10th Sept ‘24 – Off on my Own

After an amazing week in Cappadocia, Istanbul, it was time for Bill and I to part company – I was taking a plane to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and Bill was going home to Glasgow via Edinburgh. 😢

Bill had opted out of this part of my journey as he doesn’t like going anywhere where there’s no flushing toilets 🚽

Now, for me, 2 amazing adventures await in Mongolia visiting two separate nomadic families. In the west the Festival of the Eagle hunters and in the north the Nomadic family of Tsaatan Reindeer Herders. The whole trip would last 20days.

Why Mongolia?

7 years ago I went to a small independent cinema in Glasgow (GFT) to watch a documentary about The Eagle Huntress. I never forgot that movie and the determination of the proud father to break the tradition of an all male sport and train his 13yr old Kazakh daughter to become one of the best Eagle Hunters – so it was Mongolia I chose to go to, to spend some time with these wonderful people and experience their unusual culture.

Off I went to Trailfinders (Trailfinders.com) in Glasgow who organised my trip to Istanbul, Cappadocia and flights to Ulaanbaatar and I then found a bespoke travel company on the internet who offered the exact tours in Mongolia that I had in mind – just perfect!

Why the Tsaatan Tribe Reindeer Herders?

If I was going that far and would probably never go back, it would be silly not to travel to a variety of locations to meet different families and learn of their culture and traditions.

It was sad saying goodbye to Bill and walk away on my own. I had no comfort blanket when I had to make decisions. Now it was only me.

My gate was at the complete opposite direction of the terminal, up an escalator and right to the far end.

The flight from Istanbul is 8ish hours and I managed to change my seat to sit beside the window 👏

Unfortunately I had been quite unwell for the last 3 days in Cappadocia and I was praying that I could last the whole plane journey to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia🤞🏼

In the seat next to me sat the most sweetest older Mongolian gentleman who tried to assist me in which ever way he could. I had learned some Mongolian phrases but it was very basic and pointless trying to have a conversation with him – I’m totally hopeless at learning languages – always was and always will be!

Wednesday 11th Sept – Landing in Ulaanbaatar

Disappointingly we landed at 03:10 in the dark which meant I had no birds eye view of the landscape of the country where I was to spend the next 3 weeks.

The driver met me at the airport and took me to the Grand Hill hotel.

It was almost 5am when I arrived at the hotel exhausted needing to lie flat and sleep so I left a note for the tour guide, Tugie, at reception to say I wouldn’t be surfacing for breakfast nor the daily tour in the afternoon and I would meet everyone for dinner that evening.

I found my room and collapsed onto the bed, text all the family to say I had reached my destination and drifted off to sleep.

I had no idea what time it was when the room phone started ringing like a fog horn, in fact I had no idea where it was nor where I was! It was 12pm & Tugie was inviting me for lunch up on the 16th floor & after for the city tour. He obviously didn’t get my note and I wanted to say no but I decided to make the effort.

Quite a variety of 10 adventurers sat at a long table eating lunch (I was late) – 7 women & 3 men all a good mixture of ages which was pleasing.

I couldn’t eat anything apart from some chicken as my Delhi Belly from Turkey still ran rampant despite taking every medication dispensed by the pharmacy.

We packed a lot of amazing variety into the tour: The Gandantegchinlen Buddhist monastery (which I found quite moving),

a traditional Mongolian show which was full of unique throat singing and wonderful music using traditional instruments. There was even a gymnast come contortionist who could fire an arrow from a bow using her toes, while balancing on her hands 6 feet up on a small round platform- such talent!

From here we went to a museum containing many beautiful artifacts, traditional dress and instruments

Finally, we headed for dinner at a typical Mongolian restaurant. The choice of food was between freshly prepared beef, chicken, pork and lamb with salad and rice or black beans. In my delicate state I chose the chicken, I had ordered a beer but thought better of it, gave it way and stuck to water.

