After the heat in the ger reached an unpleasant 30 °C last night as a result of the fire being lit, when I wake at 03:30 this morning, I am delighted to find the temperature just right.
Mirbek suggested we leave the door to the ger unlocked overnight for the men to return and light the fire for us ready for when we get up. Just after 04:00 they arrive and soon have the fire burning well, and I quickly go back to sleep feeling cosy and relaxed.
By 06:00, however, I wake up in a bit of a tizz. I am feeling so hot that I am struggling to breathe, and I am having a hard time battling an anxiety attack, so I am delighted when David suggests opening the door. Again it is 30 °C inside, which is way too hot even just to sit about, but especially so as we have to dress up in layers to brave the +2 °C outside.
The sun makes an appearance this morning, and there is a blue sky beyond the snow-covered hills. It’s a beautiful day, albeit cold. We are very grateful we don’t have to brave the cold and uneven ground to trek to the long-drop latrine tent, which you can see on the left-hand side of the picture below. The main ger, used for meals, is the last one on the right, and we will head there this morning.
Breakfast
Like lunch and dinner yesterday, there is an overflow of food for breakfast this morning, with the dishes below just for us and Mirbek.
As there is no electricity at the camp, everyone has brought their phones to the main ger where a generator provides a little power during meal times. As more and more people plug their electronics in, the generator coughs and dies. Thankfully, we have our own power bank to charge our phones should it be necessary, but as we mostly use ‘proper’ cameras to take photos rather than phone cameras, we seem to have more than enough juice to last us.
Lots of phones plugged into the one generator
We return to the ger after breakfast, awaiting the next part of the festivities. The weather is turning a little now, and it is trying to snow – fortunately, the bitter wind from yesterday has died down today.
The blue sky from earlier is quickly disappearing
Horse Racing
First on the agenda today is another horse race, this time featuring 2-year-old horses. Adilla initially takes us up to the hill where we were yesterday, where we admire the pretty decent views over the steppe with sheep grazing.
Sheep with the small village of Altai behind
Someone produces a snowball from snow left on top of one of the trucks from overnight
After hanging around inside the car waiting for the horses, word arrives that there has been a change of itinerary, and we return to the arena area, where people are just milling around, unsure of what is happening next.
Local children attending
For the locals, it’s a great way of catching up with friends and acquaintances (the same people generally compete in all the nomad games in the area). For the tourists, it means taking photos of the locals.
They are all very happy to pose for pictures
With the horse race finally about to begin, we drive across to the start line.
As soon as the horses with their young riders are on their way, Adilla urges us to jump back in the car, and he sets off at speed across the steppe to catch up with the riders. From there, we drive alongside them, racing across the rough steppe (no tracks here), holding on for dear life (there was no time to put the seatbelt on for this!). I never expected to be taking part in a horse race in Mongolia!
It’s bumpy, challenging, bone-rattling, and tortuous; but also gripping, exciting, thrilling, and intoxicating. What an experience!
All the while I am hanging out of the window with my long lens trying to capture the horses as they gallop by. With some success, I am both surprised and delighted to say.
Spectacular scenery along the 'track'.
We get to the finish line just before the leading horse.
The winner
Kiz Kuar
This game is known in English as The Equine Chasing Game. It has a long tradition where the boy has supposedly stolen a kiss from his girl, and in return, the girl chases the boy and tries to whip him. Sounds fair, right? The girls are given the fast horses, whereas the boys are allocated the slowest steeds. Not quite so fair, maybe, but it is only a game after all.
I swear some of the boys are deliberately allowing the girls to catch them!
This couple seems to be really enjoying the chase, so much so, that it appears they are not watching where they are going. David and I are standing on the sideline, and like most other spectators, we are leaning against the car. All along the side are vehicles and spectators one after the other, some people sitting on small chairs, others standing.
The riders are heading straight towards us. I start to feel a little nervous at this stage, fearing they are going to hit us, but we have nowhere to go to get out of the way. Just as they get within inches of us, they steer the horse to one side and manage to slip through a small gap between vehicles. Phew! I breathe a huge sigh of relief.
The game is not without incident, however, as one of the female riders takes a tumble, with the horse falling on top of her leg, causing her an injury and some serious pain and the game is subsequently abandoned.
Lunch
I guess with all the riding, the competitions, and the cold weather, the local nomads need to eat a lot of food. As Western tourists, however, we are struggling to keep up. The dishes shown below are for the three of us - Mirbek, our young guide, does well to finish off quite a lot of it.
Spinach Soup
Potato Salad
Broccoli and Avocado Salad
Noodles with meat and vegetables
Beef stew with carrots
Rice and Buckwheat with Mushrooms
Vegetables
Apricots for dessert
Tug of War AKA Kokpar
Getting possession of a black sheepskin is the objective of this game, with the competitors on horseback.
The game was apparently started by Genghis Khan as a way for his soldiers to exercise their legs.
