Holidays of a Lifetime: August 2017

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Mongolia

Well it's been a week since I returned from Mongolia and just thought I would add one more entry to the blog with some links related to the trip.

A selection of my photos from the trip can be found here

The sheep/goat ankle bones used for fortune telling and playing games are called Shagai and information on them can be found here

Next is a list of links that will show you some of the locations around Mongolia on Google Maps

1st night Ulaanbaatar47°55'17.0"N 106°55'06.9"E

Hogno Khan Mountain Ger camp (2 nights) this is a rough location based on the Erdene Khamba Monastery location 47°24'05.5"N 103°39'06.9"E

Erdene Khamba Monastery 47°25'38.8"N 103°41'38.8"E

Karakorum 47°12'05.9"N 102°50'35.6"E

Anja Ger camp (1 night) 47°11'04.0"N 102°48'00.4"E

Secret of Ongi Ger camp (1 night) with Monastery near by 45°20'03.0"N 104°00'29.2"E

Gobi Tour Ger camp (1 night) 44°07'49.6"N 103°42'07.6"E with the Flaming Cliffs north west of the camp

Gobi Oasis Ger Camp (2 nights) 43°36'56.3" 104°19'10.7"E and near by (east of the camp) is the airport that we flew back to Ulaanbaatar from. West of the camp is the mountains where we walked the gorges.

Then it was the same hotel in Ulaanbaatar for 1 night

Chinggis Khaan Equestrian Statue 47°48'22.7"N 107°32'07.2"E

Falman Meadows Ger camp (2 nights) 48°05'30.84"N 107°50'57.67"E with ridge walk to the south and mountain bike ride to the north east

Then it was the same hotel in Ulaanbaatar for 1 night

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Heading Home

12th August 2017
The time soon comes around to head home. It's been a great trip and we seem to have packed so much in in the last few days that I'm ready to head home. Mongolia has been great, I'm not sure why I didn't come here sooner, it's got all the things I love about a foreign country - nice scenery, traditional way of living, Buddhist monasteries and great history.
The bus to take us to the airport picked us up at 8:30am (1:30am UK time), we said our goodbyes and thank yous to Kenzo. To get rid of my remaining Mongolian cash I give it all to the driver as a tip. As it's just under 3,000 Turgriks it looks a lot but remember it cost 3000 to buy a can of coke in the camps. I still have US dollars left should I need to buy anything at the airport's. After a short wait we are able to check in for both the flight from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing and Beijing to London. Once through security I started to hear rummers of a delay and sure enough it eventually comes up on the board that the flight is delayed. How long for? We only have 2 1/2 hours in between landing and the London flight leaving so can't afford to much as although we are arriving on a international flight we still have to go through security at Beijing. Time passes and then the board shows a delay of 3 hours! That's it then the connection will have gone. We pin our hopes on the fact that there is a large group of 22 people from the UK, mostly children, booked on the same London flight. There's 6 from our group plus a few others we talked to, so that's a lot to rearrange travel for, may be they will hold the flight? Our plane is also delayed coming from Beijing due to bad weather in the Beijing area, may be if lots of flights are delayed again that may help us. Drinks and biscuits are supplied due to the delay.
We eventually arrive in Beijing at 5:00pm our connection flight should have left 35 minutes ago. Once we depart the flight we can see from the board that it is delayed and due to leave in 30 minutes, can we get through the airport including security in that time? As we head to the transfer area there are some Air China representatives holding up some flight numbers including ours, "yes we are on that flight" pointing to the London number. They stick a red Air China logo sticker on each of us and shout "hurry, hurry!". That's great surely these stickers will help our transit. First step, the man who checks your boarding card and stamps it for transfer. Look I have a big red sticker on my arm! No he still checks it and then stamps it. Surely the sticker will help with security? Step two the lady that checks your passport and boarding card again. Look I have a big red sticker on my arm I'm in a hurry! No all things need checking and they need to take my photo. Step three the security search of you and your hand luggage. Right last time we were here all cameras had to be removed from bags. I'm taking no chances and remove half of my belongings from my rucksack. This is the last reason I could have been given this red sticker for, proudly displaying it on my arm I expect a swift outcome. So after the third time they put my rucksack through the machine, removing the reaming items I finally get them to tell me why. "Do you have coins in your bag?" Yes my wallet it has British coins in it, I show him and then repack my bag. So shouting "hurry, hurry" at us and giving us a big red sticker actually achieved nothing. Of course to add to this we now have to get to the gate, the last but one gate in the terminal of course. As we arrive just before 5:30 we see the previous passengers only now departing the plane, it ain't going no where fast. The longer it takes the greater chance our luggage will be transferred. Two hours after arriving at the gate we finally take off.
On landing in London I make my way to the baggage reclaim with a little bit of hope, after all there was time to transfer the luggage. As my bag appears on the carosel I feel like doing the Mongolian eagle dance of victory, but I'm to tired. By the time I checked into the hotel at Terminal 4 for the night it's been 22 hours hotel door to hotel door.

