It’s 02:30 and I’ve just been to the guesthouse dunny. It’s blowing hoolie with driving snow and the forecast is -20oC for the weekend.

Can’t get back to sleep thinking what if….

What if winter has come early and my flight is cancelled from Murun to Ulaanbaatar on Friday 27th 😱 (👏)

What if I can’t even get to Murun tomorrow as it’s a long drive 8 hr through the valley 😱 (👏)

What if I’m stuck here for the next 6 months 😱 (👏 👏)

What if I have to eat mutton for next 6 months 😱

What if I can’t have a shower and wash my hair for 6 months 😱 (🤷‍♀️)

I tell myself to stop being a drama queen and get back to sleep. It is what it is and no amount of worrying will change it.

I’ll go have a peek outside the window to see if it’s stopped 🤞🏼

Woke up 7am, huge sigh of relief, only a light covering of snow on the ground and it’s lovely and sunny. Time to pack, I’m going home.

Car packed and we set off on our long journey home retracing our steps from where we came but that didn’t bother me in the least for the scenery was stunning and I could have looked at it for months.

Although the snow had stopped it was really cold and the golden fir trees had white frozen tips to their branches – it just looked magical.

I still had quite a few paint sets, toothbrushes and skipping ropes left so we kept a look out for any nomadic families to go give the children the gifts.

In the distance we noticed a little girl about 2/3 years old standing outside a ger. So we turned the car around and went over to say hello and give her the paints etc

As always we entered into their home without being asked and introduced ourselves to the adults and as always they immediately offered us yak tea, cookies and the mother even made us soup.

There was no paper in the Ger and I had ran out of colouring books. All I had in the car was my itinerary paper which was blank on the reverse side.

I filled a little bowl with water and opened the paints and brushes. The little girl was a natural painter, another little Picasso. She began singing and filling the blank sheets with her own design – so lovely to watch.

She continued to paint the whole time we were there using every colour in the palette. It was so lovely to see the enjoyment she was getting.

Being a little older (by 40 years 🤣) and not so agile, I asked Nami to show her how to use the skipping ropes. The handles were little unicorns and the rope pink. I knew she was too young but one day I’m sure she would enjoy it.

Time to move on, we had a long journey ahead as we were driving straight to Murun which would take around 7/8 hrs

Not long after leaving the little girl and her family we saw another Ger but this time there was a little boy outside. He was more shy than the little girl and ran back into the ger when we approached. Again we entered and again we were offered yak tea, cookies and cheese. I was all tea’d out but accepted their hospitality and drank the tea.

Inside this Ger, the mother was using a manual sewing machine to make the long Mongolian tunics and the gran was making fruit cheese rounds to decorate a wedding cake. The sewing machine had beautiful detail, I’m not sure if it was silver.

I left the paints, brushes and coloured pencils on the bed and we left to continue our journey.

We passed such a variety of beautiful landscapes and I wanted to stop many many times to photograph the scenery but I could sense the drivers urgency to get this long journey finished.

There were so many stunning photos to be taken but I couldn’t be selfish and had to be content with taking them out of the moving car window

Our long journey and my last views of the Mongolian plains was coming to an end 😢. I could see Murun in the distance and knew my breathtaking, unique wilderness adventure was almost over which made me incredibly sad.

I loved the isolation, I loved experiencing the wonderful culture that hadn’t yet been spoiled by tourism and I just loved the vast open planes with wild horses, goats, yaks, sheep, gers, teepees, reindeer, rivers, mountains, the golden shades of autumn on the trees, the soaring eagles, vultures, the thousands of little ground squirrels that stood to attention then scurried off into their burrows with tails held erect and most of all, I’ve loved the hospitality, kindness and gentle nature of the nomadic families. I’ve lived and loved it all.

It’s been an incredible experience and too difficult to describe to give it it’s true value.

We had one last cultural visit to see the huge bronze age deerstones and Khereksurs. Which I supposed is quite fitting to end where it all began

Of everything I’ve done and everything thing I’ve seen on this incredible journey, there is one image in my head that I will never forget.

This little boy waving and running down the hill from his ger so pleased to see comany. His smile makes me smile.

Arriving into the unfamiliar buzz of city life, I was booked into the hotel in Murun which didn’t appeal to me at all as I craved to be back in the solitude of the open space. But it was what it was, I had turned my back on a simple slow lifestyle to be confronted with a hive of towering buildings, glaring neon lights, intrusive technology and lavish luxury. 😢

Having had my 1st shower and hair washed in 10 days, I took a trip to scour the stalls of the local Black market and bought a new navy blue fleeced zipper so I wouldn’t smell on the plane tomorrow. Through lack of laundering, my clothes had lost their original colour and were that grimy, grubby, grey colour. If I were my flight buddy I wouldn’t want to sit beside me!

We needed to eat but to be honest I was just going through the motions, I didn’t want to be here and certainly not in a busy restaurant being served fast food.

After studying the ‘restaurants near me’ app on my phone we chose a Korean place that served no chicken, beef nor noodles so we left and ended up in a huge multipurpose function building where we sat in the middle of what could only be described as a dance floor – all we needed was a revolving spot light and somber music.

Dinner over, I was dropped off at the hotel to stand alone in a square box with a square bed, a huge square telly and multiple square light switches on the wall that had a variety of settings to control every mood. This was a far cry from the undulating hills, the meandering rivers, the round Gers and the triangular teepees billowing smoke from a hole in the roof.

It would take more than a few square light switches to control my darkened mood!

The flight to Ulaanbaatar is at 9am tomorrow. I hope I get a window seat.

Nite

😘