Mongolia .... Bayartai (Goodbye)

To travel to the vast, open spaces of M0ngolia's "back country" ..... and it is almost all back country!! ...... is not for the faint of heart and requires a letting go of Western style expectations of comfort. Bumping along on rough and tumble "roads" with vehicle breakdowns common. The pay back is the hauntingly serene, endless landscape ..... valleys, pine dotted rolling hills, all against a background of the most unusual rock formations that are part of the Hentii Mountain Range. Smoke rises from distant gers ...... herders on horseback, herding yak, cows, goats, sheep ..... Mongolia could very well be one of the last frontiers of tourism. With the country undergoing such rapid economic development, changes are inevitable and the landscape will be changed forever. I am happy to have been able to experience a small part of this country that has so captured my imagination for more years than I can remember, and to see it before the changes come.

Accommodation at the end of a long travel day consists of a wood heated felt ger hut with another enclosed building of some sort, holding a combo of showers and toilets. Another ger is set up to serve as a kitchen and dining room or in some cases, this can be a brick building. These of course are the luxury tourist ger camps!! The local herders and their families eat and sleep in the same ger! ..... The food is very hearty and heavy on the meat .... some kind of bread, meat & dairy is the normal fare. From a culinary aspect, not a good country for a vegetarian ...... something I seem to have evolved into. Kind of gross really, eating slabs of animal flesh. At the more luxurious camps, there may be vegetables, breads and rice/noodles and maybe some very welcome apples or oranges but this is not the norm! Spices .... pretty much non-existent! Thankfully, in the city of UB there were many ethnic restaurants, Korean being my favorite :)

Horses are the main mode of transport for roughly 50% of the population. Every child whether living in ger villages or cities, learns to ride by the time they are five or six and some as young as three .... I tried my hand at riding around the hills in Terelj Park ..... just awesome scenery but butts take a beating with all that jostling :) ...... the chafing was inevitable on the hard wooden and leather saddles. Horse riding may seem a form of tourist entertainment, but out here in the wilderness it is THE mode of transport. Unlike in UB, few have cars in the countryside .... people walk or ride. Life is simple with basic survival taking up most of the day ........... needs are pared down to essentials. Superfluous possessions do not fit well into the nomadic herder lifestyle. What you own, you pack and move several times during the course of the spring and summer .... I would imagine you quickly learn what is indeed superfluous! After living out of two suitcases for over three months, I totally get that ideology!! I am almost ready to chuck the damn contents as well as the suitcases and carry on with a day pack!!

Once a day, in front of the village near my hotel, a bus picks up locals for the four hour return journey into UB for supplies ..... this is most likely a once a month trip for the villagers. I was getting quite comfortable with a nature based life ..... morning walks along the river banks, or hillsides. Ha ..... easy for me to say and enjoy indeed, living in rather pampered style, out of a comfortable hotel!! ...... I was often met with strange looks from the local herders ..... they puzzle over why anyone would chose to hike in the hills with no animals to tend?? Do my dog companions not count?? To herders, the concept of hiking as an acitivity is totally foreign :) This was all relayed to me by a lovely young lady, Dulamjav, or Duya, whichever was easier for me she said :) who befriended me at the hotel on my first day. She loved to practice her English ..... the more I threw at her, the more she wanted to learn! A very ambitious young woman ..... Dulamjav lives in the Terelj village behind the hotel in a small two room house with her one year old baby girl, Ankazuka and her 14 year old brother, Ehrlmee who has been babysitting his niece until school starts in September, while Duya works at the hotel. They will all go back to UB to live with Duya & Ehrlmee's parents where Duya hopes to find work for the winter months. It is a hard life for someone so young. Her husband drowned in the Tuul River when their baby was but three months old. After spending time around this little family in the course of my week, I was ready to adopt all three of them! It was very hard to say goodbye to these sweet young people. I will post a picture of the threesome.....

