Vast green pastures with random herds of animals and small clusters of gers every now and then are typical of the landscape. I truly expected the area to be much drier and "desert-y" than it is; most of it is green rocky steppe. It became more arid the further south we went, but the mini-Gobi sand dunes I spoke of last time still had grass growing on them (which explains my disappointment). Contrary to popular belief only 3% of the Gobi actually has the stereotypical "real" sand dunes, and they were too far south for us to reach in 5 days.

No matter where you go, however, one thing stays the same: Mongolia is covered in poop. It makes sense in retrospect. Given the number of animals (apparently the horse to person ratio here is 13:1) the amount of poop is, I guess, proportional. The entire place smelled of it though. At first it was overwhelming - that fresh manure/farm/stale milk kind of smell - but eventually it got to the point where I couldn't smell it anymore. Perhaps my olfactory senses just gave up... or more likely, they were more occupied with the stink of my own body than with the general atmospheric stink. Anyway, my shoes are covered in the stuff and I can't wait to give them a good scrubdown in China.

We rode camels one evening and that was pretty cool, although it felt strange riding them across grassy plains instead of sandy dunes. The humps of the camels, which I have wondered about my entire life, were disappointing. They were not a soft and comfortable perch from which to direct the camel, as I had envisioned, but rather they were hard like a canteloupe or melon with only a slight "squishiness", and were sparsely covered with long wispy golden hairs. Plus my humps were saggy! They looked like the breasts of a supermodel in her 60's or 70's. Additionally you couldn't lean back against the back hump for support (these are the cooler Bactrian camels with two humps) because it was hard and very uncomfortable when the beast was walking. Sadly, I later learned that saggy humps are a sign of poor camel health.

Camels are quite huge in person and are somewhat intimidating, especially when they get upset. Indeed, one of our camels scratched its face on the post it was tied to while we were saddling up, and it completely flipped out: it reared up on two legs, gnashed its teeth, broke its reigns (which were tied to its nose!), brayed like an giant, demon-possessed donkey, and ran away. Other than that our camels were quite well behaved, and did not spit even once. My camel, named "Samta", did, however, fart precipitously for the entire hour that I was riding.

We also got the chance to ride some Mongolian horses as well, but the saddles were made of wood and actually hurt to sit in. Also, the owner did not give us the ability to ride on our own, which sucked.

The people we've stayed with have been so generous and welcoming. It has been fun interacting with the children especially. With them, smiles and laughter and baby goats are a universal language. Mongolians seemed particularly amused by our Mongolia guidebook (and the sample Mongolian phrases contained within) and the digital camera. I have many pictures of Mongolians on the camera, and I wish there were a way that I could give them printouts of the photos. No doubt they had never seen instant pictures of themselves before, since some acted as though they had never even encountered westerners before. I feel a special connection to the Mongolian people that I have never had with a culture before. While I am sure I have only scratched the surface of their way of life, experiencing how they live, eat and work for a few days has given me the opportunity to walk in their shoes, if ever so briefly.

Seeing a Discovery Channel special cannot begin to capture the excitement of Naadam, the bumpiness of the "roads", the sour tang of airag, the vulnerability of squatting in an open field to poop, or the sound of sheep and goats bleating and farting as they are awoken by the herders at 4:30 am. 

I will be back someday.