Day 1: our guide Bolod has a lot to tell. While he sometimes repeats himself, the stories are fascinating and his English is great. His website: http://www.bolodtours.com/ We experience the 'road' for the first time, a dirtroad filled with potholes, but nothing our trusty Russian vans cannot handle. During our first stop, we see a few things that will appear a lot during the entire trip: hills with an ovoo on top, herds of goats & sheeps, and grasshoppers everywhere. Another stop is Khustain Nuruu National Park, home to the Przewalski horse. We can only spot them in the distance, but it's a great feeling to see them running around freely. We finally make camp at a lovely meadow between a river and some mountains with great views from the top!
Day 2: our first job of the day is helping a farmer to load a fleeing bull. A bit later we stop at a camel farmer and have some sharp tasting camel milk. After crossing many beautiful landscapes, the most impressive is a strip of desert, the Mongol Els. We set up camp close by but our dinner is interrupted by a sand storm! Luckily our tents are secure so we only suffer some plugged nostrils.
Day 3: after shaking all the sand out of our tents we continue. At another family we get more traditional products: dried cheese and fermented horse milk (airag or kumis) two things I will never get fond of. Our drives love the stuff, almost as much as they like dance music, which is played all the time in the van! We set camp at lake Ögil Nuur were we have a refreshing swim and spend the afternoon learning to steer a massive herd of goats.
Day 4: more roads and gers. We set camp near a fast flowing river and play a Belgium vs Mongolia soccer match. At night, some of us are awoken by horsemen riding trough our camp and hitting tents. They leave without saying a word so our guide suspects bandits. Turns out it were just some curious local farmers who had too much vodka.
Day 5: we stop in Tsetserleg to get supplies. It's a moderate city nicely located in between the mountains. It's very hot though, so we escape to a temple/museum. Most temples are Buddhist and have a Chinese style. We leave the city and eventually arrive at the family the who will supply our horses. Because it's late, we just go for a quick test run. Some of us never rode a horse but the mounting goes reasonably well. I had some horse riding lessons before, so they let me ride freely, and I can even help to herd the goats back to the pen, super cool! And also a great way to end day 5.
To be continued...
