Day #65: Camel ride to sand dunes

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After yesterday's events I was feeling apathetic about a camel ride, but it turned out to be a sedate and relaxing experience. The camels are tied in a row with rope and led by a guide, so there is nothing to do but sit and let yourself be taken along. Two-humped camels are comfortable to ride as you sit on a saddle in between the humps and although you are high up the walk is very gentle. The most eventful part of the ride was passing through a stream where the camels noisily guzzled water while a bull looked on.

We went to the sand dunes, the Gobi Desert of popular imagination, although in fact they cover a relatively small area in a strip in front of some mountains (most of the desert I have seen is actually barren steppe). You can walk up the sand dunes, but because the sand is soft it's hard work (like walking up a downwards escalator, as someone said to me), and in the heat of the midday sun I didn't feel very intrepid, so I just relaxed in the sand for a while, pretending I was on a beach.

The afternoon was long and hot with nothing to do but lie in the relative cool of the ger and try not to overheat. There were further discussions pertaining to the events of yesterday (one difficult conversation was interrupted by a goat trying to eat the socks I had left outside to dry. Goats are extremely curious animals, forever trying to eat or climb -or both - practically anything they come across. On another occasion about 10 invaded our ger and our guide and the German had to chase them out, slapstick-style. I was laughing too hard to help out). The end result was the Italian deciding to leave the tour and stay longer here, so the rest of us will carry on without him, which at least is a solution.

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