Erica Nairn

  Leaving UB again. It is a strange city, consisting of sky scrapers and ger villages. gucci and rags, and city people and nomads. I think that in the back of most Mongolians minds, as they rush threw the big city life, lie the dream of a family , happy, in a ger on the steppe.
  Found my short bus at the Dragon "Station" that will take me to Moron. Only  19 hours overnight and crammed in. Ended up with the girl next to me on my shoulder and a little girls head in my lap. I was very warm though. The only other westerner was a lady from Poland. When we arrived in Moron found out the vans don't leave to Khatsgal till late afternoon.  A local guest house let us nap. (not a lot of sleep on that bus). Then 3 hours to Khatsgal. We had to keep stopping because the van was getting too hot. We would pull over a few minutes to cool and then drive again.
  Let me tell you it was so beautiful, so worth it. I hiked up to the top of a cliff for a view of the lake. A shamanistic rock pile was there also. (They always seem to be next to amazing vantage points :) So many yaks I love them, I think they are better then cows. And a local told me the milk was way better in his opinion.  The trees and slopes and rocks around are heart stopping. It was as if I have seen these views in landscape paintings thousands of times. I said to myself a couple of times "I thought Bob Ross put that tree there"
  Katerina, a Finish girl, sharing the ger with me fulfilled a dream of hers and purchased 2 Mongolian horses. We celebrated with some beers and she took me on a ride. On our way back to the ger we were trotting side by side down the dirt road. The sun was below the horizon and she was wearing a cowboy hat. I felt like we were coming into town after a dusty day on the range.
Headed back to UB and have a train ticket to Beijing waiting for me.  Went to a show featuring Mongolian dance, throat singing and musical instruments. It was quite amazing. A great end to my mongolian adventure. Had some beers and did some souvenir shopping.
  Goodbye land of endless skies and forever smiling people.