Heading Home

Mongolian Mountain Adventure

10th August 2017
This morning we woke to a blanket of mist, we are quite high here and it soon started to lift.
So this morning some of the group are going rafting and double kayaking. The yak cart takes the equipment up the river and then they came back with the flow. They all seemed to have fun but got very wet and cold, one of the ladies, Maggs, ended up in the river. They also had a dog accompanying them who swam some of the way, more about him later. Anyway, although all in the group are nice people I decided to spend some time alone and go for a walk on my own. There are are few ridge walks near the camp that form horse shoe shapes. So once the mist lifted and armed with a map drawn by one of the best cartographers in Mongolia, Kenzo, I walked one of the ridges above the camp. The ridge had lovely views of the surrounding mountains. I had hoped to sit on the high spot and eat a nice bit of smoked cheese I had saved from breakfast, but as I approached it I could hear the familiar rumble of thunder so headed straight down the other side of the horse shoe to eat my cheese. About 3/4 of the way around the rain started so it was on with the water proofs. When I got back to the Ger, Robert my roomie, lite the the wood burner which helped to dry me off.
After lunch three of us went horse riding. The horses are not stabled so the local herders go out and collect them from the country side the day before. Each herd is in a harem group and consists of a stallion, mare's and a few bachelor's. They roam free throughout the winter and protect themselves against the wolves, therefore although they are calm natured you don't want to make a sudden sound around them. Kenzo and two herders accompanied us, each of them riding their own horse and had a rope to one of the other horses. Also accompanying us is the dog that went rafting this morning, no one seems to call it over it just sees people getting ready to leave and joins them. As we ride along we can hear marmots calling and we can also see one in the distance. It's lucky for the marmot that he is off in the distance as the dog goes into hunting mode looking to catch one. The others get ahead of Kenzo and I so Kenzo gets the horses to trot a little to catch up, not my favourite part of the trip! We are out for about an hour and on they way back the dog disappears and then reappears wet, not sure what it was hunting in the river.
Upon our return the majority of the group are leaving with one of the camp staff on a guided walk. They are going to do the same ridge I did this morning, for me I have hired a mountain bike for an hour and head off up the valley floor on my own.
The library Ger also contains his and hers traditional Mongolian clothing to try on, I declare it the dressing up Ger and dress for a photo.
The dog that likes rafting and horse riding also likes been stroked and gives you a nudge if you stop. I went and found him and spent some time fussing him up.
Tonight is out last night sleeping in a Ger, tomorrow it's back to Ulaanbaatar.

