Madonna Tribute - Cast of Glee
Mongolia Chapter 9: Manual Labor, Perfect Riding and "The Terminator"
This was one of my favorite days of the trip.
We've been warned that because of the rain we're a little behind pace on distance and today will need to be a long ride.
We head out on the horses from the mosquito camp. I don't want to make it sound like that was a bad campsite. It was actually quite nice - near the warm springs and the river and on flat ground. So take off, there's a nice gallop over a flat. Now, I'm pretty sure the plan may not have been to stop and visit a family on this day given that we're supposed to be making distance, but as we come into the valley, Mandaa and Dava notice that there is a family who's in the process of setting up their ger in a new location, and they figure we should stop and see it.
This is a blessing, a lucky stroke. As Mandaa explained afterwards, even if you offered a typical Mongolian family a lot of money to take their ger down and set it back up so that you could see, they probably wouldn't do it, the logic being "Why would I take down my HOME for you?" So the fact that we've happened across a family who's moving will make us some of a very, very, very small group of tourists that have ever seen this process. It's very, very lucky. And fascinating.
Firstly though, us being us, we immediately want to start helping to build the ger. Remember the analogy about "If you were an American family and suddenly a group of tourists showed up and started eating your food?" Now imagine that you're an American family and a tour bus rolls up and a bunch of tourists get out to "help" you while you're moving and THEN expect you to feed them and give them booze. But that's what happens. Watching the ger go up is fascinating. Our "help" requires them to undo and redo some of our work, but I think that they appreciated the spirit. The most complicated part seems to be getting the heavy felt cover on the top of the ger. The poles and the wicker lining seem to go up easily - but then again, this culture has been nomadic since the beginning, so they've probably mastered portable shelters.
As they're finishing putting the ger together and getting the inside visitor ready, there's some down time. However, in our group, there is never really down time, because we have Dava. Dava is that kind of host who never lets the party end. He notices that there's and ox, and, by golly, there's an ox cart! Ox cart rides for everybody! I'm not joking! The party slows down, and Dava's solution is to start giving hay rides on an ox cart.
AND THEN we realize that there's a basketball hoop (not regulation height!) in the back of the ger camp!!!!!! And so the party continues with basketball shooting, which is the best because it really brings us, our hosts and the Boojum staff together. And it's a beautiful day out. And here we are, shooting hoops behind a ger camp in the middle of Mongolia. It's one of those moments where you just go "Wow."
After we visit with the family for a while, we hit the horses and head to lunch. It's one of our last two picnic lunches, and it ends up being just so lovely. As we're laying there in the grass, we watch a rainstorm roll in front of us (right where we're supposed to be riding) and then roll out. So our lunch basically means that we avoid any rain gear for the day.
And then we head out. The afternoon ride is long, but it's so beautiful. Through a pass, then across hills and finally a meadow. Partway through, Dava gets off of his horse and picks wild flowers for all of the ladies in the group. That's how he is: he things to stop and pick wild flowers. Crazy, right? He's amazingly full of joy.
I can't say enough about how nice this ride is. Maybe just because it's so much longer. The views are spectacular. We're moving at a slightly upturned pace, which is more comfortable than changing pace up all the time. People are smiling and laughing, and the weather is PERFECT. Because it had looked like rain, the temperature had cooled down, so nobody is sweltering in the heat all day. Ideal. I can still feel the ride today. It ends cutting through a valley on a dirt road.
And then we get to our campsite. And it's so perfect. So, so perfect. There's a river. Nick and LZYP and Pookie and Aaron all skip rocks. Siri goes swimming. I sit peacefully. Dinner rolls in. We have run out of propane, so everything has to be cooked over the campfire, so dinner is boiled dumplings with mutton in them, and they are delicious. And then we have a perfect last night of camping.
It starts with a story and a horse ride. The story is from Dava. Actually, there are many stories from Dava on this night. He is sharing wisdom. Part of his wisdom is a story about how, one night, he was out with a group and before he went to bed, he counted the tents. One of the tents was missing. He's baffled because he can't figure out how one of the tents and its occupant just disappeared. But he goes to sleep. Now, this group of travelers was a little more bougie than we were and they liked to have the portable toilet set up. For us, the staff set up the portable toilet for about one day and then realized that we all preferred going off to the woods. But when Dava gets up in the morning, he goes off looking for the tent, and finds it set up over the portable toilet! Apparently one of the campers had had some issues during the course of the night and had determined that the move was clearly to just put their tent over the toilet. True story. There's lots of other story telling though - mostly about Ghengis and Mongolian travel stories.
