2019 Sommer Homeland Mongolia trip

11/01/2020

11/01/2020

Heute....

Liebe Mitglieder und Interessenten,

Freunde der Mongolei e.V. wünscht Euch ein gutes neues Jahr!
Wir wollen dieses Jahr nicht lange zaudern und Euch gleich am ersten Wochenende nach den Ferien zu einem geselligen Beisammensein einladen.
Moogie und Philip wollen am Samstag, den 11.01. wie bereits lang angekündigt Fotos von ihrer letzten Reise mit Bus und Bahn durch Polen, Weißrussland und Russland in die westliche Mongolei zeigen. Wer auch schon einmal daran gedacht hat, mit dem Zug in die Mongolei zu reisen, wird sicher verschiedene praktische Fragen loswerden.
Dazu gibt es natürlich mongolischen Milchtee und wer will kann auch Buuz (gedämpfte mongolische Teigtaschen) bestellen.
Wir treffen uns im urigen Kriechbaumhof des DAV, Preysingstraße 71 (Ecke Wolfgangstraße) in München-Haidhausen. Anpfiff ist um 18 Uhr.
Wir freuen uns auf einen unterhaltsamen Abend.
Viele Grüße

Герман - Польш - Беларус - ОХУ - Монгол
Автобус, вагон, машинаар аялсан 2019 оны амралтынхаа тэмдэглэгээс хуваалцана.

Freunde der Mongolei e.V.
Anmeldung: 01785094151 per SMS oder Whatsup

U4/U5: Haltestelle Max-Weber-Platz, von dort ca. 5 Minuten zu Fuß.
S-Bahn/U5: Haltestelle Ostbahnhof, von dort ca. 10 Minuten zu Fuß.
Tram 19/15/25: Haltestelle Wörthstraße.

19/08/2019

16/08/2019

13.8.2019
Senjitin Davaa - Ikhuul, Zavkhan

The next morning the kids were in a bad way. They had slept in the car which turned out to be even colder and less comfortable. Enkhee’s cold had got a lot worse still. However, with the help of our fantastic gas stove, Moogie conjured up some kind of breakfast yet again, which revived everyone just enough to set off again.
There was more sand that day, there was another beautiful lake (Ulaagchin Khar Nuur where we were meant to spend the night) and there were more stunning views – particularly from a pass called Semjitiin Davaa. By now we had crossed into Moogie’s native province of Zavkhan, however, strangely, the closer we got to her native town, the more often we got lost. By the lake we caught in a car rally and asked for directions from the organisers who totally messed us around. Although we relied on the help of locals thereafter we got lost so many times that in the end we ran out fuel. Our food supply was getting pretty desperate as well, so weren't impressed with the many detours. Well, at last we hit upon the “khar zam" the first longer stretch of tarmac road since Russia, as well as the first roadside restaurant on Mongolian soil, so we were all quite relieved. Thanks to the excellent road and Enhee’s super economic driving style, we only just made it into Telmen Sum where we filled her up again. From there on we sped on, and with just one more technical stopover in Tosontsengel (the coldest town in Mongolia) finally made it to Ikh Uul, Moogie’s hometown.

Photos to be added later...

16/08/2019

12.8.2019, Mukhartin els

In the morning sun, the lake was just too beautiful to wait for the kids to wake.- We had to go for a quick dip immediately. The water was about as cold as alpine lakes but strangely soft almost to the point of feeling somewhat soapy. The surroundings of the lake were a rocky birds' paradise which we spent some time exploring with the kids after breakfast. The most scenic spot is the so-called Khetsuu Khad, a strange arch of rocks which doesn't look all that natural.
From Khyargast Nuur we headed for yet another place of amazing natural beauty, the dunes of Mukharyn Els. It felt like a day trip to the Sahara. Well, some oasis in the midst of the Sahara desert because a broad tree-lined river wells up right at the foot at the dunes...
We were in high spirits when we got back to the car, but the day took a rather unexpected turn: our driver (who never failed to stop and check on people who seemed to be in trouble) tried to help someone stuck in the sand. Unfortunately, he happened to be the most incapable driver we had ever met in Mongolia. By the end of it all we set off again only to find that our car now had a puncture...
To cut a long story short, we had to camp out in a tent we didn't know how to set up properly and without sleeping bags…

