As we still had some time after visiting a couple of monasteries till our visa expires, we decided to explore the North of Mongolia in more detail. Due to the heavy rainfalls a couple of days ago we had to deviate ones more from the planned route and take the longer detour. But in the end it paid all off and was worth the extra kilometres.
There are so different landscapes and of course amazing camping possibilities. From yellow fields …
… via rocky outcrops in the green hills …
… to beautiful canyons and even a volcano (in this case a not active one).
But what somehow created most excitement for us personally were the forests. Not much left anymore, however still amazing after couple of weeks without trees. So we started exploring this part of Mongolia in more detail and found a wonderful spot where we decided to stay for two nights and spent a day relaxing in our hammocks in the sunshine.
We even could enjoy some wildlife out here. Unfortunately we got no picture from an eagle, even though we spotted one, but they are amazingly shy.
And also Yaks are living out here again. Somehow we expected them to be present all over Mongolia, but so far we have only seen them up here in the North.
Otherwise Mongolia is more or less the same also up here, people are living in yurts without running water and moving from place to place as the weather allows and their animals require it.
Having no running water, what to do when you need a shower? Well, they visit a public shower house and so did we. Of course we have our own one, but somehow we were keen on enjoying a hot one, so it was time for us to visit a shower house.
What a surprise, not like at home and not like in a spa, but still nice and for local standards also very clean and enjoyable hot water. 🙂
From here it is now time for us to head towards the Russian border. Time to explore Siberia and the Far East of Russia a bit deeper and also Lake Baikal is waiting for us. So stay tuned if you want to know more.
