Ulan Baatar, Mongolia

Ulan Baatar, Mongolia

Tuesday, July 4, 2006

Our first  stop is a Buddhist monastery.  We are told we could not take photos unless a ceremony was going on.  Every stupa has some sort of great chanting going on.  This monastery takes care of the needs of the dead.  People come in, got in line and have the monks touch their heads with a prayer book.  This is supposed to heal the sick.  Then they can give the name of a dead relative. That name is then chanted amongst the many prayers and other names of the day.

This chanting is so alluring to me.  I could have listened to them all day.  But that wasn’t possible because it isn’t possible to stand in any one place for too long a period.  I am pushed and shoved by monks and praying people alike.  Everyone is frantic.  And a sense of urgency pours out of most of the people. 

After the monetary, we board the bus and head to lunch.  We no sooner get to our restaurant  and I throw up several times.  I am suffering from a combination of motion sickness and altitude sickness.   I can’t eat lunch because I am still a little sick and have no appetite.  Although the waitress did bring me a yogurt that hit the spot.

We board the bus again and travel up the road about ¼ miles to a horse farm.  The horse farm people are gathering the horses for us.  So we are invited into the family tent to wait.  The mother had prepared piles of food for us.  I thought I was going to throw up again so I don’t try any of the food, much to the woman’s dismay.

I try the fermented goat’s milk.  It is not bad but it is definitely an acquired taste.  We eat dried yogurt which is balled up and left on a rooftop until they dry out.  Then they are baked and look like calamari.  They had a strong vinegar taste and I think I was going to throw up again. I am offered more and worry because I don’t think I can refuse this offer again.

But then luckily, the horses arrive so it is time to go.  They are dirty, beaten up and mangy.  I begin to panic a little bit.  I have no confidence in them and in me.  As quickly as possible I attempt to convey to everyone and anyone who catches my eye that I am a big, overgrown chicken.  I can't control a horse. The lead driver agrees to pull my horse for me. So now, I just have to sit my ass on top of this beast.

I have to take my left foot and put it on the stirrup and then swing over.  My foot comes nowhere near the stirrup.  So with great delight and at greater expense to my ego, someone gets a stool for me to stand on so I could mount the damn, gross horse.  They have a good laugh on me.  I get on the damn thing and almost fell off head first.

They put extra padding on our saddles and that is a great help to me. I was so grateful that I decided to ignore the fact that the padding smelled  like dried out, stale urine.

I ignore the huge horseflies that are the size of a nickels and I decide to suck it up if the lead horse relieves himself on me.  I will just throw these pants out when I get back to the hotel.  No big deal. I can live with that.

We stroll through the pastures for about an hour and then we come to a rock called Turtle Rock.  We toke a break and I have to get off the horse which causes me some more stress.  I am particularly anxious because I am just recovering from watching Norma get stuck trying to get off her horse.  At one point, it looked as if her head was just about to touch the ground.  One of her legs was still in the stirrup and the other one was stuck on the top of the saddle. It took people a few seconds to respond to Norma’s crisis.  No one could figure out what she was doing, dangling from the side of her horse.  And then people realized that this woman was completing inept in riding horses.  Because I had been so adamant form the start that I am incompetent, Elaine and Norma were ignored and all eyes were on me.  Now you could see a feeling of dread on the horse people’s faces.  They have two idiots to tend to. My confidence in both of us is completely gone.

When we arrived back at the hotel the others shower and then head out for dinner.  I pass on this option as I am still not up to par.  I nap until 9:00 PM and then run downstairs for my scheduled neck and chest massage. We are in the midst of a blackout in the hotel so the receptionist takes me downstairs to this dark catacomb and into a small room.  She has a flash light which works intermitted and I have a moment of concern about coming out of this massage alive.  Where am I really going?

The lights do come back on and I discover that the receptionist is also the masseur. My neck and head massage is a full body massage.  I think she even threw in a little reflexology for good measure.  My calves are really stiff.  This must have been a result of my near catatonic stance when I was on the smelly horse today.

Tomorrow we leave this hotel and head out into the country.  I am looking forward to tomorrow.