So, to shake a bit of silly tourist out of me, I left the comforts of Terelj Hotel behind to make my way along the back roads, sleeping in gers, enjoying the absolute quiet, if not the bedding :) ...... First morning in the ger, I was up with the sun ...... it was unbelievably still, devoid of any sound ..... not wind, animal, insect ..... my own breath barely disturbed the crisp morning air ..... ...... the sun was slowly lighting up the mountain tops ....... Whenever I am in the midst of nature, be it in my own Rocky Mountains, or here in unspoiled Mongolia, I always feel as though I am in the presence of God. Within the depths of nature, a peace settles in ....... a landscape unchanged for thousands of years. I scrambled up to a level rock formation to find a meditation and prayer perch. I don't know how long I sat, enjoying the silence, to be startled by the barks of two huge dogs, barreling up the hill at top speed, obviously excited to see someone else up early..... I had read in Lonely Planet to be vigilant to the possibility of rabid dogs in the countryside. I was only a km. or so from the campsite and was sure hoping these were healthy dogs from a nearby herder's camp ..... they can be rather wolfish in appearance and intimidating. Thankfully, the dogs just wanted company, settling down to happily walk along beside me back to camp, probably hoping I would feed them some leftover dinner scraps :) I did, making us friends for life of course, as is the way of dogs from the hand that feeds them :) ....... never lacked for early morning walking companions after that! ..... The days were filled walking the hillsides, scrambles up to the rocks .... a peaceful hike to the Ariyabal meditation temple, tucked away in the mountains. Monks often live up there in the summer but we saw no sign of them ..... probably in UB buying supplies!!! During the Russian control of Mongolia, almost all monasteries were destroyed or converted into horse barns for the Russian military. The Russians killed or imprisoned over 27,000 Buddhist monks during the 1930's. Just a terrible time in their history. Since gaining independence, most have returned to their Buddhist faith and the old monasteries are being slowly rebuilt and restored. Ariyabal was restored in 2004.

That Chinggis Khan is revered in Mongolia is an understatement ..... From the moment you fly into the Chinggis Khan International Airport, to the statues, museums, posters, paintings, books and then of course, every sort of souvenir item imaginable, all stamped with his image, you are inundated with this country's hero ..... They love this old guy!! ....... I was surprised to read that his choice of religion was Shamanism, the same as that of the reindeer Tsaatan people, who still practice it today .... historically Shamanism was the religion throughout the country during the early Mongol years ..... Buddhism did not make an appearance in Mongolia until the 13th century. The area in the Terelj where I traveled, was primarily the homeland of Chinggis Khan and his hordes! To honor their hero, a brand new stainless steel, 40 meter high statue of Chinggis on his horse was constructed a few years ago ..... it sits on a huge platform building, housing a museum, restaurant, souvenir shop and elevator. To my sensibilities, it is way over the top and tacky, but I wouldn't dare mention that to my guide!! God forbid, I might have had a sword pulled on me :) .... from where the elevator stops, you climb further up a narrow staircase to reach a platform .... the views are 360 degrees of flatland and rolling hills ..... just stunning and in my opinion, the best part of the whole setup! One can just imagine Chinggis riding with his troops through the landscape! There are plans to build a ger camp in the fields around the statue and create a little Chinggis Village :) but for the timebeing, the statue is all alone in the vast open spaces ..... strange sight actually, this monument and nothing else around for miles! ..... dedicated to their beloved hero ...... Should one ask a Mongolian of their bloodline today, most everyone will lay claim to that of Chinggis Khan :) Heh, my parents always said that the early Finns were possibly descended from a tribe in upper Mongolia ..... hmmm .... maybe I as well will lay claim to the Khan bloodline :) !! Ferocious Finnish Warrioress .... :)

What is particularly great about staying in ger camps, in addition to the unique experience and scenery, is the possibility of meeting interesting people ..... it is not your usual pampered five star typical tropical tourist holiday crowd who ventures into Mongolia. It was quickly apparent that my camp consisted of a veritable U.N., rugged hikers the lot of them, and some, very knowledgeable and highly educated to boot ..... made for some great conversations around the dinner tables and star gazing at night complete with full scientific commentary from the guests! On one particular evening, someone from the group, had estimated that at exactly 9:18 pm, an ISS, this said casually, as though of course everyone knows what the heck it is (International Satellite Station, as I discovered!) would be passing by right in front of us for a full minute, before retreating back into the earth's shadow. At the exact location where the chap pointed in the night sky, darn it if a strong twinkling light didn't emerge and move across the sky, and yes, exactly a minute later, disappeared into the earth's shadow!! How do people know these things???

