On a lovely day in mid-June, I received some information about a English test prep company wanting a native speaker to join them on a tour of 5 provinces in Mongolia, for free. Naturally I jumped on that opportunity. All I had to do was speak to the participants. No teaching what so ever. For those who don't know much about the Peace Corps, this is a pretty sweet deal.
On to the pictures . . .
Khuvsgol Lake (in the super north)
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| With Yak |
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| Midnight shot (opened shutter for 60 sec) |
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| A rainy horse ride to see . . . |
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| REINDEER! |
On the road in Arkhangi Province (I think)
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| floating lanterns |
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| Waiting while the vans were unstuck |
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White Lake
It's near a volcano so those pointy rocks are lava rocks that people have stacked to make those pilers. |
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| The Grand Canyon of Mongolia |
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Taikhar Chuluu in Arkhangi Province
If you can throw a rock up and over this thing you get either good luck or good health. I can't remember |
Erdenezuu Monastery
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| Angry clouds |
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| Yes, this is a picture of the picture I bought of me holding an eagle |
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| Kids are so naughty |
Orkhon River Valley National Park
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There is suppose to be a waterfall
I centered it. Just look straight ahead. |
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| More naughty kids at the waterfall |
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The black dots are horses and yaks
Also at the waterfall |
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| This is not a stream. It is actually a raging river. I guess the angle is odd. |
South Gobi
We went to the same sand dunes that I went to with my sister.
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| Guess who got their hair cut ... |
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| Gathering 'drinking' water. This well had tiny shrimp-looking things in it. |
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| Sand sledding |
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The camels we rode in on, literally.
A few of us went to a near by ger camp and ran into a herder and rode the camels back to camp. |
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| My favorite picture of the trip. |
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On the same sand we stood on together a few months before.
Okay, not the exact same sand, because the wind blows a lot there. |
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| Sunset at the sand dune |
After a two day drive, we arrived in Ulaanbaatar.
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| Ulaanbaatar's T.Bataar Exhibit in Sukhbaatar Square |
Shortest version ever of the T. Bataar exhibit:
The "U.S." stole this nearly complete t-rex skeleton from Mongolia's South Gobi in a year I can't remember. Then tried to auction it off to the highest bidder in a very nice NY Auction House in a year not as far in the past as the one I can't remember. There was a restraining order involved. As in every true conquering hero story, that restraining order was ignored and he was sold, pending verification he was not actually Mongolian. After lots of paper work, signatures, official stamps, and political looking pictures taken with a poster size verification certificate, T. Bataar was crated up and shipped home. Welcome home T. Bataar!
And thus ends my road trip through 5 provinces of Mongolia.
P.S. There are not pictures from all 5 provinces, so here they are: Bulgan, Khuvsgul, Arkhangi, Uvurkhangi, and Umnugobi
