Mongolia is the 15^th largest country in the world and only 6.9% of the national road network is paved.  So that means if you want to get from say the Gobi Desert in the south to the mountainous region of the north you have to allow quite a few days to negotiate the adventurous dirt road network.  And that’s exactly what we had planned to do.

After having yaks snorting and munching on grass outside our ger in the morning we packed up and left – and the old couple that moved out for us presumably moved back in – and headed northward along more dirt tracks, up and over a series of saddles, just loving this endless Mongolian countryside. 

At one stage Dashca took what seemed to be a random track off to the left which we later realised was our road to the major town of Moron.  The problem, as always, is there are absolutely no road signs or markers of any kind – if you don’t know where your turn is – and sometimes Dashca does not – then you get hopelessly lost.

At one stage he stopped and had to get the compressor out to fill a tyre with a slow leak.  This was the fourth flat tyre we had inflicted on our various drivers, not a good record.  Eventually we made the town of Moron – pronounced Muroon – a monster town of 40,000 people with paved roads and five story buildings.  Luckily they also had a few tyre repair shops and after a quick detour we were able to head out of town pointing northward again.

And did you say a paved road?  Amazingly we had a paved road for the next hour or so until we made our way to the shores of Khuvsgul Lake, the second largest freshwater lake in Central Asia and a super popular tourist destination for locals who want to enjoy the cold water and cool mountain air during the region’s official six week summer period. 

We had lunch down by the water’s edge and then made our way up the west coast of this huge lake, playing the usual game each afternoon of Dashca trying to find where we’re supposed to be sleeping.  Eventually he found our family ger and we moved in – with views of the lake out our front door, a hot shower and yaks grazing all around made this a top spot.  And let me tell you, these gers are very comfy and cosy – they are very addictive.

The next day was a classic example of our magical mystery tour.  We knew we had some ‘nature walking’ today and our expensive tourist camp for the night was just down the road but everything else was a blur.  Dashca drove us a short way up the valley behind our camp, suddenly stopped and motioned that we were to walk the rest of the way.  Okay.

And luckily we did because this was a wonderful walk up an old fire trail through the pine trees with fabulous views of the mountain range opposite us.  And as we climbed we could turn around and get views of the lake as well, making it all feel very Lake Tahoe-ish.  Except we were in northern Mongolia about 200 kilometres from the Russian border.

After a strong team effort to our personal summit/turnaround point we walked back to the car and returned to our ger for lunch and to pack the car.  We drove about one kilometre down the road to an allegedly upmarket ‘tourist camp’, as opposed to a family ger, and moved into our ger for the night.

And as I said, these gers are super comfy but all much the same, even if this tourist camp is about seven times more expensive (which to be fair includes dinner, brekkie and a tepid shower).  With a free afternoon it meant our only activity for the day was a great two hour walk.  Hmm.  I took advantage of the time for a quick swim in the almost-freezing Khovsgol Lake which despite it’s size freezes in the winter. 

We enjoyed a good dinner at the tourist camp and having a chat to the owner who spoke very good English.  She gave us further insight into living in this remote place – her peak season is only the month of July and it is very hard to hire staff who will only work for a couple of months – especially men who she says are lazy and want to get paid too much.  She is a teacher in winter and earns $400 per month.

The next day we headed south for a site we asked Soko, our ground operator, to add into our itinerary – the fascinating Deer Stones.  A UNESCO World Heritage site, the Deer Stones are monolith stones carved mainly with handsome elongated stags with huge antlers dating back to the Bronze Age from about 1200 BCE. 

Dashca followed dirt tracks through the mountains for the first amazing site – which we thought was the only site – only to do some off-roading through valleys and over saddles (and stopping twice to ask herders directions) until he came to the larger and more famous site.  We loved walking amongst these upright stones, handsomely carved with a variety of ancient figures but predominantly featuring majestic stags with their long exaggerated antlers.  Great historic stuff and a real treat.

Here’s a few more shots of the deer stones – including stones which have other things carved in them. Very special.

We pushed on back to the regional town of Moron, jumped on the paved road and a while later stopped at a hotel/restaurant where Soko had offered to buy us lunch.  We enjoyed a meal featuring plenty of meat – a rarity in our diet these days – and finished our day in the small town of Ikh-Uul where we stayed in a modest but clean guesthouse. 

We only had a couple of days to go on our adventure in Mongolia and as recently as yesterday we talked about how we had to pinch ourselves, such was the enjoyment, special treat and even privilege of exploring such a wonderful country.  Luckily we still had a few great places to visit.