PPS Destinations Report

Mongolia

Date:         September 7 - 20, 2002

Topics:       Selected topics in Dentistry and Traditional Medicine

Reported by Ernst 'Ernie' Schmidt

    Mongolia!?!  Just the name itself brings to mind visions of a vast and far-away place.  The following is my report based on an amazing adventure with my fellow intrepid travelers.  From Beijing to Ulaanbaatar, to the Eg River Taimen camp, it was one adventure after another.  I trust, dear reader, that you will bear through this amazing adventure as the reality of my expectations for this  trip unfold.   If by some chance you get impatient, please feel free to scroll down and see some of the amazing pictures of giant Taimen and other marvels of Mongolia or go straight to the Photo Album.

    Since you cannot travel to Mongolia direct from North America, one typically must go through either Beijing or Seoul.  Well, since the Great Wall was on my 'to-do' list, I didn't think that this was too much of a decision.  On September  the 8th, six of us met at the Beijing airport to begin our 2/3 day tour of Beijing.  The first day, after our morning Tai Chi lessons, we boarded a bus and were escorted and guided through Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Heavenly Palace.   Much to my amazement, I did not realize that there would be 20 thousand other people visiting some of these sites at the same time.  The highlight of this portion of the trip had to be visiting the Great Wall.  The gap between expectation and reality quickly closed when it became apparent that there were at least five thousand other people on the same section of wall.  The section we visited was split by a national highway which somewhat ruined the ambiance of the experience as the air brakes and engine noise of truck traffic kept whizzing by.  In any event, two of us opted to take the less traveled portion of the wall in order to get our 'obligatory' Great Wall pictures taken.  If you haven't done this before, I highly recommend it, however, it is something few of us will repeat.  My major criticism of our stay in China was that every second destination on the itinerary was to a retail outlet selling either silks, pearls or other Chinese products.  In some cases, I felt that portions of our tour were compromised in order that the guide 'hand' us over to the ruthless and pushy salespeople.  Oh well, still glad I did it.  Maybe I will try Seoul next time as I hear that the air is not as 'thick' as in Beijing.

    Once we arrived in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia - and met up with our seventh member - many of us felt that our trip was finally underway.  Ulaanbaatar itself lived up to my expectations, in that, it was a city which could be seen in one vista, lying in a treeless valley.  I enjoyed the post-Soviet feel to this city as it reminded me something out of a 60's Cold War movie.  You know, the buildings and hotels having the neon lights on the roofs, of course with many letters unlit and the whole thing painted in that ubiquitous institutional green colour.  Kinda like Bucharest in the move 'In Like Flint'.  Indeed, our hotel was so genuine, and crooked, that we marveled that we didn't fall through the floor boards when standing outside our bathroom.  I haven't experienced this kind of ambiance since our overnight stay in Puerto Chacabuco in Patagonia, Chile.  Immediately, we were impressed by the friendliness and genuineness of our tour hosts and had a great time visiting some of the sights and shops in, and around, the city.  Although restaurant selection wasn't large, what there was, was remarkably cosmopolitan and quite good.  The only blight on the city is the acrid pall from the coal-burning electricity plants on the outskirts.  At times, when the plants were upwind, the haze could be quite thick and irritating to the eyes and nose.  On our final evening in UB, three of us decided we just had to go to the state-run department store in order to buy some last-minute souvenirs to take back home.  I have been in a lot of taxis in my day, but have never traveled 5 miles in city traffic and then be faced with a 50 cent fare!!!  I gave the driver 60 cents and he firmly insisted on giving us the change!!!  I will remember this the next time I visit NY or Tokyo.

