The Wild Horses of Khustain Nuruu and Ongot
We would be leaving the lake today as we headed south. Before we caught our flight back to Ulaanbaatar we made a quick stop in Moron to check out the local market, always a favorite of mine. We first found these ladies who were selling berries. However, they did not grow them and instead just walked into the forest and picked them. Again, this is because no one owns the land so the berries kind of belong to everyone. So you are really paying for the convenience of not having to go out in search of them and picking them yourself.
I was surprised to find that they did have fruits and vegetables. Not a lot, but some. I wonder if they have ever tried eating them?
As expected around 80% of the market was dedicated to meat. This lady was thumping carcasses to see if they were ripe yet. I found that you really only need to use your nose.
With almost no refrigeration they would have to sell this all today.
And if you fancy some horse meat, they have that too.
They are happy to butcher it for you as well.
And if you need any toiletries they have you covered.
My guide then introduced me to what they call a type of "candy". It stinks, has the texture of loose cheese, and the taste of rotted cheese. It's kind of like a cheese curd. However, even if you breaded it and deep fried it, it would hardly resemble what you would find in Wisconsin.
We walked around a bit more before heading to the airport.
Back in Ulaanbaatar we drove out of town to the Khustain Nuruu National Park and home to the only wild horses left in the world, the Takhi or Prezewalski Horse. There are around 280 left and much like the reindeer people it takes some patience to find them. We would spend most of the day searching the park for them.
Because they are wild you can't get very close to them. They were actually extinct in the wild until 1994 when they reintroduced 16 of them back into the wild from a zoo in the Netherlands.
Also inside of the park is Ongot, a large burial with mysterious stone figures. Although, to my disappointment they did not look very alien like either, and I'm not sure what is so mysterious about them.
Here is the grave and based on it's design they believe it to be from the Turkic period.
They also believe that each stone represents a person that attended the funeral.
If that is the case then I guess a frog and sheep also attended the service.
We continued our journey across Mongolia's massive vistas to my camp for the night.
I was in for a real treat tonight in that I would be staying in a Ger that had both electricity and hot water, although it was a bit small.
A nice dining area.
Comfortable bed.
And at the end of the Ger there was a door to another room where I could keep my luggage.
With my luggage quite comfortable I checked the rest of the place out.
Here is the initial sitting area where you can rest with a welcome drink from the bar.
After your welcome drink you can then move to the main sitting area to enjoy the views.
I then had to choose between two queen sized beds. I choose the one on the left, or the right, depending on how you were looking at it.
The main feature of the room was this bath tub which also had views. I don't enjoy sitting in a tempted pool of my own filth so opted for the shower instead, even though it did not have any views.
They also offer massages right in the Ger. But I guess the lady that gave me a massage did not own any cows.
I kicked back with a beer and enjoyed the views wondering how much it would cost if I just stayed here for the rest of my visit.
But that would not be much fun as I had a lot more to explore. After a shower and a shave I tried on the robe while enjoying a glass of complementary wine. I've never figured out how to tie a robe as the belt always feels too high for me no matter where the robe comes from. I must be doing something wrong. They had amazing Mongolia spa like music playing though out the Ger and it was nice to fall asleep to it.
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