14/08/2019

11.8.2019
Ulaangom-Khyargas nuur

The following day we decided to go for another hike in the Turgen mountain range near Ulaangom. Enkhee, our driver, knew the way. However, strangely, it didn't seem to square with our information. The area we ended up in was very picturesque plus it was at the foot of a mountain range, so the two of us set off although we were pretty sure this wasn't quite the recommended tour to Mt. Kharkhiraa. The kids weren't on for another hike just two days after our Tsambagarav challenge and Enkhee was very happy to stay behind with them. We walked up the valley alongside a beautiful creek until we reached a summer camp where apparently Enkhee’s parents used to spend their holidays. Crossing the creek was a bit of an adventure, but we eventually made it and continued up the valley. Shortly afterwards we were overtaken by a motorcyclist who turned out to be a local in search for various goodies. We joined him and spent about two very interesting hours picking berries, digging up roots and learning about the medicinal properties of local flowers. Gansukh – that was our guide’s name – was mainly after wild onions, but we didn't have time to hike up that high with him. We only made it to a spring where we filled our flasks and took photos of a famous rock called Camel Rock. Gansukh also had a lot to say about the local wildlife: where the wolves give birth, where to look for mountain goats and what deer droppings look like. He also solved our mountain puzzle: the mountain we were climbing is indeed known as Kharkhiraa among locals, but the mountain referred to as Kharkhiraa in our guidebook is known locally as Turgen Kharkhiraa. Anyway, we also learnt that the recommended access route was currently blocked. Basically, we couldn't have spent a more enjoyable four hours on any Kharkhiraa mountain. We got back to the car slightly late for our long drive to Khyargas Nuur, a huge scenic lake in Uvs surrounded by sand dunes and rocks. We reached the yurt camp just after nightfall over this amazing lake.

10/08/2019

9.8.2019 Mt. Tsambagarav 4208 m

One of the most amazing days of our whole trip (so far) was our hike up to the eternel snow covered Mt. Tsambagarav. It is about 80km north west of Ulgii City.
It took us 2 1/2 hours to get to the foot of the mountain. We spent the night before at a Kazakh nomad family's home, a beautiful yurt that looked much like the one we had seen at the provincial museum the day before. Communication wasn't easy as the 73 year-old head of family was hard of hearing, some of the family members didn't speak Mongolian at all and the girls (who were far more numerous than the lads) were all to coy to mix anyway. As we entered the yurt, we were greeted by a freshly severed goat's head instead of the usual sheep's head and that already set the tone for dinner: it was the ultimate challenge for Philip who basically eats any vegetarian food except for goat cheese. Unfortunately, all the food we were offered had goat in it: goat milk tea, goat milk butter, goat milk clotted cream, goat milk curds, etc. Philip valiantly tried all of this while Moogie and our driver indulged in boiled goat innards. The big platter was crowned with the blow-torched goat head that had greeted us by the door. Even our hosts admitted that the non-halal Khalkh Mongolian take on this dish (with all the yummy juicy blood) is nicer. Anyway, it was quite a rare experience. Even our driver who is from the neighbouring province had never set foot in a Kazakh yurt.
Our ascent started another couple of hundred metres above the yurt camp - as far as the jeep was able to take us. From there we went up and up and up picking our way as went along. Unfortunately, we had only 6 1/2 hours, but we did make it to the icecap, just short of 4000m altitude...

08/08/2019

7.8.2019
Ulgii, Mongolia
Finally we've reached Mongolia!

Our extravagant trip started at Biysk railway station just about 350 km South of Novosibirsk (why did it take that last train took almost 9 hours to get there?) and ended at the border town of Tashant - 589 km by taxi across the Altai Mountains. It was really quite spectacular: the Siberian plane with lush greenery, vast sunflower fields and villages made up of those quaint Russian wooden izba houses, then the first hillocks near the city of Gorno-Altaiysk, followed by ever more lofty mountains, rivers that looked like white water rafting paradise, passes celebrating what must have been some of the last Soviet engineering feats, and landscapes that seemed more and more familiar as we were approaching the border. Our driver - dubbed "killer driver" by Moogie - simply tried to get us to the border by 4pm (that is within 8 hours) as he had promised. Every short stop for taking photos or buying honey had to be punished by some more scary speeding. He also kindly shared the stories of late friends who died in this or that curve. Well, unfortunately, they were drunk...
At the border point in Tashant we found out one needs another ride through 25 km of no-man's land to the Mongolian side of the border. Waited and waited asking every single driver for a ride (well, there were only very few anyway) and expecting border shutdown by 6pm.
After about an hour of waiting, hopelessly wondering what to do, a young Kazakh driver came and took us which took a lot of luggage rearranging and squeezing in. We only drove some 20 metres, then got off the car, unloaded and carried our stuff through passport control and customs. There was another moment of suspense as Temuulen's custom's declaration form had been misplaced and the mean border control people threatened to send us back again. At last we were free to drive through the border zone. On the Mongolian side everyone was already quite cheerful with Moogie chatting away like a machine gun in her native tongue and everyone else relieved we didn't get caught up in the border trap. Anyway, the Mongol colleagues had another problem in store for us: as the kids had only left Mongolia with their German passports, there was nothing in their Mongolian passports stating that they had ever left the country. This issue took them an hour to resolve as our fellow travellers were waiting and wondering.
By the time we were through another person who had been waiting for us had left again, but he came back and all was well. Water! Food! A decent hotel in the aimak capital! Sound sleep!

