Mongolia: road trip part 2

Day 6: crossing the vast steppes on horseback is such an amazing feeling. We are free to walk, trot or gallop. The speed is controlled by hitting its rear and shouting 'tchuu!'. Some struggle a bit to control the horse, but eventually every duo reaches some sort of agreement. While I'm in a gallop, my horse gets bitten by a fly on it's head. It panics and wont stop, so at max speed, I have to lean forward to swat the fly. It thanks me by slowing down and behaving for the rest of the trip :) For lunch there's goat barbecue, and we watch how the farmer skilfully kills and cuts it.

Day 7: the drivers will bring our tents while we go to the next destination by horse. Now the saddle pain starts to get really bad, we are all to big to sit on these tiny wooden things with our legs in the wrong angle. Luckily at the end of the day, we are greeted by a naturally heated swimming pool and shower. It's the perfect end to the best experience of the entire trip! Also the combination of quite a few drinks in the evening and the shiny moon prompts me to blast Shine On You Crazy Diamond trough the valley. Needless to say our guide was a bit confused!

Day 8: some culture. We visit Kharkorhin and its remains of Mongolia's first Buddhist monastery. It's an impressive place. Much less impressive is the nearby penis rock.

Day 8: we are staying next to a river, and our guide manages to rent some canoes. The river is quite long and we have great fun manoeuvring it. It's also great fun to bump the other canoes! The animals at the side are unimpressed by our antics. When we walk back to the camp, a farmer tries to herd his goats to the other side of the river. He asks for our help to cross them one by one. The farmer and his kids group the goats, so we can grab one by the horns and pull them over. The goats don't like this at all and bleat like they are being murdered: maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! If they swallow water it becomes the funniest sound ever: maagllellegllelle!

Day 9: Naadam is the national holiday in Mongolia. There are lot of celebrations around this time, focussed on the three most popular sports: wrestling, horse riding and archery. We have the chance to visit such an event in a small town. The premise is nice, but everything is very chaotic and badly organised. There's some wrestling going on but only with kids. We do see the finish of the horse race. The riders are very young and sometimes are thrown off under way. There's a point system which lets these riderless horses still count. All the awards only go to the trainers. Another particularity is the rush of people wanting to touch the sweat of the winning horse. We are chased away by a heavy storm but soon the weather calmes down and we settle at the most idyllic location of the entire trip! In the evening we visit a school were the unofficial fourth sport: knuckle-bone shooting. It reminds me of shooting marbles in primary school, but for the people here it's serious business.

Day 10: another local Naadam and now we see the real wrestlers in action. The size of the men is impressive (no weight categories here) but even more memorable are the victory dance and the occasional butt slaps! Everything was well organised here, so it really depends from town to town. After a lot of driving we set camp in a desert area, filled with lizards, prompting our scared guide to sleep in the car instead of his tent!

Day 11: we visit a nearby monastery and the ruins of a rare stone temple (Süm Khökh Burd). But the most impressive sights of the day are the rock formations of Baga Gazryn Chuluu. We set camp for the last time, enjoy the night sky full of stars (Orion!) and so this amazing road trip comes to an end.

Link to the complete album