Gobi Desert, Day 1.

Our Gobi adventure started with an eight hour bus ride to Madalgovi, south of Ulaanbaatar. Finding the correct bus was a challenge enough in the rodeo that is the UB long distance bus station, but after about an hour on the road, the road itself disappeared, and we were on a "road" for the rest of the way. This could mean variously a dirt road, a stream bed, or a pair of tire tracks. 

The net result was an incredibly bumpy ride, and a busted suspension, which the driver and his assistant fixed on the side of the "road." He put on his work suit, drove the bus up on some wood blocks, and clambered under the front wheels with a tool box. 30 minutes later, we were on our way again. We arrived in Mandalgovi [something like a Russian style wild-west dust-covered ghost town], and hopped in a Russian jeep for another 85 km of spleen splitting travel through the desert. I soon found out why the ceiling was padded in that bucket of bolts... 

We [Jonathan and I, and our traveling companion Kylie, who would soon find out how much fun it is to travel with a pair of archi-nerds...] arrived at our first nomadic family's ger about four hours late for lunch, but no worries! They were ready with the dried cheese curd, bread noodles, mutton, and our first cup of fermented mare's milk [airag]. The host also produced a small fuel container, which turned out to be home-distilled vodka. Pretty tasty, actually...He sang for us [beautiful!] and we chatted as best we could using our phrase book. Then back in the jeep for the remaining trip to our overnight family. 

We arrived at the next ger late in the evening, and we had some dinner [mutton ribs, on the bone, eaten with a knife] and more airag. The ger was amazing - every inch was used for storage [clothes, tools, kitchen stuff] or production [mutton was drying over the altar, and sheep's heads, airag, and cheese curds were all in various stages of development in the kitchen area]. My favorite part? The solar panel and battery - powering a TV and a single lightbulb. 

We played volleyball with the family after dinner, and I had a language lesson courtesy of the little girls. After the kids brought the sheep and goats in for the night, we turned in too - but not before the whole family pitched in to help us with our tents. We fell asleep under a full moon, to the sounds of snuffling goats.

Fixing the broken down bus, somewhere between Ulaanbaatar and Mandalgovi. Our bus is the big one. The crowd of people around the front of it is the 'repair consultant team,' newly promoted from mere 'bus passenger' status.

This was our lunchtime rest stop. All it needed was some tumble weed, and it could have been the wild west, circa 1887.

Kylie with some of our new friends. The girl in the white was our language teacher, and also quite ticklish.

Desert volleyball.

I handed over my camera and sketchbook to people along the way, and got some great stuff as a result. These two boys are cousins, the photo was taken by the smaller boy's father. [Photo credit: Munh-Od].