Most of the time, we can’t even see the goat skin; we just see a huddle of riders, who break out into a gallop once they have possession of the skin.
The police trying to steer the riders away from the crowd
It all ends in disaster, however: We hear gasps, the riders stop, and a crowd gathers. One of the horses has hit a tourist, and she is in a bad way. She is rushed to the hospital in the village, and the tug-of-war game is abandoned.
A crowd gathers around the injured lady
The tug-of-war is abandoned
Footnote: The victim spent a night in hospital (not surprisingly, she described it as “very basic”), and was able to continue with her trip, albeit struggling to walk as a result of a sprained groin.
Wrestling AKA Bökh
As the national sport of Mongolia, the wrestling is proving very popular with the locals. From my perspective, however, I think it is slow to the point of being boring. The initial few bouts are amateurs, dressed in normal clothes, and they spend most of their time just grappling, with very little real action.
When the professionals, dressed in their ‘proper’ outfits (Top = Zodog / pants = Shuudag / boots = Gutal), come into the arena, things do get a little bit more exciting, however.
But they too, spend a lot of the time just ‘holding’ each other. Although there is no time limit as such, the rules state that if it goes on for too long, they are allowed to grab their opponent by the pants.
That looks painful to me!
Any competitor who finds himself with any body part other than his feet touching the ground, instantly loses.
According to depictions of wrestling in cave paintings, the sport dates back around 9,000 years. Unlike wrestling matches in the UK, the Mongolian competitions have no weight classes. Traditionally a man’s game, there are now several female competitors in the country – in fact, two ladies both won gold for Mongolia in the 2023 International Wrestling Tournament.
Eagle Hunting Competition
Another flying display takes place today, to crown the overall winner from those who qualified after yesterday’s competition.
The Eagle Hunter’s assistant climbs to the top of the hill with the eagle, whose head is covered with a hood.
He is ready to remove the hood and release the eagle he eagle when called by the master, who remains in the main arena.
The Eagle Master with food to attract his eagle
The eagle takes off almost immediately after being called
The eagle flying low over the spectators
The bird lands on the ground to much applause from the audience
The next competitor does not do anywhere near as well, unfortunately. The eagle takes off as normal, but then changes her mind and flies back up the mountainside.
Landing halfway down, the handler goes off to try and retrieve it.
Just as he is getting close, the bird takes off again, flying away to the right.
She flies over the other handlers at the top of the hill waiting for their turn to release their eagles, and again lands on the slope of the hill.
This time the handler rides his horse to reach the wayward eagle and finally manages to get hold of her.
Altai – Ulgii
All that remains of the festival now, is the prize giving. We decide to miss out on this part, as we have a long journey back to Ulgii this afternoon. Returning to the ger to pick up our stuff, we start to make our way across a couple of little streams on the steppe before climbing into the hills.
Our car at the ger
We're not the only ones leaving now
The late afternoon light is beautiful and promises a stunning journey across the mountains.
As we climb higher towards the 2,500-metre-high pass, we come across areas still covered in snow.
A herd of dark horses looks good against the white snow.
Doing what horses do
Trying to capture the horses on the left-hand side of the car, I ask David to open his window, while I lean over as far as I can with my long lens. In places where the snow has melted, a grubby slush has formed, and as Adilla drives through it, huge blobs of the stuff splash up – and in through David’s open window. He is not amused.
I can’t get enough of the velvety hills bathed in the soft light, showcasing their limitless hues and shades of grey, brown, green, and yellow.
As we get nearer to civilisation, the countryside is dotted with yaks, sheep, and goats.
The grandness of the majestic scenery continues to seduce me.
Ulgii
On arrival in the ‘big town’ (around 28,500 inhabitants), we go straight to the Pamukkale Restaurant. Driving through town, we notice that the majority of dining establishments in the town are in fact Turkish, serving Halal food. This is in stark contrast to the rest of Mongolia, where the population is mostly Buddhists. Here, the main religion is Islam.
Astana kebab
Makh Sum Hotel
After dinner, we return to the same hotel we stayed at before we went to Altai. We are dismayed to find that we have been allocated a room on the fifth floor, apparently by ‘special request’. There is no way my arthritic knee will allow me to climb five flights of stairs, so we request a room on a lower floor. The hotel is full, we are told, but they do have a small room on the ground floor which they would not normally rent out, as it is “noisy”. We take it. Yes, there is a certain amount of noise coming from other parts of the building, as well as the shared facilities next door (our room is en suite), but enough to be a problem
Daari, our guide on the first part of our Mongolia explorations kindly gifted us some local chocolate, so we share those before retiring to bed.
The noise does not prevent us from going to sleep, and the bed is 100 times better than the ‘metal hammock’ in Altai.
Goodnight from Mongolia after a very exciting day! Thank you to Undiscovered Destinations for arranging this incredible trip.
This featured blog entry was written by Grete Howard from the blog Grete's Travels.
Read comments or Subscribe
By 