    On our second day, our group met at the Number One Hospital (affiliated with the State National Medical Dental University) for a full-day session.  We were graciously received by our hosts, and after several presentations by faculty and PPS members, we were escorted on a tour of the hospital.  This had to be one of the more interesting aspects of our meeting to date, all of us quickly realizing the divergent systems represented by the West and East-block eras.  I was impressed at the credentials of some of the faculty members, however, it was readily apparent that the facility was greatly lacking in equipment.  As far as dentistry was concerned, it was very basic.  After this tour, we were taken to visit several private clinics in the city.  It appeared that all the dentistry was performed by young women and that there was no shortage of patients willing to pay the three dollar fee for a filling.  Since radiography was not readily used in dentistry, I got the impression that they did not deal with the small 'stuff' but stuck mainly to fixing the 'more apparent' problems.  In any event, an attempt will be made to collect and ship some of our 'dated' equipment and materials to the hospital.  Dear Readers, if any of you have any equipment or materials (any medical/dental/whatever) you can spare, please get in touch with me as I will try to co-ordinate this.  Believe me, anything will be greatly appreciated.

    Early on the Thursday morning, the time we had all been waiting for, finally arrived.  Off to the fishing camp!  Well, I think I first have to tell you a little bit about getting there.  This was one part of the trip I had eagerly anticipated.  I had imagined that we would finally arrive at camp, the bailing wire holding the helicopter door would fall off and we would all roll out of the chopper, kissing the ground, and feeling we had 'cheated death'.  In this respect, I was severely disappointed!!!!  My disillusion first began with my first sight of the Russian MI-8 helicopter.  Simply put, it just looked too well-maintained and airworthy!!  My illusions were further shattered by the professional looking (captains uniform?) flight crew of three.  Well, once in the air - following all the boring flight protocols of an airliner - it quickly became apparent that this was just a routine flight.  Between a good book and some amazing scenery the flight quickly came to an end as we arrived at our camp.  My first impression?  What an amazing place.  Wide-open spaces ringed by forested six-thousand foot mountains.  Without a doubt, the scenery throughout the whole week had to rank as the most-spectacular I have ever witnessed.  No doubt, this had a lot to do with the uniqueness of the location.

    After finally getting settled into our Gers, we were keen to get out to the fishing grounds.  Before getting  in the boats, some of us quickly wet a line right in front of our Gers (had to watch out that you didn't catch them on the backcast) and caught several lennok and grayling on dry flies.  In addition to the elusive taimen, the river is full of lennok, one of the oldest forms of trout in the world and looking somewhat like a cross between a dolly varden and brown trout with a unique mouth.  In any event, they behave much like trout and were great sport on a light rod.  In any event, we were here for the big boys.  It was soon apparent, that the fishing was a bit tough, but we all seemed to be raising one or two fish in the first day or two.  One of the most amazing days I had ever witnessed was when I fished the second full day with my endodontist friend, Pete Esposito (Amherst, Mass).  After dropping me off on shore, Pete and guide Matt started the run and Pete quickly caught a 30 inch Taimen.  Good start!  Not long after, Pete made another cast, only to have a giant fish come clean out of the water-three feet from his fly - and pounce successfully on his Chernobyl squirrel dry fly.  After a good struggle, Matt finally netted the 44 inch fish.  Could it get any better?  Well, no sooner did we get back in the water, when a huge boil erupted around Pete's fly when it was only two feet from shore!!!  As soon as the fish cleared the water, it was obvious that this was a monster!!!!  Holding on to a big fish like this in a fast current wasn't easy, however Pete did a credible job as we chased the fish downstream, crossed the river in the boat and finally landed him on the opposite shore.  Fifty-Six inches long!!!  Probably as many years old and over 45 pounds.  Other than sturgeons (never taken on a dry fly) from the Fraser River in my native BC, there surely cannot be such a large freshwater fish anywhere in the world that you can catch on a dry fly in such a spectacular setting!!  This moment will surely be one of the most memorable ones in Pete's fishing career.

