Wood and leather

Grumbles:

When we woke in the morning, just as when we laid down to rest, the old couple started talking. The woman woke and put more poo in the furnace then laid back down to badger the old man to get up and tend to the animals. We couldn't understand the conversation, but we are almost certain that he didn't want to get out of bed, and she was offering him loads of reasons that he needed to.

During the night, the fire had gotten cold. Emma had been sandwiched tightly between Teri and I at one point. I also remember Teri waking in the middle of the night and saying she couldn't sleep.

Teri: "Emma, I can't sleep."
Emma: "Well, what do you want me to do?"
Teri: "Sing me a song or something."

Then I fell back to sleep.

Sleeping on the floor was quite a painful experience. With sore backs and stiff joints, I got up reluctantly. The chill air was not helping my desire to emerge from the warm sleeping bag either.

Una appeared and started getting our breakfast foods out and ready for eating. Some bread and butter, sweet breakfast rolls of a sort, cheese, and some Nutella like substance made up the breakfast. It was fast and satisfying. As we enjoyed our morning repast, the old man came in and had a nice long drink from his bread-corked beer. With a quick smile and a nod, he recorked it and was back out into the pasture. We all filled ourselves and got ready for our morning horse ride. We all got out and started wandering about to loosen our joints and get a good look at the beautiful Mongolian landscape once again.

Mongolian horses:

The horses that the Mongolians use in their daily herding lives are about the size of Shetland ponies, and have very similar body structure. They have the short stocky legs and neck. Their heads are pretty large and they seem to maintain quite a bit of body fat. I'm sure all these attributes are adaptations from living in the harsh environment offered by the Mongolian steppes. The native wild horses were probably bred in a bit, creating this small sturdy horse.

Some of the guests in the other ger had already gone out for a quick ride, and we were waiting for them to get back. As I had only ridden a horse once, and it had been 14 years since my singular two hour horse ride, I was excited, but thankful that there would be some sort of guidance on the ride. The other riders came in, and we were all paired with a horse. Emma and I were put on horses that were held by the nomadic herder, and Teri and Cullen's horses were free to run about. Emma was in a wooden saddle where the rest of us were in simple saddles made from wire and a pad. They weren't entirely uncomfortable, but the extent of the ride made for some interesting bruises. Emma's saddle was most certainly less comfortable than the others. There wasn't really any give, so every jostle and bump had to have been an uncomfortable jarring.

We went to herd some sheep and goats up onto the hill. The Mongolian nomadic herder had Emma and I in tow. He rode us down into a ravine, and up the other side. Cullen followed as closely as he could, with is stubborn horse refusing to move at time. Teri refused to cross where we had, so she took her mare further down the ravine, finally crossing at a low point.

The sheep cooperated very well. They seemed to know exactly where to go. After a bit of maneuvering them, we headed up a hill for a very nice photo opportunity. The shot was beautiful, then we headed down to have some lunch. When we dismounted, only my knees really bothered me. To this day, the bruises on my bum are the worst reminders of this short ride.

So hard to say goodbye:

Una had started preparing our lunch while we were out. The lunch was a nice veggie stew with some canned beef thrown in. We sat a bit, smelling the stew and talking a bit about how spectacular it was to stay with the old couple. The ger was small, but it was amazing that they insisted on living off the land after all their years in the city. This type of living is the closest thing to old Native American nomadic life that I will ever experience, I'm certain. These are a proud and beautiful people with such a strong cultural background. Their lives are simple, yet they know the complexities of what living in the city can be.

As we sat eating lunch, the old man's son came home, and started talking with him. Una told us the old man was telling him stories about having us over. Teri, while we were there, had taken many photos of the old couple. He told his son that Teri had made a model, and taught him to say, "g'day mate" which he repeated almost perfectly. They truly enjoyed our stay with them. Despite our inability to communicate well, we still managed to get our adoration for their simple life and our respect for them across. We appreciated the opportunity to stay with them, and they seemed to know it, even if we were unable to tell them ourselves.

The old man had to go to town, so he made sure to tell us all good bye, and shake hands. We walked out of the ger and waved him away. He seemed to be very happy as he left.

Once we packed everything, it was time for us to go as well. We loaded up the van, and prepared ourselves. Before leaving, we all shook the woman's hand. She then went into the ger and retrieved a large spoon full of milk. Una explained that this was to wish us well, and to insure that good fortune followed us.

She scattered the milk into the wind as we drove away.

Wildlife preserved:

We were on our way to the Hustai National Park in Mongolia. This park is very close to Ulan Bator, and it contains the original reintroduced wild horse population in Mongolia. We were going to see some horses in the morning. For now, we were ready for some ATV van action again. The roads out to the park were the same type of Mongolian roads we had used to get to the old couple's ger. The terrain was long stalks of yellow grass and tumbleweed.

Once we reached the park, about an hour and a half later, we were invited to stay in the ger of one of the park rangers. The ger's resident, once he found Teri had quickly crashed in his bed, went to stay with friends in another ger. He was quite accommodating, and didn't seem to mind. The evening was quiet and we just talked with Una about her job, politics, and how she felt about foreginers for quite some time.

Una is a student of international relations studies. She aspires to work in the Mongolian Embassy for another country. She expressed her joy for taking foreigners out on the trips into the wilds of Mongolia. She has had quite a few bad experiences with guests who expected her to cater to their every whim and to work for them as if they owned her. She is a very modern and understanding woman. Though she has been on a few bad trips, she appreciates the stories and gets a great laugh out of them now. It was such a pleasure having Una as our guide. She didn't mind answering questions about Mongolian religion, politics, and even personal questions.

She cooked us a nice dinner once again, and we continued to chat for quite some time.

We were unable to get warm in the ger, so the ger resident brought some coal to burn during the night. It did warm the ger enough for us to finally cuddle in and get warm. There were three beds in the ger. Cullen and I took the guest bed, which is the first bed you come to when you enter a ger. It is directly to your right, which is the recommended direction of travel for guests in a ger. Emma took the bed directly opposite the door. Teri stayed nestled in the "woman's" bed. The "man's" bed is the guest bed or the bed in the guest area of the ger. There is always a "sacred" area in the ger, which is directly opposite the entry door, or can at least be seen from the entry door. You never put your feet toward this sacred area. Many Mongolians are Buddhist, and in Buddhism it is an insult to put the palms of your feet toward the Buddha.

With stacks of covers and sleeping bags on, we settled into our goat flavored air and were ready for a nice night of rest in the second ger of our trip.