7. Disturbances in greenish Central Mongolia

By Filipe Morato Gomes	Where is central Mongolia?
After a week travelling in the Gobi Desert, arriving in Central Mongolia provided a very welcome change in the landscape. Water, green sceneries, wildlife, we saw it all. But not everything was perfect. Disturbances happened, Mongolian style.

The days spent in the Gobi Desert were a memorable experience. No doubt about it. But it was also a pleasure listening to the water running down a river again. And to look afar in the blooming green that painted slopes and valleys in central Mongolia. To walk along the banks of an immense and reassuring lake or just observe the horizon marked by the insinuating curves of the high-heeled mountains. The landscape had changed since we headed north again. Stones were replaced by trees and bushes; camels by horses and yaks, plains by mountains; slowly, the surrounding picture became less rough, leafier. Maybe nicer. Different, for sure.

Orkhon valley, Mongolia

Orkhon is a wonderful place to rest. There was nothing around the group, not a single village, nothing at all. We could only see a few small groups of gers located near the river flowing calmly and slowly. There were also hundreds of Mongolian horses looking for pasture. And everywhere, in all directions, we could see green, green and green.

We had already been told about the magnificence of Orkhon valley by other travellers, how much they had regretted not to be able to stay longer. I do understand what they meant. The valley is wonderful, and when you happen to come from a hostile desert the place looks like a mirage made true.

In spite of all the beauty, not everything was perfect in our passage through central Mongolia. Something very strange happened indeed. For the first time in this around the world journey some children threw stones against our van as if they were playing a game. I had already heard about cyclists who had been stoned by kids in Tibetan roads but I hadn't listen to any similar comment concerning such behaviour in Mongolia. This was no doubt a strange attitude since it happens in a country where people are genuinely kind and extremely friendly. Perhaps it was no more than an isolated case.

A Mongolian posing in Orkhon valley

Also, for the first time, the Russian van broke. “Machine no good”, said our lovely driver, Nêma, while making a typical Mongolian gesture by showing her clenched fist and lifting only her little finger. It is a symbol meaning something bad, disagreement, censure, which turned out to be true since we had to stay for more than six hours in a local road on the outskirts of - fortunately - the small town of Kharkhorin.

We were glad it happened near a village. We wandered through the local market, we dared to enter on a tiny restaurant with no costumers and we ate whatever was available - mutton with something else, mutton, of course, once again. While Nêma was still repairing the mechanical problem we decided to visit the famous Erdene Zuhu Monastery, situated in the periphery of the town. Although the Monastery is one of the biggest attractions of the region - according to a travel guidebook - for us it was no more than an enormous disillusion. Undeserved fame, we thought.

At some point, Nêma worked out a solution for the problem. He did it using creativity and imagination as well as benefiting from the help of other drivers who passed by and offered to help. I took for granted that it is in the places where there are fewer possibilities that you can meet the most helpful, co-operative, witty and creative people. The art of surviving is an important of one's daily life. I looked at the body of smiling Sophie, a Swiss travel mate during the last couple of weeks. On her back, there was a tattoo with some Arabic characters: “Imagination is the light of the soul”. The van's engine was ready to go again.

(originally written in Portuguese)

» Read Unexpected melody in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia
» See Photos - Gobi Desert, Mongolia
» See Photos - Central Mongolia

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