This is the final chapter of my Mongolia series. I’d recommend catching up on the previous chapters if you haven’t read them already. They can be found by clicking here:
Chapter 1 – Introduction to Mongolia
Chapter 2 – First Thoughts of Khövsgöl
Chapter 3 – Khatgal Clinics
I had spent the last week volunteering in medical clinics in Khatgal, a remote town in the north of Mongolia, very close to the Russian border. It’s in the Siberian region, and the weather has progressively become colder throughout the week. I had been wanting to stay overnight in a ger and finally found someone who would let me stay in his. After throwing logs on the fire and killing off the spiders surrounding my bed, it was time to go to sleep. It did take me a while to fall asleep- the bed was not very comfortable, and I kept feeling a random itch and wondering if it was a spider crawling on me. But the biggest factor for me was the heat. I prefer for the room I’m sleeping in to be cold, but at the same time, it would’ve been too cold to go to bed without starting a fire in the ger.
I did eventually go to sleep and slept all the way until morning. It was pretty cold when I woke up because the fire had gone out overnight. But I got my stuff together and started walking back to the camp. I’m thankful I had the opportunity to stay in the ger: I would’ve felt like I missed out on something had I not tried to make it happen. After getting a shower and eating breakfast, it was time for our final clinic day of the trip. And as I was walking back toward the sports center to prepare for the clinic, Max came to greet me, and I pet him for a while. [In case you forgot, Max is the dog that we called Peter for most of the trip, that belongs to the guy who let us stay in his ger]. I felt much better knowing he has a good home- otherwise I may have been trying to figure out how to bring him back home with me.
Our final clinic was busy but overall uneventful. I continued to help direct patients through the clinic, and there was a steady flow throughout the day. At the end of the day, we got our final totals for the week, and we were shocked to find out that we had seen 1303 patients overall. Our goal was 20% of the town’s population, and with these numbers, we were actually able to see one-third of the population! That’s much more than we were expecting, and it was so great to hear that. We didn’t have much time to celebrate because we had to quickly pack everything up in order to have all our luggage ready to go early the following morning. Once everything was packed, we decided to head farther up on the lake to a nice restaurant right on the water.
We arrived to a beautiful spot on Lake Khövsgöl with mountains creating a dramatic backdrop on the other side. Several merchants showed up and were selling local crafts. Here I was able to buy a knife made out of reindeer antler and a local Mongolian jacket. We had a nice meal and got to look back on the past week and all that God had done throughout this trip. And then it was time to head back to the camp. I packed my personal luggage and went to sleep, setting an alarm for early the next morning so we could make it back to Murun for our flight. When we woke up, it was very cold and rainy- probably the coldest it had been all week. We all piled into the bus but then realized there wasn’t enough room for everyone. So I and two others got out to go ride with a local family who was following the bus in their Prius.
We took off while it’s still pitch black outside, with an hour drive to Murun. Soon into the drive, we started to notice that it was snowing! With this, we were officially the first MMO team to encounter snow on a trip, so there was definitely a reason to celebrate. And living in Florida my whole life, it’s not often that I get to see snow, so this was very exciting. As we continued on, the snow started to pick up. It wasn’t too long before we saw the bus start to struggle, and it eventually became stuck in the snow. We stopped behind it and had to get pictures of the snow. The second I stepped outside, I almost froze to death because it was so bitterly cold! I could only take it for about a minute at a time.
We watched as they shoveled the snow around the tires and then started moving forward again. Then we started to try to follow, but when our driver pressed the gas pedal, it became clear that we were now stuck as well, and the bus was leaving us behind. We all hopped out and started pushing the Prius until it gained traction and started going. We jumped back in to try to catch back up with the bus. But we didn’t make it far until the bus (and our Prius) was stuck again. We watched as the bus struggled to get any traction in the snow. The back would swerve uncontrollably, making us very nervous. Those of us in the Prius wanted to get closer to the bus to see if we could help, so we jumped back out to push it again. We pushed for a while, but we just couldn’t gain control of the car. We were stuck bad.
