Dune

On day two we woke early for breakfast and were surprised by a layer of snow. A big question mark for us was whether or not our van would make it up the steep hill we came down to get into the camp the day before. Our driver didn't seem to care too much though and gunned it up pretty easily. For the greater part of the day we were on the highway, making our way to the edge of the sand dunes at the edge of the Gobi desert (I guess we were actually in it, but mostly grassland) We arrived around early evening and again went through the motions of greeting our family for the night. Interestingly, this family had some fermented mare's milk to share with us, called Airag. It tasted like alcoholic yogurt. Pretty bitter at first drink, but it definitely got better as you had more. This time around we shared a ger with Stu and Suz because there were other guests coming later on and not enough room for us each to get our own. 

After lying about for a bit, we got on camels and rode to the edge of the sand dunes. If you have ever ridden a camel before, you know that it is a ridiculous looking animal. Years ago I'd had the opportunity to ride a camel by the pyramids in Giza, but turned it down because they looked so ungainly. This time around there was no other option, so I got on. The camel's hair was kind of thick and coarse to the touch, but the surprising thing to me was how warm they were. Aya's camel seemed pretty grumpy and didn't really want to kneel down to let her get on. She (the camel, not Aya) also complained a lot along the way, trying to go in a different direction and moaning a bit. For the most part, the camels were pretty docile. 

We made our way to the dunes, kicked about for a bit, and then made our way back to the ger. As the night got colder we huddled in our ger and kept the fire going as long as we could, but like the night before we all slept and the fire went out. The next morning we woke to a freezing cold room.