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Horse Racing With The Boys

11th August 2017
Today we had a bit of a lazy morning, some that did not go horse riding yesterday had a chance to go this morning.
I had a walk down to the river and on the way back saw the yak cart, loaded up with water containers, heading to the river to collect the water. Apart from the manager/chef all the other staff maning the camp are university students working through their holidays.
After my walk I went to the library Ger to write my blog. Kenzo, Khashaa and Puujee came in and Khashaa and Puujee dressed up in the Mongolian outfits to have their photo taken. Ever since we came to the mountains Kenzo has been wearing Mongolian clothing.
Kenzo then asked if anyone wanted to play a horse racing game with them, as there was no other volunteers I agreed to play. To explain the game I first need to explain the use of some small animal bones that are used to predict your future. I think they may be ankle bones from a sheep and they are used like dice. They can't really ballance on the two ends and the other four sides are unique and represent a camel, a horse, a goat and a sheep. To tell your fortune you roll four bones together and you read the combination thrown off a chart to predict your future. The "best future ever" is if you throw all four animals. Now in the library Ger there is an old tin full of these bones. The boys laid out the horse track using about 70-80 bones, each bone represented a space on the board. We then picked a bone from those that were left to represent your horse. The four of us then took it in turns to roll four bones to determine your move. For each horse you throw you move one space forward, if you throw the "best future ever" you move forward four places. The game took a while and I was first to reach the last space on the track, I just needed to throw one more horse to win. When it came to my next go I managed to throw the necessary horse to win. Since Khashaa is a wrestler, and they do an eagle dance if they win a bout, I got up off the floor and did the eagle dance. The boys then continued with the game to see who came 2nd, 3rd and 4th. After the game Kenzo brought me the bone that represented my horse and said it I traditional to keep the bone if you win. I now have a small animal bones in my luggage that means so much and will remind me of sitting on a carpet in a Ger playing horse racing with the boys.
After lunch it was time to leave the camp and head back to Ulaanbaatar for the last time. Before leaving we had a photo call with the camp staff.
We had a two hour drive to reach the tarmac road and then another two hours to the hotel. When we reached the hotel it was time to say goodbye to Khashaa and Puujee, they have been great drivers keeping us save both on and off the tarmac roads.
We then meet up for our final group meal and to say our goodbyes as we head off on different flights tomorrow. Kenzo is stopping at the hotel tonight and is seeing each small group off as they go to the airport, it's a nice touch as I'm sure he would like to get home to his family.

Friday, August 11, 2017

Chanting Monks and Chinggiss Khann

9th August 2017
Having checked out of the hotel we made our way to the old Russian bus and to much applause found both Khashaa and Puujee waiting for us. They got back to the city at about 5pm yesterday having dropped us off at the airport around 7am. New drivers just would not have been the same.
First up today was a visit Gandan Monastery, it once held more than 100 temples but now only a small number exist following the purges of 1937. When we got there the monks were gathering ready for chanting, they all moved off to different temples and started chanting. One of the temples houses the 26m high copper and gold gold Midjid Janraisig Buddha statue. This is a replacement for the one that was destroyed during the purge. The original was reportedly melted down and used to make bullets!
After the monastery we headed out of the city and headed east towards our final Ger camp. On route, trying to out run yet more rain, we stopped at Tsonjin Boldog. At this spot Chinggiss Khaan found his famous golden whip, here now stands a 40m high statue of him ridding a horse. You can ride a lift up inside the horse's tail and then climb some steps to a view point on the horse's head and look back at the mounted future. When we reached the statue we still had some sun, by the time we walked out on to the view point the rain had caught up with us. In the valley where the statue stands there are also a few life size statues of soldiers on horse's. The plan is to eventually to have 1000 soldiers and generals ridding behind Chinggiss Khaan.
Shortly after leaving the statue it was once again time to go off road, the rain had stopped when we stopped for lunch. Once again Khashaa left the track and drove up the side of an hill to give us great views of the mountains for lunch.
From the lunch stop it's a two hour drive to our next Ger camp in the mountains. On the way we had a terrific thunder storm and torrential rain. The old bus started to leak through one of the roof vents and Kenso was sitting on the bus under his umbrella. I don't now how the two drivers could see where they were going. We had to climb a hill and the track looked slippy so Khashaa and Puujee took the luggage van ahead to scout out the track ahead. They obviously considered it ok because on their return we continued up the hill. Once over the pass we appeared to leave the worst of the weather behind.
The new Ger camp is again a temporary camp with special permission to be in a protected area. The camp is set up in May and taken down in October. It is owned and run by the local company who own the vehicles we have been using. They are called Nomadic Journeys.
As at our first camp the vehicles are not allowed to drive right up to the Ger's, this time there was a Yak and cart to take our luggage to our Ger's. The camp consists of the sleeping Ger's, a library Ger, a dinning Ger, a kitchen Ger, 3 shower Ger's, massage Ger, shop Ger and down by the river a sauna Ger. The shower Ger's are much more luxurious than the one at the first camp. They have a wood burner inside and a bucket with a shower outlet suspended from the roof.
Now that we are in the mountains the temperature dropped in the evening and one of the camp staff came around to light the wood burner in our Ger.

