we survived the trip north.

Well were still fighting the jet lag when we borded our afternoon flight to Moron. We have no plans and some Japanese men who are going up to the lake are worried about us. They try to make some last minute arrangements for us but they don't work out. So we get off the plane in Moron and the place is empty. No taxis no people in the middle of no where. oopps. So I ask the last person in the airport if she speaks english. She does!!! And then gives us a ride into town. Drops us off at a hotel and we promise we will be ok. Then hotel is full for the night. oopps again. So they call us another taxi and it takes us to a ger camp. Finally we get to see inside a real ger. It was clean and warm and they brought us some bottled water and we slept. In the morning there was a knock on the door telling us it was time for breaky. Fried sausage, fried eggs, bread and some wierd porridge. We have some sentences prepared in our language book. And the young girl there says " would you like a translator?" We jump on it and say yes please!!! So an hour later Saraa shows up. She speaks wonderful english and is willing to put her life on hold for 5 days and be our guide up north. We work out an itinerary and price and she leaves us for a bit to make the arrangements. 4 hours later she is back with a driver, a plan, and ready to go. She brings her 3 year old son with us his name is Jagvalaral. Don't ask how to pronounce it. We go to the black market to buy some groceries and water for the 5 days. And we leave around 4 ish. The roads are brutal. Ok so there are no roads. Make a path as you go . If you want to follow anothers path then ok but feel free to drive all over the land. It is the most 4X4 ing I have ever done but instead of a jeep it is in a minivan. Not for those who get car sick. Half way Saraa decides that we should spend the night with her cousin in their ger. These people are real nomads. They move 4 times a year to graze their herds. We just show up and they welcome us with open arms. they remind me of my relatives in nova Scotia. Sit and drink some milky salty tea and eat some cookies and bread smeared with yak yoghurt cream. Like margarine. It is ok but really fatty. It is Mongolian tradition to make a pot of soup for first time guests so we get a big pot of noodle soup with yak meat in it. Not bad. Defintely not as bad as I was thinking it would be. And if you still haven't had enough she brings out the home made yoghert. Now it is ok to say you are full. We visit for a while they ask alot of questions and we ask a lot of questions. Then they yell Rena! time to go get the babies. so we run around trying to get baby sheep and yaks and goats into their special pens so they are safe for the night. What a workout. They do this everynight. The whole family helps so it goes by quickly. The men on their horses and us on the ground scooping them up. What fun but cold brrrr.

Now it is bedtime and their are 5 of us to find space for. There are 3 gers with family in them. We sleep with Saraa and her son and the cousin and his wife. She is so warm and welcoming that you feel right at home. Saraa and her son get the bed and the rest of us sleep on felt mats on the floor. We lay out our sleeping bags crawl in and she put these heavy blankets on us. Really heavy blankets. And she tucked us in. Litteraly. I haven't been tucked in, in a long time. Then lights out good night. We sleep like logs. Then she is up 5 am to make a fire and tea for her husband who then gets up has some tea gets ready for the day then out he goes to get the herd to pasture. then we have to milk the yaks. Where are the teets on these wooly beasts? Just keep digging and you will find them. But try to do this while the baby wants some too and it is blowing like crazy out freezing and ...snowing. Yep just a bit but it was there. Not a fun life. But they are happy people who live a very simple life.

These herders in particular lost half their herd this last winter. Brutal. She said that most of the herders lost at least half their herds. It was a hard and cold winter and a long spring. We say lots of skeletons along the way. There are these vultures there that will devour a carcass in one hour.

I think tour guides should tell their guests this fact. It would stop people from wandering off on their own.

We say goodbye to our new friends. I leave him a pair of my merino wool socks as he has none. And we give her some money to help out with supplies. She isn't expecting money and is grateful. She sends me off with a bottle of yogurt. yummmy.

We drive up to the National Park of Khovsgul Nuur. It is beautiful. We pull into our ger camp for the night. It is closed. ooppss. But the caretakers are a very poor young family and need the money so we agree to stay in an old ger. It is pretty dirty
and you can see through the felt in some places. But we are tired and it is freezing cold so we agree to stay. The lady puts up the stove and airs it out. she goes to light the stove using a little gas. A spark from the match must of hit the gas container. Next thing we know she is screaming and running from the ger , it looks like she is on fire and the ger is definetly on fire.!!!! She is carrying the gas can and throws it out of the ger. We run over to see what we can do. She grabs a board and starts to beat at the flames. the lake is far away and we don't have a bucket. She runs into her ger and grabs their water can and pours it on the flames. The ger is out but the grass fire need to burn out. All our hearts are beating a mile an hour. A ger fire is a big deal. Especially when you don't own the ger. Saraa said that she will have to pay for the damage done. They are so poor that you can't imagine where she will get the money. The ger is still ok to sleep in. Just let the smoke clear out first. Relight the fire. At least it smoked out most of the spiders.

She comes over later to sit with us and apologize. She also makes hand made slippers , toques , mittens and other stuff. We ask her to bring us some slippers over. She doesn't have our size and agrees to make us some custom ones. We buy a couple of toques and order some baby shoes for the new little grand daughter. A good thing we bought those toques. It was freezing that night. couldn't even get out of bed to relight the fire. Not happy campers in the morning. We talk to Saraa about moving to a ger camp that is open and has showers. We are on day 4 with no shower and the lake is frozen. She is more than happy to move as well. The man at this ger is a horse guide and we hire him and a couple of horses to take us to our next camp. Mongolian horses come with alot of rule. No taking pictures, no carrying anything that might make a rattle noise, mount from the left only, never pet them( they bite). So keeping the rules in mind off we went. The moring was warm and sunny for a change. We had a nice ride through the forest and along the lake. our horses were very well behaved and responsive. Most of the horses in Mongolia are considered semi wild. They are everywhere and when a herder needs a horse or two extra he just chases one down and uses him then lets him go again. Yep we rode wild horses!! well almost.

When we were done riding Saraa was waiting for us with a new driver and car. We went to our next camp. It was a palace. warm, clean, hot showers, right on the lake. And not too busy. So we all stayed the night even the driver,. The driver made us some fresh illegal fish. I don't care. It wasn't beef. So good. And we taught them how to play Yatzee. HAd a few beer and called it a night.

The next day is June 9th, Saraa's son's birthday. He is 3 years old today. he reminds us alot of Trevor and we don't mind him at all. We pack up and head out early. Back into Khatgal village for gas some air in the tires and a pee.

We stop back at Saraa's cousins place to pick up some milk and yogurt for her mom and of course we have a bowl of milky tea and cookies. I play with some baby sheep and goats one more time. And we are on our way back to Moron.