We finally arrived in Mongolia on December 2nd! Kelly got here mid August, but because our Post was on AD (Authorized Departure because of Covid) families were not able to move here till that ended. Finally it ended at the end of November and we got one of the first flights out. I will post about that later, but I want to talk about our dog sledding adventure.
We heard about this trip from our CLO/Embassy newsletter. There is a French guy, Joel, he basically brought dog sledding to Mongolia. He does 3, 5 and 7 day trips. We did the 3 day trip. We arrange to have a van pick us up at 7:30am from our place at Star Apartments. Then we drove out to his place in Terelj. We were welcomed with cookies and hot water for tea and coffee, luckily we brought tons of packets of hot chocolate. We got warm in his nice Ger. He also got us all boots and lined them with garbage sacks to keep them from getting us wet if we got in water. Izzy went to see the dogs that were all chained up, ready for the trip. The dogs were so amazing! They female dogs were smaller than the male, and the female dogs were the lead dogs the bigger dogs/male dogs got in the back of the pack. The kids went out and petted the dogs, the were so cute and friendly. I was nervous at first because of the barking, but they were just excited. Izzy quickly made friends with them and learned many of their names. Joel has about 50 dogs and he used about 33 on our trip. So he left some back, some that needed to recover and rest, some were retired, like the cute Grandma dog, she had giving birth to many of the dogs he had. He brought a bunch of dogs with him from Europe and then bred many. They were pretty amazing dogs, so good and obedient, and nice with kids.
They started to load the dogs in the truck to take with us. We had about an hour drive to get to the place where we were going to start dog sledding. So they loaded the dogs in and the dog sleds and all of our stuff. We realized we brought too much stuff. I just didn't want to be unprepared, but we had to bring it all with us in the sleds. None of us changed clothes the entire time, we were just tool cold and tired, slept in our long johns, and put the same clothes back on. So we totally brought too much stuff, exactly what Sawyer told us as we were putting the stuff in our truck. Next time we will know that we really don't need changes of clothes, maybe one pair just in case. As they were picking the dogs to come with us, all the dogs were going crazy! They all want to come on the trip. The ones left behind were sad. He goes all the time, so they all get a chance and they need time to recover also.
This is Grandma, she, the mother and grandmother of many of the dogs there.
We all got into the trucks and off we went to the where we were going to start dog sledding. It took about an hour to get there. Not because it was a far distance, but because the road was all dirt road. In Terelj, it's basically all off-roading. There was a road he was following, but it was very rough. This is why you need good cars with good tires in Mongolia. We made it to the starting point and all got ready to go. They prepared the sleds and the dogs with all of our stuff in them, again, we brought too much. Joel gave us some instructions and then we were off. Izzy and Mabel sat in the first sled together. Joel and one of his guides led that sled, it was the heaviest. They had 10 dogs on that sled. Then Kelly, Lincoln and I followed, we each had our own sled with 6 - 7 dogs. Then Sawyer followed in the back with the 3rd guide. Sawyer sat in the sled at the beginning, then he stood with the guide together for most of the time. Next time I bet he will be able to drive his own sled, but he needs to be heavier to be able to stop the dogs. It wasn't easy with 2 guys on the back, keeping your balance. Sawyer did awesome! All the dogs get so loud and excited when then know we are going to start soon. They all start barking. The guides will quiet them sometimes, they either say something to them and they all stop barking, sometimes they hold up their pointer finger in the air and they all stop barking. It is pretty awesome to see.
