Mongolia Chapter 6: Misery is, Well, Miserable

There are two potential contenders for the low point. The end of this day is one of them, and for me it was the low. Which is surprising since the day begins and then rolls out pretty perfectly for a long time.

In the morning, we break camp from that beautiful camp spot, that, while it's not my favorite campsite of the trip, it's close. We get on the horses and ride out over the same beautiful meadow we'd ridden the day before but in a different direction. We stop to visit a random prayer wheel and Buddhist shrine. We ride some more, through some lovely woods and across a lovely bridge and then at a fast trot across another meadow. I have an Oprah moment with LZ YP where she explains to me that diverse, unconventional people cannot expect to have normal, conventional relationships. There's a lot of talk about me and relationships on this trip. Lots of philosophy.



Lunch is in this wonderful little glade by a river. And it's a two hour lunch break, so people can bathe and wash clothes and their hair. And it's sunny so things can dry. And lunch is, of course, delightful. And laying in the sun after lunch is also quite delightful.

And then we get back on the horses and ride, with a minor ditch stop at a wooden structure and lots of riding through lovely fields, then up a small mountain for a fantastic view (And different people feel different ways, but I find the physical act of riding uphill very peaceful. I'm sure the horse disagrees).

At the top of the hill is pretty much where the misery starts. We want to stop for the view, because the view is spectacular, but there's clearly rain that's about to be on top of us, and so Mandaa pretty much says "Enjoy the view from the back of your horse." And so we take a couple of quick pictures and then head down the mountain.



And Mandaa and Dava select a campsite that is in the trees since there will most likely be lightening. Now, little known fact to many people, but in an area where there are a lot of bugs, there will be even MORE bugs where the trees are. So we pull up to the campsite, and per usual the rain is about to come down. So we're rushing to get the tents up, and because we are rushing, we don't entirely check the ground below us as well as we should, so mine and Pookie's tent ends up on a HUGE TREE ROOT. Then, I run off to pee without thinking that perhaps I should put my rain gear on because the grass is knee length and wet. Firstly, I get my ass bitten up while I"m peeing, which I should have expected. Then I get back to the ten and realize that I'm really wet from having walked into the forest. And the bugs are so thick. They are just so thick that I want to cry. I cannot handle having 20 bugs around my face AND being wet AND having a bitten up butt at this point. And so Pook and I discuss it and decide that we will skip dinner and just stay in the tent and eat our food cache because the minute we open up the tent and go out we're going to get the inside of the tent wet (it rained while we were inside) and let bugs in. So, to review, on this evening:

1. I am wet
2. Though my bladder is empty, I have bug bites on my ass
3. I can't go outside because it's wet and swarming with bugs
4. I have Cliff bars and beef jerky for dinner
5. I sleep with a HUGE ROOT digging into my back

It's not good people. For me, it's like that day in Peru where everybody fought over lunch, or that day in China where I just couldn't take the weather any more, or that day in Uganda where I just couldn't take the roads any more. It's bad. But the night is always darkest before the dawn, and it ends up all good because the next day is my second favorite day on the whole trip because ...