Back From the Gobi

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7 days without a shower, in the same clothes, and sand and dust covering everything...a girl's worst nightmare and a trip to the Gobi Desert. The Gobi covers a third of Mongolia's land consisting of sandydunes, rugged landscapes and stoney plains. Gobi meaning 'desert' can get as hot as 40c and as cold as -40c. Although it was cold during our adventure, the sund was always shining creating a contrast to the dry neutral desert tones. The Gobi is the least populated land per Kilometer with gers and tiny towns scattered troughout. We had a chance to stay in a few of the Nomad's gers, which are circular in shape with felt lining the walls and a furnace posted in the middle.

The first day was a bit blury with little sleep form the night before and vodka still lingering in our bodies. 8 of us piled int the jeep iwth our driver, Billgai, and quickly drifted to sleep. Soon we awoke to see our jeep in the middle of nowhere with no roads, no people, tiny ice-covered streams and wild horse roaming the lands. Needing food to cure the head, we stopped at a ger to eat. Joe remained in his back seat position to recover his hangover as i wondered in to the family's ger with the others. Tea with goat milk and noodles with fatty sheep pieces was the lunch menu. So, we ate it polietly as the 2 Mongolian children stared at us. Hours more of rough driving to our sleeping spot, a ger miles from everything. Visitors in the middle of the night stumbled into our ger hoping for a place to sleep. But as each one of searched for a flashlight, a huge spotlight appeared lit their face and turned them away from the ger.

With a clear head the next morning, we faced the rugged road again bouncing around in the seats. As we were minutes away from the town we were to stay in, 2 military men drove up to our jeep. They pushed our driver and then suddenly, had a change of heart inviting him inside the car for some vodka. The coast was clear. Once into the town, we venture around all 5 streets ordering unknown food and celebrating a birthday. The celebration still proceeded through the poweroutage and friendly gangs of Mongolians in the bar. We took the celebration back to the hotel shooting photos with Mongolian money. You see 1,125 Mongolian togrogs is equal to $1 and there is no change so you end up with a 'stash of bills.'

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Photos

Blackout in a Gobi town
Celebrating v-tec's bday, ligts went out, candles went up, and mongolians shared their vodka-drunkeness with us