It was dark as we headed back to the hotel in the hustle and bustle of the city where there appeared to be no rules for anyone – drivers, pedestrians, motorcyclists, cyclists and those bloody e scooters!

We’re leaving at 8am tomorrow so repacking my bags this evening was a must before bed as they needed to be on our little yellow bus at 6am.

I was glad to get back to the hotel, I had to rearrange my rucksacks to dump some stuff for my imminent 6 day trip out into the Mongolian planes. I could only take 10kg + 5kg on the plane and had to be ruthless which is never easy for me!

After much deliberation and fighting with my decisions of what to leave out, I finally packed both bags and hoped for the best. I know I was still way over 10+5kgs but I’d just have to pay.

I put them to one corner of the room and climbed into the wonderful cosy bed and spent the next 2 hrs trying to install the eSIM that I paid £45 for but nothing, nadda, zero success even with help from Rachel. A quick check in with Bill and I was off to sleep. It was 2am and I had to be up for 6am.

Nite

😘

Thursday, 12th September Chinggis Khan Statue & Terelji N.P

6:30 am

Pealing my skin away from the comfort of the soft warm sheets I stood motionless beneath the warm waterfall wondering how I was going to dry my hair into any kind of style. There was a drier but I had no brush. On the sink worktop there was lots of little boxes and one contained a comb – I wasn’t going to get much styling there then but it’d make it look less like a birds nest.

I few tweaks to repacking and I was done. Ready for breakfast with my new combed-over look!

I opted for tea and toast while everyone else tucked into a delicious Mongolian style breakfast buffet- I didn’t want to regret it later!

Today we were leaving Ulaanbaatar behind to travel to our next destination – Ghorkhi Terelj National park.

First, we had time to visit a few museums; the kings palace and a history museum

After finishing our city tour, we headed to the bank of the Tuul River, 34 miles east of UB, to visit the enormous statue of Genghis Khan on his equally enormous horse, rising 40m high. The statue sits on the Genghis Khan Statue Complex, an architecturally impressive visitor centre with 36 coloumns representing the 36 khans from Genghis to Ligdan Khan.

It was actually possible to take a lift to the top of this mighty statue and stand just behind the horses’ head.

Continuing in our little yellow tour bus, we arrived at Ghorkhi Terelj N.P and we were shown to the beautifully equipped Gers. They were fitted with all mod cons including electricity and underfloor heating. I certainly didn’t expect this little bit of luxury.

No point in unpacking as we were only there for one night so off I went to the restaurant to meet the team for lunch (not for me though 😢, I just have to keep popping the pills and hoping 🤞🏼)

After lunch we were introduced to the horse riding & horse breeding family – we were going on a trek! Sturdy smallish Mongolian horses who had had their manes cut short and a branding singed onto their left thigh.

My horse was known to be temperamental and prone to galloping off into the distance with not one bit of warning so when the guide suggested I was roped up to him, I was completely delighted.

After an hour of blissful plodding along we returned to base no worse for wear and no catastrophes – perfect!

Beginning to like this horse riding lark!

I was starting to wain and needed a little nap before dinner but it would have to wait until after a trip to Turtle rock – a very unusual rock formation and the emblem of the national park.

I wandered round this impressive rock face and took a few photos before heading back to the van which would take us back to base 😴

Returning to my Ger, I lay down on my bed with the intention of closing my eyes for a short nap but unfortunately I fell into a deep sleep and I almost slept in for dinner – but thankfully I woken by a cold caller inquiring about my non-existent accident – I hope it cost him a fortune to phone!

Dinner was a wonderful buffet spread with such an enormous choice of dishes – but boiled rice and soya sauce for me – 😋 😂

I expected to be cold in the Ger in the evening but it was the opposite – completely roasting, so much so I washed some clothes and lay them around the floor to dry – no point in wasting heat 🥵

Tomorrow we fly to Khovd a western province of Mongolia of which there are 21.