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Ulaanbaatar take 2

8th August 2017
Early morning start and breakfast as we are booked on the morning flight from Dalanzadgad to Ulaanbaatar. The flight is just 1 1/4 hours. The luggage weight limit on this internal flight is low, 10kg checked and 5kg carry on. I left some clothes at the hotel in Ulaanbaatar and have also off loaded some weight with the gifts we have given away, that said I'm leaving my walking boots, warm jacket (which I'll not need until the mountains) and a bag of dirty washing on the bus. I'll get them back tomorrow when we are reunited with the bus.
At the airport we wish Khashaa and Puujee safe journey as they have the 600km return journey to make in the vehicles whilst we take the airplane. We also give them some of the group gifts for their children which they will see when they get to Ulaanbaatar. Hopefully they will both be with us for the last part of our trip.
On landing at the airport we are met by two new drivers for the day, one will take us around the city sightseeing and the other will take our luggage to the same hotel we stopped at on our first night. Our first stop is the Bogd Khan Palace. This holds both the summer and winter palaces of the last king and queen of Mongolia. The Bogd Khan was seen as a Loving Buddha.
For lunch we went to a Mongolian BBQ. Here you fill a bowl with the raw ingredients that you fancy, select a sauce and take them to the chef's. When they have a maximum of twelve people waiting they start the cooking of all the meals on a giant hot plate. They are very skilled with their cooking implements tossing them in the air and then catching them. It's hard to describe, I did video them on my phone and will post a link sometime. As well as the entertaining way of cooking the food it was very tasty. Some of the waiters and waitresses were wearing T-shirts with slogans in English on the back, one read "Meat for mans grass for animals". I'm not sure if the young lady wearing "Real men rub their meat" was aware of the double meaning.
After lunch we checked in at the hotel and then some of us walked to the National Museum of Mongolia. This covered artifacts from stone age sites, the Mongolian empire, Socialist times, the purge and independence in the 1990's. We only had an hour or so there which was only time for quick look around. On the way to the museum we past the parliament building. There is a large seated statue of Chinggiss Khaan outside the building along with one of his second son Ogedei Khaan and one of Chinggiss's grandchild Kublai Khan. Kublai tends to be the one who gets the blame for breaking up/loosing the empire.
The reason for a short visit to the museum was because we had to meet up to go to a Mongolian show. The show was held in a small theatre and include musicians playing Mongolian instruments including the horse head fiddle; traditional dancing; singing; throat singing; mask dancing and even a contourtionist. It lasted just over an hour and was very entertaining. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a restaurant called the Silk Road and had yet again another delicious meal - we always seem to be eating!

