Mongolia | The Gobi Desert and Lake Hovsgol.Rory McGrath | 17 Jul 2011

A great place to stay in UB is the UB Guest House, they organised our 7 day trip to the Gobi desert. It cost US$ 280, we stayed in Gers and there where 6 people in our group. It was the best way to see the whole desert. We rode camles and it was a amazing experience.

We managed to get a public bus up to Moron (which is in the north) and then a mini van to Khatagal, which is at the southern point on the lake. We walked up the easteren side for 9 days, there is nothing really there and there are no tourists. You have to be completely self sufficent. We had lots of yak milk in gers along the way up. There is a town called Hank on the NE corner of the lake, here we manged to sort out a 4 day horse trek around the top of the lake and down the western side. It was two of us and two local guides, we spoke no Mongolian and they spoke no english, but this made it even better. The scenery around the lake was amazing, the water is freezing!! The lower part of the western is very touristy and not very nice, stay clear. The eastern side is amazing.

The whole trip took just under two weeks, make sure you have a Mongolian pharse book, it was a life saver and a great way to break the ice.