Mongolia by Jeep – Days 11 to 15

Days 11-15

From the tourist Gers we headed up to the White lake, a stunning lake set amongst some extinct volcano’s and spent a couple of very nice days walking, watching the sunset with a beer and horse riding (see next blog for funny story!). It had got colder still with temperature now ranging from around 30 in the day down to freezing at night! The white lake takes it’s name as for 9 months of the year it is frozen however we were there in one of the non-white months! Leaving the lake signalled the start of the journey home where on route we spent a very bizarre evening on the floor of Botsanaa’s brothers flat, the town looked like it should be full of cold Russian wearing big hats who drink far too much vodka…one part of that was true at least – from the outside the building looked like a falling down war torn ex-Soviet tower block but on the inside…it was still like a war torn etc etc, not really the flat was slightly pornstar-esque but cozy! It was a 1 bedroom flat with no sign of a bed anywhere and 5 people that appeared to already be living there, now us 5 had rocked up! Could be a very cozy night but for half a roasted marmot and a few beers it was a cheap nights accomodation! Around 10pm we got invited out to see some fountain display in the centre of town but this was really just a guise to get us out and it wasn’t long before we ended up in a Mongolian disco! Well obviously Mongolian girls know a good mover when they see one and it didn’t take long before they were dragging me onto the dance floor….Ok, Shona and Ed had already been mobbed and set upon to dance within the circle they’d formed so it wasn’t long before it was the boys turn. Lots of 5 foot Mongolian girls proceeded in grabbing, pushing and dancing overzealously at very close proximity – ohh how I love discos! The final night we spent camping alongside the Amarbayasgalant monastery, it was a perfect spot for our last evening if not a little chilly but we soon gathered up some fire wood and got a big camp fire going! We sat around keeping warm, eating our 11th pasta dinner in 15 days, drinking vodka (well when in Mongolia and all that!) and beer under a full moon until it was time to wrap up in our sleeping bags for the final time in our already frosty tents.

Horsing around

Casting our minds back to Ecuador a couple of years ago and the very funny incident of Nathan falling off a horse – all very funny, especially for Shona….jumping forward to Mongolia and Shona is very keep to get out exploring on horse back. Mongolian horses, as we are told by Shona are semi-wild, very small (in fact the smallest she’s ever ridden) and a little tetchy but hopefully should be cool to ride. So at the White Lake the 4 of us hire some horses from the family we are staying with, all saddle up and disappear off round the lake – alls going well and good after a small bit of help and instruction from Shona. We picnic lunch and then head back the way we came, trotting into camp as we arrive in front of a small Mongolian audience. We stand around for a few minutes waiting to dismount and tie the horses up but suddenly Shona’s horse spooks at something! It rears up and spins round, before shooting off in a random direction at great speed. As the horse runs off in one direction Shona is left mid air before falling gracefully on her not so well padded bum! After some initial concern as she didn’t seem to move much to start off with she finally jumped up, well slowly staggered up before dusting herself down. Thankfully she was fine, just a few cuts and bruises plus a very sore bum – think her pride was hurting the most though….bless her, she’d never falled off before, good job it was the smallest horse she’d ever ridden!!!