Nite

😘

Friday 13th Sept’24 – Flying to Khovd

07:30, Time to leave this wonderful ger camp and head to Ulaanbaatar airport.

We loaded all the rucksacks into our little yellow van and headed back for breakfast in the restaurant then left this beautiful landscape

For the first time I proudly used my practiced Mongolian phrases and thanked all the staff – “Bayarlalaa” (thank you) and “Bayartay”(goodbye) and walked away quite smug when they responded.

Into the van we piled and after around one and a half hours we checked in at Ulaanbaatar airport. I had to change some money and because of the exchange rate I instantly became a millionaire walking away with 1.4 million Tugrik (4,400: £1) in my money belt 💰 😂

As we flew west into Khovd the landscape changed hugely. The Gobi desert was vast and there was snow on the mountain tops.

From the airport we divided into three little army type minibuses and headed off in a convoy across the Mongolian Steppes to Ulgii.

The landscape constantly changed and was full of livestock; yaks, camels, horses, sheep, cows and hundred of goats that crisscrossed the road wherever or whenever they chose. There was a huge presence of eagles and vultures soaring high up in the air.

Prior to starting the journey we went for some lunch at what I can only call Costco look-a-like which was weird in such an isolated area. I bought some chewing gum, a snicker bar, sour cheese Pringles and 2 milkyways – I was looking forward to having my own wee picnic in the back of the van! I hadn’t had any sweets for weeks 🍫

We quickly left the tarmac road to continue on undulating dirt track and after a bumpy but entertaining 4 hrs drive, the convoy came to halt outside the Makhsum Hotel, Bayan-Olgiy Province, Ulgii – a little more rustic than we had been living in in Ulaanbaatar but then we were out in the sticks of Mongolia 🇲🇳

There were no lifts and I had to heave my heavy rucksack and backpack up 4 flights of stairs to my single room which was small but adequate for my needs.

We had an early start tomorrow so after going out to a local restaurant for dinner, we went back to the hotel for an early night.

Not knowing what facilities would be available on our next journey, I charged up my phone, watch, camera batteries and power bank which I know would last me 2-3 days.

Slipped into my bed, excited to see what delights tomorrow would bring.

Nite

😘

Saturday 14th Sept – Travelling 6hrs to Oigar & Altai Tavan Bogd National Park

It’s a strange scenario, my watch and phone keep changing back and forward by an hour and I’m never really sure what the correct time is.

We had to be down for breakfast for 7:30 and away by 8. I set my alarm for 7am but when I woke it showed 8am. Dear god I panicked. Ran down for breakfast to find Sandra and Paula relaxed and enjoying their food and coffee. They confirmed it was just after 7am and my watch etc was wrong 😑 so thankfully I had time after all to calm down and have some nice food to start the day.

I had packed my rucksack and backpack the night before which meant chillaxing before we needed to board the vehicles.

Fed and watered it was time to start our long journey to the nomadic family Gers.

The variety of landscape, wildlife and livestock on the steppes was tremendous as we travelled our 200km (6hrs) to get to Oigar village where we stopped for lunch.

It was a quiet little village and in order to mentally prepare ourselves for the experience of visiting the loo, it was decided that the first participant would rate the hole in the ground toilets so we all knew what to expect. Here in this little village there were two to choose from, one got 1/10 and the other 4/10 – no brainer then 😂

After lunch each little group piled into our individual vans. In mine there was me, Terry, Sandra and Paula who all got on so well. I think the driver thought we were nuts with all the hilarity that was coming from the back seats!

We travelled up to the summit as we approached Altai Bogd national park and boy was it cold. It was more the wind chill that made it unbearable to stay out of the van for any length of time so after a quick fun photo session, we were glad to climb back aboard to defrost.

A few more hours and we finally arrived at Altai National Park and our Ger accommodation. It was the most stunning location out in the open steppes with a winding river, towering mountains and surrounded by nomadic families going about their normal life.

