The Russian Van, Ger and..

The Russian Van

After 2 nights staying at the winter house of Mr Ekhee, we say final goodbye to them and the Altai Mountains. The plan is to travel 128 kilometres southwest to Borburus. Whilst it should meant a maximum of one hour drive on Malaysian road (I bet for most its 45 minutes drive), here it meant at least 3 hours on the road and we will be travelling in the Russian van.

The Russian van is also know as the 'Buhanka', which means a unit of bread. Produced in Russia since 1965, this 4x4 van is very popular as an expedition van. In Mongolia itself, when driving through the vast empty land you might bump into one or two such van daily, as its parts are easily available and many mechanics/drivers are very much familiar with it. 

We have seen this van for 2 days but never rode in it and from today onwards, this would be our main mode of transportation. My friend earliern advised me to bring a soft pillow for my backside as she said it would be a bumpy journey daily, in the van. I was expecting the worst but to my surprise, we felt comfortable in the van. It was really spacious and can fit up to 8 passengers (including driver) easily, albeit some would have to seat facing the rear; something not good if you tend to get headache easily. At the rear side, our experience driver Uncle Musa easily packed and fit in all ther gears, including the huge cooking gas cylinder, our backpacks, mattresses, sleeping bag, stoves, water, rations and ahhh you name it. Its like a moving house by itself and guess what, who knows somehow someday you would see one in Malaysia 😁..when you do, try and guess whose is it 😝

 Our ride for the next 6 days

 The place we called home for 2 nights

 Final word for a loyal guardian

 Group photo with Mr Ekhee and his wife

 Trust me, it is indeed comfortable

 Our reliable driver, Uncle Musa. At his age of 65, I am amazed with his strength and offroad driving skills

 Look at the view

 Mesmerising

We commenced our journey as planned, at 1000am, leaving behind the snowy mountains, towards Borburus, where we plan to stay there for 2 nights. The view along the way was just mesmerising as you can see migrating herds, vast lands blanketed by snow, cowboys, freezing river and to cap it old at times along the way you can see cute red cheek kids waving at you (and for the ladies well built tall, not dark and handsome men smiling at them as well). 

 Berhenti bagi kids coklat

 Chubby and cute

Ger

I told Nurlan (our guide), if we pass by a Ger please do stop by as we wanted to see the interior of it. As written earlier, we were supposed to stay in Ger for 2 nights but as the snowfalls came earlier then expected, we have to opt for plan B instead. We managed to find one, and Mr Sarai, the owner of the Ger, kindly let us in. True to the spirit of the local Mongolian Kazakhs, though we were uninvited guess, the lady of the house (or shall i say the lady of the ger), quickly boil some hot tea, prepare some cheese, bread etc and served us well. I am very much impressed with this and days later, I also found out that the herders, when feeling cold or tired, will just drop by any of the nomadics house and they will be treated the same as we did.

By looking at the interior of a Ger, you would know whether it is a Mongolian Ger. A Mongolian Ger would be simple and the roof trusses are all straight but a Kazakh Ger will be well decorated and its roof trusses will be bent inwards at the part where the roof joints with the walls (see video).

 

Customary foods  that the Kazakhs will serve their guests 

 

Me and Mr Sarai. I am turning into Mongolian Kazakh myself 😝

Run up the hill

 

Along the way, we reached a point where the van needed to do a steep climb up a hill and as it was icy road we were asked to step out and hike up instead.

The place itself offers jaw-dropping landscape and we took time taking obligatory photos before commencing our unplanned forced hike 😅. 

Pzah and myself was so focus on taking nice shots until we realised that Noli and Balapan had hiked far from us. I then told Pzah lets run to them; to beat the cold and be nearer to them. It was an error of judgement as we soon found out that with the thin oxygen level (this place is of high altitude), breathing was difficult and Pzah later fell sick and vommitted 😅. 

Breathtaking isn't it? 

 Long way hike up

Cheeky girl

The journey continues and after stopping to relief ourselves few times, the Russian van suddenly stopped in front of a winter house. Nurlan went down, had a quick chat with somebody inside, came out and we drove away. When driving away, we saw a cheeky cute girl smiling and waving at us. The ladies got excited and smiled back and all havocly chatted about that girl and felt like wanted to ask Uncle Musa to stop as we wanted to take some photos with her. We thought somehow Uncle Musa is an expert at telephaty as he did stopped the vehicle, Pzah then ran down and hugged the girl and we were busy taking photos with her and his brother, and later her grandma. 

We soon found out that Uncle Musa does not have that sixth sense but actually we have arrived at today's intended destination...and staying with this girl's family indeed 😂😂😅👍

 Macam dah lama kenal

How can you not adore them? 

Outside view from the home we will stay tonight

 

 See dah macam balik kampung je

 Sampai je Pzah terus pengsan..camnerlah nak jadi menantu..

Earlier - Our first experience as Herders

Next - Becoming real herders