The Singing Dunes of Hongor Sands

Today I would finally reach the southern point of Mongolia. I woke up this morning to see the staff sweeping the sand off the parking lot, which seems like a full time job in the desert, even though it is not currently looking like a desert.

I guess they are on break.

We stopped for gas and it turns out Mongolia is a little like New Jersey in that you are not allowed to pump your own fuel. Sorry for the comparison Mongolia, I know no one wants to be like New Jersey.

We then headed out. We could have been going in circles for all I knew, it all looked the same.



Not long into our journey we were stopped and had to be decontaminated. There was an outbreak of hand and mouth disease in the area we came from and they did not want us spreading it. They sprayed down our car before we could proceed, making sure we did not run over and pick up any poop or other biological material that would spread the disease. And yes, you have to pay for the decontamination services out of your own pocket.



We then came across an alien observation station or it could just be a Doppler radar.

It looked like the authorities were coming so we did not stay around very long.

We stopped for a bathroom break and I'm pretty sure I already peed here.

If you look closely you can see a number of bumps on the road and these would really hurt our travel times. They were formed by rain and wind, and if you travel too fast on them they will shake all of your fillings out as well as loosen every bolt and screw on your car.

This is normally just sand, however with the recent rains the Gobi sands have become more of a carpet. This only happens once or twice every ten years.

The landscape did finally start to change the further south we got.



We finally arrived at the Gobi Erdene Ger Camp. A nice place with flushable toilets and hot showers.





Nice Gers that you can really bang your head against.

You might notice a rock hanging in the center. This was actually in all my Gers, however, it was always off to the side. This was the first time I would have to use it. When the winds get high they let these rocks hang in the middle to provide extra ballast so the main support can hold up to the gusts.

Not far from our camp were the Hongor Sand Dunes, which due to the wind are always changing. Sometimes they are only a couple of hundred meters wide and other times they are up to 12 miles wide.





They say if you go to the top of the tallest dune you can hear them sing. Looks like a good two hour hike from here and once I got to the top it would be as far south as I would go.

So I started hiking. Taking one step forward eight inches and then sliding back four inches for a net gain of four inches. But this was not my first dune to conquer.



There is my car and driver way down there.

Cool views and you could see the winds erasing my footprints as I got closer to the top.





As I approached the top you could hear a low rumble of the sand dunes shifting. You could also hear a high pitch chime of the sand particles blowing around. I guess these two sounds simultaneously make the dunes "sing". I would not fully understand this until a few days later.



I was at the top quicker then I thought I would be, if only I had brought a sand board with me. Although, it might be better that I didn't as my past experiences in Sossusvlei, Namibia and Wadi Rum, Jordan were both pretty disastrous.



The winds up here were crazy and I took as many pictures as I could in as short amount of time as I could as I could feel the sand penetrating my camera. I wanted to get it tucked away as soon as possible to avoid any damage. I was also collecting sand in places where sand should not collect.

I was soon ready to run back down. I'm not sure why but I tightened my shoes. It did not make any difference as by the time I got to the bottom each shoe had easily picked up a pound of sand. While I was able to empty most of it at the bottom it was not until I got home and was able to fully open my shoe that I could finally empty out all of it.

We went back to camp for dinner. I've eaten a lot of crazy things in a lot of crazy places, and it has not always been the most sanitary, but I have never gotten sick. Tonight's boiled meat seemed a little off but I still ate it. A move that I would greatly regret in the next few hours when I developed a high fever. But for now I headed to the upstairs patio with a beer to watch the stars and visit with the other guests.