However, about halfway through one of the stories, we notice that people on the other side of the table have become distracted and are looking at the huge hill on the other side of the valley. And then suddenly they're all making faces! And what has happened is that Mad Max has taken a horse to the top of the hill - presumably to see the view, though I question if perhaps it was to try to get a cell phone signal since he seemed to have a woman in every port. And on his way down the hill, the horse breaks into a gallop. And Mad Max flies off. Now, here is the awesome part. He falls off, and then he doesn't get up. And we all stare, and we all stare. And eventually Otgo the young horse wrangers heads out to check on him, but he does it at a very leisurely walk - and is seemingly more concerned with bringing the horse in. Meanwhile, Mad Max has gotten kicked by the horse when he fell and the wind is knocked out of him. It all ends well. Mad Max comes back to camp and we all act like we didn't see anything, but we all get to tell the story about how the only person who got thrown from a horse on the trip was a Mongolian.
Then the event that is how Lizzie (LZ) gets the YP added to her gangster name happens. YP stands for yak patty. Yak patty is because LZ is sitting next to me on a log, and she decides she wants to roll back off of the log and sit on the much softer grass. And she slides back, and immediately realizes that she's sat on a yak patty. She looks up and says, with this kind of "how bad can it be" look on her face, "I think I broke the crust!"
And then she stands up.
She sure did break the crust, probably because there wasn't any crust to break. That YP was FRESH. I mean, FRESH. Her pants are totally covered in yak poo. And it's dark, but there's no option but to strip it down and wash them. And reason 408 to love LZYP is because she thinks that this is a funny as we do. Here's a picture. It's one of my favorite ones!
And then one of my favorite things. One of the best things about traveling Mongolia on horseback instead of in cars is that you get so much deeper into the countryside, and people are a lot more curious about you because they see fewer tourists. On this night, as it gets dark and the campfire lights up, two nomadic men with their children wander down to see who's in the valley. They sit and talk with us, and the children sing and recite poetry. And one of the great things about this visit is that they have as many questions for us as we do for them. They wonder why we would come to their country and if we like it and what we like about it and what it's like in America. And as we talk into the night, they say the following, which stays with my heart because it's what travel is all about. They say, "You know, when you see America, you see it in the movies, and it's all fast cars and rich people, and you think that we must not have anything in common with Americans. And sitting here with you tonight, I realize that that's not true, and we actually have many things in common."
It stayed with me. That's what travel is supposed to be about.
And then I asked them what their favorite American movie was.
"Terminator."
I couldn't make that up if I tried.
That night the horses get to graze among the tents instead of separated. So you go to sleep hearing your horse. If the next day hadn't ended so perfectly, this would have been the perfect ending ...
We've been warned that because of the rain we're a little behind pace on distance and today will need to be a long ride.
We head out on the horses from the mosquito camp. I don't want to make it sound like that was a bad campsite. It was actually quite nice - near the warm springs and the river and on flat ground. So take off, there's a nice gallop over a flat. Now, I'm pretty sure the plan may not have been to stop and visit a family on this day given that we're supposed to be making distance, but as we come into the valley, Mandaa and Dava notice that there is a family who's in the process of setting up their ger in a new location, and they figure we should stop and see it.
This is a blessing, a lucky stroke. As Mandaa explained afterwards, even if you offered a typical Mongolian family a lot of money to take their ger down and set it back up so that you could see, they probably wouldn't do it, the logic being "Why would I take down my HOME for you?" So the fact that we've happened across a family who's moving will make us some of a very, very, very small group of tourists that have ever seen this process. It's very, very lucky. And fascinating.
Firstly though, us being us, we immediately want to start helping to build the ger. Remember the analogy about "If you were an American family and suddenly a group of tourists showed up and started eating your food?" Now imagine that you're an American family and a tour bus rolls up and a bunch of tourists get out to "help" you while you're moving and THEN expect you to feed them and give them booze. But that's what happens. Watching the ger go up is fascinating. Our "help" requires them to undo and redo some of our work, but I think that they appreciated the spirit. The most complicated part seems to be getting the heavy felt cover on the top of the ger. The poles and the wicker lining seem to go up easily - but then again, this culture has been nomadic since the beginning, so they've probably mastered portable shelters.
As they're finishing putting the ger together and getting the inside visitor ready, there's some down time. However, in our group, there is never really down time, because we have Dava. Dava is that kind of host who never lets the party end. He notices that there's and ox, and, by golly, there's an ox cart! Ox cart rides for everybody! I'm not joking! The party slows down, and Dava's solution is to start giving hay rides on an ox cart.
AND THEN we realize that there's a basketball hoop (not regulation height!) in the back of the ger camp!!!!!! And so the party continues with basketball shooting, which is the best because it really brings us, our hosts and the Boojum staff together. And it's a beautiful day out. And here we are, shooting hoops behind a ger camp in the middle of Mongolia. It's one of those moments where you just go "Wow."
