the morning.Three of the mares had foals sleeping at their feet. The foals were so still, we feared that perhaps they were ill. One by one, as we quietly approached, the foals stirred. This one was the last to move and finally its mother gave it a good kick to get it moving. We were happy that they were all OK and learned, that foals, like human babies, like to sleep!

I was thrilled to also have a sighting of the white-naped crane. This looked like a family of mom, dad and two juveniles.

Another, more minor, mechanical problem led to us having lunch in a town called Mandalgovi. While there we noticed a smaller, local Naadam taking place. Many of us wanted to see a smaller version of Naadam, so we stopped in for a short visit. I will share that experience in another post.

Apart from a brief stretch of paved road near Vulture Canyon, most of our travels seemed as if we were just following someone else's vehicle tracks. Many times there were numerous parallel tracks, but there were also intersections going off in different directions.  I never did figure out how our drivers navigated. I did not see them consulting GPS. Sometimes we traveled in convoy, sometimes each of them peeled off and seemed to find their own way. When I saw this road sign in the middle of what seemed to be 'nowhere', I had another Blazing Saddles flashback. It was also reassuring to know that we were following the right track.

Our last evening in the Gobi was visiting a few sites at Baga Gazriin Chuluu, where the granite formations created a moonscape appearance.

I thought these rocks looked like huge daleks from Dr. Who.

Nearby was another sad remnant of a monastery ruins from 1700's. It was smaller than the others we had seen and had supported about 18 monks. They were killed during the communist purges of the 1930's. In spite of another sad history, and complete abandonment, this one had a lovely feel to it, with the remains of the blue paint and the trees growing up through. It was a sweet, sad place.

We had hoped to see prehistoric art in this area, but the combination of the vehicle problem and the Naadam diversion resulted in the hour being too late to find the site.  Many of us were disappointed, and these markings on the cliff wall were our consolation prize - although they dated from the monks of the monastery and are in the old Mongolian script.

Photo by Tom Starling

Another strange little oddity not far from the monastery was a tiny little hole in the rock which contained mineral water which was reputed to be good for the eyes. We were told the monks used to meditate here. As you see, the access was very small and conveniently had a spoon on a stick to allow one to scoop up the water and place it on ones closed eyes, as you see Nadine doing here. It did have a pleasantly soothing effect.

Our final morning provided a delightful goat encounter. Knowing that I planned to look for cashmere in Ulaanbaatar, I was bemoaning the fact that I had not really noticed deliciously furry goats, which produce the fiber that cashmere is made from. The universe provided, as I awoke to the sound of bleating and an excited Nadine at my door announcing that we were completely surrounded by goats. It was lovely to wander among them and admire their soft coats in the morning sun.

It was with some nostalgia that I packed up for the final day, knowing that we were leaving this natural world behind for the excitement of the big city lights and Naadam.