We arrived into Ulaanbaatar and spent the afternoon sight seeing and failing to find the black market which is supposed to be amazing. We found a rubbish market right next to it and bought Iain a new wallet and some long johns in preparation for our 3 day trip to the countryside.
Our trip to the countryside was brilliant and we wish we could have spent more time seeing the different landscapes of Mongolia. We stayed with a lovely old woman in her Ger for two nights, with her 20 cows, 2 goats and 3 sheep outside. We herded animals by moonlight, chopped wood and tried their food – a little insight into life of the Mongolian farmer, mixed in with the comforts of some fellow backpackers, English speaking guide and vodka.
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Our friendly driver, Onga who taught us how to play a new card game and ankle bones.
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Copious amounts of vodka and games of pig by the roaring stove kept the cold away.
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Food pic #9: pastries, dried yoghurt (tastes like hard cheese), yak’s milk butter and a cup of milky salty Mongolian tea.
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Horse riding for us meant going where the horses wanted to go, which was often nowhere.
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Iain with the world’s biggest statue of a man on a horse – Chinngis Chinngis Chinngis Khan, “Man of the Millenium” (we’re standing on the horses head)
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Getting away from it all.
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Food pic#10. Various bits of the inside of a goat including ‘paunch’, lower intestine and other tasty (if slightly chewy) bits.
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Our guide, Boggi, explains what our host, Tseme, is serving us but we think “Both inside and outside meat” loses something in translation.
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Next week’s “inside and outside meat”.
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Sawing wood for the fire while Onga looks for his fags.
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