A glorious day in Mongolia

Mmm... a glorious night's sleep, the most comfortable since Moscow. The Ger is devine. I think it will take a while for me to get use to sleeping by myself again when I get back, not to have anyone to talk to as I drift off to sleep.

Most people went for a walk this morning to a monastery, but it is two hours of hill climbing, and with my twisted knee from two days ago I decided not to risk it. Instead I climbed up to the rocks on the ridge of the valley and sat with John, Niamh and Karen, just enjoying the scenery and watching the kite fly above us. Nemo brought out his five month old daughter, so I got to hold her. She was so cute, but he told me off for saying so - in Mongolian you are meant to say the opposite to children. So I said she was the most hideous monstrosity I had ever seen, and Nemo beemed. She had long hair, because Mongolians believe a child's spirit is in their hair until they are three years old, when they can safely cut it. And this is coming from Nemo, a trained urologist. While they are Buddhist, there is obviously a strong shamanist component in their beliefs.

In the afternoon clouds came in, and it lightly rained on and off. We went horse-riding on the small wiry Mongolian horses. My horse responded quite well to direction but wasn't overly keen on speed :) It was so much fun, and the hills were glorious when half draped in mist. We rode to Turtle Rock and the monastery, then back to the camp.

How beautiful to sleep to the patter of rain on a Ger roof.