Adventures in Gobi desert

30 Aug to 5 Sep (7 days 6 nights)

Before the trip the hostel owner Bobby said it would be the toughest trip of all routes. With no showers, no toilets as expected, we had to bring all the food and water supplies along. Plus I was the only one in the group who had not been on other trips so I was a bit worried.

The first day was not that bad. We had 2 German girls, 1 Swiss man and a Spanish couple who hardly speak any English. So I was with the German speaking group but all I can speak was just "Ich kann kein Deutsch" (I can't speak German).
We spent most of the time on our great Russian minivan. It took two days to go into the desert. Lunch was in the middle of nowhere. Our great guide Moogii prepared for us quick and delicious non-meaty dishes just behind the van. I would like to learn some too.
While we waited we went far out to pee in the nature, played games with stones, and picked up nice stones for souvenirs. I had a device to pee standing so it was not a problem ;-) but better not to look around for someone or you will see something you don't want to see.

We visited a nomad family with many kids and they served us goat cheese and a big bowl of horse milk. We each took a sip and passed to another for a few rounds. At last our great guide Moogii helped us finish it all or we would all get drunk before the night.

We visited the rock formation park which was beautiful.

At night we settled at a nomad family. After the night falls I walked out of the ger for toilet. I was surprised to see so many stars in the sky. It was the brightest and greatest number of stars I have ever seen in my lifetime. A galaxy extending to the far end of the horizon. Stars in every direction. I was truly amazed. The Mongolian sky did not disappoint me.

The next day we drove to a place called white mountain. We did not expect to see anything special other than a white mountain but we were all wrong. It was a beautiful creepy landscape. More like Mars or in the Star Wars movies. It was once a seabed thousands of years ago. We climbed further down the loose sand to the bottom and it was quite steep but fun. 

It was beautiful, stunning and strange. If it were in other countries, it must be very touristic. But we had the whole landscape for our own. I have always wondered how movies like Star Wars were shot because there probably would not be any places like this undiscovered. But I was here, unexpectedly. 

In the evening we settled at a ger and watched the baby camels. I like the way they winks. Then we sat and watched the sun set below the horizon. Everything was perfect. Camels, endless grassland, ger. Was that what I have always dreamt of? But it was not much like living a dream really. I wished I was sharing this with someone important. It is always the people who matter.

The next day was a relaxing day we drove and drove through the arid land to a small village in the afternoon. It was mainly shopping in supermarket and shower. Shower! I was very suspicious about that. We paid 1 USD per person to shower in the public shower place of the village. It reminded me of the gross Sahara showering experience in Echo's book. I would rather not wash than naked in front of my travel mates. But it turned out very modern and comfortable (and private!). The water pressure and temperature was just right! Felt so good to wash my smelly hair and body. It was really gross even for me who do not get smelly often.

The toilet in the town was really disgusting. I almost vomited in the morning even though I tried breathing by the mouth. Toilets in the countryside are deep enough to be less smelly. And of course the best is in the nature ;-)

Ice valley was amazing. I felt like in the Lord of the Rings. There were many little mouses running around. 

We walked cross the small river it was so fun and peaceful. 

There was a Mongolian man making handicrafts in the middle of the valley. Wooden horses and such. It was like in the books of Jin Rong 武俠小說. Impressive. 

It was a long ride to the sand dunes. In the middle we drove out of the mountains and there we had to cross the rivers and meander the valleys.  Our great driver Ghana and the great Russian van made it through this crack. We almost drove through all landscapes. 

Later it was stuck in the sand before we came to the sand dunes. We got off and tried to push it forward but in vain. We walked to the sand dunes then by ourselves.

The sand dunes were not touched by humans before we walked on it. Felt so good to have my bare feet on the cool sand.

I caught a cold since the temperature dropped so much during the night that I was freezing even with all my warm clothes on. And there were no blankets so all I had was just a sleeping bag borrowed from the guesthouse.

On day 5 morning we had the long expected camel ride. My little camel boy was small and impatient. Funny animals. It was not too bumpy and more comfortable than a horse.

Then we had a lazy morning on the car. It was hard to notice the change in time. As usual we had lunch in the middle of nowhere. While waiting for the delicious meal from Moogii we played games with stones. The Germans were really good with the countryside. I felt shameful for living my whole life in the city and that's part of the reason why I was here, to live with nature, as all humans are supposed to be but we forgot sometime ago.

Flaming hills were the least impressive of all the sights. Dinasour bones were extracted here from what they said. Maybe the landscape was a bit destroyed by the extraction. There on one of the big rocks someone marked in Mongolian, probably a name, and the year 2006. Then the Germans, Swiss and Spanish followed by marking their names on it. I was quite surprised and sad to see this happened. On the way I had already seen a lot of water bottles dumped on the tracks. I did not want to leave any more human trace on this peaceful nature. 

One of the girls who studies archeology said this only took 10 years and the names would be washed out. But then she said, looking at the clearly marked 2006, "well it is still here". No matter what I just thought if I were the next visitor, I would not want to see somebody's name on it. My name is not important at all. Nobody except you would like to see your names on it. And the moment of joy takes 10 years to wash out. It is way too long for me. Maybe they would think I'm holding onto some stupid rules like we think about the North Korean guy. This made me a bit sad because I thought they are nature lovers.

After that we went for a walk to the nearest "forest" from our ger. It was a sandy hill with creepy trees on it. They maybe once short shrubs kind of vegetation and after hundreds of years became the trees we saw. Hundred years of work looked so fragile and could be destroyed in a minute. But who would think of destroying it except humans? 

We followed the traces and found a lot of bones in the area. Camels, goats, horses. Bones everywhere. It was like the nature's cemetery. 

The 6th and 7th day were nothing special as we had to drive for 2 days to get back to the city. It was nice to have showers and toilets again though. For the whole trip I had just used less than 4 liters of water, including brushing teeth and (merely) washing face and hands.

Back to normal hygiene sometimes I wonder how I managed to tolerate not washing for days. But you can when you have to.

Traveling in Mongolia is harsh as we all know. Wouldn't it be great to have a modern toilet and the nature at the same time? No we cannot. The idea of modern toilet has already ruined the nature itself. For a real experience we have to live with it like the locals do. After all it was just a week. I would prefer it stay this way and no more disturbance by machines.