Mongolia

We arrived in Mongolia ten days ago 

and have ridden 1548km

Mostly on old Silk Road routes

Just as well Ghinggis Khan had horses in the 13th century

Motorcycles would have slowed down his advances

And the advances of the Huns in the 4th century AD, too.

The Turkics moved onto the Mongolian plateau

And reorganised life in the 6th century

This is the time of the uighurs - the last of the turkics.

In the 11th century the mongols emerged

Their leader Chinggis Khan galvanised them

And fueled with dried meat and mares’ milk they conquered the world.

Chinggis Khan has become a figure of national pride

Revisionist history gives him a positive reputation

3.1million populate Mongolia

A third of them are nomads living in ger

tending 73million animals sheep, cattle, horses, goats, yaks, camels.

Meat and milk form the basis of the diet

In winter dried meat forms the basis of meals

Potatoes, carrots and swedes grow in the short growing season.

In towns people live in brightly painted houses

Also in ger. Modern and soviet era

Apartment buildings sit side by side.

Supermarkets provide an insight into food supply.

Each basket seems to have a bottle of vodka

In NZ it would be wine.

A variety of Mongolian dishes

Has sated our hunger. I liked the Khuusuur

which are like a fried Cornish pastie 

Mongolia is mineral rich

Most elements of the periodic table

Can be found in Mongolia. Oil and coal, too.

Something quirky caught my eye

Luscious fabrics in even the simplest hostel

And embossed and woven wallpapers. 

We have had some riding challenges

But as in all our motorcycle journeys

It is meeting people and learning new things

That makes it all worthwhile.

Sheep and goats flock together.  Healthy stock everywhere. Lots of young - calves, lambs, kids, goals.

Yaks, Bactrian camels (2humps). 


Preparing food from scratch is normal. Meals can take a while to arrive. Finely sliced meat, fried in a wok with vegetables is being prepared in this kitchen

Brightly painted roofs and houses in towns. We stayed at Fairfield guest house in Tsetserleg. It was a Soviet era home for eight families. W meet a man who had lived there until he was twelve. What an interesting conversation about the changes in his lifetime. The Soviet era ended in 1992.

The local Altai supermarket has fruit and vegetables and a lot of I orited products like dried cranberries packed in Chile.

I haven’t included a photo of the sweets aisle. People must have a sweet tooth here because it was a whole aisle.

Instead of wine there were shelves of vodka and beer.

Goulash with potatoes, khuusuur, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding (at Fairfield Guesthouse), lamb skiers and rice, toasted chicken sandwich.

Clockwise - Fossilised coral, aquamarine and fluorite in a quartz vein, brecciated fluorite, green nephrite.
Over 6000 mineral deposits in Mongolia are attracting multinationals like Rio Tinto. Gold, silver, copper ore, base and rare metals, rare earths, iron, coals including coking coal which along with crude oil goes to China.

Some of the wall papers from places we have stayed. They are quite opulent and so are the fabrics.

Our journey has included, Sukhbataar, Ulan Bataar, Kharakhorum, Tsetserleg, Tosontsengel, Uliastai, Altai.