Unknown to us, our first stop on Day 4 was the “Penis Rock”. Apparently formed naturally into the shape of a penis (very life-like), local legend declares that if a woman prays to the rock or gives an offering to it, or even sits on it, she’ll get pregnant. Jazz made sure to steer clear. From there we drove through construction sites, one massive 20m-by-10m mud pit (needing expert drag-racing driving to transverse), and ragged dirt paths with 1-2 foot high jagged rocks jutting above the surface like some crazy moonscape that passed for roads. Man, were we glad for our driver! We also stopped to repair another Khongor van (our driver had the experience to repair it, the other driver didn’t) and had lunch in the prairie. In the 3 hours it took them, we explored the area and discovered what were likely ancient circular stone tombs, very probably that of Genghis Khan himself J, although our guide was unconvinced.
We finally made it to Tsutgalan waterfall from the Orkhon river, and luckily no tourists were around to spoil the view, although a few yaks roamed the area and hawks played just outside, making for a relaxing evening. Returning from our walk, we joined Sanja in the kitchen ger and shared recipes since lunch was so tasty; we even explained stuffed bell peppers, but he couldn’t believe why anyone would put the meat inside instead of just cutting up the bell pepper! That evening, inspired by our discussion, he made spaghetti with meat sauce for the first time (he had to call his wife to ask how make the spaghetti).
Later we all crawled into bed (shared our ger with Sanja) kept nice and toasty by our fire, when at 2 AM someone was banging on our door. Sanja was out cold, so Lee opened it to find two Mongolians yelling something. Lee, with his shirt off and white skin gleaming, gave them a confused “I don’t speak your language” look, and they muttered something and walked off. The next morning we learned from Sanja that those guys were park “police” who had driven into the camp drunk and then started to harass and extort money from the guides and drivers. One officer took a swing at a driver, who then fought back. The “real” police showed up and hauled them both to the jail, where the police decided the driver was at fault and should either pay $1,000 (an astronomical sum for a driver) or face 7 nights in jail. After 7 nights though, he was told they would “see” about his release (aka pay us or rot in jail). How crazy is that??? But goes to show how corrupt the government is.
On the way to our last destination, we picked up the best bottle of vodka - Chinggis Khan, for our last hosts who were good friends of Sanja and our driver. They live next to a crazy geological anomaly – a 10km long by 2km wide Mongol Sand Dune area in an otherwise grassland valley. Once we settled in, we took a two hour walk into the dunes, with lots of running up/down the dunes, funny pictures and a few videos (yes, Lee crashed into Jazz on “accident”). When we got back to the ger and we enjoyed an hour long camel ride on double hump camels (different than the single hump camels in India). These guys were cool because their humps are soft, fuzzy and warm, versus single humpers who are a bit hard on the bum. On the way home, he let us take the reigns and we raced back at a full camel gallop with Lee emerging as the champ (video exists to prove it – he claims)!
That night after helping Sanja with our bell-pepper dinner (it was a success, although our hosts would only eat the stuffing and not the peppers!), we pulled out the vodka and our Russian chocolates to share with our hosts. Eventually everyone went to sleep / passed out (out host drank about half the bottle), and it was just Sanja and us up talking about all sorts of things. Again we learned a few interesting things, including:
- Making Mongolia green and clean should be easy with the resources available; however, politicians have no interest and neither does the average person. Even in the most beautiful parts of the country the ground is often littered with trash due to the people’s attitude that “the wind take care of it.” That said, some people see the value of wind and solar energy, so perhaps in the future they can use these resources to their advantage.
- Traditional marriages are simple. After the wedding, the bride’s family visits the groom’s family ger for a huge party. An “eternal” fire gets lit to symbolize a new hearth, while blue (for the Mongolian sky) and white (for purity) ribbons are used for decoration.
- Marriage is a fairly modern affair, with rings exchanged in front of a judge and a Shaman or Buddhist priest in attendance. Women get a gold ring with two interlocking diamond symbols and small dots on the corners, while men get a gold ring with two interlocking circles, also with dots on the “four corners”.
- Tourism accounts for ~35-40% of Mongolia’s economy, while Mining equals ~60-65%. The government supports mining more than tourism because officials are able to siphon off more funds from mining, while tourism income goes towards individuals, and would require the government to undertake infrastructure improvements.
- Khongor Tours is known for being the cheapest and one of the largest companies in Mongolia. They have ~100 guides with 5 to 15 tours at any given day. Roughly 60% of tour dollars went to gas, jeep, food and host families; 20% to the driver and guide ($12/day each) and the remainder to Khongor. With other companies, 50% of the cost goes to the company. These tours are more expensive, so while the guides earn more they have to deal with a more exclusive sort of tourist and their associated attitudes (read below). So a lot of drivers/guides start with other companies for the money but end up leaving for Khongor, where they deal with more reasonable tourists but get paid less. As a result, Khongor generally ends up with the more experienced drivers and guides.
- Apparently a lot of tourists feel entitled and request absurd things (like a LCD TV in their ger) or complain about amenities (like old jeeps). Our thoughts were basically “Come on! It’s Mongolia, what do you expect!!” Sanja also shared a few horror stories, including (1) an annoying professional travel photographer who turned him into his assistant and then complained/yelled at him, (2) a US army guy who was so unhappy and angry (with life and his trip in general) he took it out on him, and (3) a group that wanted more vodka at night so badly that they blackmailed him (with false accusations) into driving to a night market when the roads are full of drunks. Apparently we restored his faith in tourists J
The final day we headed back to UB, only to find out that Khongor had booked up our guesthouse bed (probably to some higher paying people). Apparently this is the de-facto deal in UB, based on other traveler reports. We laughingly told Sanja that we could stay with him and quickly found ourselves invited to share the evening with his wife and son. Thinking he should check with his wife, we finally convinced him to call and get the confirmation from her J. All went well and as thanks we made them JP’s carbonara pasta (introducing yet another dish to Mongolia!). Bright and early the next morning, Sanja walked us to the train station on the way to his next tour group. Not a bad way to wrap up a fantastic trip! Next Up: China – Disappearing Train Tickets and a Home Away from Home in Beijing.
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