Mongolia Adventure: Day 2. Amarbayasgalant Monastery to Bulgan Aimag

Sunday 3rd September

Day 2

Shake, Rattle and Roll...

We woke up in the freezing cold, surrounded by horses munching the grass around the tents! At breakfast all Tukso wanted was reheated 'magh'! How wonderful to be eating here, in the middle of nowhere in sight of one of Mongolias most reverred monastries. We packed up camp and from the start it was shake, rattle and roll on the awful roads. We drove through incredible desolate hilly mountain scenery, dotted with the odd ger camps and herds of horses. Fascinating to see the Mongolian nomands on horseback herding up their cattle, goats and sheep. Where they take them to on these endless plains is a mystery. We arrived in Erdenet, Mongolias 2nd largest city and one of the 10 largest copper mines in the world. We spent rather a lot of time in a market whilst Tukso tried to get his radio/tape fixed. From now on we were subjected to endless Mongolian songs. Nice but very monotonous after having to listen to them hour after hour! On top of a hill above Erdenet we sampled Tukso's fermented mare's milk. Yeuch!! Very sour and obviously an acquired taste. Later in the day we visited a ger, for Tukso to find some food, and as visitors we were presented with some rock hard milk cheese. Horrid to our taste buds. Also a soft cheese. This wasn't too bad, actually tasted like cream in between cheese slabs. The rest of the day sasn't too much fun inside the van as we rode on and on and on over hellishly bumpy, potholed dirt roads. We all had a major gym workout from all the shaking around. Just gonna have to get used to this I suppose! The campsite saw us quite late today and Tukso disappeared, only to return a short while later with a Mongolian herder on horseback, complete with cowboy-style lassoo! They both shared a beer and dinner with us and sat on the damp grass in their thick, warm Mongolian wraparound coats, whilst we warmed ourselves by the huge campfire we'd made.