Nomad land blog

Roads really seem to determine the level of development of the country. From Hovsgol we came to Arkhangai province to the south, then to Bayankhongor aimag again further to the south. The road between the latter 2 was only 200 km but took 8 hrs.

Simply the road filled with sharp rocks was too punishing to the car stabbing the tyres and the belly of the car. Unless you are not careful the sharp stones can puncture your fuel tank and leave you empty on a road where a next driver may be seen after a week.

Here I am not including any photo of aimag towns. I never minded to take pictures there but looking back I think these type of images could have helped those who don’t know Mongolia. Spending 2 nights in Bayankhongor, we started to Uvurkhangai. 

 

Road between Bayankhongor to Uvurkhangai

Going to Uvurkhangai means what we Mongolians call the sound of dogs is getting closer. That means we returning home soon, home in UB. In Uvurkhangai we were hosted by a lovely nomadic family.

 They took time to let us ride horses and their families prepared steamed dumpling, booz, and played fingers with us so that the loser drank a bowl of mare’s fermented milk.  

This shy little man eating his booz won several horseracing championships together with his brother, brought medals and gifts including some ivory carvings and a tv set to his parents. The medals decorated the ger wall behind his daddy. From this ger to UB,  400km on tarmac road took 6hrs.

By the evening we reached UB. UB was more developed than about 20 days ago when we departed from it. I am not joking. I was seeing along the road more hotels and shops that I never saw before. 

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 26th, 2006 at 9:47 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.