We sat at the Genghis Khan Airport for several hours as we waited for our delayed flight to leave to the lake in North Mongolia along the Russian border.
The flight was canceled.
As Tom says “you know if you’ve got a good tour director when things don’t go right”. Tessa remained very calm, we were going back to Ulaanbaatar but we were going to hang around the airport for an extra hour since the hotel rooms would not be ready.
She took orders for the Burger King at the airport. I ordered two packages of fries and wondered why they weren’t good — until I remembered it’s McDonald’s french fries I like.
Duh! I should have ordered a Whopper and eaten everything but the meat. I’ll know better next time!!
We visited another temple in the middle of the city, I could have skipped. But we were wasting time.
I found this interesting. In the middle of Mongolia people are eating vegan!
Back to the temple restaurant which looked like a huge library.
This time I knew it exactly what to order.
Back to the airport the next day trying to fly to the lake. We were having trouble getting there and the people at the lake were having trouble getting back to Ullaanbaatar.
When we were told the pilots decided it was too dangerous to fly I was relieved because once we were at the lake we would have had to stress out about getting back the next day to catch our flight to the US.
Having breakfast at the Tom and Tom coffee shop.
I don’t eat meat … But when you’re hungry one will eat anything. I had a ham and cheese Panini and it was delicious.
When things don’t go smoothly in your life … Eat Doritos!
You forgo label-reading when it’s in Mongolian.
We took the bus for a 2-hour trek another ger camp.
Noise canceling headphones and pre-downloaded netflix movies are a godsend when you’re bumping through the Gobi Desert.
Luckily I had a seat to myself.
I watched both seasons of Running Point with Kate Hudson. It was a great show.
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I continued to hit my head on the doorway between the Ger and the smaller bathroom ger attached to it.
When I see a vertical pole I can’t help myself…
I don’t usually notice the quality of the beds, this one certainly had a divot.
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This is how they cleaned the sheep and yak wool. They would sing a song and whack it with sticks. And then they would drag it behind horses before making it into yarn.
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The locals were proud to show us their musical skills.
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This was a good depiction on how the farmers transported their entire lives to a new destination every 6 months to 2 years.
Our Filipino friends didn’t seem to get the memo about the hoof and mouth disease spreading through Mongolia — and continued to touch animals.
That bumpy and nail-filled long walkway was the demise of my two-wheeled duffle bag.
There was no porterage, so I dragged it down the sidewalk wearing holes in it, before I figured out how to carry it like a backpack. That duffel bag remained in the last hotel room I stayed in in Ulaanbaatar.
This was my ger and the smaller one was the attached bathroom.
You can see the wooden bucket and the faucet. This was my shower. You fill up the bucket, choose the size ladle you want and pour it over your head. So interesting.
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I hadn’t seen a line up of these kind of animals together before.
This was one last time meeting a farmer family in their ger. This gentleman thought himself a stand-up comic and proceeded to explain everything in his ger, down to the pots and pans they used.
Later that evening when we had s’mores on the cement slab he and his daughter showed up with their guitars and joined us in our partying.
That metal rectangular bucket was full of camel, yak, horse poop. They use it to make the fire inside their home. UUGGHH.
I had a couple hours to myself before dinner and decided to climb those mountains.
I discovered birds and rabbits on my way. And then headed straight to the Hills.
I passed the corral of camels and horses.
I hiked into an upper ravine and continued until I hit this poor dead horse in a second ravine.
There were several bulls afar, and if they decided to attack, I would have been dead meat, so I decided to head home.
I would have loved to pet the camels, but I was a good tourist and just took pictures.
There was some floral beauty in the area.
Here’s our s’mores party on the cement slab, with our local guests. More photos on the next blog.