06/08/2019

Last night we got even less sleep than during our journey back to Moscow. Luckily the kids had spent most of the day sleeping, but I (Philip) had to get by on no more than four hours because I had trouble falling asleep at 8pm (CET/body clock) and didn't expect to lose yet another hour due to yet another time zone. So the conductor woke us up at 5:20 and we were all set to hit the Siberian capital (?) of Novosibirsk when our train finally arrived at 6am sharp. We left our luggage at the station and essentially spent the whole day drifting. The two slightly more interesting museums (Roerich and Regional) were closed, the river beach was hard to get to (plus we didn't have bathing costumes), and a spa in the outskirts of Novosibirsk that we saw advertised in a department store turned out to be non-existent. Everyone took it really well actually. The nicest part of Novosibirsk was really the riverfront overlooking the majestic Ob' river. Now it's almost time to catch our train to Biysk. Moogie is wrecking her brain and corresponding with various mysterious consultants about how to cross over to Mongolia. The border towns sound like pretty bad tourist traps. Apparently, you can only make it across if you arrive early in the morning. What's this anyway - a border that shuts down overnight?

05/08/2019

… I ran out of steam. There were just too many minuscule stations. We'll just post a photo of the timetable for you to check. Meanwhile we've moved on slowly but surely, crossed three timezones and reached Western Siberia. Did anyone notice actually? In none of our previous photos you could see anything like blue skies or scorched fields in the dazzling summer sun. Basically, Moscow was cold and St. Petersburg was freezing (9°-13°C). One of the first things we had to do in Piter was to buy a hoody and a pair of jeans for Temuulen who had left all but a T-shirt and shorts with Anna. We checked the weather ahead of and started looking forward to Siberia and Mongolia where temperatures are in the 20s. Anyway. Time to post this. We just reaching Omsk and expect about 20 minutes of connectivity

04/08/2019

9th day, 3.8.2019, Moscow

We arrived back in Moscow (Leningrad Station) early in the morning, in fact too early for another strenuous day of sightseeing. Temuulen seriously considered trying out his energy drink, but then put it off for. Moogie really wanted to visit a place in central Moscow called Kitai Gorod, and nobody objected we went there. It's an interesting area of old buildings connected with trade situated near Red Square. We saw the Gostinny Dvor, St. Barbara’s Church, St. Maxims, the Old English House and so on. We also watched what looked like a huge fire in the distance being fought with at least two helicopters. Then Moogie tried to get the hang of her taxi app to take us to our next point of interest, but unfortunately failed. The taxi thing has got a bit tricky in Russia and cars that stop for you when you hail them seem to be the exception. Yandex (Яндекс) rather than Uber seems to be quite big here. Anyway, next I dragged my people to the so called Glinka Museum of Musical Culture which was a complete flop and rip-off. But it was also our first interactive exhibition in Russia and I guess it had some few good parts. Plus on the way we discovered a super yummy breakfast place with blinny, kasha and the like. Around 1pm we met up with our friend Anna K. and her family at VDNH the huge fairground where in the past tourists from at home and abroad had to admire the achievements of Soviet economy. It is celebrating it's 80th anniversary this year, so there are loads of special attractions. We visited the Kosmos hall with exhibits from the space race and, after more than an hour queuing went on a cool space mission in a simulator. After that we went back to Anna’s for dinner and to pick up our luggage. We were served berries and excellent veggies from the granny’s dacha. With Anna's and Alyosha's help the Yandex taxi thing actually worked and we had a rather nice and laidback trip to Yaroslavl Station (right next to Leningrad Station) where our train was due at 23:05. After our trains from Warsaw and St. Petersburg we weren't too impressed with the train that we would be pending most time on by far.

10th day.. However, a 1000 km further down the line we've made ourselves comfortable.
This is our timetable: (August 3rd) Moscow, (4th) Yaroslavl’, Danilov, Sot', Lyubim, Buy, Rossolovo, Galicia, Loparevo, Antropovo, Nikola-Poloma, Nomzha, Neya, Brantovka, Manturovo, Shar'ya, Kotel'nich, Kirov, Glazov, Balezino, (5th) Perm, Kungur, Shal'ya, Pervoural'sk, Ekararinburg, Istok...

