Well, the Saint Paul Winter Carnival it wasn't, but it sure was a heck of a lot of fun. I was so happy to be able to have the opportunity to go to the Khovsgol Ice Festival, one of the items on my "Mongol Bucket List." I was able to do a bit of work on the trip too, and take a meeting about a possible summer project up in the Russian border with the reindeer herders.
The route. Purple line = dirt road, pink line = paved road. Khovsgol is the name of the aimag as well as the lake. It's "capital" is Murun, like Dornod's capital is C-town. It's typically 14 hours from C-town to UB, 18 hours from UB to Murun, then 90 minutes from Murun to Hatgal soum (village). One way. I was on a mini-bus for three of the long legs, and an actual bus (think Greyhound) for the leg from Murun to UB. We rented a meeker for all of us for the round-trip Murun to Hatgal and also for transportation around Hatgal. There is a definite hierarchy in Mongol ground transportation: bus then mini-bus then meeker/portagon. It's amazing what half an inch of extra knee space (bus v mini-bus) and a seat to yourself (bus & mini-bus v portagon/meeker) will do for your level of comfort.
Mini-bus to Murun packed to the roof!
Apples, oranges, grapes, lemons, kiwis and bananas in the aisle.
Me and Corey.
Brittany and her CP up front.
Oh hey Jerry!
Wrestling Palace in Murun.
Jeff's ger in Murun. I slept in there for three nights.
Jeff and Gennie rolling out the tortillas for fajita night.
Gracie frying the tortillas and sauteing the veggies.
I chopped all the veggies and meat.
The crew enjoying the fajitas the night before we left for Hatgal soum.
In the morning, heading to our meeker to get up to Hatgal soum and Khovsgol Lake.
The "guesthouse" gers we slept in.
Smile and say "Not cramped!"
Guesthouse on the lake and Sukhbaatar ship in the distance.
Driving to the festival, passing the Sukhbaatar, frozen into the lake.
How the "road" is marked on the lake.
Ice Road Truckers has nothing on this!
Looks like Lake Superior!
Panoramic as we walked toward the festival.
The lake is so clear you can see the rocks on the bottom!
Slightly deeper water...
Even deeper water. Love the color changes.
Coffee shop on the ice. Aw yeah.
Watching the skaters.
Think that guy is a winner.
Ice slide!
Weeeeeeeee!
Horse-drawn ice sleighs. The horses are shod with shoes that have spikes on them to grip the ice.
Some of the guys getting a ride.
Hi!
It was such a thrill.
After the ride.
Ice Wrestler.
Ice Chinggis?
Ice Skier.
Ice Sukhbaatar.
Ice Reindeer & Sleigh.
Hello frozen lake!
Could barely see the other shore. Khovsgol Lake is long and narrow, 84.5 miles long and 22.7 miles at its widest.
Hill with an ovoo.
Heading up!
Panoramic view from the top.
Don't look down!
View of the festival from the top.
People walking to the ovoo.
Making offerings at the ovoo.
The gang that went up.
People bowing to the ovoo from the lake.
Awesome ice formations on the back side of the hill.
The whole group.
Getting ready to "shoot" Gracie...
...Then they all fell down.
Fish khhuushuur ger.
Frying the khuushuur.
So delicious!
Usually it's the opposite...
Someone made an Inuksuk! Probably the Canadian Ambassador or his peeps... (The US Ambassador was there too; she treated us to dinner on Monday back in Murun.)
Huge bonfire on Saturday night.
Naadam wrestling on the ice.
The shopping.
Now that's an ugly fish.
These smoked whitefish reportedly came from White Lake as it's illegal to fish Khovsgol Lake.
Checking her feet for spikes before the tug-of-war.
Ready...
Pull!
Horse-drawn sled race.
Look into the ice, find your soul.
Reindeer!
So many events the two days: ice soccer, ice golf, ice "strong man" competition, reindeer races, singing competition, opening & closing ceremonies...We saw a lot, but we missed a lot too.
The sign.
Because there were so many of us in the meeker, the driver was risking a ticket so about 100 yards away he dropped half of us off before entering, then when leaving about half of us walked until we were out of sight.
The awesome shoreline as we were walking.
MOM! DAD! I found your "Cabin on the Lake" here in Mongolia!
We stopped at the Sukhbaatar on Sunday as we left the festival.
There were other, smaller, ships frozen into the lake.
The next however-many photos are of random people in deels. I've got a little deel crazy this winter. Just love 'em!
My ride from UB to C-town was simultaneously the best and worst ride of my time here. There were 11 open seats on my mini-bus, including the one next to me (the whole time!). However, my mini-bus broke down six times and the mini-bus we were caravaning with broke down three times. This delayed us by 5, FIVE, hours, for a total drive time of 19 hours. Uuuuuuuugh.
The good thing about caravaning is safety. If one bus/mini-bus/meeker/portagon dies, we can all pile into the other and get to shelter.
The last of the mountains overlooking the steppe as we headed East.
My awesome souvenirs: two felted reindeer, a hand-carved horse spoon (to go with my Welsh Love Spoon) and my snazzy reindeer wool knee-high socks. On day two of the fest I negotiated the prices down (from ridiculous tourist prices to only slightly escalated prices) using my exceptional (ha!) Mongolian language abilities...and logic. Selling them is better than packing them up, right!?
So all-in-all it was tough travel and tough accommodations, but none of it was so bad that I wouldn't do it again. And knowing Bams was well cared for by my sitemate and her dog was a comfort. :)
