Khovsgol and Back
on Mongolian Guinness (Mongolia), 06/Mar/2009 08:01, 34 days ago
Ulaanbaatar to KhatgalIn February, I travelled to Khatgal, for the annual ice festival on the frozen lake Khovsgol. The journey, using the extensive and modern Mongolian transport system, was erm... interesting.Just finding about transport to Khovsgol was a challenge in itself. After discovering that there would be no transport from UB to Moron during Saagan Sar (Feb 25th-27th) I headed to the bus station on Monday afternoon to catch a Russian minivan, with nine seats for passengers in the back. My driver squeezed 15 people in. So determined was he that we would leave when he had 15 passengers that, having arrived at the bus station at 3pm, my journey did not begin until nearly 10 o’clock. A seven hour wait in -20* temperatures is a real test of patience.Cramped and cold, I headed for Moron. Pretty soon people were falling asleep and with 15 tightly packed bodies, people were leaning on each other, lying across several fellow passengers and using others as pillows. Bodies everywhere. I woke at one point to discover that someone had their hand in my shoe. I couldn’t work out who (or why), but figured it may help warm that foot up slightly, so I went with it. I woke again at about 2am and looking forward, realised that the windscreen was completely frosted and the driver could hardly see the ‘road’ ahead. I decided to pretend that I hadn’t seen this and went back to sleep.The journey was shorter than I’d anticipated and we reached Moron in 17 hours. Boldoo, who lives in Khatgal and works a horse guide during the summer met me in Moron and took me to his sister’s ger while I waited for the bus to Khatgal. An impromptu English lesson with his nephew ensued followed by an impromptu wrestling match (which I lost). I was, of course, fed plenty of buutz but for once I was extremely grateful for the offering. I took the bus in the evening and made it to Khatgal at about 9.30pm where I settled in to my cosy ger and ate more buutz.Khatgal to UBFor the return to UB after the ice festival I managed to negotiate a lift with a tour group who were heading back on the Monday morning. They were in two vans, with only eight passengers in each. Ah the space, pure luxury!On the way we saw birds of prey, and stunning views of the Mongolian countryside.My enthusiasm, however, was to be dampened by the length of the journey. They were to break the journey by staying the night in Bulgan, arriving in UB on Tuesday afternoon. Our van needed a wheel changing and the driver stopped to check it every half an hour. Then at about midnight the other van– trying to overtake – hit a bank and tipped onto its side. No one was hurt, and we set about pushing the van back upright and back onto the road. It was late, it was cold and the van was buggered, but on the plus side the scattered stars across the expansive sky were beautiful. We all squeezedinto the other van and headed to Bulgan. The drivers worked through the night to fix the van and we made our way, albeit slowly, towards UB. We eventually arrived back at 8.30pm.The journey was testing but definitely worth it. Lake Khovsgol is incredible. It is hard to comprehend how such an immense body of water can be turned to a giant layer of ice. Truly awe inspiring.