Im back with part 2 of my gigantic travel by train all the way from China to Holland. In my previous blog you could already read about my initial idea about why I only wanted to fly a 1-way ticket, and not a roundtrip because I do not like flying at all. Also you were able to read about all kinds of stuff that I visited in China.
Did you miss the blog?? Here was the link again
https://steemit.com/travel/@karinxxl/8000-km-by-train-a-trip-from-china-to-holland-part-1
Mongolia
Leaving Datong behind me, the train was travelling up north towards the city of Ulan Baator. the trip was about 24 hours so it also had a night of sleep in the train in it. In the endless green landscapes of northern China I saw the most fantastic sunset, because the sky was so clear and. Seeing this from a steadily bumping train, in combination with a midnight beer was enough for me to drift off in a comfortable sleep. When I woke up in the morning the landscape had changed. It was more dry all of a sudden, and gradual slopes were the new scenery. The train had entered Mongolia, through the Gobi desert on they way towards its capital.
Just a random view in Mongolia, spacious, so calming, so pure
Mongolia has a very specific land climate. In the summers the temperature during the day is around 20 degrees Celsius, and throughout the night the temperature will drop below just below zero. In the winters however, the day temperature often does not reach higher than -15, combined with a staggering night temperature of -40 degrees. I was here during the summer, so especially in the city of Ulan Baator the climate during the day was very nice.
Ulan Baator
Ulan Baator as a city itself on the contrary, I didnt like it at all. Actually, the city has some nice temples and a beautiful central square, but the criminal rate is crazy high. In general I am talking about pick pocketing and thieving, not heavy crime. But still if you are walking around, and everyone looks at you like you are a walking ATM, it's not really cool. Also adding to this that I actually experienced someone trying to steal something from my bag. Im just walking to the store down on one of the main roads, and I feel my little backpacky moving. I turn around, and there is a kid in his 20s with his hand in my backpack. My initial reaction is so yell at him in Dutch, that went over to English and I ended up punching the kid. In retrospect this might not have been the smartest thing to do, considering the kid could have had a knife or something, but hey it did the trick. Also the roads in Ulan Baator were a disaster because of the great range in temperatures. So sometimes you would have potholes in the road from a meter in diameter. You car can almost disappear in one of those holes, and that on a 4 lane road. Think about what kind of dangerous situations this is giving. Also my lonely planet was not very enthusiastic about Ulan Baator. It said something like that if you would have a medical emergency in Mongolia, just get the hell out of the country, before you have a chance to die there from the shitty healthcare.
Mental note: no more Ulan Baator ever again
Mongolia Countryside
As soon as possible it was time to hit the Mongolian country side. Because that is where its real beauty is to be found. I can tell you, this is not something to do by yourself, please go in a group and use guides. The country of Mongolia has somewhere in between 2 and 3 million residents, and it is big as hell! According to Wikipedia it has a nice average of 2 residents per square kilometer. The capitol Ulan Baator resides about 1 million people. In other words, the countryside has miles and miles of endless landscape with a single soul on it.
Our van with a group of 8 with a guide who spoke English left the capitol only to see that after just after a couple of miles the pavement stopped. The first offroad pieces of this trip were like awesome. We all applauded, not knowing that this was nothing compared to the lands we would be driving on for the rest of the two weeks. There were no road any more, only two tracks through the grass. If a car wouldnt drive there for a week, the tracks would be grown over again, so the routes change often. Drivers look at the mountains to see where they are, not at signs. Rivers had to be crossed, landscapes passed us by. It was beautiful!!!!
In the back you can see 'the main road' AKA two tire tracks. The main road also passed through water, this was as easy every time as it looked
Gers
In the evenings we would sleep by nomadfamilies. These nomads stay in certain spots to herd their livestock for several months until the livestock is hungry again and then they move. As housing they have very decent tents called gers. It takes about a day to set up a ger and insulate it with grass. It has a stove in the middle that also works as a heater for the nights. All these families were so super friendly even though we were invading their privacy. Ofcourse most likely they get payed to house us, but they were also so sweet. As you can imagine Mongolian is not really a language you are familiar with, so the guide was very convenient as a translator. Also playing universal games like Rummikub and Uno can apparently be done in any language. That is cool to notice, no matter where you are from, games unite people.
A typical ger-tent, including the signature chimney sticking out on top
I realized I would be a terrible Mongolian nomad. In the nights you have to keep your fire going because of the freezing conditions. But most of the time I was so tired in the evenings I fell fast asleep, waking up to a dead fire. You can imagine how cold this was with an outside temperature of -20 Celsius. During the day we would find wood for the fires. Also milking the Yaks was a daily task. A yak, you ask? Yeah yaks, a crossing between a cow and a sheep it looked most to me. Not the cutest of animals but rather friendly. In a climate THAT cold its hard for vegetables to grow (or any other stuff actually), so the nomads main food source are products of the Yak. Milk, cheese, soupbroth, meat, the nomads diet is not very variable. So their yaks are very important to them, and so they treat them will real care. That was cool to see, especially compared to where I grew up with those mega-farms where cows are just a number. Most disgusting Yak product: fermented Yakmilk, like a alcohol beverage, however it does keep you warm throughout very cold nights :)
When reaching back in Ulan Baator, I noticed I smelled like crap. I didnt bath proper for two weeks, because I found it too chilly outside so it was only small washes here and there. Also all the Yak food doesnt make you smell nice at all, haha. I was happy to be back in 'civilization' again to get to some different food. I took a pizza in city, it smelled funky again. Guess what was on it, Yak cheese of course :) YUKKKKKKK
There was also enough to chill during the day when the temperature was nice. In the back you can see the small ger tents scattered around in the landscape
The countryside of Mongolia was beyond all expectations, so calming and such a different world. Its was beautiful to see how people live and I saw so much rawness of nature. The countryside of Mongolia YAY, the capitol of Mongolia Ulan Baator NAY .
Curious how the rest the trip from Beijing to Holland went by train, travelling through Russia? More to follow soon!