I’m writing this from the 13th century. Back when Ghengis Khan ruled an empire bigger than the Roman Empire at it’s greatest. Back when the Mongolians warriors were 1.8m tall and above and wore 25kg of armour and protection into battle on horseback. It must have been a ferocious armed force, far better organised than the opponents, and well led to have crossed huge plains of nothing much in search of lands and communities to conquer.
Our tour guides, Genco, are a major business in Mongolia and actually initiated this project, to recreate a 13th century village celebrating the way of life from times gone by.
After we left our tourist ger camp this morning, we headed across the plains, a much bigger landscape than what we have in Australia, the rolling grasslands are bigger than anything we have. They are arid semi desert plains, with short grasses and sparse herds of sheep, goats, horses, and the occasional double humped camel. These are the sparse open plains I have imagined and I am thrilled to be driving through them now.
We drove off the tarmac highway, which was in good condition to start off with, but deteriorated with unrepaired sections became abundant. It looked like a section of a few sq metres had been cut out cleanly from the road ready to be repaired, but no one had come along to repair it. Hence there was km after km of these big holes in the road that had no warning markers. Fortunately traffic was light and incidents were avoided. We turned off the highway for a lunch stop, creating our own track across the grasslands. Then found our way back to a short cut route to our overnight destination. This shorcut ran alongside the Ulan Ude to Beijing railway, part of the trans Siberian rail network Kerry Jacob and I will be on in a weeks time.
It was an unmade road. Tracks in the grasslands, but marked on the map as a designated road. Eventually the rolling grasslands made way for hills, some even with small trees. All this land is covered in snow in winter. It must be bitterly cold with winds howling across the open plains. We are 44° north now and well away from the oceans that level out temperatures.
As we climbed the track became just a two wheel track. Then we came to the top of a ridge and an amazing scene was before us. There was this vast bowl of grassland, sparsely dotted with ger camps, rocky outcrops and a track leading towards a little collection of ger which was to be our destination for the night.
Before we arrived at the overnight camp, we were greeted at the village gate by four horsemen in traditional gear. Descendents of Ghengis Khan’s guards, they performed their duties well, looking very stern and authentic – incredibly authentic. The first ‘hut’ was a message or postal station, where 20 guards were based to pass on messages across the countryside. We could try on their gear, and Jacob tried to look fearsome.
Next stop was the Kings Ger, complete with King and wives. This is where we stayed for a traditional meal of soup with pasta, some attempt at a green salad, and then eventually roast lamb, potatoes and carrots. This was served in big chunks, with plenty of fat and eaten by hand. It was tough, we were tired after a long day on the road, about 10 hours, and have come to our ger just after 10pm. Darkness falls around 7pm
A fire has been lit inside. We have candles. there is no electricity in this 13th century replica site, and no, no wifi!! There is also no running water, which we can cope with, but to have inadequate toilets is something that’s not really acceptable. This is a shame as it spoils the otherwise wonderful experience we are having here. It has also turned bitterly cold at night with a chill breeze sweeping across the open fields. Inside the ger is silent, warm and dry.
The stars are blazing, the milky way as bright as I’ve ever seen, and we are both having a great time!!
