The ‘gang’, including (back left to right) Isaac, Rosie, Lonnie, Micah, Noah, and (front to rear) Klara, Qingqing, and Sophie.
by Rosie Hust, of Colby College
Mongolia Study Abroad – Fall 2019 semester
After 2 flights and 16 hours of travel, and dragging a 50 pound bag what felt like 3 miles across the airport in Seoul, I wandered down the steps to the gate dripping sweat to find a collection of friendly looking people decked out in hiking gear in a sea of unfamiliar looking faces. Easily identifiable, these are my people. One more relatively short flight into UB and we all cleared immigration to find Bob (Chris) and Badmaa waiting for us. Since setting foot on Mongolian soil, things have been moving and I don’t anticipate them stopping any time soon.
We spent a few days wandering around UB checking out the Buddhist Temple (Gandan), Sukhbaatar Square, the Mongolian history museum, the State Department Store, and sampling a variety of the local cuisine including but not limited to: horse meat, fermented camel’s milk, yak butter (big fan) and aaruul (dried yogurt).
Grasslands and distant Takhi in Hustai National Park.
To take a break from UB, we zipped up to Hustai National Park which is about 100 km west of UB. The park was established to support the reintroduction of the takhi, Mongolia’s wild horse. The park is also home to a plethora of other wildlife and plants, and Bob, Rebecca and Badmaa drilled us on Latin names and characteristics of different plants. Aside from the tahki we saw elk, marmots, and huge cinereous and lammergeier vultures. The ger camp we were staying at was located next to the “piece of the Gobi”…a small group of sand dunes just outside of Hustai.
Sophie, Isaac, and Lonnie exploring the “piece of the Gobi” outside Hustai.
At sunset the gang wandered out into the dunes to watch the sun sink below the hills and the sky shift from blue to pink to black. The perfect end to a long day. The dunes were optimal summersaulting and bird watching. Qingqing (affectionally known as “Birds”) and Isaac discovered a nest with some cloth in it. Later Rebecca informed us that the cloth was from a sky burial and that these bring luck. After an intense game of cribbage with Klara and Micha, I snuck out to check out the stars in the expansive steppe sky only to discover the full moon illuminating the entire sky, leaving only a few stars visible. After that tiny disappointment, I snuggled into my first night in a ger with visions of asters, allium and artemesia dancing in my head.
Sunset and moonrise over the mountains near Hustai.
Back in UB we went to the Tumen Ekh cultural show. Badmaa put her life on the line and threw some elbows to get us the tickets but it was well worth the fight. Traditional dances and songs were performed as we sat jammed on tiny benches. The throat singing was definitely a highlight. I was expecting a low throaty song, but the most incredible high-pitched sounds came out as well. The show concluded with a contortionist which made my whole-body ache.
Saturday we headed over to the Black Market in search of some del material and camel wool socks. The market offered another look into the lives of those who live in UB and some of the cultural goods. The selection of del fabric was overwhelming and many of us decided leave that up to the local del maker in the Darhad. The meat selection in the market was impressive…rows of non-refrigerated meat with women butchering full goats on the spot was an eye opener. We had a good laugh at some of the knock off English brands, including “Glavin Klien Kollecome”.
Our time in the UB has been fun, learning lots about the history of Mongolia and the cultural scene here, but most of us are antsy to get out to the Darhad and get out in the field. Tonight we board the train to head north!