Day 4: Mike and Bone Bobble Heads Day 1?!?

 

Main Page > 2024 The Wrath of Khan! >

 

The Boys had restless night with the wind, rain, smell, they were up early and walked up to the community hall for a Mongolian breakfast in Dining Hall, where they were served a delicious set of bread, beef soup, then boiled beef and onions!!! 

Dadal's Dinged!

 

At breakfast Sinhee broke the bad news that the never-ending rain has washed out the bridge to the birthplace of Chinggis, Dadal, so the objective for the day had been switched to Binder, which as historically significant location associated with the origins of the Mongolian nation and the childhood home of that Temujin guy.

After the overfilling breakfast, the four belched the boiled beef and onions down the hill to Baatar's SUV to start their journey to Binder, and to Mike and Bone's surprise, quite a ride!

 

First Steppe Forward!!

One of the first thing that Mike and Bone learned on day four was Mongolian roads, or better still the utter lack of roads! Baatar to the Boys surprise left the camp enroute to Binder, and did not get back on the freeway but headed off straight across the Mongolian Steppe!

Without using any GPS, Baatar just drove out on the wide open prairie "navigating" only by memory and familiar landmarks!!!  

 

Mike and Bone Bobble Heads!

Now trekking across the Steppe seemed very cool, but between the massive rains, and the rocky terrain driving at 55 mph Bataar had his SUV bucking like a bronco! Sitting in the back, Mike and Bone, who were buckled in, need to also hang on to the ceiling straps and pretty much ride it like a couple of rodeo riders!!!!

 

Good ole' Country Ride!!!

Baatar slid and swerved for the next 4 hours much to the consternation of the increasingly nauseous Boys in the back seat. While all of the pictures make the soggy steppe appear flat, Mike and Bones buffeted bottoms begged to differ with the non-stop bouncing!!!

Mercifully they pulled over in a very little town for lunch!

 

"Hot Dog!! its Lunch Time!"

The very beat up building reflected the utter lack of infrastructure in Mongolia, there was no sewer nor sidewalk, just loose board over an open drain! Once in the restaurant Sinhee ordered lunch for the four, while Bone observed that they sold,,,,,, Hot Dogs!!!

 

"Hot Dog!! its Lunch Time!"

Yes, the awesome tubesteak was on display for purchase in the restaurants display case. Without a thought Bone bought one with a few Mongolian coins and slathered it with ketchup and dove in!

How was it?

Er, the bun was soggy, the sausage strange, and the ketchup, probable bad so a not so awesome tubesteak! But Bone hadda Hot Dog in Mongolia!!! With the appetizer over, Mike and Bone sat for another batch of boiled beef and onion stew!!  The monotonous but consistent, Mongolian meal gave the battered Boys butts a break from the road, but after 40 minutes, it was back to sloshing on the Steppe!!!

 

Back on the Road, or in Mike and Bone's case....

Back on the Buckin' Bronco!!

Baatar barreled the Boys through rivers, mud, and hills for the next few hours every so often they would see a grouping of Gers, which Sinhee told Mike and Bone tend to be extended family groups or small "tribes" of Mongolia. Even in 2024, Mongolians view themselves as Buryat's, Oirat's, Kalmyk's and Khalkha's, which is the tribe that Sinhee and Baatar identify with. In the middle of no where Baatar and Sinhee pulled up to a Ger and asked the Family living there if they could have a visit with Mike and Bone!!  

 

We are Family !!?!!

Mike and Bone with a Mongolian Family!!!

Despite their fierce some reputation, Mongolians are a friendly lot!  According to Sinhee, Mongolians do not lock their Ger's at night (not really possible) and usually welcome strangers in to chitchat! Sinhee brought Mike and Bone in a typically Mongolian families Ger. The family had three adults (father, mother, and auntie that lived near by) and a gaggle of children under 10.

One of the things Mike and Bone were asked to do prior to coming over was to bring coloring books and crayons as gifts for a family visit, these simple little gifts gave the Boys a warm and enthusiastic welcome into the Family's Ger!

Mongolian family warmly welcomed the bewildered American visitors into their home. The Father firmly shook Mike and Bone's handed with hands that had been hardened to leather over stone due to years and years of handling his herds of horses, cows, sheep, and goats!  Wealth in for the Mongolian nomad is measured by the size of the family herds!

The Mother sat with her Sister and Brother-in-Law who were all holding their couples four kids. Once everybody sat down, the kids got busy with the coloring books!

Meanwhile the Father offered Mike and Bone desiccated cheese curds and a shot!

The desiccated cheese curds were , , , , ,interesting, kinda of chewy and salty, with a taste of spoiled milk! On the topic of milk, the shots were milk-vodka!!!

The boys downed the shot, felt their stomachs warm with the vile liquid and desperately hope not to throw it up!

Mongolian nomadic family life has not just changed much since the times of Temujin.

They are Mongolian nomadic families are generally close-knit, with extended families often living near or with each other, providing support and resources. While nuclear families are common, extended families (groups of related men, their wives, and children) also exist, often living in close proximity, which is what the Boys experienced in the Family's Ger! After 20 minutes of pleasantries translated by Sinhee, Mike and Bone bid a fond farewell to the parents and the children to hit the road for more rain and mud riding!

 

Barreling to Binder!

The next three hours, Mike and Bone rode the bucking bronco called Baatar's SUV! Mercifully around 6:00, they arrived at a VERY soggy Ger Camp in Binder. Binder is famous as one of the spiritual centers of Mongolia, and where Chinggis spent his misspent childhood.

 

Checking out the Swollen Khumul River in the Rainy Binder Ger Camp!

This Ger Camp, was,,, a little err,,,, bohemian!?! avant garde?!? OK how 'bout a freakin' dump!!!

The Boys placed the gear in the Ger and walked around the VERY unkempt grounds down the river that a young Temujin ran around on, and quickly found out why he turned out so ornery! The property was overrun with weeds and garbage every where. Walking down to the river, Mike and Bone were quickly chased away with black swarms of biting horse flies and mosquitoes!!! No wonder Chinggis was ornery! He was always covered with bites! Fortunately Sinhee called the Boys to another dinner of boiled beef & onions!!! The Central Building that the Binder Ger Camp used for dining was dilapidated as heck, in fact in the middle of the not-so-delicious dinner of boiled beef the a part of the ceiling (fortunately not near the Boys!) collapsed with a plop into a wet heap on the floor!

After another belly-belching dinner, Mike and Bone headed back in the rain to their soggy smelly Ger, they had noticed that the Ger had a fireplace, now that night it was in the 40's so the Boys asked Sinhee if the Camp would start a fire for them in the Ger.

 

"Ger!!!, it was a Hot and Buggy Nite!!

Be careful what you ask for the saying goes! Little did Mike and Bone know that in a few short minutes the fireplace was glowing red, and the Ger got to about 90 degrees! PLUS, They noticed that the mosquito netting wasn't for decoration! The Ger was filled with buzzing horseflies and thirsty mosquitoes!

It was so bad that despite the heat, the boys had to cocoon themselves in the dirty sleeping bags because even through the mosquito netting, they were getting chewed up! So it was a looong, sweaty, and buggy nite on the Mongolian Steppes!