Mongolia
The true Mongolian experience
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Johan Kruseman
Updated on 7 September 2024
Updated on 7 September 2024
After this amazing time in Kovsköl, I set out to find the true Mongolian experience: crossing the country, away from the few real roads they have. For comparison: imagine you’re in Bordeaux and want to go to Milan, you wouldn’t go via Amsterdam unless... Amsterdam is the only way to get from Bordeaux to Milan. That was kind of the situation there.
Despite the local advice that going via Amsterdam was better, I decided to take the risk. After walking 300 meters (in the right direction, so I was making good progress), things went wrong. I asked some local motorcyclists if they could drop me off at the point where all the 4WDs would head into the mountains. It turned out to be impossible to explain, no matter how many hand gestures, translation apps, and maps I used. Eventually, one person was willing to take me, but unfortunately, in the wrong direction. When he turned off at a gas station, I still had a glimmer of hope that he needed gas, but it turned out he had driven to meet a friend he hadn’t seen in a while.
So, I walked back and decided to walk the five kilometers out of the city myself, until a second opportunity presented itself: an old man in an even older car was willing to take me further. But after one kilometer, the speed dropped. I kept enthusiastically pointing forward, but we were now going slower than walking speed. The man turned around and reassured me, saying, “it’s good, it’s good!” It turned out he was taking me to his house to offer me tea. With the help of his daughter, who acted as a kind of interpreter, I was able to share my reckless plan with the man. “Aah, go to UB! (Amsterdam) first.”
But because he couldn’t see through my facade of determination, he took me to a gas station where I could ask passersby. I have never been rejected so many times in two hours. Many people stopped, but no one was going in my direction (imagine how likely it is for someone in Bordeaux to be going exactly to Milan, even though I modestly mentioned the town halfway there).
After two hours, with my self-confidence now below zero, I showed my Google-translated “Are you going to Jagarland, can I join?” to yet another Toyota Landcruiser. A nice couple with two playful children in the backseat said they were going to Jagarland and even to ‘Milan’, so I could do the whole trip without any stops. The woman turned out to teach Mongolian to Western expats, so she spoke English quite well. It was the best hitchhike ever.
The challenge came when it turned out they wanted to go as fast as possible and didn’t take time for lunch or dinner. With only one jam sandwich in the morning, I had to endure 24 hours without food. I had to compensate for this by ordering double breakfasts in the following three days. The second challenge was that there was no road by Dutch standards. For ten hours, we drove through the bumpiest meadows and rivers that came halfway up the door. Even my maps.me app came in handy twice to find the right direction. At midnight, we even pulled a 2WD out of the mud, and then I could finally go to bed at one o’clock.
Hungry, nauseous, and exhausted but satisfied from a beautiful journey through central Mongolia, the man wasn’t too pleased, however, that I had been happily chatting non-stop with his wife the whole way. When I asked how much I could contribute for the gas, the woman immediately said “nothing, nothing,” but when I came back a little later, the man (with the hostel owner as an interpreter) asked if I could pay the price of a rental car (200 euros) because that’s what I would have paid if I had taken this route on my own. The woman sat hunched over and suddenly couldn’t speak English anymore. In the end, we agreed to pay half of the gas, which was a good deal for both parties, but the weird situation put a small damper on this best hitchhike ever.
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Traveled route: Ulaanbaatar, Kharkhorin, Hatgal, Khorgo, Tstetserleg, Red Waterfall, Zamiin-Uud
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Did this story inspire you to go to Mongolia? Read more on what Mongolia has to offer, what the best months are for visiting and check the handy links for backpacking there.
