September 30th, 2002
"(Mis)adventure in
First of all, I need to say that I actually am a fairly
experienced backcountry camper and that some events to be recounted here are due
more to bad luck than incompetence.
An intro to "gers" is necessary so later writings are understandable: A ger is a
traditional Mongolian tent. It's round, about 15ft diameter. Sides are about 4ft
high, sloping to the top, which is 8ft high. Nomad families still live in them,
one room only, and move them with the seasons. They hang meat and cheese from
the walls and ceiling, and keep the milk on some shelves near the entrance.
Usually no electricity. Anyway...back to mid-August...
I killed a few days in Ulaan Baatar (hereafter "UB") before heading out on
Adventure #1. For this, I took an overnight train (12 hrs, first class, under
$7) to Erdenet, alone. I found a jeep headed to Bugat, a village mentioned in
passing in my guidebook. Seemed like a good spot to start...no tourist
facilities, nothing. Armed with a Mongolian phrasebook, I set off to hire myself
a horse and guide for a few days. I succeeded.
I found a ger with a herdsman willing to ride around with me for 3 days. We went
60 km (36 miles) the first day, which I don't recommend if you have an ass not
well broken-in to this purpose. Over 3 days, went 150 km (90 miles). It was
quite amazing, especially the people we met, despite the lack of any
communication (nobody spoke English, including my guide). Went inside many gers,
had lots of fresh dairy products, including airag, fermented mare's
milk, the popular alcoholic drink in
Joined some people harvesting hay. They fed us soup, which we repaid by cutting
some hay with scythes for them (after I got a lesson). Treated to a plate of
everything inside a sheep's mid-section, that had me recalling my high school
biology to identify each organ I was munching.
Ate sheep. Ate fresh dairy products. Ate rice, ate potatoes. To my
knowledge, Mongolians are relatively unaware of any food items beyond those 4,
with the exception of ketchup imported from
I had a great time on that trip. Even more importantly, however, I now
considered myself an Experienced horseback rider after those three days. More on
that later.
Back to UB to recover--train was full, so I hitched my way back. In UB, met a
few people, and we set off for a day trip, Adventure #2. Not an exciting
adventure, perhaps worth relating though. We crammed in a van for an hour to
Zuunmod, then walked 7km across a valley to see a monastery. It took about 2.5
hrs to get there, total. At the monastery, we were told that entry was 2500
togrog. We were appalled at this price and felt we were being ripped off--this
was 2.5 times the price we thought it would be. So we hiked back across the
valley, took a van back to UB, refusing to pay 2500 togrog based on principle.
About 5-hr round trip. 2500 togrog is about $2.30.
Adventure #3: Since I was now an Experienced horseback rider, I decided to buy a
horse and take off on a 3-4 week adventure in the wilds of
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Preparation Day #1: Went to market in UB. Bought a (comfortable) Russian saddle,
a bridle, a locking hobble, felt pads for the horse's back, 15m of rope, all for
about $60. Also purchased a Russian gasoline stove, a decent knife, and some
canvas duffel bags to carry all this in.
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Preparation Day #2: Bought topographic maps of the region I planned to travel
in. The store was out of one map I needed.
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Preparation Day #3: Bought the missing map. Plotted a roughly 400 mile journey
with options for extending it beyond that, time permitting.
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Preparation Day #4: Took bus to Tsetserleg, where I planned to purchase the
horse. 12 hr journey.
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Preparation Day #5: Met someone (the girlfriend of a friend of a guy who I met
in UB) who knew someone selling a horse. She set up a meeting between me and
this guy at 9pm. At 10pm, he (never got his name, so I'll just call him Ed)
showed up, slightly intoxicated. Said we'd meet tomorrow at 7pm to look at
horse. Then I decided to test my Russian petrol stove in my hotel room, which
led to Stove Incident #1. When I lit the stove, a raging fireball formed. I was
quite positive that it was going to blow up, so I left the room. I then had some
mental images of the hotel aflame on my account, so I returned to the room,
tried to extinguish it, and ended up carrying in at arms-length, away to the
sink, where I doused it with water. No further attempts to use stove that day.
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Preparation Day #6: Met Ed at 7pm. Walked 12km (7.2miles) to his ger, arriving
at dusk. Ate and slept there. Expedition starts tomorrow!
