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.