Globe-trotting Mongolia: When Best Things are Growing In Secret

July 15, 2014

Globe-trotting Mongolia: When Best Things are Growing In Secret

It has always been a dream to see a vast of wildflowers beautifully lying along the slopes of the hill as far as the eyes could reach; gracefully swaying as if the wind encouragingly tell them to prance in a music they alone can understand. Perhaps heart-wrenching stories influenced my imagination a lot, those kinds where a girl would challenge a man to get the most stunning flower and in turn he courageously look for it only to find out they were found in the least-predicted places: along the mountain cliff. As expected he died, trying to get the heart of his love. Oh well. Tragedies do contain moral lesson though, that most beautiful things can only be found in hard places. There's beauty in hardship, in challenges, in pain. Well, I'm talking about the flowers on the cliff. You see, the best things are growing in secret.

Good thing Naadam Festival has come and has been a perfect excuse to go a little farther from the city and experience two days of perfect bliss. Amazingly, I've done a lot than what I am expecting for that two-day rest: created a perfect s'morse, wildflowers hunting, discovered a new trail hike in the last minute, collected stones along the below-ten-temperature river, rode a semi-wild horse, and my long-time favorite: frisbee.

It was 9 o'clock of Friday morning when we leave UB for some fresh and new adventure.

And then, the fun part began.

It took us nearly 2 hours to arrive at Shokoi

The camp site is just below the hill and a river can be found on the far north side

We stayed on one of the gers and set-up a tent
(photo courtesy of Abi/Melody Maraat)

L-R: Berlie, Sandra, Pastor Rich, Nelly

Done!

These semi-wild horses that are used for long travels are owned by
the camp manager/owner and carefree to hang out around the place

I also got the chance to have a ride on these horses
(photo courtesy of Ptr. Richel Maraat)

L-R: Boldo (guide), Abi, Jep, Nelly, Sara Bagsh (Camp Owner)
(photo courtesy of Ptr. Rich Maraat)

We prepared barbecue for lunch
(photo courtesy of Maita Sergelen)

photo courtesy of Abi/Melody Maraat

Made s'mores

And enjoyed it under the summer sun at night.
Yeah, the sun sets at 9PM this time of the year
(photo courtesy by Maita Sergelen)

We even played frisbee
(photo courtesy by Maita Sergelen)

photo courtesy of Melody/Abi Maraat

Cooked and ate Mongolian and Filipino dishes:
horhog, blanched okra, dried fishes
(photo courtesy of Maita Sergelen)

We also sang couple of songs
(photo courtesy of Maita Sergelen)

Played card games
(photo courtesy of Maita Sergelen)

Enjoyed every moment with the youngest in the group: Baby Eegii.
(photo courtesy of Maita Sergelen)

Pastor Rich and his dad's instinct side
(photo courtesy of Abi/Melody Maraat)

Relished the coldness of the river being the only body of water I got to experience.
This country is landlocked between Russia and China, btw.
(photo courtesy of Nelly Arranguez)

Me and my geologist side.
Talking to self, "amphibole? Short and stubby. Oh it's pyroxene"

L-R: Medy, Nelly, Jep
(photo courtesy of Abi Maraat)

I like how Stowe summed up my thoughts that time:

In all ranks of life the human heart yearns for the beautiful; and the beautiful that God makes are His gifts to all alike.

Enough said.

Now let's talk more about beautiful things that are growing in secret. This hill at the back of the ger where we stayed is normal at first but when we decided to leg it, things unraveled in a pretty remarkable way.

photo courtesy of Abi Maraat

Just after a little rest from our so-called siesta, and just in time after the rain had stopped, the group together with our youngest Eegii decided to climb the hill. It was not a serious climb and you don't have to exert your hiking skills that much since it offers a gentle slope.

And we're ready to climb!
(photo courtesy of Maita Sergelen)

And then, in no less time, we found this little mesmerizing creatures. In other words, spellbound.

Tried doing macro shot on my phone. Ha.

cactus or nort?

Just a little further and we saw the beauty of Shokoi right before our own eyes.

This view stunned us as we were midway going to the top

View from the top (Northern side)

Still from the top, where our camp site is (Southern side)

North-eastern side view from the top
(photo courtesy of Abi Maraat)

North-western side view from the top. Yes, those white thingies are sheep.
(photo courtesy of Abi Maraat)

Happy kid.
(photo courtesy of Maita Sergelen)

A complete 360-degree stunning view, how bout that? But there's more! At the slope of the hill facing the river, we found this land flowing with yellows, pinks and blues. Haaa! Undeniably breath-taking. My soul was leaping in joy.

These are some of those beautiful creations in that place

photo courtesy of Maita Sergelen

photo courtesy of Nelly Arranguez

But there's MORE to more! A little further on the eastern side, Nelly, Abi and I found this hiking trail downhill to get a full glance of the river. Shall I say spellbound again? By all means! (Photo credits: Abi Maraat/ Nelly Arranguez)