Wednesday 17th July 2013
Singing Sands to Dalandzadgad
Hope you enjoy your last day at Cabin Esme. Lots of love. Xxx
Slept fitfully, in between lashing rain and howling wind. A real storm. When we woke, it was calm and sunny. No damage to tents. A herd of goats munched their way around us as we packed. On our way, we see a large parcel which must have fallen off a load. It is a lot of fleeces. Further along, a truck and trailer have a puncture. We offer help, but people are managing.
We drive towards enormous sand dunes, khongoryn Els, the “singing Sands”. They reach heights of over 800m, and are 150km long. When the wind blows, the dunes sing, and many a traveller has been lost by following these voices. Our route takes us through the dunes, along a dried up river bed. It is a actually muddy in places, because of the recent rain. As we try to climb out our Landy gets stuck in claggy, smelly mud. We have to be towed. Both cars have air let out of their tyres, as we will be driving in sand for a while.
We run parallel to the sand dunes. There are people riding camels towards the opening to the dunes, and we see a large ger settlement. Being nosy, we head in that direction. It is the Gobi Discovery Tourist Camp. If only we had found this last night. Traditional gers, double beds, toilets and hot showers. There are wooden building, for the Information Centre and restaurant. We ask about buying lunch, but it is too early. Dinosaur fossils and rocks are on display, and maps and reference books available to browse. Two kittens are playing together. On the way back to the cars, I realise why the large red camel statue at the entrance looks strange. It is sporting a rather fine pair of antlers.
Atle notices that the locals have been using the riverbed as a road. We do too. Less dips and gullies. Mountains to our left, sand dunes to our right. The desert floor is green, after the rain. Ahead, the sand is being blown right over the valley. Will we hear it singing over the noise of the Landys? The horizon has been obliterated.
Having said we wanted to stop for lunch, it would not be pleasant to stop here. Too exposed and windy. Tim was bemoaning the fact that foodstuffs we had been saving to eat in Mongolia, were still in the drawers untouched. We don’t want to be shipping stuff back home. Fair point. We ate a muesli bar on the go, to make up for the fact we had no yoghurt left, so ate bread for breakfast. Tim found a big, thick slice in the middle of the loaf, and toasted it on the Pocket Rocket. Baden Powell would have been proud.
Seen several vehicles for tourists coming towards us. It would benefit the communities if Eco-tourism was to thrive. Small businesses have been set up locally, wool and felt making. Near the border with China, further south from here, there is a small gold mine.
As we straddle yet another little water course, we agree we have done some serious off-roading on the road this trip. Well, eating on the hoof was charming. The first mackerel jumped out of the tin, rolled down my leg and flopped onto my foot. Tim had honey sandwiches. Coming towards us is something I thought was a motorbike. As we approach, it becomes clear that it is a man walking, and pulling a trailer of possessions behind him. He is wearing a face mask. He waves. We can’t tell if he is a local or tourist on long distance hike. Little towns becoming more sophisticated. One had two storey buildings. The next had street lights. Turned a corner so tight we met our own dust coming back at us. Run out of fuel in main tank, fill from secondary.
40km to go. Everyone really tired. This morning Hilde asked “Has everyone got sand in their ears?” We all have. Not chosen a hotel yet. We decided it was going to take at least three showers to get dust free and clean. Text from Astrid and Olav. They intend to be in UllaanBaatar this weekend. So we may meet up.
Turn off main steppe, and over some hillocks. Bit of variety 1.900m. Road undulates and twists. Grass and flowers. Pile of discarded bottles and cans around flat stone. Skirt round the edge of a mountain range. Very large man grazing horses, stocky and strong. Another man down by the wheels of his truck, sheltering from the wind, talking on mobile.
High telecommunications mast on edge of Dalanzadgad. Largest city we have been to in Mongolia. Tall buildings, airport, diggers and dumper trucks. A real road with asphalt. Road signs. Gers with numbers. Horse parked outside a hotel. Posh houses with railed balcony. Royal Pub. ATM. Bit overwhelming.
We find Hotel Khan Uul, which, according to its co-ordinates, should be another 56km out in the desert. Very new. On street view it is still a building site. Work is going on at the back, men digging out soil by hand. Large crane.
We book in. Ask where bar is. None of the staff have very much English, but it is obvious that the bar is not open. What? Apparently, in order to curb the rampant alcoholism the city has banned the selling of alcohol on Wednesday. That also explains why the alcohol aisle, in the supermarket where we were trying to buy yoghurt, was all under wraps. But we have a cunning plan. We sneak some cold beers from our fridge up to their suite. Sit around drinking and planning the next phase. Realise we don’t have to get out of Mongolia as quickly as we thought, because we have less than 3,000km to drive in China, 36 hours driving. That is a really liberating thought.
Everyone catches up with emails and the blog, now we have Internet. Fantastic photos on Path. Rachel’s neighbour’s disastrous driving session, fire engines, swims, beer and Esme’s last day at Cabin. What a fantastic party. We send a picture and message from Mongolia. Difficult to phone people, especially those who are at work as it is 7pm here and 12 noon at home. May try at weekend. Anyway, a lot of you are on holiday soon.
We go to our room, and shower. Bliss. Haven’t had a proper shower in over a week. Didn’t know my hair was shiny. We really feel we have come in from the wilds, having spent at least three days in the Gobi. All scrubbed up, we meet for dinner. Yuk! But we were polite. Chose a corner table, ordered bottled water with glasses, which Tim filled with red wine from our box.
All shattered. Even Atle admits he is tired of off-roading on road.