Mongolia Photos – Tony James Slater

Mongolia Photos

We spent a few days less than a month in Mongolia, as after our horse trip to the Orkhon Valley, we found ourselves essentially confined to the capital of Ulaanbaatar. Still, there was more than enough weirdness in that one city to keep us occupied…

Lotus guesthouse door — The entrance to the Lotus Guesthouse didn’t look particularly welcoming…

Lotus Guesthouse Stairs — Likewise, the entrance stairwell had seen better days…

Wild Mongolian Horses — Wild Mongolian horses, roaming free, amidst the endless, unspoiled wilderness.

Cooking from back of van — Every time we stopped for lunch, Soyol would decant her supplies from the back of the van, and use its floor as her kitchen!

Tony on a hill — If you look very closely, you can just see me at the top! This was the rock-pile I climbed on our first day – only to find out my camera battery had died…

Vicky on empty Mongolian Road — Vicky proving that the chances of seeing any more traffic in the next few minutes were fairly remote!

Building Ger — Building the Ger tent was educational and fascinating. And it took less than an hour, from start to finish!

vicky with ger — A ger, in the first tourist camp we visited, in Kharkhorin. The one I helped build is next-door!

Fake sink inside ger — The indoor plumbing obviously wasn’t connected, so I guess this was really just for display…

Eagle and Vicky — Vicky posing with a magnificent Golden Eagle outside Kharkhorin Temple.

Boiling horse milk — Boiling mare’s milk to make two products; airag, a fermented alcoholic drink, and urum – a spread make of the scum scraped off the top…

Horse tied to pole — Horse parking, nomad style.

Dangerous Bridge — A bridge we crossed in the van, which wasn’t in the best state of repair.

Tony leaning on horse — My horse. I think I outweighed him.

Mini Gobi — We only visited the Mini Gobi for a couple of hours, but that was long enough to walk all the way around it! Not that you can tell from here – it looks like an endless sandy desert.

Vicky stuck on camel — When Vicky took her turn on the camel, we all held our breath. It went fine – until it came time to get off. The camel obviously didn’t want to let her go…

KFC sign — Can you see it? A week living on mutton sharpens your eyes, and Vicky spotted this KFC sing from two blocks away – THROUGH another building!

KFC Food — KFC was the coolest new thing in town – all the wealthiest residents of Ulaanbaatar were out in force, buying ridiculous quantities of food…

Mongolian Statue — The famous statue of Sukhbatar, in the centre of Ulaanbaatar. Three of the top ten things to do in the city were this statue. The next four were the surrounding square, and that big government building behind it.

Karaoke Biker Bar — How badly do you want to go into THIS karaoke bar?

No trumpet playing — We found this sign on our exploration of UB’s back streets. Oi! No trumpet playing!

National-Childrens-Park-UB — This is the National Childrens Park in UB. It’s also the only children’s park. In the COUNTRY. All it needs is a set of swings…

Costume museum — The Costume Museum visited by Vicky and Roo left something to be desired…

Lotus Guesthouse exploded power socket — The exploding power socket at the Lotus Guesthouse left quite a mark.

Roo with mini shopping trolley in UB — Roo loved the mini shopping trolleys in our local UB supermarket…

Vodka Aisle — …Whereas I was more impressed with the sheer variety of vodka on offer. Here’s an entire aisle of the stuff!

Buying fake China flights — Buying our fake flight tickets to China. This is Roo’s “this is never going to work” face.

Fake China flights — Our fake flight tickets in and out of China! Not bad, for $5 a pop.

Tony hiking with horses — Just nipping to the shop from Bert’s Eco Ger Camp. He really did pick a nice place to set himself up!

Fake sink — The outdoor plumbing in Bert’s eco-ger camp was very clever – a small water holder, and it drained straight into the grass below it. Genius!

Horse tied up to pub — One horse town… and this is the pub.

Naked Tony drying off — I just had to strip off and plunge into the glacial river outside Bert’s Eco-Ger camp. And his kids just HAD to come along at that exact moment! They built me a nice fire, though.