Hiking in the Altai Tavan Bogd Park

Voici un résumé de notre aventure dans les montagnes du parc Altai Tavan Bogd. Tout en anglais, mais pas le temps de tout traduire. Utilisez google translate au besoin!

Day 1
- Drive from Olgii
- Dosjan asked if it was ok with us for him to illegally hunt marmot on the way to the ranger station. All go!
- It was cold but we stayed with the park ranger and his family, so we had a warm ger to stay in. First real taste of the ''white food'' (rice, noodles, varied milk products, deep fried pastries)
- Daughter of ranger (3ish) was hilarious; twisting her imaginary mustache like mine while pointing at an image of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on my Kobo.
- We ate rice with mutton (really? Mutton? that's new.)




Day 2
- First day of walking toward Khuiten base camp, mostly uphill. Hit snow line in the afternoon.
- Body took a while to wake up to hiking.
- Early lunch by the river.
- Barefoot river crossing
- I made a snow angel for shits.
- We met 3 Aussies (who we re met at the ger camp back in Olgii) and 5 Russians at the camp.
- We could see peaks from Mongolia, China and Russia. 

Day 3
- Hard to wake up to 10 cm of snow.
- Too cold to get water so we begin.
- Walk was generally downhill or level.Great view of the glacier.
- Rock hop river crossing.
- We loaded the water bottles and used the chlorine tablets we bought in Olgii. Took a sip , way too strong. We reread the instructions and realize that we put 50 times the dosage in. Headache sets in with intense stomach burn on my side. Meliane was panicking. It eventually subsided. Sorry liver/kidneys.
- Met Australian couple with a guide at the river at the bottom of the valley. The guide helped us organize horses for the river crossing early the next morning.
- Camped between Kazakh families 2km short of the broken bridge which we were supposed to get to.
- Windy but not too cold.
- Went to bed with a herd of goats looking at us from across the river.

Day 4
- Early start with horseback river crossing (5000 T each= 4$)
- Ate breakfast once on other side of river.
- Found broken bridge finally, long way from the first pass.
- Barefoot river crossing, a lot colder than first one.
- Finally reach pass. Beautiful flat valley with 2 gers.
- Ankle pain for Meliane, luckily she had a physio and elastic bandage in her backpack ;)
- Down new valley to steep uphill climb to our camp spot.
- 2 men on horses confirm our direction. 20 horses ran by our camp that night.
- No wind, not too cold sleep (-2?)

Day 5
- Uphill grunt to rock pile showing the way to the pass.
- The pass is 3km where you climb 200m and descend 300m. Tough on the legs. Really rewarding though.
- We contributed to the Ovoo (sacred rock pile) at the top of the pass. You go around 3 times and make a wish, while adding rocks on each tour.
- Halfway down we stopped for lunch and I washed my head in the glacial creek. Instant brain freeze.
- New valley was amazing, with Oreo ice cream looking mountain peaks on either side.
- We followed right side of bank going up and down gravel type rock piles.
- End of valley showed the promise of trees, and therefore fire.(yeah, warmth...and we don't have to go to bed at 7pm)
- We descend to another valley to wooden house where our destination for the day was to be.
- Great food and camp fire.
- Crazy dude on horse gives us a scare. We wish at that moment we had a guide to tell us what was going on.

 

Day 6
- Late sunrise due to our orientation to the mountains.
- Late departure.
- Long 18 km down spectacular river valley. Met horses on the way.
- Up and down ridges where river comes too close to pass low.
- Reach new Valley and saw some guys loading timber in a truck by hand.
- Walked until 6:30 to top of hill (no water)to make camp.
- Crystal skies and good fire.

Day 7
- Pack up with no breakfast due to lack of water.
- Make first bridge and load up on water (gritty due to white sand in the water)
- Military checkpoint, 2 guys check out our route and papers. All good!
- 2nd bridge, first glimpse of Khoton Nuur. Gers, trees and 2 dudes on horseback offer us a ride, but kept walking.
- Easy short day, we arrive at camp at 4:30.
- Perfect campsite, treed, near creek and lots of wood.
- Took time to read by the lake in the hot sunlight.

Day 8
- Started at noon, planned on taking day off but cloudy weather would not permit. (first day of ''bad'' weather..we got lucky the whole way)
- Had lunch with family along the way; great food and tea. Needed fat so we loaded up on butter and tasty cheese.





Day 9
- Sleep in!
- I washed in the lake and took a dip. Meliane washed her hair. It was extremely cold.
- Straight shot to the end of the hike, started at 3pm and finished by 5:30.
- Ran into Australian couple from river crossing point.
- Went to final military checkpoint. Stayed with family.
- Meliane milked cows...or tried to.

Day 10
- All day with family. Coldest rainy day to date.
- Walked to shop (vodka, beer, cigarettes and snickers bars and that's it), talked to Aussies.
- Fished with Russians who showed us the ''siberian way'': ate salted pork fat, raw fish and drank vodka. Now have contact in Novosibirsk!
- Had anniversary (5 years!) photo taken by Russian dude (professional photographer who printed it for us from his car). How lucky is that?
- Stayed again with family.
- Wolf attack on goat herd. One goat was taken.
- Awesome day (minus wolf)

Day 11
- Had tea, saw dead goat and Dosjan picked us up.
- Meliane milked cows again, easier the second time. 












