Mongolian Outback: Day 7 - Road to Orkhon Falls

The next morning on July 9 we woke up like all prior mornings on the road, with Tuya bringing in a breakfast of two fried eggs, one piece of toast, partially grilled potatoes and carrots on each plate, along with instant coffee, a large thermos of hot water, and the powdered cream we had bought at a mini-mart. We woke up the kids, eat breakfast, repack our backpacks and sleeping bags, and hit the road for 5+ hours.

However today we switched it up. We’d become good friends with Espen and Helen from Norway who were riding in their own Russian UAZ-452 (plus their driver and guide). Milagro and I joined them and left Soledad and Vicente to kick back with a full row each in the Hyundai. The Russian van rode higher so we were able to go much faster, which excited us. By keeping some of the windows open they achieved pretty much the same temperature as the Hyundai. The UAZ was a little more roomy, but… it had no cigarette lighter for electricity. Espen had brought a powerbank to charge his phone/camera.

That Tuesday we traveled a little more than usual, about 8 hours, until we entered the Orkhon Valley Natural and Historical Reserve, identified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. There were some great views along the way.

We continued further inside the reserve to the Ulaan Tsutgalan River Falls, commonly known as Orkhon Falls. We arrived in the early evening to a scene of 7-9 black kites flying around and swooping repeatedly for prey. It was very cool. You often see swooping birds on TV programs, but rarely in person. Here it occurred over and over again on repeat.

We hiked about 10 minutes from our ger through the steppes to the falls. Along the way, we passed a herd of long haired yaks. This was really neat, because yaks are like an exotic animal to me. I don’t think I’ve seen one in the wild before, or if I did, it was just one or two in Nepal 20 years ago.

We turned back to the ger camp. As we returned, every couple minutes a Mongolian rider would race by at full speed on his horse wearing his full length deel, standing in the saddle, wearing a smile, and completely at ease. It was cool to hear and see every time they came by. These young guys worked for the horse rental families, would take the horses hither and yon for people to ride, and they still loved doing so. I can still picture and hear the scene today.

Back at camp, Baynaa and the other drivers prepared Khorkog, a Mongolian barbeque dish.  They prepared it by taking large cuts of lamb with the bones left on, stones heated over a fire, and then placed both inside a cooking container with a little water. It was by far the best meal we had on our trip. We finally got to eat big lamb chops, ribs, and steaks. This is what I thought we’d be eating every night in Mongolia and the closest to the Americanized "Mongolian Barbeque" we found.

That night, we decided that we liked our camp at the Orkhon Valley so much that we would eschew our planned trip to Terk Lake and a second Naadam Festival, and would stay 3 days in the valley. This would also cut 400 km of dirt road travel off our itinerary which was welcomed.