Tag Archives: jeep

Mongolia Notes for Budget Travelers

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Mongolian Kid and Friend

Mongolian Kid and Friend

Mongolia is a bit different than the other countries we have visited thus far. There is only one real city, UB, and there is very little infrastructure to support public transport around the country. As we mentioned in Off We Ger if you want to get out into the countryside, which is really THE reason to come to Mongolia, then you need to a) join a tour; b) hire a jeep; or c) be completely raving madand take the local long distance buses. You could also fly, but since that wasn’t remotely within our budget (boohoo), I’ve left it out.

Tours run the gamut from budget backpackers piled into Russian vans that look like VW buses to the Golden Circle gang who get flown into luxury ger camps and driven around in shiny Landcruisers. (Yes, I’m a little envious.) Many travelers join together a group of 3-4 people and hire a jeep and driver. This can work out to be a pretty good deal since you choose your route and have freedom to stop whenever and wherever you choose. Since there were only two of us and we were not organized enough to find other people to share the costs of a jeep, we skipped option b. Our disorganization and adversity to tour groups ruled out option a as well.

So as you may have read, we went with Ger to Ger, an organization that supports sustainable tourism among nomadic herders. Good organization, good philosophy, a little loose on some details, but still a very good, authentic and low cost experience. That said, taking the bus to and fro was pure, sheer, total hell like no other. And yes, I had the bruises to prove it.

In terms of lodging, outside of UB, the main choices are basic hotels, ger camps (both luxury and budget) and camping. Mongolia is excellent for camping and it’s free. Just pitch your tent and snooze. Many ger camps seem to cater to foreigners offering less authentic experiences at tourist prices. And from what I’ve heard hotels range from grotty to decent. Not a lot of luxury in this category. Lucky for us, we stayed at what may be one of the nicest guesthouses outside of UB. This was mighty welcome after a week of no showers. AND they had a cafe with a vegetarian menu. Sadly we missed the veggie burger, but did have some tasty bakery treats for the bus ride.

Within UB, pretty much the same lodging choices exist except that there are loads of guesthouses and some nicer hotels. Our guesthouse was bare bones at best, but to be honest we didn’t mind since we were the only ones there most of the time. Plus the owner was a really great guy. As always, dorms are cheaper and most places have shared baths. We paid a pretty average $16 per night for a room with a double bed (and literally nothing else!).

Food is relatively inexpensive in UB and even cheaper in the countryside, though choices are more limited there. UB has a surprising plethora of western restaurants thanks to the number of NGOs and foreign aid agencies. Though the food was inexpensive by western standards, it was a little bit more than we had been paying in China and India. Still a bargain. If you visit UB, don’t miss the weird mix of flavors at Los Bandidos – Mongolia’s only Indian-Mexican restaurant. We went three times for the nachos.

Overall, Mongolia is pretty good for budget travel. The lack of infrastructure outside of the city prohibits it from being super cheap, but we managed pretty well on an average of about $50 a day including the trek, transport, food, lodging, etc.

Off We Ger

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Ger Ya Later!

Ger Ya Later!

Part of the allure of Mongolia is getting the heck out of UB and heading to the countryside. The only complication with that is that you can’t just hop on a bus and wing it like we have in other countries. There is very little public transport and the distances between towns is quite vast. Most travelers pre-book an organized tour or arrive in town and hire a jeep and driver to get them out into the countryside. Since we’re not really interested in the former and the latter is just a little out of our budget, we opted for a trek with Ger to Ger. The extra bonus is that they have a great philosophy.

We’ll be spending the next 8 days trekking with local nomads from one families’ ger (yurt) to the next through the Arhangai region of Mongolia. We’ll experience their way of life and their food. We’ll also learn nifty tricks like how to play the national anklebone game, how to milk a sheep and how to pack a yak – all new skills we’ll surely be able to add to our resume!

Seriously, can you think of a better thing for two non-meat eating, non-vodka drinking, non-Mongolia speaking people to do than to throw themselves at the mercy of nomads for a week? We’ll be eating lots of rice and yogurt. And of course we’ll drag along some peanut butter just in case. We can’t think of a better way to enjoy Mongolia!

If you’re really bored at work, you can read about our trek and the ger to ger philosophy at http://www.gertoger.org/families-route/arhangai-bluelake-route.html

We’ll let you know how it gers!

Elephantitis: Corbett National Park

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Leaving Delhi, we set off for Corbett National Park about 250 km north in the state of Uttarchanal.  Our mission: elephant safari!  And maybe spot some other wildlife as well. We were partially successful.

We jumped a night train which arrived in the dusty little ‘burg of Ramnagar at 6:30 am.  We found a place to catch a little more sleep and then set off to organize a safari into the park for the next morning. 

After a confusing and unhelpful conversation with a park office paper pusher - which ended by him ignoring us to help some other people, we went back into the street to check out some of the private tour operators.  We popped into an office advertising ”jeep safari” and our much sought after “elephant safari.”  We received about the same level of helpfulness and enthusiasm from the private operator as we did from the park office.  Apparently private operators are more interested in multiple day safari packages into the park, than a day trip like we were after.  We would have to organize the permits with the park office ourself and then of course there is no guarantee of an elephant safari since it’s first come first served.  Unless of course you want to use our private elephant (chained to some tree likely) which will cost 2000 rupees (about 10 times the park price).  The tour operator finishes his lackluster presentation of our options by saying, “First thing.  You get permit.  Then you can use whichever jeep you want.  You can hire from us or someone else.  It doesn’t matter.” Oh vey!  What a headache! Where were the annoying, nagging touts who really wanted to sell us something when we needed them? !

So we wander back across the street, wait for the end of chai break (does it ever really end?), and revisit our options with one of the park office staff.  Frustrated, confused and beaten, we sign up for the park conducted tour that runs in an open tank like jeep that holds up to 16 people.  Logically you don’t have the option of an elephant safari with the park tour(?), but we were tired too care.  Our decision was straighforward, affordable and easy.  No chance in hell we’ll see any animals.

Thankfully, we were wrong. Though the tiger continues to elude us, we had great fun watching two herds of elephants  from just a short distance.  The second group (of which the video is more exciting but unfortunately too long to post) was at least 20.  Once the driver turned off the jeep, we could hear the pachys breathing, chomping on leaves and calling to one another from across the road – perhaps a warning of the interlopers  nearby. It was pretty fantastic.

In addition to elephants, we also saw many colorful peacocks, spotted deer, sambar, barking deer, a brown fish owl, a jackal, wild boar, monkeys (which noone here seems to really care about since they are everywhere), a hawk eagle and many, many other birds that our guide failed to identify.  It was no thanks to the park guide that we saw most of the wildlife.  Credit should go to one of the guys in our group and the driver – both of whom had keen eyes for spotting the wildlife.

So despite our lack of elephant safari we had a very pleasant day in Corbett.  We haven’t given up hope yet.  We’ve heard rumors of elephant safaris at a park not far from where we are now.  Maybe, just maybe we’ll get to ride an elephant yet.