Mongolia was INTENSE. Intense wilderness, punk and chaos. Our observations are quite contradictory, we only know that we are glad we were here, we are glad to be getting out of here and we would gladly return to this beautiful country one day.
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– For centuries, Mongolians were proud of GENGHIS KHAN, he has his airport, giant statue, bank, beer and khan chips.
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We’ve seen so many sheep, goats, yaks, cows and horses that was enough for all our life. Well, for Mongols its enough for three fat meals a day. In summer, they eat sheep, in winter beef.
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We ate everything with the locals. We tried HORSE MILK, sweet YAK CHEESE, butter in tea, lots of cheeses that we no longer remember, grilled MARMOT or homemade MILK VODKA. Result? We did not lose weight in Mongolia either.
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The local people for various reasons still live in YURTS even though they have a house – it’s natural, there’s warmth, everyone sits together, yurt offers great air circulation, and it’s cheaper than heating the whole house.
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Their beautiful nature and mountains are considered to be one large LANDFILL. Beer cans are thrown straight out of the car window, and small children, after finishing the chips, throw the bag straight to the ground.
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FIRE. An element without which would be the life in a steppe impossible. However, its meaning differs across the country. In Central Mongolia, it is a holy thing and it is forbidden to throw anything unclean into the fire. On the other hand, plastic bottles are burnt in the west without hesitation. But the number of garbage along roads and cities is not different.
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In Europe, they have figured out how to build roads from plastics. Maybe that’s why there is so much garbage in Mongolia. They are making supplies for the time this method arrives here. Then Genghis KhanΒ΄s empire will have better ways than in Austria. Just wait for it, you’ll see.
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As for ALCOHOL, the Mongols like it. The government has introduced a zero tax on wine imports. In supermarkets you will find French wines at the same price as in France. But it’s not to support alcoholism, but to drink less alcoholic drinks.
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Finding not expired food in a supermarket is a challenge. The RECORD holds a milk that expired in 2010, so we were happy with a two-month-old pΓ’tΓ©.
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Due to the lack of certain foods we found ourselves enthusiastically screaming things like: “Bananas, they have bananas!” and “Omg, chicken!”.
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Shops and restaurants in small towns are primarily closed. A phone number hangs above the door in case you want to buy something.
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They do not use cutlery KNIVES, they have them in some cities because of tourists, but we usually have to use a spoon and our own hands.
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ATMs have given us trouble. Either they do not have enough money, they steal cards (that’s what really happened to us) or they do not work at all. The Mongols are skipping the queues there (they already know that the amount inside is limited), and they all look over your shoulder when you’re withdrawing money.
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Mongolians know better English than the Russians, especially in tourist areas, we didnβt have a problem to make ourselves understood. But even so, most of them know only three phrases: “Hello!”, “What is your name?” and then “Bye.” Those who were paying attention at school would add: “How are you?” And then move smoothly to Mongolian.
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“Tchch” means “Yes”.
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Guest houses are the place where travelers meet, we have mostly met those traveling around the World or simply for a long time. We actually met only those.
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They are SPOILED by tourism π Western tourists are willing to pay European prices for services that do not comply with European standards, and once we caught an elderly American as he forced money to a child for taking a picture of him. Because of it, the Mongols now see us as WALKING DOLLARS. Seriously, instead of our faces, green banknotes reflected in their eyes.
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Everyone’s a TAXI DRIVER. Really. Just wave your hand.
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There are ROUNDABOUTS WITH TRAFFIC LIGHTS in Ulaanbaatar.
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As for the names of the cities, the Mongols were not very creative. There are several Tsetseregs, Olgis, Jargalants and others on the map.
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Mongols like to take pictures and then look at each other. Many times, complete strangers showed us pictures of their whole family. Just like that.
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They like FASHION. But their robes, which vary by region, are pulled out of the closet mainly during festive days.
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The national animal is a HORSE, and it is also celebrated in songs where its moaning becomes part of the CHORUS.
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A lot of Mongolian women have O-shaped legs. The only explanation that came to our mind was riding a horse.
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When visiting Mongolia, add a HERPES OINTMENT to the first-aid kit. It will be useful – a bottle of milk and a glass of vodka is usually shared in the yurt.
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A MASK is useful as well. We knew that we should not expect the virgin nature of the Alps, but we did not expect that much dust.
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The city development does not rise towards Ulaanbaatar, but toward the west.
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The capital city is basically one big village, in Ulaanbaatar, they do not even have a very sophisticated sewer, and if it rains the city turns into a big pool.
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But it’s not just all NEGATIVE. Mongolia’s capital city is a place where tourists are offered shooting from RPG or tank rides.
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The West is very different from the center of the country. Many Kazakhs live here, at first glance they choose another clothes, build mosques, they greet each other by “Salam alejkum!” instead of “SembenΓ³!” and in the songs in the radio, instead of horses, you will hear the eagle screams.
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Finally, we had only one last mystery to solve β do the Mongolian Airlines have normal or pit toilets? We already know π
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