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Published: April 11th 2008
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Up again early this morning as I was being picked up to go to the national park, the hostel was really quiet, i didn't figure it out until I was packed and waiting in the lounge ready to go, the girl on duty asked if she could help and I said that I was waiting to be picked up at 9 then she said 'but it's not even 8'. Doh. My watch had been wrong for the last day, no wonder there were still people coming into the pub last night when I thought it was about to close. I think I picked a bad week as the clocks change this week and I think Russia changes, Mongolia doesn't and China changes next week.
And in case you were wondering (c'mon I know you are) the washing from yesterday was dry, well dry enough.
Anyway I waited around for an hour, got myself a locker for my valuables and stuck my big back pack in storage. The 60km drive up to the national park was manic, the drivers here are worse than Russia and the roads worse, although it was my first ride in a Toyota Prius hybrid. The
park itself was stunning, it was a little like South Australia by Wilapena Pound but less bushes and trees.
We arrived to a very warm welcome by the host family who owned 4 Yurts (Mongolian roundish tents), I shared mine with a Swiss couple, funnily enough none of the Swiss people I meet seem to have heard of Swiss Re though, I did have this feeling it's called something else in Switzerland though, maybe someone could enlighten me, so I don't make a pratt of myself again.
The view from the Yurt was amazing, there was horses, dogs, sheep and cows just wondering around with no fences. I suspect that they know where there food source is so they don't wonder to far. It was cold though, with the wind I guesstimate that it was way below zero, but the yurt was really nice and warm. They come in different sizes but mine was about 3-4m across and there were 5 single beds around the edge with a wood burner in the middle and a little 1m door, there are some interesting rules about the living in one though, for example the older the member of the family
the furthest from the door they are. They also seem to be the standard accommodation here, even just outside the centre of UB (where there are many boring Soviet style blocks but there is a lot of building going on) you see lots of them, it a bit like tented suburbs. But with all the family in the same tent I do wonder how the married couples get a bit of privacy if you know what I mean, maybe they have a babysitting thing going on with the neighbours or maybe it's a quick fumble in the rocks (and at -30 it would have to be quick), or maybe they have a communal shag tent........
After about two hours they served us lunch which as you could imagine it was simple but filling, the beef was a bit like dried kebab meat but there was lots of pasta.
My body is still confused though, after yet another nanny nap, it was time for horse riding, yep you heard right, horse riding. Now me and horses have never got on to well and this occasion was no exception. After quite an amusing attempt of getting on the bloody thing
in which I got a faceful of horses mane we were off, I actually figured the riding bit out in the end though, if you don't concentrate on balancing then it's not that bad, until the horse trots that is.(Can't imagine jumping on one of these things Karen - utmost respect)
We had a really nice ride around the hills, the views were amazing (the photos don't do them respect) and some of the more interesting things I saw were a golf course (see photo) and one of the dogs accompanying us with a big bone in it's mouth. Now this doesn't sound to bad until I realised that there was a perfectly preserved horses hove attached to one end. We also had a visit from a man and a camel when we got back, he offered me I ride but I ran a mile (horse bad, camel worse), plus my walk was already John Wayne enough for me thankyou. I never associated Mongolia with camels but there you go they must be one of the most versatile animals in the world, I did read once that the camel is the only animal that had been introduced to Australia
that didn't do any damage to native fauna or wildlife.
I also take back what I said recently, the heat pads came into thier own, I just slipped one into each glove and they were great.
After an evening meal of pancake/pasty type things it was time for bed. There is actually not much to do in the evening although the host family were ok as they had a satellite dish outside their tent and I could hear the TV.
This is where the nice warm yurt thing gets a little weird, it was fine when there was wood in the fire it but it burns quite quickly and with it being quite cold at night the tent gets cold so you or the host has to refill the wood burner, so it was a case of a sleep that was either far to hot or to cold. The host seemed to like my headtorch though as he kept wanting to use it to fetch wood (no outside lighting here although there was inside lighting as they hook up the house to the nearest electricity pylon).
I also have to mention the toilet. Outhouse, standup, pit,
nuff said. (although the Minni Mouse poster hanging on one of the walls was a nice touch I thought)
I do admire the people here, they must have a tough life (at least the ones in the country), but they all seem really happy. There were two kids in our host family (about 3 and 11) and they already have the permanent red cheeks from exposure to extreme cold. I have no idea how old the man of the household was but I am sure he looks older than he was, I wonder what the average life span is here.
I also realised that I have done almost 10,000 words so far, it's not a blog it's a book.
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