Why don't we do it in the road?

N 44 10.796 E 103 41.449 - 7 October - Bayanzag ger - continued

So, the ger problem, at least with a lot of them, they ranged from boiling hot to freezing cold. A lot of that varied according to how the ger was put together and what fuels they were using. Tonight, we had a sort of leaky ger and a wood fire. A lot of these gers in the Gobi, they were the guest gers, so they didn't seem as carefully tended as the family ones, so they could be a bit drafty.

Some of the actual family ones we stayed in were really decked out, pretty fabric covering the wooden scaffolding on the walls and have elaborate systems of sand or dirt around the outer edge to keep out the wind. This one isn't so carefully done, although not as bad as a later one where the kitten could sneak in through the numerous holes. Wood fires took a while to get started but then when they were going, they roared and it would get blistering hot for a little bit, then they would quickly die down. Dung as a fuel seems to light very quickly, burns a little smelly but doesn't seem to burn as hot but goes longer. Probably the most terrifying thing I've seen is the fire being stoked up with a huge pan load of coal in a rather well insulated ger. It took a while for it to start burning and didn't get super hot right away, but it slowly built all night, with absolutely nothing on, I was still dripping with sweat until it finally started cooling down (unfortunately about 3 am, not a good nights sleep).

Most of the morning, it was pouring rain and high winds much of the morning as we were sleeping. It sounded pretty fearful from inside and we waited out a bit of it while we were packing up and then finally made a run for it. Another funny thing about a lot of this tour, a lot of nights we would be just a few steps away from whatever was famous in the area and have no idea. We drive a few minutes, just slightly further from where we rode the camels last night, we come across the Flaming Cliffs. That seems to be a pattern, a ger camp basically a short walk away from something, but no idea it was there because it isn't on the schedule to see until the next day.

This morning, it is still pouring rain and is quite windy and cold. We jump out of the truck and look a bit and take some pictures. The museum isn't open, well, the ger is locked and nobody is in the ger next to it to unlock the museum. The Flaming Cliffs are where a lot of dinosaur eggs and fossils were found and kind of made it a famous place. The valley too is pretty amazing. It is red sandy cliffs, a deep gorge, reminds me a bit of a smaller Monument Valley. There is a small table which is either rocks for sale (nobody there to tend it though) or is a sort of museum exhibit. I don't know much about rocks so I'm not sure what they were displaying.

We brave the wind and rain as long as we can and them move on. We nearly have lunch then in Bulgan but it is 10:30 and a bit too early for lunch so we keep going. More electioneering is going here. In UB, I had been seeing lots of posters of some guy, just had that election sort of feel to them. I had no idea what the words were saying but it really did scream, blah blah, look how trustworthy I am, vote for me. This town is covered with the same ones and sure enough, we are in the run up to an election in a few days. Nothing like the American elections which have been in the run up stage for seeingly years. I have to say that probably one of the best things about traveling for the last few months is that I have been almost completely ignorant of events going on in the world and especially in the presidential election. The silence has been bliss. I don't think I have missed anything either. I've been carrying around my blank ballot now since I left London (no way to get an actual ballot mailed to me since I have no idea where I would be), I'll probably send that off then when I get to Beijing. Nobody I ever think is even halfway decent makes it very far through the primaries, so I'll just have to hold my nose and vote for who ever is left. Don't need any of the debates or all that junk to choose though.

We see a fox (probably a red fox) later that day running through the desert. Dorj gives it a slight chase to give us a better view. Not an epic sighting but is still nice to see. Probably isn't quite the same as the truck load we run across later. Even though Mongolia is a huge country, a lot of the routes are the same and the same companies go over the same basic roads, when a driver sees somebody they know, they play chicken to try and run each other off the road and then stop and chat for a bit. We chat with the group from Australia and NZ who tell us their driver chased and ran down a lynx and then put in the back. They think it might be likely that it will end up in one of their meals soon.

Tonight's destination is the Khonger sand dunes, our first really major taste of the Gobi. It is a range of sand dunes which range in height from 200 meters to 800 meters (depending on what guide book you read) and stretch about 100 km long. Our ger is right on the edge of them, a short walk to them and then straight up. Our view is of the range of them and we spend the next day curious what is on the other side and what that looks like over there.

The kitten in this camp pretty much dominates everything. It keeps sneaking in our ger through the holes in the felt and when these efforts are rebuffed, it starts climbing up the side and onto the top and staring down the smoke hole at us. When we move tot he ger where the food has been prepared and eat there (a late lunch), it also sneaks into there and eventually uncovers the meat supply. By meat supply, I mean a whole leg of mutton, which it digs its claws into and refuses to let go. It takes two of us to pull it off and even then we have to cut off a bit of the meat to get it off.

Then when we go for a walk to the sand dunes near sunset, it insists on following us which is totally surreal. We walk there and back for probably two hours and it is fairly dark by the time we reach the dunes and turn around, but it follows us the entire way, just a white blur in the dark. We do have to stop and lift it over some of the bigger streams. Totally strange.

So, we have touched the sand now, hiked around the area a little bit and get back to camp in time for dinner. We pass a really cold night in the ger (much leakage of warm air) and will be ready for more camels and sand tomorrow. Just a warning, if you are a lover of cameras and cringe at gritty treatment of them, you best turn your head away for a bit tomorrow.