Camels!

Once again we are back into relative civilisation from the desert before getting on the train to China in an hour - just time for a quick blog. We are filthy dirty, dusty, have had no sleep but we are happy! The Gobi is quite wild - bleak, barren, stony, freezing at night, and HUGE. We've been quite monglian the last few days - not another westerner in sight. Our guide took us to a desert ger camp where many mongolians go to practise their Buddhism. We watched respectfully as she burned incense and did all the other things she wanted to do there, but also saw the site where dinosaurs have been discovered, watched the sunrise, drove in a 4x4 over dusty bumpy desert roads - and most importantly we fell in love with some camels! They belong to the monastery and were being looked after just over the hill from us, by a Lama's (priest) mother and 4 grandchildren. We visited them just as they were being herded back to the little ger at sunset - Ian helped with the milking, we shovelled up camel dung for the Lama's fire (they burn it for cooking on), and then the best bit - they offered us a ride! Mine was a big furry cream coloured camel with two humps - very pretty, and Ians was an old brown one with one hump flopped over (depleted fat reserves). They were so big and gentle - our guide says they are emotional creatures which respond to the mongolian fiddle by crying big wet tears! Hmmmm not sure about that one, but they were a hit.

Ps. The toilet situation reached new lows in the Gobi - not just the holes in the ground we saw in northern mongolia, but a big stinking pit complete with flies and the contents dragged over the desert by packs of dogs - a wild place indeed.