Nomad land blog

From Bayan-Ulgii we moved to Uvs aimag early in the morning following the road along Hovd river. At lake Achit, existing on the border of Bayan-Ulgii and Uvs aimags, after 3- 4 hours driving, we took a break. The word Achit means benevolent or beneficial, in crude translation. My guess is somebody or people named the lake so because it helped them to survive a hard occasion or time.

Then we crossed a high hill which was not the main road. The car spent 1 hour to climb it and another to descend mainly due to sharp big rocks.

A good place after tough driving was Uureg lake in Uvs aimag. We made a small deviation from the road to the lake to sip a cup of hot coffee. A peaceful, beautiful lake. Only we were the people anywhere close to this lake.

Lake Uureg, Mongolia

In Bayan-Ulgii, we visited an Eagle hunter’s household, sipped Kazakh mare’s milk and chatted for some time. The host had a female eagle, as usual, and was preparing to participate in the Eagle festival that would take place after a few days. Eagle hunters from all around Bayan-Ulgii come to participate in the festival.

It is said among Kazakhs that if you hold eagle in your hands you share the dignity of eagles and your destiny and fate soars in future. Certainly
I did it.

The following is the arm rest for hunters, used when they are holding their eagles while riding horses.

To the north from lake Tolbo, Olgii town, center of Bayan-Olgii is nestled among Altai mountains. Mostly Kazakh people live here and the city was more prosperous than cities in western Mongolia. According to Professor Poul, FM radio stations are popping up everywhere in rural towns of Mongolia including here, like mushroom. 70 % of program consists of music.

The town has a mosque, an Islam education school, and the most equipped media center in western Mongolia. The newly opened Turkish restaurant was popular among expats. Many kazakh people send their children to Turkey, Kazakhstan and Egypt, besides Ulaanbaatar, to get education. As Bayan-Olgii borders with both Russia and China, trading goes on with both sides. It seems western style luxury houses are popping up too.

Next to the road from Hovd to Bayan-Ulgii, lake Tolbo exists. Kazakh famiies live around this peaceful lake.

We visited one of the Kazakh families who offered their dairy and bakery products for us to take a break.

Tsambagarav is a mountain sang about and talked about. There is even Tsambagarav trade center in the 1st district, UB. The mountain is on the border of Hovd and Bayan-Olgii aimags. We had a tea break and climbed a small hill next to it.

Our car looks like a small pebble down on the road, in the following picture.

While we were in Hovd, Buyant soum celebrated its anniversary and held a naadam, three manly games. Young and old gathered at the event place. People on the adjacent small hill looked for horses to see whose horse is the fastest.

At the finish line, everybody waits for racing horses. Veterans, grandmas, horse owners, students and children.