S?m Kh?kh Burd, Mongolia | 2 July 2006 | $5 USD
This was our first stop on my second van trip around Mongolia with five strangers?this time through the Gobi Desert (skip ahead and read the entire trip report here if you like). After 9 hours driving from Ulaan Bataar we almost didn’t make it to this place. Our driver, despite being “from the desert”, got incredibly lost on the way and tried to get us to stop at a random ger where he asked for directions. Two of us insisted we find this place because we didn’t want to displace an entire family from their ger. We also figured that if we didn’t find the correct starting place for tomorrow’s long ride we’d be spending more than 9 hours in the van for the second straight day. A few of the others wanted to stay in the random ger instead of continuing to drive. This would be the first of many clashes between the group over the rest of the 8-day trip.
Although this hotel was basically in the middle of nowhere its named for the ruined ‘castle’ nearby. We arrived too late to do much exploring but did enjoy a nice sunset.
Despite the overpriced cost we were responsible for cooking our own food brought from the capital on the wood floor of the main room.
