Four Days in the Countryside

Bam! The Russian jeep that would take us to the countryside slammed into the Honda Accord driven by a middle-aged Mongolian couple on busy Peace Avenue. It was 9:30am, just 15 seconds after we pulled away from the State Department Store to begin our short four-day tour of the countryside. Fortunately for everyone, there were no injuries. Was this an omen of things to come over the next four days?

July 24 (Day 1)
09:30 The tour started. Fifteen seconds later, encountered a traffic accident. No injuries.
10:00 Restart of the tour.
13:00 Flat tire No. 1, on the left-front tire.

13:30 On the road again after patching the inner tube.
14:00 Lunch of Onigiri (Japanese rice balls) under strong sun and dusty wind.
15:00 Flat tire No. 2, on the right-rear tire at the outskirts of the "Mini Gobi". Walked around Mini Gobi while the tire was repaired.

16:00 On the road again after patching the inner tube, with help from a group of Mongolian passersby.
17:30 Flat tire No. 3, on the right-rear tire. Walked around the vast landscape during the repair.

19:00 On the road again after patching the inner tube, with help from a group of Mongolian passersby.
20:15 Flat tire No. 4, on the right-rear tire, around 15 kilometers from our first destination Harahorin.
21:15 On the road again after a Mongolian passerby lent us his spare tire for the short drive to town.
22:00 Arrived at Harahorin. Patched two tires at a tire repair shop.
23:30 Parked the jeep in the middle of a grassy hill. Pitched tents in the dark and slept. No dinner.

July 25 (Day 2)
08:00 Woke up with hunger.
09:15 Takeoff after a cup of Mongolian tea. No breakfast.
09:45 Arrived at Karakolm, a ruin from the Mongolian empire and a monestry. The driver and the interpreter went to the town to find a tire. Tried to enjoy the morning, somewhat successful but mostly feeling down. After the sightseeing, waited another hour or so for our damned Russian jeep to pick us up. Ate apples and biscuits.
13:30 Takeoff for the day's destination.
14:30 Stopped at a ger due to a thunder storm. Found flat tire No. 5 on the right-rear side. Ate cup noodles for lunch while waiting for the storm to pass and the tire to be repaired.
16:00 On the road again after patching the inner tube.
16:45 Engine halted due to a broken belt.
17:15 Repaired the issue using a spare belt. How the driver fixed it was completely unknown.
18:30 Arrived at Olgee Lake. Pitched the tents and prepared dinner. Enjoyed lake side views before strong wind and cold air overcame us.
20:00 Dinner. Dark clouds gathered overhead.
22:00 Retired for the day.

July 26 (Day 3)
00:00 Thunderstorm. Our tent almost collapsed due to high wind, rain and strong thunderstorm.
02:00 Another thunderstorm, harder than the first. Rain water started to drip inside our tent. Considered moving to the car, but changed our position inside the tent instead.
08:00 Woke up to find clearer skies and a heard of 25 horses grazing outside our tent.
09:30 Walk by the lake with our driver and guide.
10:30 Began driving for the day.
14:30 Flat tire No. 6.

15:45 Takeoff after patching the inner tube.
17:00 Temperature rapidly going down, and weather getting worse. Hard rain with strong wind and thunder. Wind and rain coming in through the gaps on the door. Pants getting wet from the water, feeling very cold.
18:30 Trying to find people who were delivering new tires for us. Very cold. While we tried to find the people, some wire under the jeep broke.
19:00 The driver somehow fixed the wire in the pouring rain, right by a flooding river. How he repaired the problem was unknown.
19:30 Met with the people with tires, headed to a roadside repair shop. New tires were installed on right front and right rear wheels. Waited in the strong, cold wind during the repair. Feeling extremely cold and lost the sense in hands.

20:30 Arrived at Hustai National Park. Caught up with a ranger at his station post.
21:00 Started to find the horses that are said to be the origin of all horse spices. Saw six of those horses in a deeper part of the park.
22:30 Arrived at a ger which is the home of the ranger and his family. Had dinner with cup noodles.

July 27 (Day 4)
07:00 Woke up as the ger family was already active. Observed various morning tasks among the family memebers. The family offered breakfast. Some conversations with the family. More observations of their lifestyle. Rode a horse.
10:30 Drove around the park with the ranger guiding us with great information. The Russian jeep doing much better in the terrain, so was our mood.
12:00 Returned to the family's ger. They offered lunch.
13:00 Left Hustai National Park.
16:00 Returned to Ulaan Baatar.

The tour was plagued with problems. We also question how the preparations were done for our tour, on the part of the tour operator. However, it was a meaningful experience in many ways. We saw the lives of Mongolian people in forms that are true to their culture. Various conditions of the nature we put ourselves in were beautiful and dynamic, no matter how they turned out to be. And that's what we visited Mongolia for.