This was our accommodation for 2 nights and if I had the opportunity, I would have stayed longer as there was so much to explore in this beautiful area.

We were divided into two Gers for sleeping arrangements but all 15 of us gathered into one Ger for dinner. It was the sensible thing to do and it gave us time to catch up on the days events.

It wasn’t long before we were all unpacked, fed, tired and headed to bed. What a stunning way to end the day.

Nite

😘

Sunday 15th Sept – A hard but rewarding day

During the night, the drivers kept our Ger toasty and warm by stoking up the heaters in the middle of the room. Sometimes they used dry yak poop and sometimes wood. It wasn’t just warm, it was like sleeping in a furnace. It was so warm that none of us really slept soundly and because everyone thought everyone else was asleep enjoying the heat, no-one opened the door but in the morning we all agreed we all wanted to open the door and let the cool night air in. 🥵

Apart from that, Terry, Paula, Sandra, Ben, Ava and I were thankful for the rest.

I woke early needing to go to the hole- in-the-ground cubical (dunny) so I pulled on my puff jacked and boots to make the trip outside.

What an amazing morning. It was freezing cold but the sun was just beginning to rise and the light it was casting across the mountains was beautiful. No-one else was awake and I had the whole place to myself so I went back to the Ger and grabbed my camera and iphone to explore the landscape behind the Gers. It was a photographers paradise. I didn’t know where to look first.

I was so engrossed in photographing all the wonderful scenery that I lost track of time and almost missed breakfast.

I ran back to camp and thankfully they were still all at the table

Today we were heading high up into the Altai National park mountains to see the glaciers. We were supposed to ride the horses to the top but they had all been taken out of the valley down to the lower slopes to protect them from the predicted harsh winter. The plan now was to take the minivans up as far as we could and walk to the summit – around 3,300 metres.

There was plenty of spare time while waiting on the vehicles being loaded and prepared so we had some fun in the camp.

Grace pleated Paula’s hair and we were given some of the nomadic family clothing to try on. Such a laugh! The long fox fur coats were heavy and incredible warm.

There was a little boy running round camp who was staying with his grandmother and grandfather and I took him some of the gifts I had brought- colouring book, paints and brushes. He was so delighted and excitedly ran to own his Ger further up the valley and brought back some yak cream. His gran invited me into her home for yak tea and home made doughnuts which I smothered in the delicious thick cream.

She and her husband very kindly agreed to let me have my photos taken with them.

Finally, the trucks were packed and ready to roll so we all piled in to start our journey up the mountain through the Altai National park but first we had to stop to get a permit. It was there I made a little friend. The most cutest tiny kitten. Her mother was close by and kept a watchful eye, calling her over if she thought she was getting too obsessed.

Permits issued, we all went back into our vehicles and headed off. The snow was really thick and even though the vans were well equipped for this terrain, it wasn’t long before we got stuck. Our vehicle made it further up the mountain than the other two so we had to wait until the rest of the team got out and walked up to meet us.

While waiting we had fun entertaining ourselves in the snow.

Looking up to where we were heading certainly meant an arduous task. We were just under 3,000 meters and walking in this deep snow quickly depleted my energy. I’m not ashamed to say I was struggling and trailing behind although I thought I would have coped better. I’m sure it was the altitude as I’ve felt this before at these heights.

Somehow along the way we had lost Terry, he must have followed another group or so we hoped. Tugie (our guide) wasn’t overly concerned even though we had heard there had to be a helicopter search the day before for tourists that had done the exact same thing. 😱

We seemed to be walking up the slopes for ages and the sun was incredibly warm. I had forgotten to take my sun cream out of my backpack when I came through customs and they had confiscated it which meant I was getting burnt to a crisp quickly as the rays of the sun were being reflected off the snow.

