I just went kayaking alone for a few days on Moron Gol and Selengue.
I know kayaking alone is not a wise thing to do but well, sometimes in life you wanna take chances... ;)
So, I ADVISE NOT TO DO THIS ALONE and this is the point of this entire message. I am not talking about the water, the rapids and so on as they were nothing to worry about but about other dangers that haven't been able to foresee.
To make things clear, I'm an experienced traveler, backpacked in dozens of countries over the past 15 years but it's only too late that I realized that canoeing alone, as it is very slow, makes you a way too easy target for bad-intended people and as matter of fact, I've been assaulted by kids... yeah, you read it right, kids, I mean teens, probably 16-18 year olds. And here is how it went.
First I should say that while unpacking my kayak in Moron I realised I had lost my fishing rod, which kind of annoyed me, not that I was counting on it to survive but having lost it I knew I was about to miss part of the fun of a kayaking trip.
Latter in the day, around 6pm, I see this guy on a motorbike stop on the shore and as he's got a little case on the bike I suspect he may have come fishing, as I had seen a few guys do earlier, so I paddle towards him. I ask him if he's got some fishing line to spare, he tells me he doesn't but that his friend across, on the other shore, has got some. Of course all this and what follows is my interpretation of a sign-language exchange we've had. The guy's also got 2 petrol tanks, 2 jerry cans and a backpack with him and asks me if I can take them over to his friend on the other shore, which of course I do. Once there, I unload the boat and ask the friend if he can give 5m of line as he's holding about 200m in his hand. The guy cuts a piece and, as he sees a fish hook in my backpack, tells me he want the hook. I tell him I never intended to trade a hook for 5m of fishing line, that there is not point of holding a fish line if you have no hook to put at the end of it but he doesn't want to hear a thing and gets all worked up. I add that I carried his stuff across, he tells me it was only paddling, gets pissed off and puts all his stuff back on my kayak. At this point, I tell him to take everything off, give him the line back and get back on the river. To me that's the end of the story and I hear them trail off on their motorbike.
But then I see them 500 meters down waving to me, telling me to come to them from one hand as I see them hold rocks in the other: this is not good. I paddle as far away from them as I can, towards the other shore and that's when they start throwing the stones at me. I mean stones, not stupid pebbles. Stones that are bigger than your fist. They miss me and yell something at me and go away. But 2 minutes afterwards, one of the kids comes back on a horse and gets into the water to chase me. I've got no choice but to head to shore and once I get there, get of the boat and take my paddle and hold it as a way to show him that I'll defend myself so he'd better leave me alone. But no, the guy gets to the tree line and grabs this massive piece of wood. It's only then that I understand the guy really wants to get into a fight. If only I could have known why. He only retreats to take his friend with him on the horse, that guys gone to to get a lasso in the meantime. So I've got these 2 guys approaching me on a horse, holding a lasso, a stick and stones and I just feel that I'm done for, standing on the shore with my canoe, my backpack, basically all I've got.
I see 2 adults further down and start yelling for help as I don't want to fight 2 kids that look crazy enough not to care about cracking my skull but by the time they get moving these 2 kids are already facing me and without waiting, the tougher one grabs me by the collar while the other is standing next to him, still holding stones in his hands. There's absolutely no fear and their eyes and that's freaky. They're definitely a lot more used to fighting than I am. And again, I don't want to punch any of them as I don't want to drive berserk 2 kids that look already crazy enough to stone me to death.
But it gets worse. The 2 adults have arrived and as I ask for help, they just sit and watch, as if they are just waiting for these kids to beat me up so they can take my stuff and enjoy their catch. Suddenly I get a punch, which doesn't do much harm but is enough to break my sunglasses, that I haven't even thought about removing in the heat of the moment. Then a second punch and a third... next thing I know I'm on the ground with these guys beating me. Then 2 adults eventually tell the 2 kids to bugger off, but only after I feel a kick in my back that would leave a massive bruise.
Four days have passed and my back still aches like hell. It's only cause I'm not pissing blood that I don't worry too much. Apart from that, I still have all my stuff but if it were not for these two adults, I don't know how all this could have finished. And as a matter of fact I still don't really know how it started.
Anyway I just felt like I had to share this as it might be of help to some of you. As I said, I've already been travelling quite a lot but nothing of the sort had ever happened to me.
But don't get me wrong. Mongols are nice people and reading this shouldn't scare you about spending your next vacation here. Only keep in mind they are the descendants of the great Chingis Khan and this is probably why they may appear a bit too rough sometimes.
