Tsagaan Nuur - Tsenker Hot Springs

The bad news is that I didn’t sleep all that well last night, with my back, neck, and tummy troubling me. The good news is that there’s a beautiful sunrise over the lake this morning.

Drone shots

Breakfast

At breakfast, I get to try another local specialty – gambir bread. Apparently, it is mostly eaten with soup. Daari (our guide) has quickly cottoned on to the fact that I am really interested in trying the local food, so at every buffet she picks up lots of traditional bits and pieces for me to taste, explaining all about them as she goes. I love it!

Milk Ceremony

A staff member dressed in a traditional outfit comes to wish us luck for the long journey ahead via an old custom of sprinkling milk from a churn over travellers.

The landscape is fairly monochromatic today, but beautiful nonetheless.

With the absence of traffic on these roads, we can stop to take photos almost anywhere and any time we see something interesting.

Yaks

At one stage we pass through an area where yaks can be seen grazing in every field.

Cairns

I spot some unusual rock formations ahead, but am very disappointed to discover that they are in fact a man-made ‘tourist attraction’.

Drone images of the Steppe

Daari asks me if I’d like to send the drone up to capture some of the vast expanses of steppes we can see. I gladly accept, and we pull off the road where I launch the drone while David goes for a walk.

This next image amuses me, in that a patch of brown earth in front of it, makes the animal compound look as if it is floating in the air.

I am so busy taking photos in every direction of the enormous landscape, that I forget to look up to check where the drone is. I can’t see it. Neither can Daari or Mantakh, and David is not back from his walk yet. After the initial panic, I try to figure out what I am seeing on the screen (or rather what the drone is seeing), and then slowly start to rotate the drone 360°. I am still none the wiser. “There” Mantakh shouts out, pointing to a small black blob on the screen which turns out to be us and the car. Phew. I start bringing the drone back, rather relieved.

David is ready to catch the drone.

Note: the drone does have a Return to Home function which will bring the aircraft back to where it was launched from at the press of a button, so I wasn’t really in any danger of losing it.

Sheep

I have an image in mind that I would like to get, of a flock of sheep from directly above, but the sheep (and goats) have other ideas and run off as soon as they can hear the hum from the drone.

Animal Pit

Seeing a number of vultures gathered in a particular spot alongside the road, Daari explains that a hole has been dug into the ground where animals that didn’t survive the winter are deposited. It is a government initiative to prevent the spread of diseases. Sadly no photos as I am too slow getting my camera out.

Tsetserlig

Daari needs to visit the bank, so we stop in Tsetserlig again. It’s a busy city, and parking is difficult. While Daari goes about her business, I take photos of people walking past the car.

Ovoo

This sacred roadside shrine is very different from the one we saw yesterday. The word means heap or pile in Mongolian, and these sacred cairns are found all over the country - people come here to place offerings and worship.

Shortcut

Mantakh knows every road, every track, and every shortcut in all of Mongolia, or so it seems. Turning off the main road, we head across a wooden bridge and onto some wide-open landscapes.

Again the landscape around here reminds me of the famous Windows Desktop Background

We follow a Toyota Prius as we negotiate some serious fords along the way. I am rather impressed with this Prius and its driver — I’d never take ours on tracks like this!

Foals

In an enclosure in what appears to be in the middle of nowhere, we see few foals. Daari explains that the young horses are tethered to stop them from drinking their mothers’ milk so that the mares can be milked to produce airag, the mildly alcoholic fermented mare’s milk that is more than just a drink in Mongolia, it’s an institution.

The mares, who are nowhere to be seen, are milked seven times a day, each time producing between 500ml and one litre.

Hay Making

These people are preparing animal fodder for the winter months when the landscape around here is likely to be covered in deep snow.

Duut Resort

This is a very popular area, and as far as the eye can see there are ger camps.

As soon as we arrive, we are offered a four-course lunch in the spacious restaurant, which reminds me very much of a ski lodge.

The restaurant

Tasty tuna salad with a mustard dressing

Beef soup - thick and creamy with tiny bits of beef

Spaghetti Bolognaise - REALLY tasty, easily the best meal so far

Dessert is a fruit salad - no photos

We are offered the option of staying in a traditional ger or a wooden chalet. We choose the latter.

Ger or chalet?

Chalet!

Our chalet, circled

The camp is right at the edge of the forest

We occupy the ground floor of this two-storey log building, which features a bedroom with a double bed, a kitchen area, bathroom, and an area off the kitchen with two single beds. The interior has what appears to be a fly infestation, we try spraying our insect repellent on the window sill and worktops, and eventually find a dedicated fly spray which we use liberally.

The ground floor of this chalet is our home for the night

The double bedroom

Strangely, there is no seating area inside, but there is one single wooden chair on the terrace. We grab another chair from the outside area of the restaurant, and sit on the terrace with a glass (or two) of Duty Free rum.

I also try the homemade milk vodka. I am sure you can tell what I think about it from my expression in the picture below (a screen print from a video)

The reason this area is so popular, is the presence of mineral springs. Tsenker Hot Springs is the biggest of the 43 Mongolian hot springs. The average surface temperature is 86 °C, and the flow rate is 10 litres per second. The water’s chemical composition is a type of bicarbonate sodium with high alkalinity and relatively high amounts of fluoride. The hot springs are mostly used for relaxing and are said to be good for treating rheumatism, neuralgia, muscular pain, and arthralgia. It may also improve the digestive system, apparently. Like most camps around here, Duut Resort has tapped into the spring water and offers several smaller pools (and an empty swimming pool) for its guests.

The resort pools from above, using a drone

Dinner

This evening’s meal is also very enjoyable, although not on par with the delicious lunch.

Salad with a red dressing that tastes like strawberry jam, which strangely enough is very agreeable

'Chicken roll'. Daari explains how chicken is considered a 'luxury food', and thus served to foreign visitors. Most Mongolians would not have chicken on a regular basis.

Trying a different beer again tonight

And so it is goodnight from me here in Mongolia, with thanks to Undiscovered Destinations and their local teams for arranging this trip.