Hurray, 3,300 meters and I made it, maybe a little behind the group but I did it and it was worth every breathless wheeze! It had taken over three hours to get to where we now were and now it was time to descend – or so I thought!

Relieved I’d made the top, I was looking forward to the descent but as I watched the line of walkers in front of me I could see they are heading uphill to the structure on the opposite side to where we were. Boy that was a blow but I started my step count (rest after ever 30 steps) and plodded on.

The reason for taking a detour became clear as we got closer to the top. Situated on the ground was the President Avoo one of the nine holiest sites in Mongolia where visitors walk round it 3 times throwing small stones onto the pile as well as their own personal offering. I was so tired when I reached the top I forgot to walk round it. 😂

We met a guide who had also lost 3 of his clients to the mountain but by luck I had my super duper Swarovski binoculars and with them he spotted them far far away on an opposite mountain.

Finally it was time to start the actual decent. What a skoosh and sheer delight. It would take another 2+ hrs but much less strenuous. I actually was third from the front 😂 and could afford the energy to talk to my fellow walkers

Fortunately because of the warm sun, the snow had melted on the track and the trucks had been able to come closer to pick us up. You’ve never seen so many relieved faces, you’d think we’d been stranded on a blizzardous mountain for weeks.

When we got back to the vans, there stood Terry, a sight for sore eyes. We were all concerned that he had gone off with a strange group and when he realised he may have panicked and set off to find us. But nope, there he was, cool as a cucumber.

Once back in the comfort of the van, even though it was a really bumpy ride, we all reminisced saying what a wonderful hike it was – 😂, funny how the trauma was quickly forgotten.

Dinner was being prepared back at camp and we took the time to watch and learn how Gers were erected. We even took part. Normally it would take around 1 hour to put up but with our help, it took over 2.

The evening light was beautiful and after dinner I took a walk along the river to watch the sunset. It was truly magical to see the star filled sky and the belt of Venus fill the horizon with pink tones.

It was quiet in camp, we had all had a long hard but certainly a rewarding day and were keen to slip into our sleeping bags under our blankets and drift off to sleep.

Nite

😘

Monday 16th Sept – Eagle Hunter family and festival

After a restful night, it was time to pack up and travel to the valley to meet and stay with Kazakh/Mongolian eagle hunters and their families, we were expecting the journey to take 5/6 hours.

This is a country that just keeps on giving. The scenery was breathtaking and very variable.

It was early evening when we descended on the camp to be given two Gers whose occupants had to vacate and go live with other families.

All Gers were pretty much standard. Beds round the perimeter and a stove in the middle but in this accommodation, we had a very ornate bed inside like a four poster bed probably for mum and dad.

Paula allocated Sandra to sleep in the parental bed as she said that potentially the curtains might drown out her snoring 😂. To be fair it wasn’t really a snore, more like a gentle purr.

The facilities outside were standard too – the dunny off in the distance although this one had a cloth tent round with a zip for the entrance and an actual toilet seat – no flushing mind, just the seat plonked on top of the hole 🚽 Quite posh and way more comfy.

Ben came up with the plan that if the cubicle was free then the zip was left open but if it was occupied then the zip was fully down.

This little camp was quite posh, it had washing facilities which consisted of a bowl, plastic water container and a plug – quite ingenious.

I was told there was a wolf cub in camp that had been stolen from a den and I went to see it but immediately wish I hadn’t.

It was tethered by a chain to a spike that had been driven into the ground. The poor little pathetic terrified creature had worn down the dirt where it had been walking in circles for what looked like since the day it arrived. I’ve no idea what their plans were for this sad little wolf cub. It would surely die if left out there all winter and nor could it be returned to the wild as it probably couldn’t fend for its self – a pointless futile act of cruelty if you ask me 😢

Back at camp, the hosts had prepared a welcome meal for us which we ate and then returned to our Gers for the night.