Great adventure! One of our main reasons for coming to Mongolia. Check.

Olgi or...the Far Far West

Leaving Khovd, Marka had ensured that we paid local price for the share jeep to Olgii. We showed up at 1 for a 3pm departure and all was going great. We had our bags loaded, seats, and we were just  waiting to leave. As in everything in Mongolia, nothing happens as you would expect. The driver
loaded the bags. Then he loaded the passengers. We are talking about a 5 seater 4x4 in the genre of a land cruiser from the 80's but built in Russia. The driver pointed to our small bags that we had and gestured toward the back, so we put them in the back. He then gestured toward Méliane, then me. We were confused, he did it again and we realized that he meant for her to sit on my lap. So she did. then a dude sat beside me, pushed me into the door (that was non functional) and a lady sat on him, then a kid, then another kid, then a guy beside with another guy on top and another guy with another guy on top. In the front it was the same story to the point that we had 15 people in a 5 seater. For what was supposed to be 6 hours. Which wasn't. It was 8. On the way out of town we had to stop to pay a police in a hut, not too sure how much, then he let us on to the "road." I can only imagine that it could have been a toll for the road, which isn't even there. It is open area where there is a suggested path through the mayhem of back country Mongolia. During the ride we stopped a bunch of times, some to stretch the legs, some to allow a kid to vomit, some to fix the tire that popped, some to top up the oil, some to do random repairs. You get the idea. Everything said and done we arrived in Olgii, late and got a ride to our Ger camp by calling the lady, Nazgul, who runs it, and who is super helpful. Olgii is also a pretty cool town. We have met her younger brother who is a guide in the area and who took us to our hike. My impressions of the town aren't complete though. Fewer cows.

Mis a part la douleur au cou et au bras droit que j'avais suite a la pénible journée de jeep pour s'y rendre, Olgii est vraiment une ville agréable. C'est le Far West. Ville poussiéreuse avec des trottoirs
inexistants, immeubles en douteux état, vaches et/ou chevaux dans les rues voisinant les autres véhicules. Olgii a été une ville pour ''recharger les batteries'' dans tous les sens du terme. Nous dormons dans des yourtes de touristes au lieu d'un hôtel et la dame Nazgul est vraiment géniale pour nous aider a tout organiser. Nous avons aussi rencontre Brittaney(USA), Joe (UK) et Phil (Australie) avec qui nous avons eu notre première sortie dans un ''bar'' de Olgii! Très intéressant. Mais aussi très agréable de pouvoir partager des expériences en anglais avec d'autres voyageurs! Brittaney tient un blog elle aussi et ca vaut la peine d'y jeter un coup d'oeil. Elle parcourt la Mongolie a vélo en étudiant les ''death rituals''. Voici le lien pour son blog.


C'est de Olgi que nous avons organisé le départ pour le parc Altai Tavan Bogd pour notre randonnée dans les montagnes (prochain post a venir) et c'est aussi ici que nous revenons pour organiser la prochaine aventure, c'est-a-dire 3 jours dans une famille de ''Eagle hunters''...Ils entrainent des aigles pour les aider a
chasser, j'ai bien hâte de voir ça! Nous revenons a Olgi une 3ieme fois en fin de semaine prochaine, pour la dernière fois, dans le but d'assister au ''Eagle hunting festival''. On aura la chance de vous en parler pour en
détails dans les messages a venir.

The Far West

We arrived in Khovd by plane, compared to the train expedition it was deluxe. Under 2 hours and we were there. We had meals served to us. I managed to sleep for a bit also after our ordeal in the park and an early wake up. At the airport there are no taxis and the town is about 5 kms down the road. Not too far but we were still baggaged, it was raining and 9 degrees. We stood at the entrance looking like tourists and a guy just came up and offered us a ride into town. Awesome. He dropped us off at a hotel , welcomed us to his town and left with a smile. Enjoyable arrival. Arriving in Khovd we decided to take it easy and stay a few days to plan the tour we wanted to do in the area. The town is quite interesting. A lot calmer than Ulaanbaatar and that was a welcome change. Some pretty good restaurants, people riding motorcycles with their kids (multiple) clinging to their backs, and cows mingling amongst the people. 

Our room had no bathroom, so no shower or shitter, it was located just off the lobby with a door that lacked any sort of sound deadening and our view was of a work site with a ger and sometimes a cow walking around. We did though have access to a public washroom in the lobby and a darkened closet that spouted warm water if you asked the front desk ahead of time on the third floor, so our creature comforts were covered. The first day we just drifted around and checked out the town. It didn't take long. We also read a lot to recharge the batteries. The following days we contacted a lady name Marka, who spoke English and helped us find a driver and a guide for a 2 day tour around the next valley. She was super nice and met us at the hotel to facilitate our planning. She made sure that the prices we were paying weren't extravagant and warned us that people would try to charge as much as possible. I had no impression of that though. 

