Miranda and I both had a great trip and were pretty worn out and ready to come back to UB for a while after 18 days. Never quite realized how much you actually miss a shower after so many days of sunscreen, sweat, and dust (we did however enjoy several nice river camps that allowed us to swim in the muddy and warm waters). On this trip, we really got to see quite a few more Mongolian people, whether it was in a town, at a well, or simply Mongolians driving up on their motorcycle to come check us out. We even had one family that was especially interested in the tents, and wanted to buy them from us. Mongolia really is a beautiful wide open place, once you're outside of UB. I've also realized how used to paved roads I've become when traveling long distances. It was really nice to be on a smooth road that last few hundred kilometers of the trip, because you really get bounced around in the car, and after 12 hours of that, everyone is pretty beat. At first I thought, oh I'll just sleep on the way back, but its the kind of thing where if you start falling asleep, you wake up when you bash your head against the window when the driver makes a sudden sharp turn to avoid a pothole or another vehicle, etc. Also, I couldn't believe how hard it was to enter/exit Ulaanbaatar from the west. You would think that a city of 1.5 million would have a good road leading into and out of the city, and I guess usually they do have a fair one. However, when we left on this trip, the road was closed, and there was no detour, so we spent the next 1-2 hours four wheeling through alleyways, river channel floodplains, and people's backyards trying to find a way through, a lot of times running into a dead end and starting over. Other interesting things: we drove by a sky burial along a road, I didn't really get a chance to see it, but Miranda caught a glimpse of it.
Another thing I'll mention is that I added music to the webpage this time - its a bit of an eclectic and traditional mixture of Mongolian music we got from some of our drivers - some instrumental, some throat singing, and some more modern hip-hop style. It should be pretty self explanatory, but just click on the play button on the bottom window of the blog, and you can play, pause, change songs, etc. Enjoy!
Anyway, Miranda is on a 90-day tourist visa in Mongolia, and that is expiring on August 1, so we are leaving the country for 9 days and taking a trip to Thailand (Bangkok and Ko Tao). We will be leaving Fri the 22nd and are very excited about this trip. I'll post more when I get back.
The Mitsubishi Delica vans are trying to find a way to get out of UB, since the main highway was closed. Somehow we ended up in this drainage...
Typical suburban Ulaanbaatar scene
Our first camp of the trip, before the groups split apart. We camped at this site on our last trip and once again, had a ferocious wind storm come through and several tents were temporarily flattened, one blew away (although the cooks and drivers saw this happening and were able to chase it down).
A typical day walking around, collecting samples, and trying to figure out if the Russians were right
Quite a decent sized group this time.
Haha, this is hilarious.
Saw a few of these guys, watch out if you blindingly pick up a rock.
Uka and Tess measuring and digging with "Thor"
Time for a snack
Brian and Kurt and an awesome skyline.
"Mandini" (as referred to by Zula), Zula, and me (Tess's photo)
Eggie, our driver, very excited to find the first dinosaur (?) bones of the trip (Tess's photo)
Some type of dinosaur bone, as Miranda and Eggie found it, in place. (Tess's photo)
Finding numerous bones (Tess's photo)
Miranda and Iggy's finds. The top right is apparently a crocodile vertebrae, bottom bones we are unsure about (Likely from the Cretaceous, ~110 million years ago)
A fish vertebrae necklace
Jim promised to pay any Mongolian that found dinosaur bones, haha.
Tess
Justin carrying up the "sample" of basalt from below.
Zula's brother Zuna (cook), hanging out on a hot afternoon.
Petroglyphs Miranda found
An ibex petroglyph
This family had a really nice spot near Baga Bogd, near the entrance of a steep mountain canyon (~7,500')
Beautiful horses
Miranda sneakily got a picture of this Mongolian rider from the family (in the above pictures) coming over to check us out.
On our way to look at a peculiar volcanic outcrop.
A bird's nest. No trees here, so you take what you can get.
A very nice camp, near the southwest side of Baga Bogd.
Getting ready for a potentially saturating day.
Our Mongolian driver, Iggy, leaning into the wind. He is a tourist guide and is gone most summers for 100+ days from his home in UB. This photo pretty much captures Iggy's attitude on life pretty well.
