Traveler's really experienced story in Mongolia
Travelogues
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: Part I - The Beginning
Herdsmen and Sons
Mongolian Funny Money
A Partial Solar Eclipse. July 22nd @ 0915. I got creative utilizing my sunglasses for this shot.
A Ger Camp. Half the Mongolian population live out of these mobile homes. Elaborate tents made out of felt.
22 August 2009: Tuvshinjargal published a entry
22 August 2009
By Raymond
Two days prior to departing Nepal I was bestowed an unwanted memento, 'Delhi Belly', aka Montezuma's Revenge or Traveler's Diarrhea - there's an oxymoron for you. To think I survived seven weeks in Nepal without any real GI issues but as I was packing to leave... blammo! A slave to the proximity of a reliable toilet.
This is not conducive when you're flight gets canceled unbeknownst to you and you spend three days in transit battling one befuddled snafu after another as the airlines scramble to get you to your next final destination. It was an exhausting 72 hrs of waiting and confusion, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn. 5 star hotels were picked up by the airlines as well as meals both in Kathmandu and in Bangkok as the air companies passed the buck from one carrier to the other. After two unexpected nights in foreign cities and a 12 hour layover in China, I finally made it to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
The language barrier here has been the most challenging experience out of all the places I've been. It's either Mongolian or Russian. Even the numbers are in their own language! And the diarrhea continued...
The theoretical plan was to buy a motorcycle and cruise across the barren Mongolian landscape and take advantage of the renown Mongolian hospitality. A few days venturing to dealers on my own, having no ability to ask questions about the vehicles I was looking at had me scrambling for solutions. I hired an 'interpreter' from a motorcycling tour company to assist me in my endeavors. Have I mentioned the fact that I never ridden a motorcycle before? Regardless of all efforts made and I'm sure to my parents delight, the 10 day search proved to be futile as all prices were well out of my budget. Hitchhiking was an option but not a very reliable one since some of the 'major' roads may see less than a dozen vehicles a day, and if the rains are bad, which they have been this summer, you may not see a vehicle for days. That and drivers expect payment.
To give you an idea of the geographical size of Mongolia the land mass is the size of Europe with a population of only 2.5 million of which about half of those live within the only city, Ulaanbaatar. It's a vast barren A Partial Solar Eclipse. A Partial Solar Eclipse. July 22nd @ 0915. I got creative utilizing my sunglasses for this shot. wilderness of plains and dessert where a third of the population remains 'nomadic' for survival. 90% of the roads are unpaved and horses out number the people 10 to 1. At about ten days into my Mongolian stay, the diarrhea started to subside after taking some Cipro (FYI -- in Nepal most medications such as antibiotics can be bought over the counter for pennies a pill. Very convenient.) but I was still having issues. One day while in an internet cafe I noticed a bulging lumpy balloon just above my navel as I was taking notice to some pain I was having in that area. WTF? A hernia was born and I named it Perry. As I started to manually tuck Perry back in with my finger after my initial finding, I nearly passed out where I sat. Yeah, I'm a wuss but something wasn't right. I also couldn't help but to think 'worst case scenario'. Which no matter how I saw it, it wasn't going to contribute to the cause.
At this time I had just moved into my fourth hostel/guest house. Mostly due to places being fully booked for Naadam or "the three games of A Ger Camp. A Ger Camp. Half the Mongolian population live out of these mobile homes. Elaborate tents made out of felt. men" - archery, wrestling, horse racing. It's the largest national festival here commemorating their independence after the 1921 revolution against the Chinese. Luckily for me, I found a tiny relaxed bed and breakfast-ish house to stay in with plenty of vacancy. I've been living with a young Mongolian couple who open up there apartment to travelers. When the three bedroom place is full, the couple, Gana and Haliuna, sleep on couches in the living room. Haliuna speaks English better than anyone I've met here so far. Her father happens to be a doctor. Again, what luck. I tell her of my intestinal problems and she rings her father. The next day she takes me to a clinic where I pay 4000t (1500 = 1$US) and see a general surgeon who refers me down the hall to a GI specialist who doesn't fell anything since I hadn't eaten any solid food for 24hrs and tucked the threat back in. She gives me a few Rx, waves me off, and I'm on my way. As I'm waiting for my Rx to be filled, Haliuna makes a call to her father and tells him what went on. Not satisfied with Window Cleaner. Window Cleaner. -- Ulaanbaatar the examination, he insists on meeting me in his office ... which was closed that day. So he calls in a nurse and Haliuna and I make are way to the other side of town to meet them.
