Life in Quarantine in Mongolia Part 1: The Big Year

"Jay, the practical enthusiast" (jay-m)
09/20/2020 at 03:25 • Filed to: None

This was supposed to have been our biggest travel year yet. Seniority is everything in the airline industry and I finally reached a point where money was good and I could hold vacations whenever I wanted. We had 3 international trips planned for 2020: the lunar new year in Mongolia in February, three weeks in Germany followed by a month in Mongolia for the summer, then Japan sometime in the fall. Mongolia closed its borders in January and all the other plans fell apart shortly after that. Still we were optimistic.

Four years ago we spent a whole school year in Mongolia and we had always wanted to do it again. As demand for air travel collapsed my company offered long term voluntary leaves and I took one. The plan was now simplified, we would leave as soon as school finished. Mongolia was supposed to reopen its borders in April anyway. When that didn’t happen, we waited for May. Then June, July, and August. Mongolia wasn’t taking any chances. No commercial flights in or out.

There was another way, but one we didn’t really take too seriously. Repatriation flights, often just called rescue flights. These are flights chartered by governments around the world to get their citizens back home. Mongolia runs several of these flights a month. My wife signed us up back in May through the embassy. We were way down the list. Priority went to students, stuck tourists (a Mongolian visiting Seattle for 2 weeks ended up being there for 3 months), people with expired visas, families with small children, and the elderly. People like us, dual citizens (except for me) employed in the country with places to live were at the very bottom of the list.

Two weeks ago, while visiting Disney World, the embassy calls me. They said they were just updating their lists. Are we still interested in going? Yes. By the way, can you be ready to go in 10 days? Sure. The next day we get another call saying we are not going to make the next flight. OK then. Two days later, they call again and say some people dropped out, are you ready? We start packing and cleaning the house. Then another call, you can’t go because you don’t have a visa. Can you get me one? It takes 2 long nerve-racking days for the Mongolian State Department to issue it. I have to fly up to the embassy in Washington D.C. to get it.

This is finally happening. We’re going to Mongolia.

Our old Highlander is waiting for us.

DISCUSSION (12)

pip bip - choose Corrour > Jay, the practical enthusiast
09/20/2020 at 03:33

enjoy

send car pics/street scenes

jminer > Jay, the practical enthusiast
09/20/2020 at 03:46

That sounds like an excellent adventure! Send us dispatches when you can and safe travels.

Jay, the practical enthusiast > pip bip - choose Corrour
09/20/2020 at 04:08

You better believe it. The world needs more pictures of Priuses.

superdave847 > Jay, the practical enthusiast
09/20/2020 at 08:54

Awesome! I went there for a summer back in 2001.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jay, the practical enthusiast
09/20/2020 at 13:15

Stay safe out there and feel free to bombard us with Mongolia pics at any time. That sounds like quite an adventure.

I remember your post a while back about driving in Mongolia. More of that please. It seems like their car population is charmingly eclectic so I'd be interested in that too. Don't they have a lot of JDM imports there as regular dailies?

Jay, the practical enthusiast > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
09/20/2020 at 18:41

More than half the cars come from the Japanese used car market. Unfortunately most of these are Priuses. But every now and then I see something different.

Jay, the practical enthusiast > superdave847
09/20/2020 at 18:42

I want to hear about that. Where did you go and what did you do?

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jay, the practical enthusiast
09/20/2020 at 18:52

It's crazy how big the Japanese used car market is not just in East Asia but everywhere. What side of the road does Mongolia drive on again?

Jay, the practical enthusiast > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
09/20/2020 at 19:48

Same as the U.S. So almost everyone is sitting on the wrong side of the car. Our Prius is right hand drive, but our Highlander was imported from the U.S. It is confusing going from one to the other.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jay, the practical enthusiast
09/20/2020 at 20:39

Yeah that has to get hectic. Knowing for sure where you can expect the driver and his/her blind spots is an important way to maintain predictability and a mix of RHD and LHD throws that out the window. Plus the disorientation from switching while in different cars.

superdave847 > Jay, the practical enthusiast
09/21/2020 at 21:57

I was 16, in high school, and heard about a group from my church that did trips all around the world. So I signed up for a trip to Mongolia not understanding much. From day to day, I worked painting a public library in Sükhbaatar and pouring a cement sidewalk there. That’s basically the work I did.

I flew on Korean Air from LA on the longest flight I’ve ever taken. I think it was 26 hours total through South Korea. We took the Trans Mongolian Railroad there from Ulaanbaatar, which was an incredible experience.

I live in a yurt with a wood fire for food. Used an outhouse and took showers with a unit where a 5 gallon bucket tipped over to dump water.

For fun, I went to the mountains on the border of Russia, which was beautiful. I went to a lamb cookout by a river, with mutton boiled in oil in milk containers. I had some sort of meat stuffed dumplings too. Lots of those. And drank fermented mares milk. I can’t say I fell in love with the food like in other places I visited. I did see the Nadaam Festival, which was a highlight, some really beautiful Buddhist monasteries, and lots of Soviet monuments .

For Oppo interests, I saw lots of Russian motorcycles with sidecars, Russian 4x4s, and also folks riding horses and Yaks.

It was a really cool summer.

Jay, the practical enthusiast > superdave847
09/24/2020 at 05:43

That is so awesome! For some reason your reply didn’t show up in my notifications. KINJA!! That sounds like a great summer. We have taken the train to Sukhbaatar before. Quite an experience indeed. I’ve gotten used to some of the food, but there’s still a lot I can’t eat.