I felt the people there were super generous and curious. The kids who new a few words in English always tried them out. We had a million "Hi, Bye" scenarios with kids and adults alike in the street. A lot of smiles, some stink eyes of non understanding and a gift of a melon from a family in a car in front of our hotel while i spoke to my folks on the phone. I like Khovd.

(encore une fois les accents manquent) Notre première aventure dans l'Ouest de la Mongolie commence ainsi: comme on a décidé d'augmenter le budget pour quelques jours, on s'attend a un guide qui parle anglais et un jeep avec chauffeur pour 2 jours...! Finalement, arrive un gars, Togi, qui dit quelques mots d'anglais seulement, accompagné du chauffeur, Markhan (prof a l’école du village) en Toyota Prius!!! hahaah!! Excellent. Au moins on a notre moyen de transport alors on s'encourage! Finalement, j'en prends note, les routes de Mongolie ne sont pas du tout faites pour les Prius! La route pavee s’arrête des la sortie de la ville de Khovd, après, c'est la route de terre, poussière, roches, trous, c'est selon! 

Des intersections sans aucune indication, mais le chauffeur semble connaitre son chemin! Heureusement tout se passe bien. Apres avoir aperçu mes premiers troupeaux d’élevage, mes premiers chameaux, mes premières yourtes et un homme a cheval dans la steppe, on fait un premier arrêt dans une vallée paradisiaque.  

Rivière bordée de quelques mètres de verdure perdue dans un paysage rocheux avec montagnes enneigées au loin. C'est la que j'ai pu réaliser pleinement ou j’étais enfin rendue et que j'ai verse quelques larmes de joie. On a pu visiter 2 immenses grottes et voir des ''petroglyphs'' datant de 15 000 ans, représentant divers animaux. Notre ''guide'' n'avait pas la moindre idée ou ça se trouvait, nous avons donc réalisé que le chauffeur était le réel guide derrière tout çà! ;)

Plus tard dans la journée, on ne comprend rien de ce qui se passe, le chauffeur intercepte et discute avec chaque conducteur qui passe, on ne peut pas vraiment poser de questions de toutes façons! Finalement, la noirceur tombe et on s’arrête près d'une petite maison au milieu de la steppe, le père sort avec ses 3 enfants. On comprend que l'on campe sur leur terrain pour la nuit!! Magnifique. Lever de pleine lune sur les montagnes. Couches tôt vu le nombre incroyable de maringouins, nous avons eu la nuit la plus confortable jusqu’à maintenant! Vive le camping! Au lever, on comprend que la famille nous invite dans leur maison et on partage leur déjeuner en se parlant par signes. Lait de chèvre chaud, biscuit, fromage frais (style feta mais plus goûteux), melons qu'ils cultivent. 

Le deuxième jour on escalade une vallée rocheuse (oui oui, en Toyota Prius) le plus loin possible. Une famille s’apprête a déménager son campement d’été au site d'automne. Randonnée de 5 heures aller retour vers le haut de la vallée jusqu’à la chute d'ou part la rivière. Encore une fois...magnifique. Au retour, la famille a disparue! 

L'histoire se répète...on repart pour trouver un endroit ou dormir. On arrête près d'une yourte au bord d'un immense lac. La famille nous invite a l’intérieur pour le thé. Première entrée dans une yourte. On se sent si maladroits. Comment s'asseoir? Comment manger? Comment tenir le bol de thé? On observe et on apprend! Fascinant! L'odeur de la ger (yourte)...odeur vague mais perceptible de lait qui règne, pas mauvais, juste particulier pour les premières minutes. On nous offre a manger...un peu inquiets, on accepte. Un bol de soupe avec nouilles maisons et viande quelqconque. Délicieux! 

Ensuite, ce que je crois être un biscuit. Erreur (encore)...morceau de crème séchée. Ohhhhh... misère! Je n'aime pas ça du tout! Je considère mon bol de the...estime la quantité restante a 5 gorgées! J'engloutis donc le morceau de pâte amère en 5 bouchées rapides suivies du reste de mon thé! En moins de 30 secondes! Jon se demandait ou mon morceau avait disparu! ;)

On reprend la route. Dernier arrêt, une  dernière yourte ou cette fois on nous invite a dormir!! En compagnie bien sur de nos chers amis les maringouins! Télé noir et blanc dans le coin qui montre le président de la Mongolie donnant la première leçon pour la rentrée des classes, odeur de la ger, plus forte cette fois. On nous offre du airag, lait de vache fermente donc alcolise. On accepte une seule gorgée, question de savoir si la prochaine fois nous devons accepter un bol ou non. Je n'ai pas encore décidé...hahaha...disons que je n'ai pas du tout aime...difficile a aimer la première fois avec la texture. Mais on s'habitue a tout! 

Retour au bercail, a Khovd, ou d'autres aventures nous attendaient en route pour la ville de Olgii, mais ça sera pour un prochain message! Pas de nouvelle avant le 18 septembre car on quitte en randonnée pour 10 jours. On vous embrasse.