Excited we all left Russia for Mongolia.
This is however, easier said than done. In the train we took south,
the windows wouldn't open, so we had to rely on aircondition which wasn't
working properly. The border stop at the Russian side takes five hours
and during three of these it's not allowed to leave the train. Since
the train is standing still within a sanitary zone, they've also closed
off the toilets. Having a nice coctail brewing in the belly in a slightly
too warm train carriage puts both mind and body to the test. An identical
two hour stop on the Mongolian side doesn't exactly fix the problem,
so when I finally got to the bathroom at the hotel, I had one of the
best experiences of my life I think.
Mongolia! I had no expectations. All
I knew about this place, I had from Chinggis Kahn books. But this place
was awesome. The people were nice and friendly. They live in gers, tents,
in the middle of the city and they drive like crazy. Half of the cars
have the steering wheel on the right side which i found interesting.
After freshening up at the hotel, we
went to a temple to cleanse our souls. The munks were chanting as we
entered the monestary. Apparently these liberal munks can go out and
get married later on, so they only sacrifice 20 years or so of their
life. we had a small lunch and then went off to see a show which contained
the most important things from Mongolian traditional music and dance.
It was awesome to sit there listening to throat singing and watching
the happiest dancer in the world spin around in his pyjamas.Seeing a
little gymnast scratch her ass with her nose was also pretty impressive.
For dinner after the show we had massive portions of horse, beef and
other great food. We ate till we almost exploded and helped the digestive
system out with a bit of Chinggis Kahn vodka. Those who were still in
party mood went out for karaoke.
I know I'm a shitty singer, but my friends
Laz and Shafie can't be much better. At least I felt like crying sometimes
when I was trapped in the tiny karaoke room with them, Masheena, Clare
and Tomtom for two hours. Singing ABBA, Michael Jackson, Nena and Queen
accompanied by Chinggis redbull, the evening was already a success.
Laz then brought us to this random Mongolian nightclub where we danced
and watched some guys whale hunt until 3 o' clock. Mandatory after-party
at Shafie's followed and bed time at 4.
At 8.30 we got up, full of energy, to
have a nice 2.5 hours busride out to a ger camp. The trip must be something
of the funniest I've done so far. I laughed till my stomach ached
and my eyes were wet. Tomtom was feeling really bad, and Harris was
simulating vomating and burping etc in front of him. In addition the
road was so bumpy the poor lad was thrown up and down. The others, Jesus
and me in particular, had a whale of a time watching this haha. At the
stop by a massive 40 meter high statue/building of Chinggis Kahn, Tomtom
had his tactical puking and we all went to the top of the horse's head
to take some nice photos. We also got to dress up as Mongolians.
Arriving at the ger camp, we had some
lunch and then saddled up the horses. That was so cool. The horses did
as they want all the time, but sitting on them while they were galloping
was awesome. There were alot of sore asses and lower backs after this
ride. As true Mongolians we shot a bit with bow and arrow and then had
dinner and went to bed. The ger was really similar to team tent/lagstelt
in the Norwegian army, with the oven in the middle and everything.
Back in U B (Ulaan Baator) the history
museum waited and then another massive dinner. We had to spend the rest
of our monopoly money, cause only Mongolians use togruks, the Mongolian
currency. Another after party followed directly and 5.30 the next morning
we went to the train station. Mongolia was amazing and I recommend everyone
to go there.
Next up: Train ride to China with chicken
feet in the bras.
Blogging from China is difficult, so
there won't be any pictures in a while. I think this link will
work.
Link to tracks:
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