Gerbil in the Ger

7th August 2017
This morning after breakfast I was sorting out my rucksack when a movement by the open Ger door caught my eye. Inside the Ger was a gerbil, it then ran behind the material hanging down covering the Ger wall. On the outside of the Ger on the side it ran I found a hole in the wall so hopefully it went out that way. The camp staff are going to block up the hole. It reminds me of an old Mongolian song. "I saw a gerbil, Where? There in the Ger, Where in the Ger? Right there, a little gerbil with horse boots on going clip-clippety-clop in the Ger". Having looked around near the Ger I found lots of gerbil burrows.
After the excitement of the wild animals roaming my Ger we headed back to the Gurvan Saikhan Mountains and the Gurvan Saikhan National Park. Today's walk was a little longer than yesterday's but still not that far. Again it was following a gorge but this time it had a stream running through it, the Yol stream. It was a lovely meandering gorge with Pika's running around in the lower slopes. Sometimes there is still ice in the gorge but not today. When we set out it was a lovely warm clear day but as we were returning the storm clouds gathered. Kenzo told me that Mongolian weather never use to be so changeable, may be this is an effect of global warming. Anyway just as I got back to the bus the hail and rain started so we had our third lunch in the bus. BTW, nice Landy in the car park.
After lunch we drove the 10km back to the park gate and the Nature Museum, the collection of dinosaur eggs was interesting but the collection of stuffed birds and mammals including a snow leopard was a bit off putting. Apart from the fact that they are stuffed animals they looked a little worse for wear. Well I guess I would if I was stuffed.
Our camp is just 4km from the city of Dalanzadgad, which is good as we have an early flight in the morning back to Ulaanbaatar. Breakfast is at 5:45! Whilst we are flying back and visiting some of the Ulaanbaatar sites, Khashaa and Puujee have to drive the vehicles back. Although most of the route down here was off road, we headed west before turning south, I understand there is a tarmac road between the two cities that they will use. That said it's still a long drive for them to do in a short time(600km). After one night in Ulaanbaatar we will be heading to a mountain Ger camp for two nights and Khashaa will be driving us again, we are not sure about Puujee he may be on another job and we will have a different luggage driver. If that is the case he will catch up with us for our final group meal on our last night.

Pika's and Gerbil's

6th August 2017
This morning we once again walked to the Flamming Cliffs but this time for those that wanted we walked across the top of the cliffs and then down a gorge to reach the bottom where we met the bus and those that didn't want to do the walk. It was only about 2 miles but the temperature was already into the high twenties. The cliffs are made of sandstone so are constantly eroding, I guess fossils must always be getting exposed.
After the walk we had a short ride to our new Ger camp, The Gobi Oasis, where we will be stopping for two nights. This camp is a slight change of plan. The previous tour stopped at our planned camp, got food poisoning and were kept awake at night by karaoke singing Koreans. When our tour company complained they did not receive a favourable response so have switched camps. The original camp was a another temporary one which would have been nice but I'm happy to give the food poisoning a miss.
On that way to the camp, during one of our stops to checkout a problem with the bus, I did manage to get a photo of one of those lizards that have been running around our feet.
After lunch we had a bit of free time before our next outing, I brought some ice-cream from the camp shop and no it was not curd ice-cream.
In the middle of the afternoon we drove out to the mountains and had a short walk along a gorge to a waterfall. It is normal for ice to remain in the gorge as the walls are that close it gets little sun. There was a little ice but not much as the recent rain had washed it away. In the gorge we saw Pika's which are small hamster like rodents, we also saw a gerbil. On the wall of the gorge there was a bird nest still with four young it, when one of the parents returned with food you could see four bright yellow mouths gapping open begging for the food. For us it would seem late in the year still to be in the nest. We hoped to see Ibex up on the rocks and although we kept an eye out for them none were to be seen. May be when we return to the mountains tomorrow we will get lucky and see one or two or even a Snow Leopard! They do live here but that's just wishful thinking. Next thing you know I'll want to see a Gobi Bear but as there are only 16 of those left in the wild I think that's unlikely too.

