Best poo ever! - Gorkhi Terelj National Park part 2

We needed to leave the others and head back to UB to sort my Chinese visa and extend Helen's Mongolian visa. Luckily we met a guy called Bat. He was diving back to UB with his brother the following day. He offered us a lift which we gratefully accepted. We arranged to meet at 5am outside the hotel.  He pulled up in a brand new Toyota Land Cruiser. Four wheel drive, V8 petrol and leather seats. This wouldn't struggle getting through the mud! Turns out they were rich businessmen.  They insisted on buying us breakfast an hour into the drive, we then bought lunch a little later. They had lots of businesses, construction, farming, tourism and real estate, it was interesting listening to their stories of their father and his experience with the Soviet Union. Bat's grandfather was killed by the Russians because he was a wealthy landowner who disagreed with communism. This left Bat's father an orphan at 6 years old, he then became a successful engineer, businessman and politician. Of the back of this he set his 4 sons up with businesses. Bat phoned around hotels to find us a bed for the night. 10 hours of driving later we were in UB. Thanks Bat for the lift!

We spent a day sorting visas then headed back to Terelj National Park to chill for a week before meeting the gang again the following weekend.

We arrived at Terelj and found a Ger to live in for the week. We arranged to go horse riding the next morning for 4 hours. It was class, crossing rivers up to 1.5 metres deep and fast flowing. The horses were tough, just got on with it. Helen's horse seemed to like her - a lot. See photo below.

The bogs are a hole in the ground with wooden shelter above. We were on our way back to the Ger from having a dump and got invited into a party. It was a reunion of classmates from the 60's, and their teacher.  Lying in the corner of the Ger was what looked to be a dog asleep. After closer inspection it was infact a goat skin almost all intact. They went on to explain a Mongolian culinary tradition carried out by the men of the group. (Animal lovers beware).

Step 1 - friend gifts the group with a live goat.
Step 2 - men kill the goat, knife to neck.
Step 3 - skin the goat, leaving majority intact. Skin ends up like a pillowcase, open at one end only.

Step 4 - butcher the meat and add spice, give organs to local family.
Step 5 - heat rocks on an open fire until very hot.
Step 6 - fill the skin with spiced meat and hot rocks. Wire the open end shut.

Step 7 - with gas blow torch, burn all hairs off skin.

Step 8 - 1 hour later cut skin open and retrieve cooked meat and remove hot rocks. The rocks are passed around and used for superstitious healing purposes. Cut the skin into small pieces and eat entire goat minus head and trotters. See photos below. It tasted awesome, nice and tender, the best bit was the stock that came out.

They fed us vodka, snuff and chocolates. All sitting around in the ger, about 20 people, they introduced us to a game. One person stands in the middle and serves the vodka into one cup (the drink master?!).  They pass the cup to one person who has to sing a song before doing the shot. The cup then gets passed back to the drink master. Everyone joins in and has a good sing song, they enjoyed the English songs! Even though the culture is so different, one thing remains the same, drinking games. After a bit of dancing we headed back to our ger, a great few hours.

The following day we walked to turtle rock, photo. We flagged down a pick up truck and asked to hitch a lift back. Minutes later we were in the back sat on bags of cement on our way back to Terelj.

All in all an awesome week. Doing the dishes in a stream, washing in the river, pooing in a hole in the ground, cooking on a wood fired stove in the Ger and meeting some interesting locals.

Rob