    During our week of fishing, it was quickly apparent that we were not going to catch numbers of these rare and elusive fish.  Whether it was the extremely low water conditions due to the recent drought or the warm weather, we realized that one was going to need to work really hard and throw a lot of line in order to catch these fish.  During the week, most of us caught our 'full-sizer', making the rest of the week gravy.  On the fourth day, we had a snowy day which quickly cooled down the air and water temperature.  It appeared that this was what the doctor ordered, not only to clear the residual smoke from the skies (due to the nearby forest fires) but to tell the taimen to start storing fat for winter.  Although I started catching more smaller fish, I still did not get my 'full-sizer'.  On my last full day, I went out with guide Matt and my friend Juan about 10 miles upriver.  The day was sterling, the scenery was unbelievable and the fishing looked promising.  I could sense that Matt was trying to help me catch my first really big fish of the trip.  After Juan released his three-footer, I quickly hooked up and landed two taimen just under 30 inches.  Further downstream, we jumped a few more and then finally ended up in 'alligator alley'.  After several casts with my Spey rod, I just happened to glance behind the boat and noticed a log slowly moving against the current of gin-clear water.  Matt had me make several awkward short-casts with my 14 foot rod, since the fish was lying just behind the stern.  After teasing the fish for several minutes, it suddenly decided to come up and inspect my dry fly.  This fish was huge!!!  All of a sudden, it accelerated and engulfed my fly, along with several cubic litres of water, a mere 4 metres behind the boat!  I set the hook, bent the rod double and then stared in disbelief as the rod went limp.  My fly line to leader connection snapped!  Well, after a 20 minute lecture by guide Matt on how I should have let him tie an Albright's knot between leader and line, we were back on the water.  It didn't take me too long after this, when I was casting over a shallow tail-out and hooked a nice three-footer.  The fish immediately cleared the water, wrapped me around a log, broke me off and, if to thumb his nose at me, cleared the water again as it passed by the boat.  Oh well, despite at least 10 more chances over the next two hours, I felt a bit disappointed at not having caught a full-size taimen in Mongolia.  I couldn't say it wasn't exciting and, all in all, look back on this with a sense of awe as to the beauty of the surroundings.  In hindsight, I think we could all say that the group had a good fishing trip and, although we worked very hard for our fish, the numbers looked pretty good all in all.

    Another highlight I should tell you about was that half-day we took off in order to visit the nearby town of Teshig.  To get there, we crossed the river by boat and drove in a Russian jeep (all eight of us) for about 40 minutes.  Once we got away from the river, you could really see how open and amazingly beautiful the stark landscape was.  We fortuitously chose a National holiday and were rewarded with a horse race and wrestling competition which took up the bulk of the day.  As the 30 mile horse race was nearing its conclusion, we all climbed a small rocky knoll to witness the riders approaching from the distance.  The 360 degree view was spectacular.  I can only hope that my photos do some justice to the hostile beauty of this place.  The town itself was set in the middle of this vast mountain-ringed plain and was an experience that I will not soon forget.  Wide open, dusty, frontier-like and surrounded by the ubiquitous hitching post for the Mongol ponies used in transport.  Living in draughty-looking log cabins with decrepit outhouses, neither running water nor electricity,  these hospitable handsome-looking rosy-faced locals displayed a sense of naive happiness that one no longer sees in large western cities.  I will always remember my attempts to photograph the shy children.  Once I managed to get a few in the picture, I would reward them with the instant digital image.  Once the others nearby saw this, they all wanted to get in the act and I had to photograph half the town before they would let me move on.  Reader, of all the things I have witnessed to date on this trip, this is the one part I will remember most.  Please make sure you scroll through the photos!!!!

    Some would say that this was an adventure of a lifetime  Not for me.  I realize that I will need to go back before things change too much but, this time, with my wife.  I know she would love the hiking potential and amazing scenery.  Living in the Gers was really quite comfortable and a great experience.  My only advice would be to buy a cashmere hat in Ulaanbaatar since the temperature would drop to below freezing in the morning.  Just the same, our fire-guy would always come in at 6 am to begin stoking the wood heater.  Once the Ger warmed up, it was simply heaven.

    To take such a trip, it may not be practical to do this on your own due to the lack of infrastructure.  As much as Mongolia is trying to open up for tourist travel, many still meet up with frustrating delays as the system still functions on 'Mongol-time'.  I would like to thank the members of Huvsgul Travel, Sweetwater Travel and Frontiers International for all the work they did in order to make this trip come off with barely a hitch.  I have come to appreciate this more after talking to several other travelers who were not so fortunate and were plagued with several unexpected delays.

    If you have any questions about this location, please do not hesitate to contact me at pps@shaw.ca.  I would be happy to hear from you.  .  For more photos, please check out the  Photo Album.