The evenings were magic, as everyone shared stories ...... On occasion, being in the company of cerebral sorts, I can be intimidated, but somehow, the educational boundaries disappeared in this frontier that is Mongolia and we all just reveled in each others company ....... no one seemed too put off to have in their midst, a rather uneducated retired boring old Canadian housefrau :) ..... Most interesting was chatting with an American physicist currently working for the National Fusion Research Institute in Daejeon, Korea ..... He was invited and pulled out of a comfortable retirement in America, to join the Institute and could not resist. Understandably, this kind of intellect does not retire well, to take up basketweaving or golf after retirement ..... their brains may just be wired differently .... they continue learning, growing, exploring possibilities til they drop. (Think Stephen Hawking .... with the worst kind of illness, but it has not stopped him from continually coming up with new concepts .... though must say, not too sure about his latest theory that God was not required for creation ..... hmmm, perhaps will download his latest book and find out what he has to say, as I only caught the sensational headline from a newspaper ..... sensationalist quotes do not a book make!) Apparently, NFRI is developing very clean green energy which could be a viable source of power for the future ..... according to this chap, they are at least ten years away ....... application will be a struggle. I now know more about nuclear fusion (it is what keeps the sun ablaze!!) than I ever thought I would and need to write it down somewhere before I forget it all :) !! ...... I told the gent that his knowledge and explanations were way out of my league and level of comprehension ....... he, bless his heart, politely handed me a business card, giving the website to research NFRI online, assuring me I would find everything on it that I need to know to learn!! Bless his heart, I think he was trying to mentor me :) ..... This from a guy who I am sure must have been well over 80!!! Delightful to meet such an enthusiastic sort, and someone of an age that is far too often marginalized in our Western world ..... Very inspiring, refreshing and I learned so much as well ..... all good and cool!!! As travelers, we engage our senses daily with new sights, sounds, smells, tastes, textures, helping create a tapestry of exquisite memories from far distant lands ..... but ultimately, it is the people we meet, the experiences we share along the way, that touch our hearts, stimulate our intellects, warm our souls, embrace our hearts. Nothing reinforces my strong beliefs in a community based life, than traveling solo! We were never meant to live in isolation, removed from touching each other's hearts, sharing our lives. Regardless of our differences physically, culturally, the languages we communicate in, the global locations we find ourselves living in, we all need each other to create a full, happy and meaningful life. The needs appear to be the same, regardless of what country, culture or nationality I find myself in. Poverty is what separates us unfortunately. When one is struggling daily for sustenance, philosophy takes a back seat. Sharing is a concept that just makes so much sense. The eight percent of the world's population that I am fortunate to be a part of, horde too much of everything. Too much food, clothing, cars, houses, furniture, art, diminishing resources .... you name it, we of the West, consume it to excess, in our materialistic zeal for more and ever more ..... I hear Gates, Buffet et al have started a movement going in North America ..... calling on the wealthy of America to share half their wealth via a world wide charity ...... that organization will hopefully spread to every country in the world! It is just wrong on every level, that millions struggle just to get clean water and enough food, solely because of the circumstances of their birth ......... Yes, my decision to stay awhile in ger villages was a wise one ..... I could not have written a better script to finish my time here in a country where hospitality is a way of life. Gers are never locked, because that would indicate someone would have to knock to be admitted in ..... the door is always left open in open invitation to enter, no knocking required .... a place where community is life itself. A wonderful "souvenir" to take with me from this gracious country. Bayartai Mongolia .....