Finding Ourselves, in Olgii, Mongolia

Yingzhi & I have just returned from a pretty introspective trip to Olgii, western Mongolia, with Bek’s crew (Back to Bek travel). The experience was nothing short of amazing. We’ve been fortunate to have travelled quite a bit, and this was quite possibly our best trip to date in terms of sheer beauty & uniqueness.

So our tour started with a flight from Ulaanbaatar (the capital) to Olgii. This flight takes two+ hours, unless the plane decides to make a detour to pick someone else up along the way. Which happened on our return flight.

Why Olgii? We wanted to be really far far away from civilization. And embrace taking dumps out in the wild, very liberating. Some website said it’s unforgettable. It’s such an overused word, but this time, it felt like an understatement.

I found some negative reviews on Lonely Planet, and realized the key to enjoying this trip is to level set some expectations. So here’s a glimpse into what you’d get:

1) The biggest draw of this trip is the extreme beauty and wilderness. We were on horsebacks for half the trip with snow-capped mountains on either side and vast expanse of land all around us. Not a single human in sight, except for our party. If we were lucky, we spent the night with the lovely nomadic families that we come across. No tourist gers at all.

2) Similarly, the biggest drawback is the extreme wilderness. Do not expect tourist infrastructure to be world class. There’s simply not enough tourists to justify this, thankfully.. otherwise it won’t be as unique.

3) Don’t expect native English proficiency there, locals mostly don’t speak it. Our guide was conversant enough. Bek himself is an excellent speaker and he personally met us for breakfast on our last day.

4) Don’t expect sh*t to go according to plan. You are in the hands of nature. We missed a highlight of our tour — a glacier visit — because there was a blizzard. Could we have insisted on going? Yes. Would we have seen anything other than a patch of white? No. And gotten our asses frozen off? Yes.

5) Embrace this uncertainty. Because we couldn’t go glacier visiting, we spent that afternoon playing with a cuddly nomadic kid, entertaining her with stupid magic tricks, and taking a whole bunch of amazing photos / videos. Or we could have holed ourselves up and sulk. We chose to be happy.

6) How to avoid angst — As a Lonely Planet poster remarked, dictate your preferences. If you think the pace is too slow, say it. If you’re into nomadic festivals, ask about it. Our guide gave us a surprise on the last day by driving us off our usual route for such a festival. Even if the guide can’t comply, at least you know why. Or you can go straight to the operator and demand a fix. I’ve not had to try that, but I’d imagine Bek being accommodating.

7) Another note on the nomadic stays. Bring an ebook, or prepare to meditate, or go with a group of fun friends & a deck of cards. Have something to keep yourselves occupied for the downtime when dusk approaches. There’s no cell signal, no facebook, no TV, no lame cultural shows. Sure, you’ll wander around, see nomads doing their usual (really cool) stuff, milking yaks, tending to their eagles, fishing.

You’ll even attempt to chat with them, they’ll (literally) cook you a lamb for dinner, sneak in a beer or two (I brought a carton along, good idea), have a laugh at how terrible your Mongolian / Kazahk is, use funny gestures to explain simple stuff. After that you’re on your own.

They’ll continue chatting into the night. Mongolians love that, and we had no idea how on earth they can chat so long and have so much fun doing it. Your guide’s not going to fawn over you, keeping you entertained. He’s too busy keeping the family entertained so it’s enjoyable for everyone. Remember, the nomadic families are sharing their homes with you. They don’t serve tourists for a living.

8) Here’s another example of poor tourist infrastructure. On our last day, we checked into a hotel at Olgii with our guide guaranteeing us it’s the best in town. The moment we stepped in, we were severely underwhelmed. I hogged the hot bath for 20 minutes (first bath in Olgii), and the power got cut. Which meant no Internet (gasp), and worse still, Yingzhi had no hot water. Which landed me in hot water =/

I sent an angry text to the guide & went on an expedition to find ourselves a real 5-star hotel nearby where we could soak in a jacuzzi tub and have some candlelight dinner. Half an hour later, I learnt there were 5 hotels in Olgii. All looked in terrible state, and said my hotel was the best in town.

Beaten, I went back to the hotel where the power was restored. Bek had also rushed down after receiving my text, to explain what I had already found out. It’s true, we were in the best hotel.

Credit to Bek for going out of his way. By the end of the trip, I understood the immense constraints he had on running his tours. At the same time, I was impressed by his level of professionalism in the face of all these challenges.