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JacktheCat
Joined: 08 May 2004
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 Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 7:36 pm Post subject: JacktheCat in Mongolia |
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Now I finally have a place to post up some pics of my Mongolia trip this past summer.
The Great White Lake. Nothing like coming over a hilltop on horseback and seeing a beautiful lake spread out before you.
The horse is still a primary means of transportation in Mongolia. And Monglia is one of the few places left in the world where people still live a nomadic existence.
Here are some ghurs, the Mongolian 'house.' Very roomy and quite warm. They can be packed up in a matter of minutes and transported by yak cart to the next campsite.
Mongolia at night. Haven't seen such a clear, wide open sky full of stars like that since my days as a little boy living in Africa.
The morning routine of milking the yak herd. Yak milk tastes almost as strong as the animal smells.
A Mongolian highway.
75 years of Communism couldn't kill Mongolians deep religious beliefs.
Erdene Zuu. Formly one of the top centers of Buddhist learning in the world before the Communists burned it too the ground and killed all the monks.
Decendants of the horses that Jinghis Khaan used to conquer most of the known world.
Looks like they need English teachers in Mongolia too.
A camel caravan crossing the Gobi Desert.
Surly and ill tempered, camels don't take to domestication too well.
Your's truely atop a camel in the Gobi desert. |
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ilovebdt
Joined: 03 Jun 2005
Location: Nr Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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Jack, I am so jealous it looks beautiful.
Mongolia is another one on my list of places to go.
Did you go on a package trip or make your own way around? If you went on a package trip, who did you go with?
Would love to go camel trekking.
Roll on the holidays!!  |
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skinhead
Joined: 11 Jun 2004
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| Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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Superb country and pics, Jack. One of the places on my top ten to visits. You better post some pics of the gurls too. How about Mongolian gurls? (I guarantee it'll bring the hits to the forum)
Hey anyone still got a link to that SK photographic 'journo' who went up there last year for a nudie shoot? That was nice. In very good taste too. |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 8:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Very cool photos! I knew two other people who went to Mongolia this last summer as well. They talked extensively of the milk alcohol.. something like that.. whats that all about? Or was it horse milk fermented.. something weird like that. |
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JacktheCat
Joined: 08 May 2004
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| Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
Did you go on a package trip or make your own way around? If you went on a package trip, who did you go with?
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I went on my own (tried to organize a group of people from Dave's, but that fell through.) Once in country I hooked up with a group of Frenchies and we travelled together to save on costs. Pretty much impossible to do solo travelling in Mongolia due to the primitive state of the country's infrastructure. The place to find people for travelling with is a backpacker hangout called Chez Bernard in Ulaan Bataar.
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I knew two other people who went to Mongolia this last summer as well. They talked extensively of the milk alcohol.. something like that.. whats that all about? Or was it horse milk fermented.. something weird like that.
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That would be airag, which can be fremented out of horse, yak, or camel milk. Has about the same alcohol content as weak vodka. The camel airag is not for the faint of stomach. |
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Swiss James
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:47 pm Post subject: |
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| whenever I read about the fermented milk booze I always imagine it tastes a bit like dong-dong ju. Does it? |
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captain kirk
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Caramba, nice photos, cool. Could you rent motorbikes there? |
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ellie
Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Location: Melbourne- Australia
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 3:16 am Post subject: how long did you go for? |
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hey well done- good to see pics. Its one of my top 5 places to go. How long did you go for? Approximately how much did it cost? Was the cultural experience inviting or welcoming to their everyday life?
ellie |
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travel zen
Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Location: Good old Toronto, Canada
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| Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2005 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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Mongolia is a wicked place. I was there for a few weeks in April and May. Nice people and beautiful scenery. Not too many black people there, but a fair amount of europeans, koreans and japanese travelling through.
I had a great time, looks like you did too. I hope the flies didn't get you, summer can be brutal with them. |
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pollyplummer
Joined: 07 Mar 2005
Location: McMinnvillve, Oregon
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| Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 12:21 pm Post subject: lovely, lovely |
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| Breathtakingly beautiful pictures!! Thanks for posting those. Someday I will visit. |
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JacktheCat
Joined: 08 May 2004
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| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 8:03 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
whenever I read about the fermented milk booze I always imagine it tastes a bit like dong-dong ju. Does it?
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Actually the fermented horse's milk does somewhat, though with a stronger kick, and they add lots of salt to it. The yak and camel airag have to be tasted to be believed.
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whenever I read about the fermented milk booze I always imagine it tastes a bit like dong-dong ju. Does it?
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Rent, no. Buy, yes. You can pick up a used Chinese or Russian bike in fairly good condition for a couple hundred US dollars.
I ran into this crazy German chick, while I was there, who rode her BMW enduro bike from Munich to Ulaan Baatar.
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How long did you go for? Approximately how much did it cost? Was the cultural experience inviting or welcoming to their everyday life?
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I was there for 3 weeks. The plane tickets where a nose puller at 500k won, but my in-country costs were never more than $25US a day.
Mongolians are some of the friendliest, most inviting to strangers, kind of people I've meet in my varied travels.
Just be careful telling them you live in Korea, as for than a few Mongolians have a real hate on for Koreans, because of the way Mongolian workers are treated here in Korea and the way Korean missionaries and businessmen come to Mongolia and act like the 'the lords of the earth,' in the words of one Mongolian I met.
Last edited by JacktheCat on Tue Oct 04, 2005 8:11 am; edited 1 time in total |
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JacktheCat
Joined: 08 May 2004
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| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 8:07 am Post subject: |
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| And thanks to pollyplumer for inspiring me to bring along a a copy of the Narnia Chronicles to read by a campfire under the Mongolian stars. |
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Corporal
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 8:46 am Post subject: |
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| Very beautiful pictures. Especially appealing from here, in the land of the morning vegetable truck... |
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JacktheCat
Joined: 08 May 2004
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 6:08 am Post subject: |
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| Corporal wrote: |
... Especially appealing from here, in the land of the morning vegetable truck...
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Yeah. I showed these photos and more to my high schoolers the first week of semester and it was a real eye opener to them.
One Korean mind at a time .... |
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jlb
Joined: 18 Sep 2003
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 12:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Wow...amazing pics. I have a feeling I'll be there one day... |
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