back to civilisation - how does it work again?!

my top ten of civilisation's luxuries:

- water
- running water
- HOT running water

- not having to burn toilet paper (esp. when there's some wind)
- being able to enclose yourself in 4 little walls for nature's calls

- food
- diverse food

- not waking up between 4-5 am because you're freeeeeeeezing cold
- not fearing that, while you're asleep, you'll be rained on

- electricity is also a pretty useful invention

by: a Mongolia-survivor

me, myself and i - by: the author

me ... [in central mongolia]



... myself ... [in the Gobi]



... and i. [in my beloved Gobi sand!]

the tour-ists

a couple of hours in Irkutsk on the way to Mongolia

irkutsk was established in 1651 as a cossack garrison to establish authority over the indigenous buryats. in the 1700s, it was the springboard for expeditions to the far north and east. it became eastern siberia’s trading and administrative centre. a major junction on the exile road, its most illustrious 19th-century residents were the decembrists and polish rebels. the exiles formed a rough-hewn aristocracy who emphasised education, arts and political awareness.

when gold was discovered in the lena basin in the 1880s, the city boomed. the newly rich built brick mansions and grand public buildings, many of which are still standing. irkutsk thus quickly became known as ‘the paris of siberia’. a city of well-to-do merchants and high-brow socialites, irkutsk did not welcome the news of the great october socialist revolution. the city finally succumbed to the red tide in 1920, with the capture and execution of admiral Kolchak, the head of the white army. soviet-era planning saw irkutsk develop as an industrial and scientific centre, which it remains today. it is slowly also developing into a more tourist place, ideal as a stop-over for trips on the trans-siberian, or trans-mongolian, and as an excursion base for lake baikal and its surroundings.

note the balcony of this building...

typical for siberian houses in the area of lake baikal are the colourful and carefully ornated windows on the wooden houses.





church of the saviour.

other various pics / villages / övöö / and other impressions

the sky can be absolutely wonderful in mongolia. sometimes with no clouds at all and with overwhelming shades of blue, sometimes with interesting cloud formations.

a market.

typical village scene, with houses and gers.





a typical guanz, colourful and with tiny little balcony and big sign to attract people driving by.



if there were no ger, this could be somewhere around lake baikal in russia.



a car plate, with the mongolian national symbol in red and the MNG abbreviation. the first two letters indicate the city where the car is registered (in this case: UB)







a tiny little street in the middle of nowhere, only intended to serve as guanzes for people passing through.





whereas we had our old-style russian jeep, mongolian tourists were travelling on this truck. note that the truck was full of them...



the coulds provided for a dramatic scenery, cutting into the mountains, with the young monks practicing (or simply playing?) to beat each other up at sun set at Amarbayasgalan Khiid.



one stupa after another.



a typical övöö: large pile of rocks, located on moutain passes and near sacred places, serving as repositories of offerings for local spirits. they are often decorated with a multitude of mostly blue scarfs (the khadag) and demonstrate the animists believes of the mongols.

upon arriving at an övöö, walk around it three times clock-wise, toss an offering onto the pile (it can be another rock, some vodka, or milk, or money, or whatever else you have with you) and make a wish.



the latest addition to mongolia: pink buses. looks very funny when it comes swinging around the corner in the otherwise green landscape.



Altan Gov, a local beer which didn't even taste too bad.



the entrance to a tourist ger camp, with the big ger serving as 'restaurant/bar'.



fresh milk. well, fresh milk with flies. ok, fresh milk with LOOOOOOOOOOOTS of flies.

views from inside the jeep

various views from the inside of the jeep - note how differing the landscape can be, depending on where you are. but - even within the very same region, the landscape can change completely within an hour's drive.