"Gobi-ng Insane" A Tale of the Gobi, Part 1

We set off for our vacation in this bus. Me, Steven, Nadine, and Brigitte, one of my Mongolian TOEFL students, Tsengel, our Mongolia-Khazak guide, Marik, and our Mongolian driver, Enkh.

Our traveling crew L-R back row: Marik, Steven, Nadine; L-R front row: Tsengel, me, Brigitte, and Enkhee.

We spent much of the trip in situations like this... "Getting stuck in ruts" was the theme of car travel... Helping others out, waiting for others to get out, getting help getting out, or waiting to get help getting out! To the left is Enkhee, our Mongolian driver, and the right is Marik, our Mongol-Khazak guide. Notice the yellow sash on the man on the right, pushing the car. He is in Mongolian dress and yellow is the traditional color for the sash. We got stuck at least 4 times in 12 hours of being on the road.

Driving south from Ulaanbaatar, this was the view once the typical steppe landscape gave way (see one of my earlier blogs for that view).

Mandalgovi, the Middle Gobi capitol... yeah, crazy! We stayed here for one night after around 12 hours of driving... sorry, bouncing and jostling over rough tracks absolutely gutted by the thawing and freezing abuse of spring. This is the hotel where we stayed, and our bus as we prepare to set out for the day:

As we made our way further south, the snow began to graudally disappear, and the vast emptiness of the desert began to swallow us up!

Haha... can you see the road? Sort of... those tracks... but where do they lead?! There is no sun in the sky! Somehow, the Mongolian instincts of our 3 Mongolian companions got us where we were going... By the way, each morning we were greeted by the van's single mix CD whose playlist began with  "Cherry, Cherry Lady", "Mary's Boy Child" (yeah, the Christmas song), and some other Abba songs... I will remember later. 

Herds of camels were sighted beginning as soon as we left Darkhan, and then, a few hours south of Mandalgov, we basicly drove through one! So we stopped for a photo shoot! These are not "wild" camels, because Mongolians say there are almost no wild camels. They are all owned by someone, set free to roam wild in the winter, and put to work under domestic supervision in the summer.

It was windy! (Nadine above, and to the right our dirty van, Marik, and Tsengel.)

Me!

The Gobi! Note, it's not sand, but gravel.

Me and camels... we're tight.