Unegen Origins: Part 2.2
This is a continuation of the Unegen Origins blog post if you would like a little more context read this post.
Most locals we met expressed a love of camping out in the country, whether it be the desert to the south, the steppe to the west, the mountains to the east or the forests to the north.
We booked bus tickets to Lake Hovsgol, a region in Northern Mongolia (Siberia) very close to the border with Russia. The point where the city ended and the steppe began was fairly immediate. Petrol stations and roadside shops quickly dwindled into rolling hills and vast plains dotted with white gers. Kites and eagles circled above, spying the steppe below. Enormous vultures perched ominously in the centre of a field. Horse herds galloped along the side of the road, pressed on by herdsmen wearing the traditional Mongolian deel, and expertly riding small Mongolian horses.
This was the first experience where the scenery, wildlife and details for "Unegen: The Burning Tree" began to form. The series is a "road" story, as our characters are usually on the move, arriving at new places while being pressed forward by their ever-looming pursuers. These journey stages of our trip helped conjure wide shots on the steppe and gave us a better overall sense of the spaces between our key locations. Our bus driver also charging ahead without any regard for those he overtook also set the tone of "the chase", which is another plot device that pushes our characters forward.
As well as the beautiful scenery outside, the Mongolian traditional way of life was thrown in our face with non-stop Mongol music videos for the entire 14-hour bus ride. It was clear what was considered the "ideal" lifestyle; a strong, handsome man dressed in traditional deel, reigning in a wild steed, while singing to his dedicated wife who milked the yaks and brushed their children's hair. At one point in each video, the husband would break tradition, and pull up in a shiny new SUV and proudly stare out the window; content with his life on the plains. It was fascinating to see how the horse and the Toyota Land Cruiser are both valued for the same reasons of enabling their nomadic lifestyle to continue.
To think that Sam and I were considering hiring a car and driving out here by ourselves is funny to look back on. Throwing our Western lens on it, it really did feel like the Wild West, especially when we stopped in a small town called Murun, containing a few restaurants and hotels, and a wrestling centre. We picked up certain details in this rural town that we couldn't in the thick of Ulaanbaatar, like the bow-legged walk of an elderly person who had been riding horses all their life, the curious "what are you doing here?" looks we received while wandering around town, and the pack of dogs that scared us from leaving the edge of town. We spent our first night in a ger, which wasn't exactly the isolated experience we expected. Instead, the ger was in someone's front yard, and belonged to a group of sisters that the hostel manager kicked out for the night to make space for us.
In true click-bait nature, stay tuned for our next 'Origins' post to discover the most beautiful place I've visited.
Damien.