Heading west

I've decided to leave Ulaan Baatar and head out to far Western Mogolia (to the provinces of Hovd and Bayan Olgii) before it gets too cold. Winter seems to be coming a little early this year and soon the lakes will begin freezing near the Altai Mountains.

In addition to the weather, I realized it also makes sense to go out west before I start picking up much Mongolia, as most people in Olgii and Hovd are Kazakh, and donot speak much Mongolian. It has taken me about a week to get my contacts in the west sorted out and to find transportation. Not so many independent travellers head out this far west, as it takes a lot of time and is fairly remote. Really, in Mongolia, transportation is the main obstacle for any trip. Most group trips go to the Gobi or up to Lake Hovsgold in the North. But the building style is quite different in the Kazakh areas, there are gorgeous lakes, sand dunes and mountains and I'm thrilled to be headed out. I have planned a trip for ten days staying with eagle hunters (they hunt on horseback with eagles, not for eagles)and herders and traveling on horseback in the Namarjin Valley near Mount Tsambagarav and Tolbo Nuur.

Then, I'm back to Khovd Aimag(the province capitol) to plan another stays with a nomadic family in the lake region sweeping up to Bayan Olgii. I hope to be out there for at least a month.

I thought I might be in touch when in the aimag (province capital) picking up supplies, but it seems that both Khovd and Olgii have been without electricity for the last week. No one seems to know if and when it will return. So, we'll just have to see what happens.