Been to the desert on a horse with no name

(I've finally uploaded a few pictures, I'm still way behind but there are some from Estonia and a bit of Russia here now.)

N 46 00.719 E 104 56.774 - 5 October - Erdenedalai

Actually, it did have a name, although they tend to call them by their colors, light tan, black, etc. So, I guess mine would have been called light tan but I have no idea how to say that in Mongolian. Ok, they said how it was but it is a difficult language and I'm still struggling to say thank you. Stupid phrase books, they have it as bayla-laa or something like that. You say it and you just get blank looks, they say it completely different but I just still can't get it right. Way too much goes on deep in the throat.

But the horse comes later, we just left Ulan Batar and have a while until we get to the horses and the desert. Mongolia is pretty huge. When we were planning the entire trip, we had no idea what to do and how long, so we just thought 3 weeks in Mongolia sounded about right. Seeing what I have, I think 3 weeks isn't much to see Mongolia. Just driving to all the different classic places to see takes ages and the roads are not so great either. Ok, I should say roads and then make those quote marks with my hands as I say it. Roads are not really built in Mongolia, they are more just places that people tend to drive on more often than other bits of land. Ok, Ulan Batar has a whole lot of roads but once hit the city border, you can go days without seeing another road, at least a paved one. In a lot of places, you might see 5-10 different tracks all next to each other, going roughly the same direction, all conveying a vague sense of road-ness.

Our group packs up our Russian jeep and we head out of town. We picked a 10 day trip, a classic route, actually a bit on the beaten path. I guess it is a classic route for a reason and it isn't like I've been to Mongolia before and would think, oh, that old thing, I've seen that too many times. I guess it was slightly lazy to go on a tour, have a driver and a guide and all that, but I guess we were feeling slightly tired after Russia and that just seemed nice to have somebody hold your hand, tell you want is interesting to see and handle all the complicated things (well, reading menus in restaurants, for example). I still think in hindsight it would have been better to not driven so much and to have had more time in fewer places but still I'm quite happy with it all.

Outside of UB, the paved road quickly ends and we don't see another paved road for about a week (and then for about 3 seconds as we cross it and head onto more dirt roads). Ok, I'm struggling a bit as to how best write about 10 days, we covered probably about 1500 km, saw so many things, had so many silly conversations about food, "feeling the benefit" (needs its own sidebar), sang songs, were sick, well, let me start over then.

Our team first then. Dorj our driver, is a bit legendary among Mongolian drivers, featured in the Lonely Planet guide (most traveler's bible) and I think he is now sort of my hero. Some of the roads were absolutely crazy, the distances were long and for the last half of the trip, he drove with an infected tooth, had it pulled out (badly done by a country dentist), and still drove on, not sleeping for at least three days. He laughed and joked the entire time, except for that one morning where we were the most worried about him and sang songs to try and keep his spirts up (and keep him awake). Zola, our guide and cook and general arranger person, quite a lot of responsibility for a 21 year old. She did a beautiful job, made really nice food, and was just really nice to be around for 10 days. C and I met a group of people in Russia and then kept the team together for our tour. Alex ("stomach problem", spent a few days pretty sick on the trip) and Catriona and Robyn and Amy (the medicine women, who had lots of painkillers and cold things).

The first day, we headed off road onto dirt roads, gullies, rocks, bumping along. And we stopped for lunch and had various things based on sheep. Oh wait, those two happened every day. I think I'm a bit over sheep now, basically everywhere out in the country smells of sheep in some form, either meat or milk. The special tea they make, based on sheep milk, salt, butter is interesting (sort of porridge without the oats) but a few times was enough and I was ready for just plain black tea again. The first place we stopped for lunch was pretty fancy though. The middle of nowhere and a nice building, actual flush toilets and nice dining area. We had our first meal there and I go away with a coming familiar feeling of a stomach filled with a fair amount of sheep fat and meat. Not to say that it wasn't always tasty, but once we got back to UB, we went to this vegetarian restaurant and were just drooling over broccoli and other vegetables. No more sheep for a little bit then.

Well, as tends to happen, I've written too much about nothing so and should go eat breakfast now and finish up later. So, I promise, I'll get to writing about Erdenedalai and the rest of it eventually.