02/08/2019

Exactly a week since we left Munich...
We went to Peterhof Palace today, about 35' train ride from St. Petersburg Baltiski train station.
What a Palace!

Ямар ч гоё цайз юм, 18-р зууны эхэн үед баригдсан гэнэ. 300 гаруй жил болж байгаа гэхэд яг л шинэ юм шиг, торго дурдан, алт мөнгөөр туйлсан сайхан орд байна...
Хамгийн инээдтэй юм нь: хомын төвөөс тэнд очих орон нутгийн вагоны билет нь нэг удаа жорлон хэрэглэх үнэтэй тэнцэх рубль байлаа.

Этот дворец даже детям
очень понравился!

01/08/2019

7th day, 1.8.2019
St. Petersburg

Today we explored "our" part of town, the Petrogradskaya island, where St. Petersburg was founded in 1703. We walked over to Peter and Paul Fortress and admired the massive fortifications whose construction Peter I. himself oversaw. There was also a sailing boat which the monarch himself built having studied shipbuilding abroad. We went on to look at the Great Mosque and then walked along the embankment towards the famous battleship Aurora whence the shot was fired that signaled the beginning of the Russian Revolution. From there we crossed over to the neighbouring island, chanced upon super nice булочная (bakery/café), and ended up in Lenin Square. Not only was there a Lenin statue but also a house from which he had addressed the masses in 1917 and a beautiful mosaic of the revolutionary inside the metro station. Back on the main island we went to the market to prepare for dinner. We passed by a Dostoyevsky statue as well the house where he wrote "Бедные люди" and finally visited the two main monuments dedicated to Peter I. Back home at Sportivnaya we had a lovely family dinner.

01/08/2019

31/07/2019

6th day, 31.7.2019
Hermitage St. Petersburg
What a day!

30/07/2019

5th day, 30.7.2019 in Saint Petersburg

38'C in Munich -> 33'C in Warsaw -> 16'C in Moskow -> 13'C in St. Petersburg
It is freezing!
But we had such a fun walking around in islands of Leningrad....

30/07/2019

4th day ( Philip)
Defeat! To avoid any more Belorussian adventures and catch up with my family as soon as possible I FLEW from Warsaw to Moscow. At 3:20 pm we were happily reunited in Red Square outside the famous Cathedral of the Blessed Vassily.

30/07/2019

3rd day (Philip)
That was so stupid! I always used to get visas for Belorussia. However, this time around when I checked it said on the website of the Embassy of Belarus that in accordance with some presidential decree three years ago there was now a simplified procedure in place for transit through the country. I tried to call them - mainly to ask about Mongolian passport holders - they never picked up the phone. Eventually I wrote to them upon which they confirmed that Mongolians didn't need a visa. There was also a link concerning the simplified transit visa procedure (which I didn't follow). Well, to cut a long story short: the simplified transit visa procedure does not apply to the most obvious kind of transit i.e. by train. In fact it only seems to apply to flights via Minsk. No idea why anyone would need a visa for that. Anyway, they made me get off at Brest, retained my passport and basically kept me in border police custody over night. They were kind of friendly but also made clear I would go to prison if I tried to abscond. I was put up with a young Polish guy, Krzysztof, who had the same problem and just couldn't believe it wasn't solved through money. Somehow our time in Belarus seemed like some kind of flashback to the 80s. The police rituals, the traders, our guard's delight at a Polish cigarette... Well, and the inefficiency: they woke us up at 5am, kept us waiting for the first train back to Poland at 6 which then took 1 1/2 hours to cover the 8 km to Terespol. Anyway, after another 5 1/2 hours I arrived back in Warsaw where I finally got something to eat again after 18 hours. That croissant cheered me up so much that I decided to make the best of my stay and spend the rest of the day at the Chopin Museum.

28/07/2019

3rd day ...
Unfortunately, last night at about 20.00 o'clock, Philip had to get off at the Belarus boarder, while he needed a visa, which he somehow not .... planned/overlooked/didn't have....
Mongolians don't need a visa but Germans do need one...
Right after he had to be deported with good old border police, my phone was not be able to make any phone calls or SMS till this morning in Moskow.
Exciting.... Sad..... a hard night...
Good news, he will come tomorrow....

27/07/2019

We've made it! Our connection in Warsaw was somewhat tight: just over two hours to get from Warszawa Zachodnia coach station to Warszawa Centralna, the main train station. It's not very far - just a few minutes by train, but we were slightly worried about road traffic in Bavaria on the last day of school. Anyway, as it turned out there was plenty of time for food and at Warsaw Central and here we are in the cosy compartment of our super nice train - according to Naraa the best one we've ever been on. Imagine! It's got showers!

27/07/2019