Curd ice cream and dinosaur eggs

5th August 2017
Before breakfast we visited the ruins of the Ongi Monastery. Today there is just a small temple that is surrounded by the ruins of the old monastery that again was victim to the Stalinist purges in the 1930s. The monastery was once home to 1,000 lamas.
Last night's camp is in the region called Middle Gobi, today we drive into the Gobi desert itself and on to Bayanzag. The first part of the drive was once again out on the Steppe, so flat you could see mirages. We stopped at a shaman Ovoo, walked around it three times deposited three stones and had a group photo. When we set off again we had more Khashaa cam action. We stopped with a herd of camels to take photos. Robert found three nice stones that he wanted to take home so Kenzo left three crackers to make up for them. If you take something you should leave something or you will have bad look.
Later in the day we stopped at a small town on the edge of the desert and brought some curd ice-cream. It tastes a little bit like sour yoghurt but I'm not sure I would choose it if it was in the freezer back home. Anyway we have left the rain behind and we are back to hot weather so something cool is nice. There are a couple of young children near the shops, a boy and a girl, Kenzo has a word with them and then returns from the bus with a few of our group gifts for them.
We then drive into the Gobi Desert. The terrain is sand with small bush like plants. We stopped for lunch near some sand dunes. At least today we can have lunch outside. Khashaa and Puujee set up the stools in the shade of the bus. After lunch we have an explore up and around the dunes, even here in the desert you can find some small delicate little flowers. When I return to the bus Kenzo is playing some Gobi music on his phone, it's a mixture of the horse head fiddle and throat singing.
Not to far from our camp for the night is a well with a generator to pump the water to the surface. There are normally animals drinking at the well and the plan is for us to help water the animals, but when we get there there is not a single one.
Tonight's camp is called the Gobi Tour Ger Camp, it's a medium sized shared camp with nice toilets and showers. Near the camp are the Flamming Cliffs. In the 1920's a large team of USA palaeontologists, lead by Roy Chapman Andrews, came to Mongolia to try and prove that all animal life including man originated from Mongolia. They did not find evidence of that but at the Flamming Cliffs they found dinosaur bones and the first dinosaur eggs every found. Some of the eggs were cracked and they could see the fossil of an half hatched dinosaur. Shortly after arriving at camp we watched a short documentary about the 1920s expedition which was made from the original film footage.
After dinner we all walked the 30 minute walk to the Flamming Cliffs. There were little lizards running around but well camouflaged and to quick to get a proper look at. Afterwards the bus picked us up and took us to see the sun set across the cliffs. I asked Kenzo if it was OK for me to walk back to camp, about half of the group decided to join me in the hour long walk back to camp, the moon was nearly full so there was plenty of light and we could always see the camp. As we left Kenzo said watch out for the wolves, my reply - I would really be stoked if we saw a wolf.

Mongolian Wrestler

4th August 2017
Well if it wasn't the rain beating down on the Ger it was the howling dogs on the out skirts of town that kept waking me. That said I was that tiered from the cold I have caught I did get some sleep.
Since I retired early last night I missed an evening walk up a small hill next to the camp. Not to miss out on the views I had a quick walk up the hill this morning after breakfast.
Today is our longest drive of the trip, 260km and almost all of it off road. Even when we could see a tarmac road approaching and was wondering if we would turn left of right on to it, we just crossed it and went off road again. Everyone on the bus just burst out laughing, they must have all been thinking the same thing.
At one point we had to cross a bridge that looked half washed away, we all got off the bus to photograph it and Khashaa saw his chance to cross the bridge with a lighter load. The luggage van was next to cross safely.
We have seen a few different birds on our trip so far, Black Kite, Steppe Eagle and Buzzered. But today we also saw the Demoiselle Crane, usually in pairs and dancing with each other.
At one of our break stops we found out that Khashaa is a Mongolian wrestler, so one of my fellow travelers, John, could not resist challenging Khashaa to a wrestle. Khashaa played with him for a while but then it all ended with John flat on his back. Before the match Khashaa had agreed to wear my Gopro on his head so that we can capture some video of driving through the Steppe, so the wrestling match was filmed from Khashaa's viewpoint.
Near by our break stop is a family with their Ger's and live stock, they have cows and horses. Kenzo suggest we have an impromptu visit to family as they are milking a cow. The lady is happy for us to visit and take photos, when we leave Kenzo gives the family a selection of some of the gifts we all brought along. Near the family's Ger we could see some Ground Squirrels although we didn't get a really good look at them.
Our next planned visit of the day is with a family of horse herders further up the valley. When we arrive the children are really excited to see us. They pose to have their photos taken and then proudly produce three baby goats for us to hold. The family milk the mare's to produce fermented milk called airag and cheese. Inside the Ger we are offered a hard curd that non of us could chew, we all tried to eat it but secretly put it in our pockets. We were also offered fried cheese which I did eat. The airag was passed around several times, I didn't want to drink it so just offered the bowl up to my lips so not to offend. Kenzo was trying to explain things to us all at one point and did complain that he had lost control of his group. See the children had brought the three kid goats into the Ger and were passing them around for us to hold what with that and the children interested in the photos of themselves on Roberts iPad, Kenzo didn't stand a chance. The oldest daughter also produced her school book for us to look at. It was an English language book and she had wonderful hand writing. The usual bag of gifts from the group was handed over and we all went outside to watch the mother milk a mare. They keep the foal's separate from the mare's so that they don't drink all the milk. The stallion kept is eye on us at all times, I don't think he liked us been by his herd. The rain started again and one of our group, Francis, was under her umbrella with the four children singing the old man is snoring. Unfortunately the rain came on heavy again and we all headed to the bus leaving another family to milk their animals in the rain when they could have done it earlier. It was however a wonderful visit. It is great to see this true nomadic lifestyle, yes they have a dish outside the Ger for TV, they don't always use an horse they may use a motorbike but it's still herding their animals for a living and sleeping in the Ger's out on the Steppe.
Due to the rain it was another lunch in the bus and later in the day the wet weather caught us out again when the bus got stuck in the mud. The luggage van was ahead of us but when the driver, Puujee, realised we were not with him he turned around. A short rope was attached to both vehicles and the bus was quickly pulled out of the soft mud.
Tonight's Ger camp is a large shared one. It's a bit more up market, I prefer the others we have been in but with this one comes nice showers and toilets. The camp is called Secret of Ongi Ger camp. The Ongi is a river that runs close by.

