Camels & Eminem in the Dust

As soon as we completed our six-hour customs stop at the Russia border and the train trundled slowly into Mongolia, it seemed as though everything changed. The scenery was more varied, the sun was shining (in contrast to Russia's near-constant rain) and the people seemed more relaxed, making the lack of a common language much less daunting. All the Mongolians we met laughed a lot, especially when asking us (jokingly... I think) why we had come to visit their country without our husbands; and when meeting a vegetarian. Not eating meat is unheard of in a country which survives on mutton for breakfast, lunch and dinner (in fact, with meat so central to their diet I was surprised to learn that 98% of Mongolians are Buddhists, as I'd previously identified that religion with vegetarianism). In any case, the animals all appear to be 'free-range' and every part of them is used to help ensure the family's survival through the winter, so at least this is meat-eating borne of necessity, even if it's a necessity I'm grateful not to have to accept!

We spent a day in Ulan Batar before starting a nine-day tour of Western Mongolia, but it is not a beautiful city, even in the perennial sunshine. Low, grey buidings and blocks of flats and offices stretch into the mountains, the roads are full of potholes and on more than one occasion we almost stumbled into open manholes apparently left permanently uncovered on the pavements. The poverty in Mongolia is more evident in the city than the countryside, even before you come across the street children who live in Ulan Batar. Apparently their number have dropped sharply since an NGO was established to help them, but it is clearly still a huge problem with an estimated third of the city's population living below the poverty line.

In contrast to the sprawling city, Mongolian countryside is sparcely populated and we often drove for miles without seeing another vehicle or building. More prevalent were the animals - sheep, yaks, goats, dogs, horses, rodents and even on a couple of exciting occasions camels and vultures! All of this wildlife kept us entertained as we bumped along the dusty road, with Eminem and Justin Timberlake blasting from the car stereo. Our guide initially told us that it was the favourite music of our driver (who was also her uncle). This seemed unlikely, but not wanting to stereotype we weren't quite sure until she confessed that she'd instructed him to buy some western pop music from the petrol station and this hip hop compliation cassette was the only one they had. We heard it many, many times over the nine days.

During the tour, we stayed in Gers; round tents with wooden frames covered in layers of felt, with a wood-burning stove in the centre. This stove was soon our favourite feature as the evenings and early mornings were freezing, and it was invaluable on the day when I misjudged the stability of a plank across a stream and ended up knee-deep in water. Thanks to the stove nothing took long to dry, although I think my trainers will now always be the colour of Mongolian mud.

After threatening for days, the snow finally arrived just as we were leaving Mongolia, swirling round the train while melodramatic Mongolian music was piped through the carriage speakers. The music provided a strange but oddly fitting soundtrack to the snowy landscape, and a satisfying and atmospheric end to our time here.