and now the other half...mostly.

preface: after some thought, i decided that the best way to describe my vacation experience is through a long, drawn out story divided into chapters. i could have summarized it very easily and saved myself the time, but what's the point of doing that when, at the moment, i've got all sorts of time and a blog? the following are the fruits of these particular circumstances:


Chapter One – The Train

Our journey to Huvsgul Nuur - or Huvsgul Lake to those not in the know - began in UB at the train station. Huvsgul Lake is in the north west corner of Mongolia. It’s one of the purest bodies of water in the world and the only body of water in Mongolia. I had just returned from a countryside English camp and had been at home long enough to shower and do laundry before I found myself with two young married couples on a train bound for a small mining town called Erdenet, our first stop to Huvsgul.

There were Ian and Elizabeth, a wonderful English/Norwegian/German couple, Ed and Charli – Charli being short for Charlotte – a sassy English twosome and me, the boring American fifth wheel.

Our train ride from UB to Edrenet was 12 hours and largely unadventurous as the majority of it passed during the night. I’ve never had a worst night’s sleep. My little bed was across the way from three large, snoring men who cut loose the moment their heads hit their pillows and didn’t stop until 6:30 am when we were woken by the stewardess coming down the isles saying “Bosooroi! Bosooroi!” (which is the polite way to say ‘Get up!’). Two hours later our train stopped in Erdenet.

We stumbled out of the traincar into a brilliant, sunny morning and a scattered hoard of taxi and microbus drivers looking for fares as the actual city of Erdenet was still another 15 minutes from the train stop. A rather flabby and sour looking taxi driver led us to a very tiny car; very insistent that we should have him drive us. There was no possible way 5 people plus baggage plus a driver could fit all at once into that vehicle, so we found a microbus driver who happily stuffed us into his bus and for a decent price took us to Patrick and April’s home.

Patrick and April are a Swedish/American couple with a very adorable daughter and a baby on the way who live and work in Erdenet. Arrangements were made earlier about visiting their home, having some breakfast and some kind of quick wash up before leaving for the next leg of our journey. When we arrived, we were welcomed with fresh pancakes, hot coffee and steaming water from the tap**. Nothing short of glorious!

Before entering Patrick and April’s abode we attempted to get our microbus driver to drive us to Murun (our next stop). We tried arranging it so it would only be our party in the bus as it is common for these microbuses to have five people crammed onto three person seats with babies, animals, baggage and other various things layered upon each other. The driver gave us some ridiculous quote for that kind of service so we said no and left it at that.

Upon exiting Patrick and April’s abode, we were met at the door by this same bus driver who explained that now he would take us and three other people for a much more decent price. We thought it was a good plan so we agreed. In retrospect, I think it was the pancakes talking. What happened next, I’m not even sure how to describe…




**culture note: hot water from the tap can be spotty here in Mongolia – sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t.