Kirsten Melis goes
Mongol Derby 2013
The Black Markets
31 July 2013
After a decent night sleep we headed downstairs for some brekkie. Simple breakfast buffet with some Mongolian delights such as dried curd and bread made with curd. Offcourse we had to try it, the bread wasn't bad but will never be a favorite, then the dried curd.... Now if you like sour milk and milk fat than this is your piece of heaven, but definitely NOT mine! I didn’t know how quick I had to spit it out and find something to nice to eat to relax my tastebuds, I thought my tongue would nearly pass out! After I got my tastebuds back to life, 2 girls walked into the room. We started chatting with them and found out that one of the was a French girl who was leaving in an hour and the other girl, Hester from Amsterdam/Holland who had been in Mongolia for about a month and was leaving the next day. She invited us to come to the black markets, offcourse we wanted to go there! So after brekkie we met out front.
On our way to the bus stop we walked over the Sükhbaatar sqaure, it is named after and features a rider on his noble steed, the statue of Damdin Sükhbaatar, he was one of the leaders of Mongolia's 1921 revolution. The statue is located directly in front of the Saaral Ordon, the Government Palace. On the other side was a little exhibition block about dinosaurs skeletons and remains that had been found throughout Mongolia, and next to it a lovely ger and other litte things made out of flowers.
When we got on the bus we had to pay about 200Ŧ (Tugrik) that's about AU$ 0.15! 20 minutes later, this could have been shorter if the traffic wasn’t as bad, we got there. A hustle and bustle of people coming in and out of the markets, through a dirty, muddy street (there are no drains in the streets so when it rains it’s one big mudpool in Ulaanbaatar) and we’re there! It looks like we walked in at the furniture department, little cast iron stoves, sinks with their water reservoir, bedding and lounges, followed by the hardware aisles. All nice to look at but the only thing we want to see are the stands with all the horsestuff!
Hester takes us to our little place of Mongolian-horse-shop-heaven, and offcourse we find about 5 other Mongol Derby contestants there. We felt like little kids in a candystore, so many strange but cool looking things, different kind of stirrups, bits, saddles, different everything! HOW COOL! After some haggling I got myself 2 nice rope bridles and one smelly fresh leather bridle. Next to the horse shops there were some stands with bronze statues and skinned animal furs of wolves, marmots, wild cats and others, heads and claws of vultures and eagles. Then it was time to discover the rest of the markets, through the cutlery, crockery and other kitchen needs section to the clothes, shoes and other items section. Then we went to the indoor market where all the food was, the meats, sweets, dairy products, bakers, barbershops and other little shops. It was amazing to see all of the goods laid out in the stalls, so many unknown but interesting things. I bought some colourful hair elastics with plastic flowers and some colourful shoelaces to give to the kids at the camps were I would stay at during the ride, as you were asked by the Mongol Derby team to bring a little gift for the families. After a few hours wandering the markets it was time to head back as I was getting pretty tired.
That evening we went to the Ramada hotel to meet up with some more riders, had a few drinks, dinner and lots of laughs, then it was time for bed because the next day it was time for our pre-training in the classroom!