Two days prior to departing Nepal I was bestowed an unwanted memento, 'Delhi Belly', aka Montezuma's Revenge or Traveler's Diarrhea - there's an oxymoron for you. To think I survived seven weeks in Nepal without any real GI issues but as I was packing to leave... blammo! A slave to the proximity of a reliable toilet.
This is not conducive when you're flight gets canceled unbeknownst to you and you spend three days in transit battling one befuddled snafu after another as the airlines scramble to get you to your next final destination. It was an exhausting 72 hrs of waiting and confusion, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn. 5 star hotels were picked up by the airlines as well as meals both in Kathmandu and in Bangkok as the air companies passed the buck from one carrier to the other. After two unexpected nights in foreign cities and a 12 hour layover in China, I finally made it to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
The language barrier here has been the most challenging experience out of all the places I've been. It's either Mongolian or Russian. Even the numbers are in their own language! And the diarrhea continued...
The theoretical plan was to buy a motorcycle and cruise across the barren Mongolian landscape and take advantage of the renown Mongolian hospitality. A few days venturing to dealers on my own, having no ability to ask questions about the vehicles I was looking at had me scrambling for solutions. I hired an 'interpreter' from a motorcycling tour company to assist me in my endeavors. Have I mentioned the fact that I never ridden a motorcycle before? Regardless of all efforts made and I'm sure to my parents delight, the 10 day search proved to be futile as all prices were well out of my budget. Hitchhiking was an option but not a very reliable one since some of the 'major' roads may see less than a dozen vehicles a day, and if the rains are bad, which they have been this summer, you may not see a vehicle for days. That and drivers expect payment.
To give you an idea of the geographical size of Mongolia the land mass is the size of Europe with a population of only 2.5 million of which about half of those live within the only city, Ulaanbaatar. It's a vast barren A Partial Solar Eclipse. A Partial Solar Eclipse. July 22nd @ 0915. I got creative utilizing my sunglasses for this shot. wilderness of plains and dessert where a third of the population remains 'nomadic' for survival. 90% of the roads are unpaved and horses out number the people 10 to 1. At about ten days into my Mongolian stay, the diarrhea started to subside after taking some Cipro (FYI -- in Nepal most medications such as antibiotics can be bought over the counter for pennies a pill. Very convenient.) but I was still having issues. One day while in an internet cafe I noticed a bulging lumpy balloon just above my navel as I was taking notice to some pain I was having in that area. WTF? A hernia was born and I named it Perry. As I started to manually tuck Perry back in with my finger after my initial finding, I nearly passed out where I sat. Yeah, I'm a wuss but something wasn't right. I also couldn't help but to think 'worst case scenario'. Which no matter how I saw it, it wasn't going to contribute to the cause.
At this time I had just moved into my fourth hostel/guest house. Mostly due to places being fully booked for Naadam or "the three games of A Ger Camp. A Ger Camp. Half the Mongolian population live out of these mobile homes. Elaborate tents made out of felt. men" - archery, wrestling, horse racing. It's the largest national festival here commemorating their independence after the 1921 revolution against the Chinese. Luckily for me, I found a tiny relaxed bed and breakfast-ish house to stay in with plenty of vacancy. I've been living with a young Mongolian couple who open up there apartment to travelers. When the three bedroom place is full, the couple, Gana and Haliuna, sleep on couches in the living room. Haliuna speaks English better than anyone I've met here so far. Her father happens to be a doctor. Again, what luck. I tell her of my intestinal problems and she rings her father. The next day she takes me to a clinic where I pay 4000t (1500 = 1$US) and see a general surgeon who refers me down the hall to a GI specialist who doesn't fell anything since I hadn't eaten any solid food for 24hrs and tucked the threat back in. She gives me a few Rx, waves me off, and I'm on my way. As I'm waiting for my Rx to be filled, Haliuna makes a call to her father and tells him what went on. Not satisfied with Window Cleaner. Window Cleaner. -- Ulaanbaatar the examination, he insists on meeting me in his office ... which was closed that day. So he calls in a nurse and Haliuna and I make are way to the other side of town to meet them.
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