A Mongolian Odyssey - part 3

As expected, the new day brought with it an enormous breakfast, though thankfully we were spared the impossible task of another three course, carb-heavy feast. Immediately after this I took the opportunity to sate my inner child, assuming traditional Mongolian costumes and using said costumes to pose (with the bow and arrow, naturally) for a bit of a photo op. This was great fun, and followed by a lengthy respite from the freezing weather, reading about the country I was already falling in love with.
'What next?', I hear you cry! Lunch, of course. A chicken curry(ish) sort of affair left me feeling ready to burst, more than adequate to keep me going through the afternoon's trip to the Chinggis Khan statue complex. In honour of the great man, a huge steel statue has been built out in the middle of nowhere, logic that I'm sure the warlord would approve of. Nevertheless, it was a spectacular sight. Devoid of any other visitors, we had a bit more fun with more nomadic costumes, enjoyed the views from the top (you can climb up to his chest, and emerge onto a small viewing platform), and I bought a small chess set as a souvenir. The icing on the cake came on the return journey, on which we spotted a solitary yak. I love yaks (and have absolutely no discernible reason for this unconditional adoration). So, I was absolutely over the moon. As I tried to get some pictures, said yak promptly ambled off into the distance. Majestic doesn't quite fit as a description, but I'm sure you get the picture.
More food was next on the agenda, laden with yet more carbs. Afterwards, beers, Russian champagne and a bit of gambling saw the night out in a more than enjoyable style.

After the cursory stuffing at breakfast, I was sad to leave the ger camp behind, which had probably been the highlight of my fledgling voyage thus far. My mind was soon preoccupied with the stunning scenery of the return journey, however, and upon re entering Ulaanbaatar we tucked in to a Chinese-style hot pot, cooking our entire meal ourselves in a rich, spicy soup. Horse proved to be tasty, though unsurprisingly not too different from beef! Also, we investigated the National Museum, which I was both pleased and faintly surprised to find wasn't simply another homage to the great unifier, who has his visage plastered across almost everything the country produces. By happy coincidence, we also stumbled upon the Dutch contingent in the museum. Meeting up later on for food and drinks at the Grand Khaan pub a second time was a great laugh, even if the unhealthily loud live band made it nigh impossible to hold a normal conversation. Overall, an extremely satisfying end to a wonderful few days in Mongolia - but, another train trip beckoned!

A Mongolian Odyssey - part two

Another decent hotel breakfast paved the way for a lengthy car trip east of Ulaanbaatar to a nomadic ger camp. I'm fairly sure there are a fair few of these set up for tourism purposes, but as it was low season, we were the only guests! The ger itself  (a round, fur-lined tent sort of contraption) was surprisingly comfortable, clean, and the iron wood-burner stove heated the interior well enough to stave off the chill from the outside. Lunch came early, and it was enormous! A salad, soup and full meal of goulash filled me and filled me with confidence for the rest of my stay out in the steppes. To burn off this super-meal, I did a bit of archery with our guide. I'm sure my incompetence might have played some role, but I'd prefer to blame my failures on how spectacular the surrounding landscape was, and the bitter chill which caused me to lose all sensation in my fingers within minutes of leaving the ger.

Shortly afterwards, we had a chance to try riding Mongolian horses- hardy but small beasts, which seemed to completely ignore all of my commands and only respond to the voice of the nomadic gentleman who brought the horses out to us. Helpfully, he spoke no English. Not a word. This was made all the better by the bit of paper I signed waiving all liability, before I realised my helmet didn't fit. I'm still alive, though!

Late afternoon gave us a chance to go and see a nearby abandoned monastery, another legacy of Soviet occupation. En-route, we stopped at a rocky formation with a small opening where we learned that 100 monks from said monastery hid during the communist revolution, for a whole week. It's difficult to imagine quite how bad conditions would have been. After this prelude, the monastery itself, populated only by wild dogs and aging rock-paintings, was an eerie experience. I was considerably lightened up by a stop at a nomad's ger on our return journey, however. He invited us in though we had turned up unannounced, offering us Mongolian donuts (tasty), milk curds (not tasty), home-brewed alcohol and tea and fermented horse milk. It was just as delicious as you'd imagine (I did actually enjoy it). We then saw a camel in the livestock pen outside the ger, rounding off the experience rather well indeed!

That evening, another three course extravaganza involving steamed dumplings was closely followed by beer and games involving sheep knucklebones and cards (Mongolian poker, or 'star' appears to be my game).

Side note: it might sound incredibly pretentious, but the night sky is amazingly clear when you're away from civilisation. I had a bit of a 'wow, I'm really doing this' moment. Gap yah etc.