We had no internet connection for the past two days, so I’m continuing my posting only now, when we’re back in UB for some much-needed showering time.

We left Terelj national park, crossed a section of the frozen Tuul River and entered into Kher Hentaii (pronounced Her Hentaii, the K is silent in Mongolian language) where the landscape changed from paved roads among mountains and touristy ger camps to dirt roads where you make your own way among bare, brown but still stunning mountainy landscape.

We didn’t encounter a single moving vehicle other than ourselves those two days, which was pretty cool in itself. Coupled that with horse riding, learning card games with the nomads, milking cows and seeing the birth of a calf… It was awesome!!!

We reached Hurh (it doesn’t sound as you think, requiring a lot of throat clearing and spitting sounds to pronounce it correctly) in the afternoon. After simple lunch of cup noodles - russian and mongolian brands no less - we headed out for some horse riding along the mountains hugging the ger camps we were staying.

The horses were well-behaved (at least mine was, although Ko Bu said it farted a lot, and his was more interested in grazing than climbing the mountains) and we spent a very pleasant hour or so, although there were a few hairy moments as the horses started on a steep incline - our host didn’t know how high we climbed but Ko Bu guessed it was about 800m or so.

The sweeping view up top was worth all the anxiety though. It was 360 degrees of pure, unadulterated nature. The downhill climb required strong knees - it was so steep we had to go down on foot at the top part!

We spent the rest of the day playing with the kids - Mongolian kids are so cute and welcoming towards strangers - and adults (our guide taught us a Mongolian card game which I’m sure will occupy us on our train journey back). We also saw the birth of a calf and the next morning Ko Bu tried his hand at milking a cow!

Our hosts - a nomad family spanning 3 generations - were absolutely lovely, and we think they enjoyed whooping our asses at the card game. I didn’t mind though - they thought I was 18!

Day 9 We trekked the first part of the morning to Bulagt, where we stayed for the night. The 2.5 hour trip was sooooo nice, we walked most of the way, passing by other nomad families with their herds, frozen streams and ponds, animal bones as reminder of the dzud (severe drought followed by a very harsh winter) they’re currently experiencing and blue scarves representing the Eternal Blue Sky, which nomads worship since Genghis Khan’s days.

The afternoon was all about resting, more card games and a new game using goats’ ankle bones. Our host are a friendly couple, whose kids now prefer living in the polluted city.

They have the best view from a toilet too (if you look past piles of animal droppings in front of you) - a little log room with 3 walls on the side and 3 slabs on top of which you do your business, looking out into some stunning scenery of undulating hills covered in ice sheets, corniferous trees and a frozen pond where horse riders trot pass.