Photo Friday: Commuting, Gobi-Style

During our two weeks in the Gobi Desert, we traveled nearly 500 kilometers as we traversed the Dundgovi province of Mongolia. Since we didn’t have a tour guide or any real concept of where we were within the Gobi, different people escorted us between places.

For longer distances (i.e. over 15 kilometers), a driver was sent with a jeep of sorts to drive us to our next destination. Despite having an appearance similar to that of a van twenty years past its prime, this puppy could off-road like nobody’s business, rattling up and down hills and over rocky terrain. Except when it couldn’t, and then the driver simply lodged a stone under the front wheel to keep the jeep from tipping over as he ventured off to find a better route to follow:

When we did reach our destination and were resting for the day, it was not uncommon for us to come out of our ger/room/tent and find several dozen parts of the jeep strewn on the desert floor as the driver fixed a flat tire and whatever else ailed the jeep on that given day.

On days when we had to travel shorter distances, the family we had just stayed with would escort us to the next home via whatever means of transportation they personally owned and used.

Sometimes these were comfortable and familiar:

Pick-up truck

Trekking

Trekking

Other times, less so:

Camel cart with a blown tire which was eventually replaced with a working tire from the family’s jeep

Camel cart

We can now officially say we’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name

Motorbike

Motorbike with a blown tire which was patched up on the spot

Horse cart

Horse cart driver

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