Good morning at the Ger camp. We had sushi rolls for breakfast, not with fish, but veggies and ham. Sawyer loved them. We also had boiled eggs. Izzy, Lincoln and Mabel were not fans, so they made oatmeal with their hot water. Our guides came in our Ger again and we all ate breakfast together. I only wish I knew some Mongolian so I could talk to the young Mongolia guides. Joel called one of them Bon Jovi because he always wore a bandana. They were really nice, but didn't know any english. One of them had been working with Joel since he was a kid. We packed everything up to pack up all the sleds again for the trip home. We ran out of hot chocolate packets and hand warmers, so we were in for a cold day. We will have to count the packets of hot chocolate and hand warmers next time so we can have enough for the whole trip. Our friends Olga gave us the hand warmers, we would have been in trouble without them. Joel was gifted a big cows head from the Ger family. Joel like to make the meat jello/haldiets thing I used to have to eat on my mission in Russia. It sounds a little different but similar enough that I don't think I'm a fan.
The sleds were prepared and the dogs were put back on their harnesses. The all start barking like crazy when they know we are going to be going soon.
One of the dogs, Caanabus, pulled a muscle, so they didn't want her to pull the sleds. They tried to have Sawyer hold her in the sled while we went. But Caanabus did not want to have any of that. She wanted to run. Sawyer tried for a while, then they ended up having her run free and follow us. She did great and was much happier.
Today I froze more than the past 2 days. So today I couldn't take as many photos with my phone. The first 2 days I had hand warmers in my gloves to heat up my hands after taking photos, today I didn't have any so I didn't dare take my hands out much, they were already freezing. It was Sunday, so as we headed back we saw more people on the ice. We saw a few groups of ice fisherman. Joel said the fish they catch there are pretty small, they really like to just hang out and drink. Then we saw tons of cow, the dogs were going crazy when they saw them. And we saw 2 herds of horses. The first one was off to the side and they were so beautiful. The second group ran right in front of us. We had to push hard on the breaks to hold the dogs. Some of the poor horses slipped on the ice as they were trying to get away from us. I got a last minute photo of them as I tried not to fall off my sled and freeze my fingers.
Ice Fishermen
Stopping for lunch, we had delicious hot noodles with potatoes and meat. This was our favorite lunch! We all loved it! My toes actually finally got warm after stopping for lunch! The fire over the ice does miracles.
Cute little Luna and Foxy, Luna the lead dog really doesn't like the water and kept taking her own route when we went through the water. We kept having to call her to get her to go the right way. She sure is a pretty dog and I think looks like a lighter version of Grace.
I got a last minute photo of the beautiful horses running in front of us. I wish I had taken video, but my hands were so cold, moving too slowly.
We reached the drop off point and the trucks were there waiting for us. I got in the car with the girls, we were so cold, but they car was not warm, so that didn't help too much. Once we were all packed up, the 2 trucks, with sleds, dogs and people all made our way back to Joel's house. The drive took about an hour. Joel told me how people die every year getting lost in Mongolia. The roads are not really roads and you really need to know where you are going. If you get lost or turned around you could run out of gas and freeze to death. So you need to be very careful and prepared driving in the countryside in Mongolia. We had such a great trip and we plan to do it again next winter!! We got back to his house and our driver was waiting for us to take us back to UB. It was pretty crowded in Terelj with so many people escaping the city over the weekend. We even saw a man walking around with a bunch of camels. We got back home around 7:30. We were so happy to come home to a clean house, our house cleaner came while we were gone, and it was nice and clean. It' is really cheap to get your house cleaned here so I have a sweat house keeper come twice a week. We were all ready to take showers and get the campfire smell out of our hair and clothes.
Comments