At this point, we’re in the middle of nowhere with no town anywhere close to us. We’re outside decent cell reception, but we were able to contact the missionary who was going to grab his truck and come try to get us out. The problem is- we weren’t sure his truck would be able to get through either! Meanwhile, the snow just continues to get thicker, and visibility was reduced to almost nothing. All we could see in every direction was white. No mountains, no steppe, no sky: nothing but white. I started to get worried that we may not get out of this snow storm. We decided to push the Prius again with no luck. Of all the crazy things to happen to me on a trip, pushing a car through a snow storm in Siberia was not something I ever envisioned myself doing, but here I was.
To make the situation worse, we received a call from the airline saying they were going to leave us. We’re still pretty far from the airport in normal driving conditions at this point, and they said they could not wait any longer. We asked them to wait one more hour, but we weren’t sure if we could even get there in an hour. The storm continued to get worse, and a fourth attempt at pushing the car led us to the point of exhaustion. Then out of nowhere, a man passed by with a truck, and he stopped to tow the bus out of the snow! We couldn’t believe it that a random guy would be passing by in these conditions and be willing to help us escape. He towed the bus, and those of us in the car pushed for a fifth time until we finally freed the Prius. Both vehicles were moving again, and it was such a relief for all of us!
We soon left the snowy areas and entered the dry steppe heading toward Murun. When we finally arrived at the airport, we saw that it had taken us three hours to get there when it would normally only take one. And somehow the plane had not taken off without us yet. We all got our luggage through TSA and boarded the small plane heading for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital city. Locals call it UB, so that’s how I’ll refer to it. Once in UB, another bus met us and took us to the remote town of Tsonjin Boldog, a couple hours outside the city. Here, there is a huge statue of Genghis Khan on a horse. In fact, it’s the largest equestrian statue in the world at 130 feet tall. Legend says that a golden whip was found here and that it was believed to belong to Genghis Khan. They then built the statue in that spot and made him face the direction of the town where he was born.
This statue is visible for miles in every direction as it’s the only significant structure anywhere around. It’s really in a remote area that takes effort to visit but is so impressive to see in person. There’s a viewing platform on the horse that of course I had to visit. We walked inside and found the staircase going all the way to the top. There’s an elevator as well, but it can only hold a few people at a time, and I’m too impatient to wait on it, so I took the stairs. Once on top of the horse, I was literally face to face with one of the most feared warriors in history. His head towered over me as I glanced out over the horizon. The view was incredible, and I could see for miles. This truly is one of the most impressive structures I’ve ever seen; I just wish it didn’t take us so long to get there because we were all drained of our energy after this visit.
Once at the bottom again, we had a chance to hold a golden eagle and get pictures with it before piling back in the bus to drive back to UB. We checked into our hotel and then planned to meet back in the lobby to walk to dinner. A couple friends and I decided to go for a walk a little early to see if we could find anything cool, but there wasn’t much that stood out. Once the whole group met up, we walked into the heart of the city. UB is a very modern city with huge flashing lights and cool colors everywhere you look. It felt worlds away from the Mongolia I had experienced over the last week. We finally came to a stop at the State Department Store, a huge modern shopping center with many upscale brands found throughout. The main reason we came was for the souvenir store on the top floor.
After exploring the store for a bit, we walked to another mall where we had a dinner reservation in a nice restaurant. Here, we were able to try many unique Mongolian foods including intestines stuffed with meat, buuz, and bone marrow, along with more familiar foods such as beef, sausage, and lamb. It was very good, but it didn’t take long before I was stuffed. Traditional Mongolian food includes a lot of fat because it’s needed for warmth during the harsh winters. Following dinner, we walked around the mall for a while and then headed back to the State Department Store to finish our souvenir shopping for the week. Soon, we were back in our hotel for the night only to wake up early the next morning to fly home. I had such an amazing time in Mongolia and was sad to have to leave. It’s an amazing country with great people and beautiful landscapes that I hope to one day revisit. Getting there is difficult, but those who take the time and effort to get there are rewarded with one of the most welcoming and beautiful countries in existence. It was also good news to find out that on the Sunday service after we left, Hatgal Baptist Church’s attendance had doubled, with visitors continuing to visit each Sunday since.
Thanks for reading!
Note: I also made a video of the trip. If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it by clicking here.
Tyler's Travels 