First of all a huge sorry for the slow of blog update - Mongolia's Gobi desert does not have any internet connection yet, nor has running water or electricity in most parts either ;D - Pictures will be posted at a later stage has I need to steal them from a my fellow travelers...
As a mouth watering I can tell you how I felt - that is to say particularly lucky to be in this country - it is absolutely unique on many levels - sights, scents and Mongolian phonetics is difficult to describe; something between Russian, Chinese and Arabic - no you can't imagine... Mongolian is just Mongolian! The colours in Gobi are splendid - composed with the solar spectrum - the horizon varies from West, East, North, South with a variety of shades from green blue pink purple orange gold etc ...
13 Days ride in an amazingly reliable Russian "machine" with 5 of the most joyful people
+ our laughing driver, our daddy, the best - Oggie -
through the gorgeous Gobi land - starting from Ulan Baator going South through rock wind formations, canyons hiding Dinosaure prints, sand dunes then looping up westward via mountain forests and up to the Norh finishing with lake views and volcanoes. Land of light, mirages and white smiles. The desert starts with a vast never ending plain with potholes, bumps and houndreds of mice/rodants running about our path - then raise your head and understand why; their predators are just circling above, majestic, wide eagles, falcons, howls - and that's the way our wild journey starts here between golden dust and blue sky... Slowly appear some black dots in the distance - the lords of this land, they are the mysterious Mongolian horses walking about, real beauties - the scene seems surreal, in slow motion. Their skin is unsual - silver, white, black, brown with so many features, patches, dots or even strippes.Further south Camels are the master of the dunes - and let us hop between their cuddely bumps - smelly animals nonetheless...
their milk has only the white colour in common with cows milk; the taste is fizzy something we all westerners would qualify as horrendous. it is aslo the ingredient for some Mogolian camel's cheese and biscuits... that we all tried to hide in our pockets after the first bite...mmmh cannot describe its smell and taste.
Each night was spent in Gers heated by fire in rusty stoves and being served mutton a la Mongolian -
In the morning handmade biscuits tasted like mouton too and at the end of the 13 days tour we all concluded that Mouton scent was everywhere - in our breath, in our cloth or hair. Even the bank notes smell of Mouton - i kept some samples to share this with you :D !!!!Back in cold and snowy UB - the capital city is going through a good economical developement - with constructions and road works turning the capital streets quite unappealing for the time being - I am sure it will be an nice welcoming place in a few years.
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