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My sleep was troubled and filled with visions of horses, yaks, camels, sheep and goats, all laughing loudly and displaying a rather strong stench. I awoke from those visions of horrors with a jolt and a sense of relief at it having only been a dream, only to be faced with Stinky smiling at me wildly with all of his 6 teeth and gesturing to the outside world. It was 9 am on my 20th day of travel. I pushed Stinky away from me, made a slalom through the empty bottles of vodka, made a mental note never to drink vodka again, banged my head on the ridiculously low doors and stepped, mumbling and grumbling outside. This time round, the experience was more pleasant. The Ger where we stopped was on top of a hill overlooking the vast lake we had been following. The view was magnificent, the air fresh and free of bugs and the sky clear all round, with not a cloud to be seen on the horizon. What a splendid morning indeed. After much stretching, yawning, scratching and cracking of bones (to the greatest amusement of Stinky’s children, hiding behind the Ger and giggling away at the fat
foreigner), the others emerged painfully from their sleep (actually Snaily was ready long before us and had already made an unsuccessful attempt at making normal Earl Grey tea: it still tasted of mutton, due to there only being one cooking pot). Bene and I went for a quick wash and shave in the lake, to the greatest excitement of the assembled crowds (a gathering of more then 3 people constitutes a crowd in Mongolia) of 5 people (Stinky, 2nd wife and 3 kids). They admired and commented on the soap, I expect the first they had ever seen, made gestures as if they were going to use it, but the hope was quickly lost as they returned the soap to us in a ceremonial manner, presenting it in the palm of the right hand with the left hand supporting the elbow of the right.

More emptiness....

Degrubenc
2005-12-09 13:43:21

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My sleep was troubled and filled with visions of horses, yaks, camels, sheep and goats, all laughing loudly and displaying a rather strong stench. I awoke from those visions of horrors with a jolt and a sense of relief at it having only been a dream, only to be faced with Stinky smiling at me wildly with all of his 6 teeth and gesturing to the outside world. It was 9 am on my 20th day of travel. I pushed Stinky away from me, made a slalom through the empty bottles of vodka, made a mental note never to drink vodka again, banged my head on the ridiculously low doors and stepped, mumbling and grumbling outside. This time round, the experience was more pleasant. The Ger where we stopped was on top of a hill overlooking the vast lake we had been following. The view was magnificent, the air fresh and free of bugs and the sky clear all round, with not a cloud to be seen on the horizon. What a splendid morning indeed. After much stretching, yawning, scratching and cracking of bones (to the greatest amusement of Stinky’s children, hiding behind the Ger and giggling away at the fat
foreigner), the others emerged painfully from their sleep (actually Snaily was ready long before us and had already made an unsuccessful attempt at making normal Earl Grey tea: it still tasted of mutton, due to there only being one cooking pot). Bene and I went for a quick wash and shave in the lake, to the greatest excitement of the assembled crowds (a gathering of more then 3 people constitutes a crowd in Mongolia) of 5 people (Stinky, 2nd wife and 3 kids). They admired and commented on the soap, I expect the first they had ever seen, made gestures as if they were going to use it, but the hope was quickly lost as they returned the soap to us in a ceremonial manner, presenting it in the palm of the right hand with the left hand supporting the elbow of the right.

After our wash, we were horrified to hear loud, threatening and approaching mechanical sounds: a great cloud of ...