Ulan Baatar

Ulan Baatar, Mongolia

 Tuesday, July 4, 2006

Our first day stop was a Buddhist monastery. We were told we could not take photos unless a ceremony was going on.  Every stupa had some sort of great chanting going on.  This monastery took care of the needs of the dead.  People came in, got in line and had the monks touch their heads with a prayer book.  This was supposed to heal the sick.  Then they could give the name of a dead relative. That name was 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 wasn’t possible to stand in any one place for too long a period.  I was pushed and shoved by monks and praying people alike.  Everyone was frantic.  And a sense of urgency was displayed by many 

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

We boarded the bus again and traveled up the road about ¼ miles to a horse farm.  The horse farm people were gathering the horses for us.  So we were 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 didn’t try any of the food, much to the woman’s dismay.

I tried the fermented goat’s milk.  It was not bad but it was definitely an acquired taste. We had 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 thought I was going to throw up again. I was offered more and worried because I didn’t think I could refuse this offer again. 

But then luckily, the horses arrived so it was time to go.  They were dirty, beaten up and mangy.  I began to panic a little bit.  I had no confidence in them and in me.  As quickly as possible I attempted to convey to everyone and anyone who caught my eye that I was a big, overgrown chicken.  I couldnt control a horse. The lead driver agree to pull my horse for me.

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

They had to put extra padding on our saddles and that was 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 ignored the huge horseflies that were the size of a nickels and I decided to suck it up if the lead horse relieved himself on me.  I would just throw these pants out when I got back to the hotel.  No big deal. I can live with that.

We strolled through the pastures for about an hour and then we came to a rock called Turtle Rock.  We took a break and I had to get off the horse which caused me some more stress.  I was particularly anxious because I was 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 was 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 had two idiots to tend to. My confidence in both of us was completely gone.

We made it back from the horse ride and we stopped at a Cossack cemetery.  The Cossacks are Russian Muslims. It appeared as if they buried on top of the ground and than dirt is piled on top of the dead body. But then we saw some open graves that appeared to be deep but empty.

When we arrived back at the hotel the others went and showered and then headed out for dinner.  I passed on this option as I still not up to par.  I napped until 900 and then ran downstairs for my scheduled neck and chest massage. We were in the midst of a blackout in the hotel so the receptionist took me downstairs to this dark catacomb and into a small room.  She had a flash light which worked intermitted and I had a moment of concern about coming out of this massage alive.  Where was I really going?

The lights did come back on and I discovered that the receptionist was also the masseur. My neck and head massage was a full ½ body massage.  I think she even threw in a little reflexology for good measure.  My calves were 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.