Land of the Blue Sky

So we've been back from Mongolia for 3 weeks and I'm finally posting about our adventure in the land of the blue sky! Mongolia definitely deserves its nickname as between the winter that ends in June and the one that starts in September and after sand storms and before snow storms, summer is definitely blue sky, blue sky, blue sky :)

We fly from Beijing to Ulanbaataar (which was renamed so under the soviet era and means "Red Hero") and that turns out to be a great idea be it only for the 10 last minutes of the flight when the distant dream of a mysterious country made of green steppa, gers (or yurt tents) and horsemen, starts turning into reality. From the sky, the countryside around UB (this is how the locals call Ulanbaataar, and the foreigners are grateful for it) looks like never-ending waves of soft green on which fine spiderwebs of dirt tracks have been weaved and sprinkled with white dots.

Hitting the ground means hitting the other reality: for one, a driving style that makes India look like an example of good driving. There are no rules whatsoever and if there are, who cares? I'm reassuring myself thinking that this must be the warrior-like bloodlines from Ghenghis Khan that express themselves in the way people "drive" (understand: constantly overtake each other only to jump onto the brakes right in front of the previous car as to make a - pretty pointless - statement, honk at and insult each other and out of a 2 lane road, create not 3 or 4 - that's only good enough for India - but 6 or more lanes). 

Second reality check, although I didn't expect to find a forgotten treasure: UB. It pretty much looks like it just woke up from a blietzkrieg. Pretty girls (Mongolia is famous for being a great source of models for the fashion industry) somehow manage to walk in very high heels on completely destroyed sidewalks amidst ageing (to say the least) Soviet concrete blocks, and car boot vendors - not the funky Sunday car boot sales that are now trendy in Europe, but rather the "I'm selling a stock that's fallen off a truck" style. We are on Peace Avenue, the main artery of UB.

The least you can say about UB and about Mongolia is that it is a place of striking contrasts. It is plain to see that the country is heavy with its Soviet heritage and is struggling to move to the next phase of development. In fact it seems that no governments has been able to stay in place long enough to even start writing speeches about the reforms they might bring to the country as the parliament is constantly taking defiance votes against the government and the President has a right of veto on the nomination of each minister, which he makes good use of. That seems to be his main prerogative... that and delivering the opening speech of the Nadaam festival. Put simply it seems that Mongolia is not sure what road to take, so in doubt, it just stays in the same place.

Don't get me wrong, UB is an interesting place, precisely because of its striking contrasts (youth that craves modernity and Western culture vs an establishment that's so sclerosed and corrupt that it is unable to take the country forward ; ancestral nomadic culture vs Soviet heritage ; extreme poverty vs roaring Hummers cruising along Peace Avenue ; etc). 

We also get a taste of what is probably to most awaited event of the year for the Mongols: the Nadaam Festival. It is one of the most important national holidays which culminates in competitions in the 3 major Mongol sports: wrestling, archery and horse-racing. It is held everywhere in the country but UB's is the biggest one and that's where the final of the wrestling take place with a grand opening ceremony held in UB's national stadium. It is a feast for the eyes, there is plethora of Mongols wearing magnificient traditional costumes and it is a real party for everyone. The highlight for me was the horse-racing final in which more than 500 horses participates. The competition is open to children only, from approx 5 to 11 years of age and they must ride through the steppa for 35km. Those little guys are the pride of the country and they really go for it. Seeing them arriving from the hills and giving all they have in the last few kilometres was truly beautiful. You can find some pictures here. 

But after a few days in the roughness of the capital we feel that we are ready to take to the steppa! We decide for a 10 days tour in the Gobi desert and share our journey with 2 friendly catalan guys, Carles and Jordi. Our ride is a russian jeep van which has 110000km on the counter but looks like it has 5 times more, our driver is Baatar (if you've read carefully before, you know it means "Hero" ;) and our guide is Shine. They both spend their summers racing across the country, driving thousands of kilometres time and again to take foreigners who, like us, are crazy enough to want to see the Gobi in summer (Mongols are not too found of scorching heat, they cope much better with deep freezing cold). In winter, they resume their normal life, him driving public buses between UB and other major cities and her looking after her baby daughter.

- Enough water, noodles and rice for 10 days: check

- Emergency petrol jerricans: check

- Enough underwear for 10 days without laundry: fail

Let's go!