day 191 – a clear routine had started. we had breakfast and said goodbyes. the spanish group were heading back to town and i was staying on for an extra three days. i ended up waiting for what seemed like eternity before they prepared my horse to begin my extended horse riding trek. we finally mounted up and i had a nice black and white horse. we took a long ride through terelj, a picnic lunch and more horseback riding. the day was a killer and by the end of it my arse was sore as hell. i named my horse ‘chester mc numbbum’.
we had arrived at a local family ger which was really a local family ger. there was a husband and wife, who looked in their 40s, and their daughter (who i guess was about 6 or 7). we spent the afternoon in the ger and ate some food and drink. the ger was full of flies and it was clear that hygene was optional (and usually ignored), however they were really nice people and tried very hard to make me feel welcome. that evening we had dinner and afterwards the family chatted with my guide. since nobody spoke english (no, not even my guide speaks english) i got a bit bored and ended up going to sleep. i woke up in the wee early hours of the morning and needed to pee. i walked outside and found myself surrounded by sheep and goats. it turns out that the family make a living from breed sheep. the flock, of about 100ish animals, sleep around the ger. i had to manouvre through a herd of animals to find a free patch of ground to pee on.
i found a patch, i peed, i returned to bed … avoiding the startled glare of stupid walking woolen jackets.
day 192 – we started late, again, and i ended up sitting around the ger most of the morning. we finally got going and only rode for about half an hour before stopping for lunch. it was becoming annoying that the guide was moving so slowly, but in retrospect it was great to give my ultra sore arse a break.
after lunch we rode all afternoon. it was quite a long, tiring ride. however the countryside was amazing and i had a great time. the only annoying part was that my horse really disliked the wild bees which kept attacking his legs. it’s quite bizarre. i could actually see the bees flying in with their stingers pointed and trying to sting the horse’s legs. i did as much as i could to flick off the bees and i killed a few, but they semed to have a special hatred for my horse and followed us for a really long time.
mid afternoon we found ourselves staring at an enormous eyesore of a statue in the middle of nowhere. it was a 40 meter tall tribute to ghinggis khaan. the statue was made of stainless steel and glared obnoxiously in the afternoon sun. i have no problem with the statue, which was built by a rich mongolian obsessed with their great conqueror, but i think they could have selected a coating that wasn’t ridiculously bright.
the inside, however, was much nicer. my guide and i wandered around and went up to the open air observation deck. we had a break and headed off again in the direction of our evening accomodation. we rode towards the river and followed it until we reached a big tourist hotel. my guide, a complete idiot at the best of times, rode straight through the middle of a group of people doing archery. they stopped and i realised that they were korean. one woman was pointing a video camera at me and i decided to have some fun. i spurred the horse, trotting quickly through the middle of the archery range. when i got close to the group i said ‘hello’ in korean. they all stared at me, dumbstruck, and with the video camera still going, watched us depart. it was a bit of fun …
we gave our horses a break to get some water and then rode across some streams. that was probably the best part of my horse riding trip. the water was running fairly fast and the horses had to work hard to cross. i pushed my horse, spurring him on, and at one point the water was so deep my shoes (in the stirrups) got wet. we crossed a few more quick running streams and up the other side to dry land.
the rest of the afternoon was a long ride up hill towards the ger where we would sleep. we arrived on dark. the ger was specially built for tourists and only my guide and i were staying there. the guide’s wife joined us, cooking dinner and keeping the place clean. i was tired after such a long day and was keen to get some sleep.
day 193 – i woke up and we started late. we had new horses which didn’t follow any instructions. the horse would go in a different direction to where it was told to go (seemingly intentionally too). it took ages to get anywhere and it was hard work getting the horse to do as it was told. we finally arrived at a massive rock that is famed for looking like a giant turtle. i could see the resemblance, but it wasn’t terribly interesting.
we waited a stupidly long time before getting lunch. we continued on and the horse was still being a shit. it kept kicking the guide and the guide kept whipping it. i’d had enough of the guide’s idiocy and the horse’s retardedness. as i was trying to dismount, the horse stepped away and i fell on the ground with my foot stuck in the stirrup. fortunately the horse stood still, rather than dragging me along the ground. i’d had enough of the horse, threw the reigns at the guide, and stomped off in the midday heat. i headed towards the buddhist temple on the side of the hill which was our next destination. i told the guide to fuck off and i’d fnd my own way back to camp.
