Elstei Ger Camp
The drive out to the Ger camp seemed to go on forever. Suddenly we pulled off the highway and headed into nothing. There was a faint trace of a path but little else to tell us that we were on a road. Again the road to nowhere seemed to last forever but finally we came to the top of a hill and saw our first glimpse of the camp.
The camp was made up of about eight circular tents. Each one had four beds inside, a sink and a stove. Surrounding the camp were a range of mountains and snow covered plains as far as the eye could see. There were only four other visitors to the camp which meant that we had our own tent. From the camp the toilets were about 50 metres or so - the perils of outside toiletting faced us again!
When we arrived at the camp we were left to our own devices and we relaxed and got used to our new homes. The main worry that we had was that the cold would be too much for us but we needn’t have worried after the women sorted the fire on the stove out the tent turned into a sauna. Unfortunately for me she continually came into the tent and stoked the fire so that the temperature was unbearable - this even happened through the night. I tell you that it comes as a surprise to find a Mongolian woman stoking your stove at 2 o’clock in the morning (wahey!).
Anyway, we spent the rest of the day relaxing - essentially the camp is liek a Mongolian Butlins. For dinner we had Mongolian barbecue which is meat cooked on a metal plate - nice but not very exciting. The next day we went to a Nomad family’s Ger. It was quite a walk but worth it. As we approached the Ger it was as if we had stepped back in time or rather that we were in some kind of Western. It looked like a homestead straight out of Shane. We were invited in to the tent for tea and biscuits. However, the tea was sakty and the biscuit tasted very peculiar but not wanting t be rude we drank it all (and complained later - the true English way). Stuart was convinced that the tour gides had set the Nomad family up for the tourists - equipped with fake cows and sheep.
After the salty tea we headed up a mountain so that Naki could get reception on his mobile phone to phone about placing another cast on Karen’s wrist. From the mountain top you could see in the distance a silver statue of Genghis Khan in the distance. He is everywhere in Mongolia - I don’t really think that they have another historical figure that they can idolise and as a result he is put on everything from rugs to vodka.
Stuart’s and my own fear of horses put pay to the prospect of riding in the afternoon. So instead we stayed in the Ger and played another Mongolian game using sheep bones again. Before sitting down to another plate of meat (obviously Karen had veggies).
The following day we had to say goodbye to the camp and return to Ulaanbaatar. It was a real shame leaving the camp as we had such a relaxing time there and felt totally at home, even the outside toilet didn’t put us off it. However, I think the diet of salty tea and barbecued meat might get to us after a while.
Ulaanbaatar beckoned and so did another hosiptal - I have made Karen promise me that we won’t visit a hospital in every country we stay in.