This is one of our cooks, Zula, who is retrieving water from a local well for cooking/cleaning at camp.
Looking towards Baga Bogd
Another Baga Bogd view
After a long day, we're ready for bed and its not even dark!
Camels and Mongolians on motorcycles, two things we saw lots of, but not in such great harmony.
Note our three vehicles in the lower left hand corner of the photo. What a large channel, it'd be pretty exciting to see it when its flooding. These also serve as good roads around here.
Crossing a river before a swim near Bogd. This Mitsubishi Delica van can do more than you might think.
Any time we came to green pastures, Brando suddenly became this wild, ecstatic, hyper dog and looked like the happiest little mutt on earth.
Collecting water at another local well, we found this baby goat, and he had stubs for legs. Zula thought he probably lost his feet early this spring. For now, he's next to a well and I think the locals take care of him somewhat, but I'm sure he won't make it as soon as the cold comes.
Miranda attempting to feed the little baby goat.
While this was happening, a local boy pulled up on his horse to grab some water at the well.
We found a bronze-aged deerstone near one of our camps. We went over to take a closer look, and two local Mongolians pulled up and turned off their motorcycle and actually offered to let us take pictures of them next to the deerstone. It was quite surreal.
More petroglyphs on basalt
A bronze aged burial mound in the lower left of the picture.
Filling up our tanks at Shinjinst. This is what a pretty typical gas station looks like in a remote Mongolian town. It also takes up to an hour or more most times to fill up, with lots of phone calls and paperwork involved. Getting gas here is not a swipe and go.
Shinjinst
Cute girl
En route to reunite with the other party
This area had just experienced quite the thunderstorm, and its about to get muddy.
Zula
Driving down a steep wet clayey hill
Following the other group's coordinates and trying to meet up with them, finally there was no better way than down the streambed.
Nearing our destination
The other group apparently had quite the soaking that day, and some of them were far away from camp when the storm hit and were nonetheless cheerfully drinking warm tea and changing out of their wet clothes when we showed up.
The large group camp near Bayantsagan.
Almost time to sleep, what a nice view.
The large tent is where we ate most of our meals and stayed away from the gnats and mosquitoes when there was no wind.
The cooking tent/eating area (Tess's photo)
Group picture before Jim leaves back to UB (Tess's photo)
Me working on a few timelapses (Tess's photo)
Eating a "proper" breakfast. Zula lived in England for several years, knows English extremely well, complete with all quirky English phrases. (Tess's photo)
Tess trying to keep a local Mongolian boy entertained. He came up on his horse, sat down next to us, and was quite interested in what we were doing. Miranda snuck this shot in, as he was very very camera shy.
Miranda using the Abney level or "jake stake" to measure the true thickness of the rocks.
sampling and measuring
Finding our first fossilized fish of the trip. Miranda and I probably found 10-15 of these things. They may be quite helpful to date and characterize the environment in which they were deposited.
A view of basalt near a measured section
Another fossilized fish
Some local boys riding around and herding sheep
Justin on an undersized horse, haha.
Hanging out a camp
Preparing for the Mongolian barbeque "Horhug". We bought and picked out a local sheep, and are now preparing it in this metal container mixed with hot rocks, seasoning, beer, and water.
Its traditional and healthful to toss around these hot rocks in your hand before eating. (Tess's photo)
A happy group feasting on the sheep (a combination of meat, bones, vegetables, and broth).
A large wolf-like dog, interested in our food.
The look on Brian's face is quite hilarious. Are you my dinner?
Herder
Relaxing at the river. It was really nice to swim and wash some clothes.
The Ger we purchased the sheep from for the Horhug
Our tent has lots of clothes drying out
Going for a morning swim
Miranda, Justin and I floating down the river. (Tess's photo)
Ohm matti patti ohm
Tess and Miranda near a deerstone. (Tess's photo)
Following the trailing edge of a dust storm.
Our group and their dust trails on the Mongolian interstate
Another heavily used Mongolian road system
Beautiful sunset
And now, here are a whole slew of fun videos to watch:
very nice :)) i like this pic and video...
ReplyDeletedamn nice blog brother.. keep it going yeah.... zula
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