It was time to leave the travelling companions I had met while travelling round western Mongolia and head north on my own with a guide and driver. I was off to visit the Reindeer herders which would take 4 days: fly to Murun, pick up a 4×4, 3 days driving and then finally a horse ride – exciting times lie ahead.

I had such a lot of extra baggage to take as it was cold where I was going so I knew I would have to pay for extra weight but I didn’t mind. I’d rather be warm and skint than shivering and rich 🤣

I thought two journeys to the hotel reception would be necessary but I jammed the lift door open with one of my bags until everything was in.

It was 4am and there standing in reception was Tugie, prompt as always. We filled his car with all my gear and head off. Thankfully the roads were quiet as we drove to the airport.

As expected my mound of baggage took me over the allocated allowance for the internal flight and I was sent to another part of the airport to pay the fee.

All checked in, we found a cafe and sat to have a wee chat over coffee before Tugie had to leave to organise transport for the rest of the group who were probably enjoying breakfast back at the hotel. This man works relentlessly for his pay packet, always on the ball and always ensuring that his clients got the best out of their experience.

Boarding was straight forward. I was tired and slept for most of the 1 hr 10 min flight to Murun in the Provence of Khövsköl.

After collecting my extensive, expensive luggage, I headed through the arrivals gate to be greeted by Nami, my guide, who was to accompany me on my journey to the Reindeer herders. She was 19, Mongolian and had studied in USA so her English was perfect.

Being that much further north and sitting at 1,710 meters, I wasn’t surprised to see a smarting of snow on the ground but it was lovely and exciting to experience a different environment.

Nami invited me to meet her mum and share some lunch – home made blueberry jam, mutton dumplings, yak cheese, bread, pickled gerkins and yak tea. What a lovely surprise and a perfect host.

Her mum was quite worried about me being cold up north so she gave me a traditional Mongolian tunic to keep me warm. What a lovely lady

Our next trip was to the supermarket to buy some provisions for the journey ahead and I was fortunate to be able to buy a new strap for my Apple Watch as the last one had snapped.

We drove 100km to Lake Khövsgöl, the largest lake in Asia (136 km X 36.5 km) and stopped to look at some old trucks that had been pulled out of the water. Every winter, some drivers take the short cut across the frozen lake to Russia but unfortunately some of them misjudge the thickness of the ice and end up at the bottom. Then come spring, these trucks are hauled out and some were put on display – maybe as a warning to others who are contemplating this same journey! During 2021 – 2024, 28 such vehicles were removed from the lake and the journey is now banned as they were polluting Mongolias largest water supply.

As we travelled across the terrain, I noticed the landscape was quite different from the west, there was far more trees and bigger rivers.

Instead of being called Steppes, this landscape was called Tiaga – swampy Forest!

Our accommodation for the first night was at a local Ger camp where I could unpack and have something to eat.

It was such a beautiful evening and as I had time to spare until dinner was ready, I took my camera and binoculars and headed off to explore the lake and surrounding area.

After dinner – mutton, potatoes, turnip and onion I retired to my Ger. The heating wasn’t working and it was incredibly cold 🥶 so I went to bed with all my clothes on, in two sleeping bags covered with two blankets.

I couldn’t stop shivering so reluctantly I text Nami who was in the next Ger. Two maintenance men came into the Ger and fiddled with the settings. It took a while for the heater to increase the temp in the room but by midnight I could start to peal off the layers.

Eventually I drifted off to sleep only to awaken a few hours later needing to search for my head torch to visit the toilet

Back to sleep 😴

Nite

😘