After we visit with the family for a while, we hit the horses and head to lunch. It's one of our last two picnic lunches, and it ends up being just so lovely. As we're laying there in the grass, we watch a rainstorm roll in front of us (right where we're supposed to be riding) and then roll out. So our lunch basically means that we avoid any rain gear for the day.
And then we head out. The afternoon ride is long, but it's so beautiful. Through a pass, then across hills and finally a meadow. Partway through, Dava gets off of his horse and picks wild flowers for all of the ladies in the group. That's how he is: he things to stop and pick wild flowers. Crazy, right? He's amazingly full of joy.
I can't say enough about how nice this ride is. Maybe just because it's so much longer. The views are spectacular. We're moving at a slightly upturned pace, which is more comfortable than changing pace up all the time. People are smiling and laughing, and the weather is PERFECT. Because it had looked like rain, the temperature had cooled down, so nobody is sweltering in the heat all day. Ideal. I can still feel the ride today. It ends cutting through a valley on a dirt road.
And then we get to our campsite. And it's so perfect. So, so perfect. There's a river. Nick and LZYP and Pookie and Aaron all skip rocks. Siri goes swimming. I sit peacefully. Dinner rolls in. We have run out of propane, so everything has to be cooked over the campfire, so dinner is boiled dumplings with mutton in them, and they are delicious. And then we have a perfect last night of camping.
It starts with a story and a horse ride. The story is from Dava. Actually, there are many stories from Dava on this night. He is sharing wisdom. Part of his wisdom is a story about how, one night, he was out with a group and before he went to bed, he counted the tents. One of the tents was missing. He's baffled because he can't figure out how one of the tents and its occupant just disappeared. But he goes to sleep. Now, this group of travelers was a little more bougie than we were and they liked to have the portable toilet set up. For us, the staff set up the portable toilet for about one day and then realized that we all preferred going off to the woods. But when Dava gets up in the morning, he goes off looking for the tent, and finds it set up over the portable toilet! Apparently one of the campers had had some issues during the course of the night and had determined that the move was clearly to just put their tent over the toilet. True story. There's lots of other story telling though - mostly about Ghengis and Mongolian travel stories.
However, about halfway through one of the stories, we notice that people on the other side of the table have become distracted and are looking at the huge hill on the other side of the valley. And then suddenly they're all making faces! And what has happened is that Mad Max has taken a horse to the top of the hill - presumably to see the view, though I question if perhaps it was to try to get a cell phone signal since he seemed to have a woman in every port. And on his way down the hill, the horse breaks into a gallop. And Mad Max flies off. Now, here is the awesome part. He falls off, and then he doesn't get up. And we all stare, and we all stare. And eventually Otgo the young horse wrangers heads out to check on him, but he does it at a very leisurely walk - and is seemingly more concerned with bringing the horse in. Meanwhile, Mad Max has gotten kicked by the horse when he fell and the wind is knocked out of him. It all ends well. Mad Max comes back to camp and we all act like we didn't see anything, but we all get to tell the story about how the only person who got thrown from a horse on the trip was a Mongolian.
Then the event that is how Lizzie (LZ) gets the YP added to her gangster name happens. YP stands for yak patty. Yak patty is because LZ is sitting next to me on a log, and she decides she wants to roll back off of the log and sit on the much softer grass. And she slides back, and immediately realizes that she's sat on a yak patty. She looks up and says, with this kind of "how bad can it be" look on her face, "I think I broke the crust!"
And then she stands up.
She sure did break the crust, probably because there wasn't any crust to break. That YP was FRESH. I mean, FRESH. Her pants are totally covered in yak poo. And it's dark, but there's no option but to strip it down and wash them. And reason 408 to love LZYP is because she thinks that this is a funny as we do. Here's a picture. It's one of my favorite ones!
And then one of my favorite things. One of the best things about traveling Mongolia on horseback instead of in cars is that you get so much deeper into the countryside, and people are a lot more curious about you because they see fewer tourists. On this night, as it gets dark and the campfire lights up, two nomadic men with their children wander down to see who's in the valley. They sit and talk with us, and the children sing and recite poetry. And one of the great things about this visit is that they have as many questions for us as we do for them. They wonder why we would come to their country and if we like it and what we like about it and what it's like in America. And as we talk into the night, they say the following, which stays with my heart because it's what travel is all about. They say, "You know, when you see America, you see it in the movies, and it's all fast cars and rich people, and you think that we must not have anything in common with Americans. And sitting here with you tonight, I realize that that's not true, and we actually have many things in common."
It stayed with me. That's what travel is supposed to be about.
And then I asked them what their favorite American movie was.
"Terminator."
I couldn't make that up if I tried.
That night the horses get to graze among the tents instead of separated. So you go to sleep hearing your horse. If the next day hadn't ended so perfectly, this would have been the perfect ending ...
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