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Expedition Day #1: I see the horse in front of the ger. I've seen a lot of
horses in
When we first tried saddling him, Bastard broke the halter and ran off. Not a
good sign. To make a long story short, I was not enthused. Ed said it was
because Bastard had not been ridden in a month. I agreed to buy the horse on one
condition: Ed would accompany me for 2 full days. I would saddle, pack, feed,
and water Bastard. If all went smoothly, I would buy him.
We set off that day, travelling about 35km (21 miles). My Russian saddle was
incredibly comfortable! Once he settled down, Bastard was a good horse to ride,
and he let me saddle him without problems.
Made camp near dusk. Then occurred Stove Incident #2. Still conscious of Stove
Incident #1, I primed and lit the stove. It kept going out, until, once again, I
had a raging fireball. I deemed this Not Good, as it began to burn the prairie
grass surrounding the campsite. Several buckets of water extinguished the
flames. Stove Incident #2 resulted in most of the blue paint on the stove's base
to peel off.
Actually got it working properly after that. Had tea and ramen noodles before
going to sleep. Didn't suspect then, that in 18 hrs, my journey would be
abandoned and I'd be eating lamb cooked over a burning pile of shit. I'll get to
that...
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Expedition Day #2: Woken by Ed. Bastard was gone. He had busted his bridle and
run off during the night. We walked to the nearest village. I hopped in the next
jeep back to Tsetserleg. Ed stayed behind to search for Bastard. It was an
unspoken agreement that I would not complete the purchase of that horse.
In Tsetserleg, I went to find myself a ride back to UB. I ran into a German guy
who looked like John Goodman if you squinted your eyes just right. He was
traveling with a bunch of Mongolians looking for "cooperative opportunities". I
hopped in. After a while, we stopped at the side of the road--the Mongolians had
spotted some wire and picked it up. Later, we pulled off into a field.
The Mongols got out a sack of raw lamb they had recently purchased, the wire was
cut into 18" sections and wrapped around sticks, and the women scattered off to
collect cow shit. This done, a large pile of dung was ignited and we made kebabs
with the meat and wire, a nice little party in the middle of nowhere.
That night, the group stopped at a hotel in Kharkhorim. I opted to hike 2 miles
up a hill to camp alone. This brings us to Stove Incident #3, which helped
justify the premature end of my horse expedition. After lighting the stove this
time, the pump o-ring failed (it was fine the day before), so now the tank was
effectively on fire as well as the burner. I didn't really feel like dealing
with the situation, so I moved my camp a safe distance from
the fire, where I could safely monitor the situation. In the meantime, I also
discovered that my bottle for extra gas had leaked badly, pretty much ruining
the 10-day food supply I was to start my journey with. Eventually, I threw my
flour, rice, raisins, and pasta onto my burning stove, effectively dousing the
flame. I then gathered the remailing fuel, food, and some gas-soaked bags and
made a bonfire which burned for a few hours.
So I sat alone on the Mongolian hilltop, beside my bonfire, eating a package of
dry ramen noodles, hands crossed over my knees, and thought contemplative
thoughts while I gazed at the sunset, before going to sleep.
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Post-Expedition Notes: Made it back to UB next day, after visiting a monastery
and a German archaelogical excavation of the
reassembled. Rolled into town past midnight.
Got one of my favorite souvenirs of trip: the driver kept a cassette tape in the
player throughout the whole ride, a wonderful mix tape of Mongolian music.
Extremely low quality and damaged by being played so much. I asked him how much
he wanted and bought it off him.
This brings us to early September. After a few more days in UB, I departed for a
23-day journey that I could call: epic, painful, rewarding, or some combination
of the above. I just returned from that trip this morning. I've written enough
now, however, so more on that in due time, when I've fully recovered.
I leave
"So one morning before day, in the greatest heat of July, without acquainting
any one with his design, with all the secrecy imaginable, he armed himself
cap-a-pie, laced on his ill-contrived helmet, braced on his target, grasped his
lance, mounted [his horse] Rozinante, and at the private door of his back-yard
sallied out into the fields, wonderfully pleased to see with how much ease he
had succeeded in the beginning of his enterprise." (-Cervantes, 'Don Quixote')
Away Awhile is hosted by Josh Trutwin.