Unfortunately our Ger had only 5 beds in it and there were 6 of us that always stayed together as a group in the overnight accommodation stops. This meant either me or Terry would have leave. There was nothing wrong with moving into the other group but during this whole journey our little group of 6 had been used to being together and it felt unusual to split up. One of us had to leave. Terry left 😢

Sunset was around 7:30pm and it was almost 8pm when we all slipped into our sleeping bags covered with a duvet. It was always warm in the Ger with the fire blazing but if for any reason it went out, it quickly became so cold but that never lasted long as the guides saw to it to keep the fire stoked.

Tomorrow is an exciting day, we’re off to the Sagsai Eagle festival.

Nite

😘

17th September – Eagle festival day 1

Our day began early with the driver entering our Ger to stoke the fire. It was a mild morning and the sun was up and excitement filled the air.

After getting dressed and a quick wash using wet wipes I headed off round camp to check what was happening.

There certainly was a buzz. The eagle hunters were shodding their horses and preparing their eagles for today’s festival at Sagsai.

The beautiful little children wandered round camp mingling with their new guests keen to have their photos taken

Even the eagle hunters were proud to show off their attire and eagles. Today was such an important event.

Returning to the Ger, where the children were dressing for the occasion and the eagles were patiently waiting, I headed in for a quick breakfast.

We were leaving camp today so everything had to be packed up and put into the van which was a bit of a rush but it was important to get on the road early.

Sleeping bags, cameras and backpacks 🎒 packed we climbed aboard our waiting transport and headed out of camp. It would only take an hour to get to the festival site and were all excited as we left in convoy to start our journey.

When we arrived at the festival, the site was already busy with participants, markets stalls and tourists. I wandered round looking at all the crafts for sale. Such a wonderful variety of items: fox fur hats, scarves, bags, hand carved items and many more. Too much for me to decide so I bought nothing- there’s always tomorrow.

It was such a humbling experience to be surrounded by the horses and the hunters wearing their best fox fur attire and proudly displaying the eagles on their arm.

What I loved about this festival was it had been going on for hundreds of years and wasn’t something put on for the tourists. The horsemen and children were immaculately dressed in their fox skin hats and fur and embroidered coats with their belts tied tightly around their waist. Leather boots with up turned toes and embroidered patterns on the side protected their calves from chaffing – wow, so beautiful!

The tannoy announced that the programme was about to start so we made our way to the little camping chairs that Tuggie (Tour guide) had pre placed in the front row of the arena. What a view, we were in for a treat. It was such a beautiful day, the sun was warm and there was no wind. Just perfect.

It began with horsemen driving their livestock: sheep, goats, camels and horses, from the plains into the arena which which signified the migration to new pastures.

Next came the parade of horsemen and their eagles. What a magnificent sight as they galloped past the spectators. I knew it was going to be a spectacular day

In 2011, eagle hunting was added to the ‘UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’ as an example of ‘living human heritage’.

We settled back to watch the skills of the eagle hunters calling their trained eagles from the nearby hills to come and retrieve meat (dead rabbit) off their glove. Each eagle was timed for how long it took for them to leave the mountain and reach their handler waiting in the middle of the arena.

It was fun to watch as some eagles thought better of the task and decided to go explore elsewhere and disappeared over the back of the mountain. Devastating for the handlers but it caused a lot of amusement and anticipation for the spectators. there was nothing else for it, the handlers had to leave to go in search of their AWOL bird! 🦅

The above photos belong to Sandra. My photos of this event are still in my Fuji camera and will replace them once I have downloaded them onto my main computer.

There were almost 60 competitors today and we sat through every entertaining one. There had been a lot of training had been done throughout the last year and it was magnificent to watch the display.

After lunch I took time to wander round the campus taking photos of the competitors as they relaxed after the excitement of the morning events. They were so accommodating to allow all of us ‘tourists’ into their private lives.

And I even got the chance to hold one of these magnificent birds.