We all started off and it was pretty scary. He gave us some instruction, but we didn't really know what we were doing. It actually wasn't so bad. You have to keep your feet on the brakes for a bit, especially in the beginning because they want to take off. Those dogs just want to run. My dogs were going pretty fast and they wanted to pass Kelly and Lincoln's dogs. I had to push on the hard breaks so much so they wouldn't pass them. Then my dogs went up on some rocks and I totally lost my balance and fell off, right on my knees on the rocks. It was pretty painful, but I hoped back up and tried to catch the dogs. The sled Sawyer was in gave me a ride and we caught up with the dogs. When we got back on, I got in front of Lincoln and Kelly and it was better, I didn't have to keep my breaks on so much. You really get used to it after a while. The hard part is when it is pure ice, you need to break so that you don't go too fast and swing the sled. The bumpy parts are hard also. But you get the hang of it after a while. We kept warm at first from just having you heart pumping and the exhilaration. It was pretty cold! Luckily our friends gave us a bunch of hand warmers that we put in our gloves and boots. I ended up wearing 2 coats, luckily we brought the big black one that is kind of big, it fit perfectly over my brown long coat. All the kids had snow pants except for Kelly and I, so I'm glad I had the long coat. My feet always freeze though, so that was always an issue. Mabel and Izzy were pretty cold, I thought he would have something for the kids sitting in the sled, but he didn't. We stopped because they were cold and the built a fire. We took off Mabel's boots and socks and got her feet warm. After getting warm we made sure Izzy and Mabel were tucked in the sleeping bags better so they didn't get cold. They also gave Mabel some cool big fur boots, with fur inside and leather on the outside to put over her boots and that helped her.
After taking care of the girls, we kept going for about another hour or more until we reached our lunch spot. We were so impressed with what we had for lunch. They brought out these delicious HOT containers of spaghetti for each one of us. I couldn't believe how hot they were. So impressive, the weather was really really cold. We didn't have reception where we were, but when we looked at the forecast for UB it said the low was -25 and the high was only 2 for the days we were there, and it was actually much colder where we were than in UB. So it was really cold. Our guide, Joel, said this was not COLD!! He said it was a mild winter for Mongolia. So I'm so glad it was not a COLD winter!!!
We ate the delicious lunch and luckily we brought our hot chocolate packets for some delicious hot chocolate by the fire. It was a perfect break from the cold. The dogs all sat down to rest except for Black, he was a noisy dog, he just whined the entire time. I think he wanted to keep going.
Cute lead dog named Blue! She has beautiful blue eyes!!
After lunch, we packed up and kept going till we arrived at the Ger camp. It was getting colder, my feet were pretty frozen, but we finally made it. This family that owns the Gers has been working with Joel for 15 years. They have cows, sheep, goats, horses, and a couple of dogs to scare off the wolves. The Ger we were staying in was warm and ready for us. We ran in to get warm. My boot laces were frozen and kind of hard to get off. They had 4 beds and a pull out couch for 2 people. They fit us great, with a stove in the middle to keep us warm. We rested and took a look around the camp. Izzy hung out with the dogs as long as she could, until she was too frozen. She wanted to pet all the dogs and get the ice off of them. She sure loves dogs!
New Years Eve:
The host family prepared a delicious New Years Eve meal for us. We joined them in their family Ger. We had so many dishes, some reminded me of Russian: potato salad, cucumber and tomato salad, carrot salad, rice, delicious beef, pickles, boar meat and a tray of chocolate, and fruit. And of course Vodka, it's rude to decline, so we let our host pour us some and we never drank it. Our guide drank some, but then as our host keep refilling his cup, he would pour it into his mug and not drink it. I guess that it the polite thing to do, let them refill, but pour it in another cup so they can keep refilling your small cup. They also made us some delicious Mongolian steamed dumplings called Buuz. They were really good! We also had some delicious cake they bought for the New Year!
After dinner we all headed out to the field for a huge bon fire they built for us. It was pretty huge and impressive. They bought us some non alcoholic bubbly drink for us to share. Then they sang a bit and we sang a few silly songs. It was a fun and new way to celebrate the new year! Happy New Year!! Good Bye 2021 and Hello 2022!
I love this photo of the sleeping dogs at night. Sawyer took it. It's amazing at how these dogs can sleep out in the cold, they put jackets on some of them, if they need it, but most are fine to sleep in the cold. The stars are also so amazing here. So bright and so many. It's hard to stay out long looking at them, I can't wait till we go camping in the summer, we can stay our longer.
Comments