The Runcible Architect.: Gobi Desert, Day 3.

On the morning of day 3, we had a special treat, in addition to the usual fried dough breakfast: buuz! Buuz are mutton dumplings, and are delicious. Turns out it was good we had a bit more fortification for the day ahead, as it turned into quite a marathon.

We had a slow morning around the ger - singing, watching out host doing some woodcarvings [he makes gers, and all the accompanying wood decorations for the furniture and framing members], and then watching the family bring in the horses. No one ties up their animals, unless they're about to leave, or if they're visiting someone. Otherwise, the horses, camels, etc roam freely, and the owners just go out and round them up when they need them. [There are no fences in Mongolia, and all the land is for communal use.] As such, the relationship between people and horses is different than what I was used to seeing - the owner approached the horses very carefully, and from the ground. he first wrapped a rope loosely around the horse's foreleg, then, talking to the horse the whole time, he moved his hands up to the horse's head, and slipped the bridle over. The horses all get tied up on a long horizontal rope, and it took forever to get all the horses bridled. The rest of the family was engaged in keeping the horses from escaping the tying-up area.

After our goodbyes to the family, we headed out - turns out only one horse was coming with us, so we took turns riding him. Mongolian horses are smaller than many breeds - but they aren't ponies. They're pretty feisty, and really, really like to run. They also like to eat certain plants, and I learned to spot those plants before he did, so he couldn't yank on the reins in search of tasty nibbles all the time. It was a Mongolian style saddle [wooden!] which was surprisingly comfortable. Well, not so surprising really, seeing as how Mongols have been perfecting horsemanship for the last millennium. Our guide through the desert sang to himself for the entire 4-5 hour trek, which, though I found much to meditate on from on top of my mount, I could see would be imperative to staving off boredom on long trips. The landscape was completely empty, no one but us and a ger or two along the way.

We stopped for much-needed lunch and milk tea [diluted and room temperature - quite refreshing compared to the hot stuff we usually got], and had a quick nap before setting off again, this time by horse cart. The sky looked quite foreboding, but we made it to our overnight ger without getting caught in any weather. I think I mentioned this in another post, but it bears mention again: there are no real roads out here, just tracks. And, these tracks shift seasonally, depending on where people live. It makes sense: roads can't be permanent, if people's homes aren't permanent. It makes for a fascinating landscape: this year's roads crossing last year's roads, crossing ghosts of roads past.

Our overnight ger was the nicest we'd been too. Bigger, fancy woodwork on the framing members, and three generations running around. They had hundreds of animals, 27 horses, at least 4 motorcycles [iron horses...] and 3 gers. The matriarch was such a good host, we felt very welcome. We played soccer with the kids, Jon got to try Mongolian wrestling with someone more his own size [who was, apparently, a real wrestler - we spotted his boots in the ger...], and we had some of the best food we'd had so far. We went to bed rather early though - it was a long day in the desert.

But not, of course, before I got some good temperature readings on the ger.

Tying up the horses.

Some of Gundsambuu's handiwork: a toono [compression ring at top of ger roof] a uni [roof rafter], and Dashnyam, his son, providing scale.

Carvings on the toono and uni. Orange is the traditional color for these elements, as well as the interior furniture.

Us with the family: Gundsambuu is next to Jon, and his wife is next to me, in the blue. Mongolians, it seems, rarely smile for pictures, so even though everyone looks somber, we had a lot of fun with this family!