Today’s ceremony came to a close and we all boarded our little grey vans to head back to the Makhsum hotel in Ulgii but not before making a detour where we ate some delicious pizza – what a treat!

On arriving at the hotel, I was given a huge family room all to myself , what a delight, so much space and so many power points – sumptuous, and best of all, it was on the ground floor so I didn’t have to heave all that gear up the stairs – perfect 🥰

A hot shower and I climbed into my huge double bed.

What great way to end an amazing day

Nite

😘

18th September – Back to the Eagle Festival

I was till having trouble knowing the right time as my watch and phone kept jumping back and forward an hour but when my alarm went off I hoped it was right and I dressed and headed up to the first floor for breakfast. There was no-one in the dining room and the clock on the wall said it was only 6:30am so I guess my watch was wrong. There’s something to be said about having good old fashioned manual wind up watch!!!

I sat at a table all by myself, ate breakfast and headed back to my room. I decided to do a small washing and hang it all round the bathroom. I was running out of clean clothes and the things I had on were beginning to look grubby.

Nothing left to do, I headed back up to the dining room to have a second cup of tea with Sandra and Paula who, of course, had a good laugh at me turning up earlier.

It was 8:30 and time to leave. We were heading back to the Sagsai eagle festival to watch some skilled completion events.

What a change in the weather, there was a slight flurry of snow and it was so cold. The temperature had dropped dramatically and there was an icy wind, so different from the warm sunshine of yesterday.

We all piled into our vans and headed out of town on our one hour drive to part two.

By the time we got there the wind had picked up and it was bitterly cold 🥶 . Thankfully we all had brought extra layers, hats and scarves. Sitting watching the festival was certainly entertaining but because I wasn’t moving I soon started to chitter so I got up a walked around taking photos from all different viewpoints.

The first competition was Tenge-llu where the horse rider had to pick up a small piece of cloth from the ground while galloping at speed. I’ve no idea how they managed to remain on their horse. Sometimes they were hanging off their horse with only one foot in the stirrup.

After watching all the competitors demonstrating their incredible skills we headed to our Ger to get a welcome warm cup of tea, delicious hot soup and some bread to help us defrost.

Ready for part 2, we headed back to the arena. This time the competition was called Kokbar (tug of war) and the tugged item was a beheaded goat. Quite gruesome at first but I quickly got used to them throwing the torso around like a sack of potatoes.

Again the riders showed great skill with staying on their horse and the headless goat certainly wasn’t a wee skinny beast.

After a few hours the winner of the competition was announced and they paraded on their horses in front of the stage to collect their medal and trophy. The winner of the Kokbar was even given a horse 🐴

It was time to leave this wonderful festival and head back to Uglil town for dinner and pack up all our belongings for the journey back to Ulaanbaatar in the morning.

I can’t believe how quickly this holiday has gone by. We have done so much in our 10 day adventure and covered an incredible variety of scenic tours as well as staying with so many wonderful nomadic families in the their Gers. It has been a truly thought provoking journey and one I will never forget.

So, after dinner we all dispersed to our rooms to pack and spend our last night away from the big city.

My clothes weren’t yet dry and I had to give them to reception as I didn’t want to leave with wet clothes in my rucksack.

Returning to my room, I plugged every device into every socket and left them to charge overnight, made myself a wee cup of tea, sprawled out in my king size bed, set my alarm 🤞🏼, put in my AirPods, set my iphone to stop playing my footprints playlist after 1 hour and fell asleep listening to the music.

Nite

😘

In the distance I could hear the dulcet tones of Cat Steven’s singing 🎶 “Morning Has Broken” 🎶 and it took me a nano second to realise it wasn’t my playlist but my alarm!

I didn’t really care if it was too early. I got up, showered and changed into my smelly clothes ready to go up for breakfast and look at the clock on the wall!

