Summer Escapades

The past month has been a full one, for me and for Mongolia. First we had a State of Emergency for flooding, several districts of UB had to be evacuated and many summer English camps were cancelled or evacuated due to the heavy rains. My apartment was without running water until the morning I left for Darkhan to help with PST (a total of 15 days!), though there was certainly no shortage of water outside. The whole country is beautiful lush green now because of all the rain, and all the animals are looking fat and happy.
I spent about a week in Darkhan helping with training for the new volunteers, and celebrating the 4th of July. On the 1st we had our second State of Emergency for the summer, declared to stop the rioting in UB. Mongolia had a parliamentary election and the preliminary results were announced on July 1st, with the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) winning 46 of 76 seats. The Democratic Party and some of the other smaller parties claimed that the elections had been unfair, or counted wrong and organized a protest in Sukhbaatar Square, which turned in to a drunken, violent riot with 5 people killed and a bunch more injured seriously. They also torched the MPRP headquarter building and, sadly, looted and burned the National Art Gallery next door. Many of the rioters were drunk, and they also broke in to the Duty Free store in the MPRP building. The police used rubber bullets, tear gas and a water cannon to try to dissuade the rioters, but none of those things worked. Apparently the police didn't have nearly enough rubber bullets or riot gear, and the rioting lasted pretty late into the night. All that is left of the building is a burned shell. President Enkhbayar declared a four day State of Emergency, which included a ban on alcohol sales, a 10pm-8am curfew, a ban on public gatherings and only the National TV channel was allowed to broadcast. This was the first time anything like this has happened in Mongolia, and many Mongolians are really sad and disappointed in their fellow countrymen. There were many international observers of the voting, and all declared that they were free and fair. The State of Emergency was only in UB, but Darkhan followed suit and also declared a four day State of Emergency, which happened to coincide with the 4th of July. That was a bit disappointing, but luckily PCVs are resourceful as well as persuasive and managed to explain to a few delguur owners that it was a really important American holiday, and that we certainly weren't going to do any rioting.
After the 4th I went to Sukhbaatar with Cady to visit her host family. We spent the night at their house, and Cady, Eej and I drank some vodka and wine and had a dance party in the living room. It was really fun to see the host family again, and they were really glad to see us. The next day Sukhbaatar Naadam started, so I spent the whole day at the Naadam stadium watching wresting and archery. Another PCV was doing archery, and one of the trainees wrestled. I stayed in Selenge until the 16th, visiting friends and celebrating Naadam. Naadam was even more fun this year, I am armed with a greater appreciation of Mongolian wrestling, a stomach that can handle Naadam hoshur with ease, and the great patience to be able to sit and watch archery for hours upon hours. I have also refined my ability to take shots of vodka, a talent that it seems I am frequently called upon to practice.
I needed a few days to rest and recover after the week of Naadam festivities, and then took the night train to UB, in search of a tour group going to Lake Hovsgul to join. After a day of frustrating waiting and brief talks with some guesthouses, it seemed like it wasn't going to work out and we were going to have to suck it up and take the bus. But then, at the last minute, Doug and I joined a group of 4 Polish and a French guy. We piled in the porgon and off we went. Three days later we arrived in Khatgal (the soum on the shore of Lake Hovsgul). That trip was my first experience with Mongolian tourism. I am a little amazed that people actually take trips in Mongolia. I think it might have to do with the fact that, until you experience travel here, you have no idea what you are getting yourself into (but for those who are not faint-of-heart, you should definitely come! It is a beautiful country and there is nowhere else like it in the world). Don't get me wrong, to me it felt like luxury. We had our own car, we could stop when we wanted, and no babies were throwing up on us. But three days of off-roading in a Russian vehicle tends to be a bit tough on one's bones and muscles. It was well worth it though, and we all became quick friends and spent a good portion of the time laughing.
Once we made it to Khatgal we celebrated in the only appropriate way. The next day we set off on a two-day, one-night horse trek along the lake. It was the first time I have camped since I came to Mongolia, and it was beautiful. Lake Hovsgul is crystal clear and surrounded by wooded mountains. We rode through the woods along the lake for about 5 hours, after which both the horses and we were exhausted. We stopped for the night in a beautiful meadow right beside the lake, and even though we could see storm clouds rolling in we all decided we had to "swim" in the lake.
Several Mongolians have told me that Lake Hovsgul stays so cold, even in the summer, that if you swim out into the middle you will probably drown. I never believed that, but after the 3.5 seconds I spent in the lake I am a believer. It was COLD. All I could manage was a quick dive under water and then a hasty retreat to the shore. We enjoyed the rest of the evening by a roaring fire, and rode back to Khatgal the next day.
We decided to stay one more day at the lake, and 5 of us went in search of some kayaks that were rumored to be around. We found the ger camp, and managed to talk them down from $20/hour to 20,000T for the day. They only had two kayaks, and we were five, but they threw in an inflatable dingy for free, because "they don't like it and never use it." We quickly figured out why they didn't like it, and ended up having to tie it to one of the kayaks and pull it with us. We rowed out into the lake for about two hours, against the wind the whole time but consoling ourselves with the thought that the way home would be super easy with the wind at our backs. We stopped on the shore for awhile, and the next thing we knew we were watching a huge rainstorm sweep down the mountains over Khatgal, coming right for us. We decided to make a run for it, and got back in our kayaks and started paddling like crazy. About 2 minutes in we started to feel the first drops, and then the sky opened up. It was raining so hard we could hardly see where we were going, and we were a little worried when we started to see some flashes of lighting off in the distance but it ended up being quite an adventure. We all returned to the ger camp soaking wet, looking like drowned rats. They kindly gave us some hot tea and then we went back to our ger camp and put on some dry clothes and started a fire in the ger.
Doug and I were really lucky, and managed to catch a ride back to UB with two other American girls in a Russian jeep. The driver had lost his tour group, they decided they wanted to stay in Hovsgul longer instead of doing the 10 day tour they had planned, so he was going straight back to UB. It only took us two days to get back to the city, but it was pretty rough. Russian jeeps really beat you up, and the road we took was a really hard one.
I have been in UB for the past week working at Mercy Corps. I've been interviewing tour companies for a project I'm working on. My parents and sister arrive on Saturday night, which I am really excited about. We will go to the Gobi for a few days, and then to Arkhangai for one night. It will be nice to be back in Tsetserleg, even if for a day. I have been away for a long time this summer. I am excited to see Sophie, I have been told that she isn't eating very well and searches the faces of all the foreigners looking for me. Poor Sophie.