Chingis Khan is the undisputed
hero of Mongolian history. Here his statue stands outside Government House in
Ulaanbaatar
Our make do second hand truck
spring which saved us in the Gobi Desert is replaced with a new piece of spring
steel fitted by a local workshop. However it had to be first cut and drilled to
measure, compliments of the local military base for $30. Didn’t finish the job
so we camped in the workshop for the night
Rain or shine, workshop or under the stars, Roadee is our comfortable lodge
Our first Mongolian meal –
sheep meat, potatoes and carrot soup
Completing the deal on some
wild strawberries. Tiny miniatures of the real thing but sweet and beautiful to
eat
Darkan in central northern
Mongolia is the first we have seen of large scale cropping. Set up by the
Russians during communist times but surprisingly with what appeared to be very
little supporting infrastructure
We reach the Russian border on
our way to visit Lake Baikal in Siberia. This time a very efficient and smooth
crossing particularly with Marina to translate
At this latitude we encounter a
beautiful mixture of silver birch, larch and spruce trees all growing naturally
over the open rolling hills
Siberia is known for its wooden
houses, bright painted shutters with potted geraniums and violets in the
windows
1
….and finally Lake Baikal;
holding one fifth of the world’s fresh water; over 600 klm long by 40 klm wide
and 1.6 klm deep; it freezes to a depth of 1.2 metres allowing heavy transport to
drive on it
Winter is minus 20 degrees and often minus 30 but now in mid-summer it’s a popular Russian holiday destination to soak up some of the short summer sun
Local fishermen haul in the
catch while Large Grey Back Seaguls are there for their share. Surprising as we’re
still far from the sea
You could say, a Russian
version of a motor home/caravan
Although it’s mid-summer at
Baikal, it’s still ugg boots and coats in the evening. This was sunset at 10:00
at night
After Lake Baikal it was south
to Mongolia again then west. At Erdenet the security guards at the copper mine
escorted us to the viewing area (for a fee of $7/vehicle). The mine accounts
for 40% of Mongolia’s hard currency but consumes 50% of the country’s power!
It’s also one of the world’s 10 largest copper mines
Further west and the road
disappears again and the way forward deteriorates to tracks across open
country. Back to the GPS for navigation
The Mongolian towns are so different with no roads leading to the town just tracks, no fences, no build up heralding a town ahead……….. just, a bunch of houses in the middle of nowhere
The north is a fat tail sheep
area. While there’s no formalized sheep shearing process, the wool in matted
form is collected and goes into the Mongolian carpet business, that is what’s
left on the truck at the end of the journey
I never realized that Mongolia
is home to yaks which are very common in the colder north
The native flowers in full
bloom for the short summer always made for pleasant camp sites
Another surprise was the Tsaatan or Reindeer People who live in Indian style teepees in the higher and colder north of Mongolia
Another destination in the
north was Khovsgol Lake which holds 1% of the world’s fresh water. In a harsh
climate like Lake Baikal it freezes to over a metre of ice making a great road
for trucking oil in from Russia. However after over 40 trucks went through the
ice the practice was banned in 1990 but……
……. with glorious scenery it
made for a very pleasant camp site for four days R&R for us and R&M for
Roadee