Chinggiss Khaan's capital and the naughty monks

3rd August 2017
The rain returned in the night with a vegence and we had quite a bit of water in our Ger.
Today we leave this camp and head to Karakorum, Chinggis Khaan's 13th century capital. This camp has been our own private camp. It's simple compared to others we will stop in, but it is owned by our chef and the two daughters of the goat herding family have been working here. One serves our food and the other tends the fire for heating the water for the showers. The owner was very upset about the leaking in the Ger's so offered those that like to drink a drink of vodca after dinner last night.
It's still raining in the morning when we leave and the camp team wave us off. Our first stop of the day is not long out of camp on the way back to the main road. There's sand dunes and a lake with swans and other water foul. It look rather nice when we drove past it two days ago but not so much now in the mist and rain.
On the road we stop at a very big Ovoo. At this one people have left items to say thank you, a couple of pairs of crutches and a cast off a leg.
When reach Karakorum it was still raining so we first went to the Karakorum museum, this is rather nice and has displays of stone age finds as well as from the Mongolian empire. It also has a nice coffee shop and proper toilets!
For lunch we drove up a hill overlooking the old capital. Once again Khashaa, ignoring an official car park, went off roaring to get us the best view. Unfortunately the rain to still coming down so lunch was had inside the bus.
After lunch we returned to the car park, we ignored on the way up, to visit the Naughty Monk Rock. Well Kenzo calls it the naughty monk rock, the sign calls it the Penis Stone. The Abott of the local monastery asked how he could stop the young monks from disobeying their Buddhist discipline and seducing the local women. So the penis stone was created and placed in a valley which was unique natural shape similar to the lower part of a women's body. That's not my words they came straight of the information board. Anyway people now pray at the stone when they want to have children, after having the child couples come back to say thank you.
We then head back to the ancient capital and visited the Erdene Zuu Monastery. This was the first Buddhist centre established in Mongolia in the 16th century. Again during Stalin's purge in the 1930's the monks were killed and almost all the temples were destroyed. It is slowly being restored.
A short walk outside the city wall took us to one off three turtle rocks located in this area. Since arriving in Mongolia I have been fighting off a cold probably caught on the airplane, that short walk just about finished me off for the day so I stayed on the bus whilst the others visited the super market and open air market. The visit to the open air market did not take to long as the rain had once more returned.
Tonight's Ger camp is very nice and the Ger's are permanent all year round, we even have electricity and WiFi in the dinning Ger. All this is possible as we are situated just outside of the town. So it is not as simple as our first camp.
This cold has washed me out so I went straight to bed and skipped the evening meal, with the amount we are getting fed I don't think missing one meal will arm me.