i walked double time, angry as all hell, to the temple. it was hot and i was sweating when i arrived. i overtook a busload of koreans on their way to the same temple. the walk did me good and i was much more calm by the time i arrived at the temple. i walked around three times, said a prayer and told myself to be calm. i also walked down to the main house to look at the paintings. while i was there, the monk came out and said hello to me. he spoke a little bit of english and was quite friendly. i also noticed that the guide had actually brought both horses and followed me to the temple, but he waited a safe distance away.
after the temple, i joined the guide and told him i’m not riding that horse again. so we switched horses (his was much more tame) and i was happy because his saddle was different (quite a relief on my arse). when the guide had mounted my old horse, he too had difficulty with it … so i cursed him under my breath, thinking “how the hell does he expect a tourist to ride that shit horse when he can’t handle it either”. i can ride, but i’m not used to riding horses which are half wild. but i had a much better ride in the afternoon, since the other horse was more willing to folow directions.
we rode the long way back to the same ger we stayed at the previous night. this time i told the guide that i’d sleep there by myself. he seemed happy with that and headed off. later that evening they brought food and i enjoyed dinner, keeping my fire going, and playing solitaire. it was fun to spend an evening by myself and i slept pretty well.
rant: my guide pisses me off. the guy farts around and wastes so much time. not only that, but he’s fucking clueless. he forgot the straps (which we use to spur the horses) and he brought fresh horses. my new horse is beliligerent and, without the strap, doesn’t follow directions. the guide keeps whipping the horse to make it run, but the horse wants to go in a different direction. the horse kicked at the guide two or three times, annoyed at being told what to do, and i was uncomfortable (partly because i didn’t trust the horse, partly because my arse was still sore from all the riding).
the worst bit is that we just sit around and wait and wait. today, we could have made it as far as the buddhist temple on the hill before lunch. but the guide fucked around, talked to his friends, and made me sit and wait by myself. i waited for about 30 minutes and asked him what was happening. he told me we’d have another hour wait for the other guy to arrive with lunch. fuck! we could have made it to the temple and back, but instead we spend so much time sitting around … and it wasn’t the only time i had to sit and wait for idiot mongolians to work their shit out.
while waiting, i chucked a huge shit, threw my bag on the ground and ranted at him. the guy just doesn’t have a clue. he told me to wait more, then went back to talk with his friends. so i’m stuck here, by myself, until god knows when … and i was so angry that i didn’t care that my camera was in the bag when i threw it.
day 194 – the ger’s owner insisted on ‘checking up’ on me, twice waking me up. he checked in at 1am, for reasons i cannot understand, and finally brought my clothes and gear so that i could change. in the morning i made some tea, ate breakfast, cleaned up and relaxed. i had to wait a while until the guide arrived with two new horses … again. this horse was wilful, but not as bad as the ones the day before. after a small battle of wills, the horse finally accepted taking orders. we rode around some hills until lunch and returned to the main camp.
on the way back to camp, something realy cool happened. we had to cross a few small streams. they were in deep troughs but were only about a meter or so wide. as we crossed, i expected that the horse would step into the stream and try to drink (which is what all the horses had done). however, at the last second, the horse decided it would just jump the entire stream in one go. it took me by surprise, but fortunately i was already holding tight in anticipation of the horse heading into the stream. the horse clean jumped the stream, to the amazement of the guide who laughed all the way back to camp.
when we arrived at the ger, there were three other tourists there. two were australian, one was dutch. all were female. that made me happy, so i took a break, we had lunch together and talked, i had a sleep and the girls went horse riding. in the late afternoon i took the girls up the hill behind our ger to see the view from between the massive rocks that formed a tall cliff face. after dinner i had to wait for my gear to be brought down (again) and i got an early night.
day 195 – we had a big breakfast with the ger owner’s mother. one of the girls was visibly sick at the sight of all the flies inside the ger. a lot of the food we ate was based on either yak milk or goat’s milk. we had cheese, biscuits, tea and some bread. the people were very nice and although none of us wanted to eat much, we tried to eat what we could to be polite.
after breakfast we met our driver and headed back to ulaan bataar. i took a much needed shower, got my police report for the stolen ipod, got my translation (for insurance purposes) and walked to the black market with the three girls. we wandered around until the market closed, walked back to the hotel and i headed to the department store to buy some beer. at the hotel we sat, drank beer, and talked all night.
