Riding Like Genghis Khan with the Yellow River Chronicles

Horse trekking under the Big Blue

Greetings and a friendly tip of the ol' cowboy helmet from your pardners here at the Yellow River Chronicles.  You may remember that this is the second in the three-part series on Mongolia.  This week we are going to saddle up and take a look at the pros and cons, ins and outs and what have you of horse and camel trekking in the Big Empty.

Note:  The videos are large and will take some time to upload, particularly if you are you know where behind the you know what of China.

Mongolia is a large, unpaved country where many folks still move around by riding either a horse or camel.  Horses are used primarily in the steppes where there is enough water and grass to sustain them and camels are used in the vast Gobi desert area in southern Mongolia.

We will start off with horses on the steppe, first.  Here is the video to get you in the mood:

Mongolian ponies are small, tough, friendly and easy to talk to.  Sort of like....Italians.  After careful horse selection and a few pointers on how to steer, stop and go (say "chu") we were riding the Mongolian plains like one of the Khans own.  

The Mongols are some of the best horse people in the world and rather than burden us with too much information by sharing any of that knowledge, they opted to let us learn on our own.  Get on horse.  Ride! And learn on our own we did as we "chued" our way across the plains.

The assigned YRC horse was named "Pokey" by the YRC staff for his extremely leisurely style.  He was good natured and fun to hang around with.  But he was always the very last in the string of horse. We spent six hours riding across the steppe together and the YRC staff was able to get the sense of what it was like traveling in the days before roads, bus stations and chauffeured limousines.  The Poke was particularly good during the archery training*. We took short Mongol bows, a big quiver of arrows and spend part of the trip practicing galloping and shooting things with arrows.  It took some extra concentration to avoid taking each other out but luckily there were only flesh wounds*.  By the end of the trip, we were able to get a true Mongol experience when we attacked a van full of unsuspecting Korean tourists*.   "No prisoners!  NO prisoners"  we chortled to each other as we bore down on their startled tour group* and a great time was had by all, Mongol invasion style.  

Admittedly, the YRC staff walked more funny than usual for a day or two after the long ride but all things considered, nothing that a fistful of Motrin couldn't solve.

Next stop, we headed for the Gobi, the huge desert in the south of Mongolia.  There, for many reasons, the Bactrian camel is the preferred mode of transport. Camel trekking, unfortunately, did not offer the same opportunity to pillage.  One simply stands by camel, camel kneels, camel rises and there you are, eight or nine feet off the ground.  

Our host for the day and ace camel wrangler

Camel gait can best be described as.... elliptic.  Camels are known for their general  unpredictability, so a string approach is used.  I had the lead of the person in back of me while the person in front of me had my lead.  

YRC staff and trip member Shelley from Texas in the Gobi

We proceeded in a nearly direct line and there was quite a bit of excitement because we had even LESS training that the horse riding section of the trip.  Get on.  Hold line.  Hang on.   That was the long version of the camel riding training.  Here's another video to give you the camel trekking effect:

Because these treks attract adventuresome, interesting, sophisticated and educated sort of folks, most of the time staggering across the Gobi on the camel trek was spent in debate over which camel was expressing the most flatulence.  True, the Gobi is a harsh environment, so we were all wearing masks, but the camels released voluminous amounts of methane that would threaten to knock you off your camel if you didn't hang on.  Many claimed that "Clueless" was the worse, "Booger" was in the upper ranks but "Stinky", the camel of a unnamed YRC staff member, finally got the "Foulest" award.

We rode for three hours and stopped for a break.  At that point, after we dismounted, we all decided to burn our clothes and continue to explore the Gobi....on foot.

And explore we shall, in the next YRC Chronicles.  Tune in next week for our "Best of Mongolia" awards ceremony.  See you then!

*  This is a joke. Really. Hhhhhaaaaa hha haaaa. Conan, what is best in life?  Ahahahahahhaa.