Strangely my watch, for once was right and it was 7:30am. I mashed my boiled eggs with butter in a cup and had them on bread with a cup of black tea. I never used to drink black tea but now with the lack of available cows milk, I actually prefer it. ☕️

I collected my now dry leggings from reception, my rucksack and backpack from the room and headed out to the van. We were heading to the airport to fly back to the mayhem of Ulaanbaatar.

My seat buddy was Terry as we left the beautiful wilderness of the Mongolian plains and it hurt.

I’m not a fan of big over populated cities, I like the tranquility of open spaces and a star studded sky but I took a great deal of solace knowing that in less that 24hrs I’d be heading up north far from the maddening crowd on a sole adventure to stay in the camp of the the reindeer herders.

The flight was uneventful and quick. Before long we had collected our baggage from the revolving carrousel and were sitting in a people carrier shoving our way through the claustrophobic traffic.

It was chaotic and getting late. Tugie had arranged for us to go to Naran Tuul ‘Black Market’ to sample their wares and perhaps buy a piece of memorabilia.

I was heading north tomorrow morning where temperatures dropped severely at night and although I had one all seasons sleeping bag, Tugie took me to a stall to buy another. A hint it was cold where I was going.

The traffic was nose to tail and chaotic everywhere we looked, so bad Tugie decided that we should abandon the vehicle and walk the rest of the way. Sandra, Paula and I were chatting so much in our little group that we got lost. Sandra was sure she could see Gus’ blue backpack way off in the distance but when we caught up with the person it clearly wasn’t him 🤣. Retraced our steps, we saw Tugie standing at the crossroads looking rather anxious. He was like a collie dog trying to keep track of his senile sheep!

The market was huge and sold everything you could think of. I particularly liked the beautiful bales of iridescent bales of silk materials which weee probably used to make their long traditional tunics.

In my usual indecisiveness at the eagle festival, I missed out on buying a fox hat for Rachel and Gav to share for the Aberfoyle winter. I say share because Rachel thought it’d be a step too far for them both to wear two attention provoking hats in such a small village! So, my mission now was to find a fur hat stall. Not sure it was ethically correct but I justified it by saying I was supporting the nomadic families.

Mission complete, I was taken to a sleeping bag stall and bought the thickest brush cotton lined bag that was available. I also purchased 3 pairs of thick socks, one camel wool 🐫 and two yak. All shopped out, we walk out into the street to search for our van and driver.

We were held up in traffic for so long Tugie decided to go straight to the restaurant for our last meal together as a group which was a little disappointing as I had carried a lovely pair of trousers, blouse and make-up bag all the way from Scotland just for this very occasion but I knew his decision was justified.

During the meal I received a text from Judy, a lady who I had spent time with on one of my volunteer trips in Komsberg, South Africa. She had seen my photos on Facebook and was writing to say that she thought one of her friends was on this same trip. Who I asked! Paula she said. How astonishing – what a small world. I showed it to Paula who was sitting right beside me and I sent Judy a photo. We laughed so much!

I actually ordered my first glass wine of the whole trip, I wanted to toast all these lovely people for their company on our wonderful journey together. We had made so many unforgettable memories – “Slainté” 🍷

Checking into the hotel was a bit of a fuss. I had lost my little luggage ticket needed to retrieve my small backpack the I had left while away at the eagle festival and quite rightly, they would had over my luggage without more proof.

It took so long to sort that everyone else had left and gone to their room. I was upset for I knew and they probably didn’t, that I wouldn’t see them at breakfast in the morning as I was being picked up at 4am the next morning for my flight to Murun. All I could do was write them a note on our WhatsApp group chat 😢

Packed, unpacked ad repacked many times, camera batteries, phone, watch and power pack charged, set my alarm I slipped into bed hoping for a few hours sleep.

It was now 1am and I couldn’t sleep for worrying I’d sleep through my alarm so I decided to get up and write my blog and have a wee cup of tea while waiting.

Nite

😘