Hanghy Uul

Quite the eventful night last night, I sum it up to 3 naps. The first before a windstorm, the next u til the rain and finally the deep sleep after the rain. I actually had it pretty easy. One of the girls ended up pitching a new tent by herself in the middle of the night while two other people’s tents were whacking them in the face from the force of the wind.

It was a beautiful morning though after all was said and done. We watched our host milk cows after breakfast. They separate the mothers and their calves, only reuniting each pair when it was that mom’s turn to be milked. The calf would start, I think to get the flow going before the lady milked most the cow before releasing the cow to continue feeding the calf.

Next we went on a hike around the valley, climbing various peaks. The scenery is just gorgeous and really photos didn’t do it justice. It was like slight mountains covered in green carpet all around.

After the hike, we returned to help milk the goats. It’s not quite as easy as it looks but we got good instruction so did seem to help a little. The process with mothers and lambs are similar to the cows and calves this morning.

Lunch was quite the affair as our drivers prepared a Mongolian barbecue for us using the sheep from last night. Yesterday was a more auspicious day and I think it worked out perfectly since it would be a lot of work if done on the same day. This is a special occasion meal and definitely different from what we had imagined. For one, I thought the entire sheep would be hung by it’s legs over a fire. Very wrong.

As we waited for the meal to be ready, we also ended up playing some 3 on 3 soccer. One of the drivers even put on some Mongolian music. It feels like an event all together and lots of fun. But back to lunch preparations :)

First they built a fire and heated some stones. On top of the stove they boiled a little water. Once the stones are ready, the meat is placed in a large pot and layered with potatoes, carrots and cabbage. Salt is sprinkled throughout and the stones are also added into the mix as well. The whole process probably took nearly 3 hours.

The meal was delicious though some of the meat was a bit tough. Vegetarians and vegans beware.

The weather here is as temperamental as a woman’s behaviour apparently. Bright blue skies alternate with grey storm clouds in the distance. A few drops began to fall after lunch and we made haste to the family ger to wait it out.

The rain would stop and start again. In fact, as I’m writing this in my tent, raindrops patter steadily on my tent. I hope this is as waterproof as I’m led to believe. We did say if it got really bad, we’d all take shelter in the second ger which normally holds all the camping gear and camping chairs. So we shall see. I’m hoping this will be it for the rain but it’s only 6pm.Read more