Enter The Gobi - Day 2

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Paralysis never kicked in, which was a good thing, as being some 10 hours away from Ulaanbaatar I'd have been as good as fucked. The same for a multitude of health afflicting conditions that could affect one out here, undoubtedly. It was a cold start but by late morning a pleasant cool had taken a hold. Today we were making way to Bayanzag, and today I was the mug, travelling in reverse was no way to live, but it was inevitable that I would have to succumb to it at some stage of the game.

The vast open green plains of yesterday began to gradually ween away as the landscape began to take on more of an arid juxtaposition. Dusty plains now featured with just sparse amounts of vegetation loosely allocated. Strangely this would not hamper the wildlife, by now we had seen a number of camel herds, an abundance of bird life, a Golden Eagle being a particular favourite I.D, I even caught a glimpse of a Pika, a small rodent-esque creature that looks to me vaguely like a prairie dog, but its apparently a member of the Rabbit family.

At lunchtime we stopped off in a town called Mandal Ovo for dumplings. The meal put on a stella performance but I did question the towns geographical location, in the middle of the desert, miles from anywhere, potentially twinned with Chatteris, its existence challenging to say the least. Like a post-apocalyptic outpost, god knows what winter must be like for them. Yet we were greeted with smiles from a bunch of children that came dashing over, we had a volleyball in the van which they were were given to boot around and Ellie one of the Canadians continued her attempt to colonise by mercilessly handing out Canadian merchandise, flags, stickers, ties...American footballs, you name it. En route to the Gobi so far a number of sand dunes, Gers, shrines and Mongolian babies and been brandished with the maple leafed flag.

A couple of hours after leaving Mandal Ovo we arrived at our 2nd nights Ger in the Bayanzag region. This area apparently rich in Dinosaur fossils, I went out for a scout around but didn't get to far because I needed a poo. The toilets in Mongolia a squat job as expected, but the majority seemingly worse than any shit pit that I'd ever ventured into in Eastern Asia. Essentially a little cabin in varied proximity away from civilization, theres a surprise behind every door. Some of the toilets contents climbing higher than others, and thats not to discredit the pits of which the contents don't climb so graciously high because they too smell like dirty dirty utter shit. Its enough to make a grown man cry, and if you were by chance to fall down one, enough to make a grown man die, you'd never get the stench out, not even in cremation. And in the history of these dodgy bogs I'm pretty sure someone at some point has fallen down one, some of the slats of wood are not so well distributed or trusting it has to be said, so after a hairy night out on the vodkas I'm quite sure some folk have submerged themselves into the unknown, or just the altogether too familiar. Anyway, thats enough talking shit for one day.

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