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Mongolia, Mongolia
Everything started from a dream-I was dreaming to spend some time with ones of my favourite animals-horses.and after few years I have decided to give my self a break and travel for some time.I've chosen the country which I was very curious about-Mongolia !
I have booked tickets london-Beijing-UlanBator, I didn't read much or plan precisely as I wanted an adventure and here I am! , in a middle of this huge country,in a place called Gobi-Altai.
But let's start from the beginning !
I left london on 18.07 from Heathrow.10 hours flight and I'm in Beijing ! Beautiful airport with fountains and golden fishes in it,traditional music and decoration .it was enjoyable to rest in a Chinese summerhouse by the little waterfall and pool with fishes even after 10 hours flight and jet lagged, or maybe just because of that.
In a queue I met a Swiss girl,which was heading to UlanBator too,her name was Michaela,she had very similar travel plans.it felt good,seeing that there are people with the same traveling ideas.
Both of us had hosts in UB, so our ways separated there,although we met few time and check out national natural museum and traditional music,singing,fashion and gymnastics show.
I stayed in UB for 10 days,met friends of my host Ogi and one of them,Amra,offered me to join him and visit his mothers GIR about 2hours away from UB.I was very pleased and agreed immediately ,I was getting bored in UB after 10 days of doing almost nothing. What I have to mention is that Mongolian people,at least those who I met,are extremely friendly and even more hospital! I'm experiencing it until now.
Late in the evening went to this little uul(village) and stayed in a very cozy GIR with the stove and three beds .
During my stay I've done a lot of work!)
I chopped wood, brought water by trolley, shepherded sheep, picked some more firewood from the hills nearby,and finally then I went to the top of the hill to watch the sunset,just after the sun went down, I saw the wolf. It was very beautiful, graceful animal with very nice fur.he was about hundred meters away on the opposite hill running toward the forest. I heard that they attack after dark, so I run towards a GIR and away from him,but those seconds of observing him were just magical-I never before did intersect with a wild wolf. Mongolians believe that it's a good omen to see a wolf))
Well,next day we had to head back to UB and Amra offered me to stay with his brothers family in a place called Bayan Undur,few hours away from gobi-Altai . I took a minibus and in 24 hours I was there ))) as well as 19 other people travelling with me by this minibus,designed for 12 persons ) one more interesting thing is that there was one driver and he didn't sleep all the way, driving really good.now I understand why he was showing everyone his medal for driving excellence. If I knew all the conditions of this trip before paying,it would take me much longer to decide of I really want to go.bit at the end of the day it was very interesting experience -just a one of the examples is a man which was sitting in from of me.he talked nonstop for 22hours out of 24 and sometimes trying to make conversation with me,he was gently touching my hairy legs quite few times,making jokes of it ))) ridiculous,but funny ))
When I came to Altai, I went to Amra's aunts hotel,called Tulga Altai,next to the Black Market. Very good place to stay.
Next day Amra's aunt found a car to my destination and I went there.i was met by Amra's brother, Atar Bayan,who lives few km away from the uul. again,very hospital and warm reception on a very traditional way. Atar's and Amra's father is a very respected member of family,he welcomed me and tried to speak Russian,he let me smell his very nice little flask of sniffing Tobaco and by tradition you have to take it with your right hand,holding your right elbow with your left hand,open it half way and smell a bit,after that you have to compliment it.you don't get to sniff this aromatic Tobaco powder though,but it's important tradition. After we drunk some vodka,this tradition I was familiar with from long time before,from when I was 3)))
Again we had some milk with a
Little tea in it,se dried cottage cheese biscuits and after some real food-dumplings and a lot of goat meat.
One of the signs of good manners fairing, I brought I bag of it )
It would be all smooth,but by accident I tripped over and fell badly damaging my shoulder,to be precise -AC joint injury,and honestly,it wasn't because of the vodka tradition...
So I got my first aid in a local hospital. some patches on the shoulder,painkiller injection and an arm bandage,they had no ice. It was awakening experience,it helped me to stay in a present moment for some time ) since then my left hand can move a bit in only one direction and the collar bone is out above the shoulder.I'm back to Altai and stack in here until further instruction from my insurer.bit hey,at least I have time to write my blog.as you can see by the amount written,lots of it
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