My Ger in the Gobi

Gobi Desert – Day 1

On the afternoon of June 24^th, 9 students from Colorado, 1 from Philadelphia, our guide, our professor, an old Mongolian couple and a handful of other tourists emptied from a small airplane onto the square runway, the bulk of which the craft occupied itself. Blue sky and the dry breath of the Gobi greeted the travelers weary of three rainy days in the already dreary city of Ulaan Baatar.

We filed into the one-room airport of Goyu Saihan (meaning “beautiful three”, named after the nearby mountains) in Dalanzadgad, a city in Mongolia’s southernmost province and the primary access point to the Gobi desert for most travelers, then moved outside to the parking lot where we received our luggage. Our drivers swiftly loaded our bags into the two vans waiting for us and we made our way across the rocky planes of the Gobi where the roads were little more than animal trails memorized by the older driver.

Upon arrival to New Tovshin tourist camp, we deposited our backpacks in our personal gers and went into the restaurant for a late lunch. Our charming waitress – who stood in the corner of the room during the entire meal poised to serve at the drop of a hat – served us a three course meal of soup, salad and hot beef and rice wrapped in what appeared to be crepes.

After lunch, Hillary and I borrowed a couple of bikes and explored around the camp. We came across a herd of cashmir goats and photographed them until we were chased back to camp by a wayward rain cloud. (We were later rewarded, though, by a double rainbow.)

Day 2

After an early breakfast, we piled into our vans and headed out to a place called Vulture’s Mouth – or Golin Am in Mongolian – where we hiked through a mountain pass to the remnants of a glacier. Perched atop a distant peak, our guides spotted an ibex and delighted in showing all of us their find.

At the end of the trail, where the ice formed a platform with rabbit holes for the more adventurous travelers to explore, sat a local man carving wooden figurines of the local wildlife including vultures, camels and what Stephanie decided to name ‘baby bunnies’ (which were actually a type of ground squirrel.)

On the trail back to the vans, I ran into Jordan (the Canadian) and Lee (the Korean), my two new friends from UB Guesthouse. Mongolia is beginning to feel very much like a tourist country, but that hasn’t stopped me from enjoying it.

We returned to camp for another hearty lunch, then headed back out on the road to a very different spot – the giant sand dunes, the Mongolian name of which I cannot remember. Atop the windy, sunny dunes, I wandered away from the group to find my own peak and sat in the warm sand and basked for about 45 minutes. After I rejoined the group, who had spent their time paying locals to give them camel rides or jumping from the edge of the dunes, we bought small souvenirs from the locals who had set up a little shop for us at the edge of the tall dune near our tourist vans.

We were met back at camp with a large dinner, then Namun taught us the traditional ankle bone game until we were too tired and went to bed.

Day 3

The Flaming Cliffs were our third and final excursion in the Gobi. When we arrived, there were again locals setting up makeshift souvenir stands hoping to sell tiny felt camels or geodes to us, the influx of tourists.

The cliffs themselves were the sight of the Marshall Expedition of the 1920s, the famed American archaeological dig in which dinosaur eggs were uncovered. After exploring around the cliffs for a bit – I went off on my own again to escape the chatter of the rest of the group – we climbed down to the other side where our trusty van drivers were waiting to pick us up. They had located some fossilized bone in a rock formation near their parking spot and showed them to us excitedly. Though they were laughing suspiciously, I choose to believe that it was actual fossilized bone that we’d found and not some practical joke played on gullible tourists.

We headed back to camp after a picnic lunch and then played a couple of games of volleyball. As it turns out, I’m not as bad a player as I’d assumed. The entire staff of the tourist camp stood by watching us play – obviously very amused by our… um… animated playing style.

Day 4

Our last day at the ger camp was slow, but happy. We played another couple of games of volleyball after breakfast which left my arm pretty severely bruised, then we had lunch and packed up for our flight to UB. When we got to the airport, we were the only people around except one other man who informed us that our flight, which was to board at 2:10 p.m., couldn’t leave U.B. until after 4 p.m. which left us waiting at the airport until 5 o’clock. Our class basically had the run of the place because the man let us inside, then disappeared.

We spent most of the afternoon playing cards, jimmying the vending machine, and editing photos all by ourselves in the airport. They turned the power on just for us – which indicates what kind of security we’re dealing with here.