The Goat Herding Family

2nd August 2017 - part 2
The thunderstorm continued for about 5 hours with the rain on and off. We were going to walk the short distance across to the goat herding family but as it looked like it was going to rain again we went in our bus.
On the way Kenzo talked us through the do's and don'ts in the family Ger. You must take everything and offer everything with your right hand. Don't point at things with your index finger but use you hand to point. Guests sit on the left hand side of the Ger, although since we are a large group they will then invite some of us on to the right side, the family side. If offered a drink and you don't want to drink it just move it to your lips.
The family consists of dad, mum, three daughters a son, a granddaughter and the younger brother of the mum. The oldest daughter is 16, her baby is 6 months and her husband is away doing his one year national service in the army. The youngest son is 4 months, so he is younger than his nephew.
Inside the lady got out a snuff bottle which was passed around, right handed of course. I don't think anyone took any snuff but everyone just had a smell of it.
The granddaughter was placed on the knee of one of our group and Kenzo translated any questions we had. The Ger is set up at their summer camp, in October they will move it to the winter camp which is more sheltered by the mountain. I forgot to say before all Ger's are set up with the door facing south. This is because in winter the bad weather comes from the north west, Siberia.
Kenzo had brought along some of our gifts, he had selected ones more suitable for the girls, these were presented by a member of our group.
In between the rain we went outside to milk the goats, not wanting to miss out I volunteered first. The lady showed me how to do it and then I had a go and found it easier than I thought to get the milk to flow. I think by her doing it first on the same goat made it easy. Some more people had a go at milking but then the weather changed again and we headed for the bus leaving the family to milk the goats in the rain. If they had not waited for us they could have got the milking done before the rain came back.
We then returned to camp for our second three course meal of the day. We are getting well fed.
The rain has been unusually heavy and some of the Ger's are leaking. That said the goat herding family were happy with the rain as it as been unusually dry recently.
Tomorrow we leave this camp and head to a new one, at least we will know which way is south since all the Ger doors are facing that way.

Monastery and Frogs

2nd August 2017 - part 1
Well I had a good night sleep in the Ger, I started off without my blanket and woke up with it on me so must have felt a little cooler in the night and dragged it over me.
This morning we went on a 2 1/2 hour walk to Erdene Khombo monastery which is run by a lady abbot. It's a small Buddhist monastery that was rebuilt in the 1990's after Mongolia got it's independence from the Soviet Union. Near by is a ruined monastery that was destroyed in the 1930's on the order is Starlin. The monks that lived there at the time were killed, as we're 30,000 through out Mongolia. Starlin did not want the Mongolian people to grow in numbers, also the monk's meant education and politics so they were targeted.
I think that's one of the reasons why Chinggiss Khann is so admired by the Mongolian people. He united the Mongolian tribes to form the largest ever land based empire. After that empire collapsed Mongolia became under Chinese rule, they only got independence from China by becoming part of the Soviet Union. Chinggiss Khann harps back to an earlier time before they were ruled by other powers. Anyway they are once more independent. Our guide does say that he does not like everything using Chinggiss Khann's name. In Ullanbattar there is even the Chinggiss Khann Irish pub!
We drove back to camp in time for lunch. As soon as we got back a thunderstorm started, I opened the door to our Ger to find two frogs hopping around inside. They headed off to the edge of the Ger, I must remember to check my boots before putting them on.
During lunch the rain started and has been coming down on and off for the last couple of hours.
We have all brought gifts for the UK for the local people we visit and Kenzo has collected them ready to be divided between those we visit. We have the visit to the goat herder's planned for this afternoon. Let's hope the rain stops by then. This is day 3 in Mongolia and the third thunderstorm. Not that surprising as it was around 30 degrees Celsius this morning on our walk.
Oh as I write this one of the frogs has just made an appearance.
Anyway hopefully in the next blog entry I'll let you know how we got on with the goats.