Today has been pretty quiet. It’s been a welcome change from trains and running around the countryside. We’ve been holed up in Elstei Ger Camp about an hour outside of Ulaanbaator in Mongolia. We got here sometime after 8pm last night and they served us the best meal we have had in days. I went to bed around midnight and although I had set my alarm for 7am, I didnt hear it and slept in until after 8:30am… just in time for breakfast.

Spent the morning doing my washing and editing photos while some others decided to go off horse riding. Tomorrow we are going out to the Ghengis Khan memorial on horseback so I figured I would do the domestic chores instead and leave the horse riding until tomorrow. I’ve done my washing (thankfully) and managed to edit most of my photos, although I still cant post anything to facebook since I dont have decent internet – just an Edge connection on a mobile phone.

In general, despite yesterdays pickpocket attempt, the wounded spectator at the archery and the dead horse in the horse racing, I like Mongolia. The only thing I dont like about it is the amount of mutton I have been expected to eat. I think every meal for the first 3 days was mutton (including mutton soup for breakfast) and I cannot eat mutton. I’d forgotten all about my dislike for the stuff until I had the first mouthful in the Gobi Desert. No amount of chilli or soy sauce is ever going to resolve the reason why I dont eat it!

****WARNING: GRAPHIC – Dont read this if you are squeemish ****

Many years ago I shared a flat with my cousin in Calcutta. At 5am every morning we heard the most awful screaming. It sounded like children being murdered. It took us about 2 weeks to find out what it was. Seems the Muslim butcher down the road would slaughter his goats at 5am every morning. What sounded like children being murdered was actually the noise the goats made when their throats were being slit. Since then I havent eaten goat – although in the western world we rarely come across a goat meal so I hadnt thought of it in many years. Mongolia has really bought that experience back! For anyone who thinks that I havent seen other animals slaughtered, I have… they just dont make the same noise as goats.

**** WARNING… over – you can read the rest 🙂 ****

In any case, I spent a few days on the Gobi Desert Diet… Crackers and vegemite for 3 meals a day! That’s the closest I have ever come to being a vegetarian.

Anyway… our Mongolian guide has now kindly organised other food apart from mutton and I think the people I am travelling with are probably quite happy about that as I know some people were a little muttoned out.

Up until now we have had a group of 17 of us that travelled out of Beijing together. We’ve all been together for the last 6 days. We lost 2 Americans yesterday, although they join us tomorrow and then we lose them again for good the day after.

The group is made up of a British Expat family from Hong Kong, 4 Singaporean girls, 4 Australians, 2 Americans, an English girl and myself. We lose the Singaporeans tomorrow. They have been good fun. Once we get to Russia, the rest of us begin to split up as well and I think I am by myself on the final leg into Moscow. Strange to think that I will be home in 2 weeks time. Even more amazing to think where the year has gone! It only seems like yesterday that I was planning all this stuff and my year off will be over in a few months.

I’m writing this in my Ger and I have the door open. The normal view is just grasslands all the way out to the mountains in the distance but it seems I have visitors. I looked up from my laptop to see a couple of cows at the door 🙂 Unfortunately I wasnt quick enough to grab the camera but I had a little chuckle. I dont think I have ever had cows of the bovine variety come and visit.