Arriving in Ulaanbaatar
Customs through russia was very very slow but we saved a hell of alot of time as the train would have been even slower. A group of mongolians in front in the queue had massive heavey bags custom made them open, turned out they were full of potatos. Luke got though ok but myself as usual it took a while and while standing their the border police made me play my mandolin, which was slightly strange! In to Mongolia we had made it, first stop lunch and the first round of Local food mutton ahoy!! Heading in to the capital on the bus the landscape was vast exspanses of plains covered in snow it was amazing to see, the journey from the border took about two hours, a not about the roads they are terrible. Heading into Ulaan Bataar the capital you could tell that it is a poor place with lost and lots of Ger camps (the traditional nomad tents) We got off the bus in the center of town and started looking for our hostel, couldnt find it so stopped and ask the poeple were very nice calling friends that spoke english to come and help, in the end we found the Hostel and crashed out.

We had organised a Ger vist for the Monday, visiting traditional Mongolian herders and staying with them, but still had the weekend to go so went exsploring in UB. Firstly we headed to the largest buhhist temple in Mongolian with a 27 meters high statue of Buddha with Prayer wheels all around, The temple was situated in the middle of losta of smaller temples with monks walking about and people praying. After the temple we headed to the famous certrel square with a massive stautue of chinnga charn sitting on a chair, Impressive!!! It being late afternoon we headed for food and eneded up in the Dublin an irish pub, finding rude not to have a drink we tried some local vodkas and also maybe a beer or two!! After a few hours we had met an australian miner and his Mongolia girlfiend, mining in mongolia is big big money, with lots of New zealanders and Australians living and working there.

The week of the Ger Visit
We were picked up from our hostel and driven round the block where we met Zola who was our guide and also an interpreter, here partner Ogi was also coming with us, he is a herder from the north of Mongolia. We drove out of UB heading East, on the route to the camp we stopped at the Largest staue of Chinnges Karn, when i say large i mean bloody large the size of a bloke of flats, also housed within him is thre Largest traditional shoe in Mongolia and also a museum. Back in the car and a few hours later we arrived at the Gers situated by a river and woodland, the camp was made up of three gers two for the family and one for guests, we moved our ger in and settled down.

After we had sorted our ger out we went walking with ogi down to the frozen river and forest he showed us how think the ice was and showed us wolf tracks that pass the camp. After the walk we got back to the ger to find Bagi getting the horses ready, we had met him when we arrived, he was a herder from the north of Mongolia but now runs ger stays, probaly as he gets a lot moer money for it, he runs them along with his wifa sara who we would meetthe next day. Me and luke had never ridden horses before let alone mongolian horses which are alot smaller and stockyer than British horses they are more like our old native breeds. we were given a horse each and mounted as the horses are small the saddles are more like boxes that put you quite high up. At first you feel a little unstable but once you relise you control the horse it marvelous indeed. We headed out with bagi and ogi leading our horses so we could get use to it we crossed the frozen river and strolled through the forest the wind was really blowing so it was bnloody cold! We rode for a couple of hours and were given free rain to ride our horses, cho made the horses go fast, trot and gallop which at first was a bit nervey but then as you got use to it was great fun. Me and luke had a mini race back, choing the horses all the way!!

When we got back to the ger we were told we were having a tradtional mongolian bbqw a hanhock where you use stones from a fire to cook meat in this case goat. Ogi put a load of stones in the woodburner until they glowed he then put the meat soemvegtable and a little water in a pan and lifted the rocks out and put them in, he then added what i would describe as a load of salt and sild the lid, he put the pan on the burner and left it for 45mins. What i can next describe was a restreat back to animal insticnt as a plate of amazing meat was put infront of us no plates or anything just dig in like a pack of wolves truelly delicoius!!! After dinner as tradition we gave Bagi some presents of choclate and vodka. We then drank many toasts to mongolia friends loved ones etc and found ourselves slightly drunk, at this point a few local herders had joined us, we got our instrumenst out and played a few tunes. After we had played the mongolian herders sang for us many different songs although mainly about horses and mothers. After the singing and vodka bagi dissappeared and came back with more vodka!!!! danger... mongolians like to drink alot of vodka. We headed out of the ger about 2am to help feed the horses with the rest of the family. It was a beatiful evening. bright starts, full moon and horses, Ogi being pretty drunk jumped on a horse and started galloping around without a saddle like a crazy mongol that he is haha. The evening finished in a daze noring on the bones of a goat and crashing out in a ger, a first for us both!

In the morning we woke up to a breakfast of hot milk tea which is amazing milked fresh from the yhack that moring and also a traditional flat bread and sausages. After breakfast bagi had got two horse ready for us to head out to a herder on the other side of the valley we would visit. It took about half an hour to get to the herders home, as we arrived in his ger he gave us airag a tradtional alchol brewed from milk and also a traditional cheese that was rock solid that neither myself or luke could bite thorugh and later found out we were suppose to lick it! We had a look around the herders home saw his yak and goats then met another herder who was then sent by Bagi to get more vodka on bagis horse. afterwaiting a while for no word or vodka or rider we headed off with bagi borroweing a horse. Note horses heading home are alot more willing than going away and they new they were getting fed, so we shot back in a wild fashion, crossing the frozen river was a bit interesting as the horse bagi was on didnt want to go so neither did our horse, they were slipping and falling but in the end we got over safely. When we got back to the Gers we were prestented with a famous mongolian soup bantan made with mutton and noodles, it was delicous! The evening followed with more sining and dancing vodka and smiles, we met sara who was able to stay with us she had come out of UB. We also met a herder called Togi who was a most intersting chap, we took some great photos of him they are the ones of a crazy laughing guy! At the end of the eveing sara tought us traditional mongolian song which we learnt off by heart friom start to finish! We then crashed out.

The next morning we arose to more lovely food in the form of a type of mongolian sweet bread, which was also marvelous, a statement of mongolian food, they dont do vegtables!!! we then got kitted up in traditional mongolian hurums (traditional herder clothes, check the photos) and got on the horses for a last horse ride, got some photos and by the late after noon loaded back up in the car for the journey back to UB. On route back we stopped at turtle rock and climbed in a cave.

After our ger visit we had become good friends with Zula and Ogi and they wanted to carry on hanging out with us, especially Ogi as he liked our drinking and singing ;) The 2nd night after being back in UB we met up with them and a few of their friends and went out to dinner followed by Kareoke. Mongols love their Kareoke and Ogi after hearing us play some guns and roses in the ger wanted to sing "Dont Cry". As usual, bottles on Vodka were bought and after drinking them we were singing like crazy people, the other groups outside could hear us and laughed at us (in a good way) when we came out to the toilet etc. It was a good night and was nice to spend with some locals.