cave feet

my feet.
my feet had become like the feet of a cave dweller. someone who lives in a damp cave. in darkness,and walks on rough stones all day.
they were disgusting.
if i was to take off my shoes, i would have to plan ahead. socks. i carried socks around. just as essential to my purse as toilet paper.
*no bathrooms here have toilet paper. it's a b.y.o. type thing. and if you forget...well, just don't forget.
so back to my hobbit-like hideous feet. for weeks i've wanted to treat myself to a pedicure. so yesterday the fates aligned and the day was upon me.
i spent the day with two new friends. boris and liling. both spoke mandarin. it was liling's birthday, and we spent the morning at some fancy pagoda thing (clearly i was really into it...). liling wanted to pamper herself for her birthday. and she was torn between massage or haircut.
after meandering streets and popping into different salons and massage places that ranged from super dodgy, to super sketchy we settled on something in between.
we found a nice hair saloon on a dodgy street, that had a dodgy foot 'cleaning' and massage place beside it. liling went into the saloon and boris and i popped into the foot place. i explained to boris the state of my feet. and that i wasnt so much leaning towards pedicure, as i was intense filing/exfoliating.
my mom probably is cursing me now. she is an advocate for nightly foot washing and scrubbing. but when showers are few and far between, my feet are pretty low on my priority list.
boris stuck his head in and asked what the deal was. they said they would were full now, but to pop a squat out front and they'd have room in ten minutes.
the front of the store was full glass windows. the store itself was just big enough to fit five lazy boy recliners wall to wall. each chair had a wooden bucket in front of it, and a foot stool on the other side of that bucket. and then there were four men and one woman who ran the show.
they motioned us in. boris sweet talked them into rearranging it so we could sit beside each other. which looking back on it, i'm not sure was a good idea.
literally...cave dweller feet.
boris translated.
first they brought over the wooden bucket which was full of hot tea. i plunked in my trolls and sat back smiling.then boris followed suit. after a couple minutes of soaking i was told to swivel around so i was sitting on the foot stool behind the bucket. feet still soaking, a back "massage" commenced.i didnt want to show pain. i was very aware to keep my face relaxed and not grip my hands wildy on the arms of the chair. i looked over at boris, and was happy to see he was feeling it too. they twisted me about cracking and prodding my whole back.then i felt his knee on my back. he pushed on me like he was trying to close a really old collapsible table that sometimes gets stuck midway through, and it needs a little extra push. but i liked it. i however made the mistake of telling boris, who translated my enthusiasm. i was then treated to two more 'knee-ings'
after the back was done, we flipped back onto the seats and the foot connoisseurs dipped their hands into the water and felt our feet. boris' guy said that his foot skin was thin and healthy, no filing for him. then my guy dipped his hands in. felt my feet, his eyes widened, face blank, lip curled, looked at me and then got up. he walked over to a table and came back with three files. metal,dark and looking slightly like torture devices. i was mortified. the poor man. and boris. boris and his perfect feet.
my foot dude held up my foot and got to work. like liling at the hair saloon beside us, pieces of me were falling to the floor. except instead of hair...i had hunks and chunks of foot grossness falling on the floor. meanwhile, boris' foot massage had started.
i remember watching an episode of the amazing race with mom and dad, and the challenge was to endure a traditional chinese foot massage. and after seeing boris' expression, i had a feeling that is what we signed up for. after my feet were thoroughly hacked to perfection, my torture began. it was the most unusual feeling. it was an excruciating combination of intense tickle and brutal pain. it felt like he was trying to rip apart the muscles in my foot. and sometimes he would alternate between foot torture and would prop my foot up on the stool and start prodding my calf. i had to restrain myself from kicking him in the chest.
after the first couple minutes i got somewhat adjusted. i didnt wince as much.
our feet guys started talking to boris.
i asked him what they were saying.
boris said that they can tell us about what is going on in our bodies based on our feet. boris was told he wasn't getting restful sleep, and  that he was having stomach issues.
i asked him what my guy had to say about me. well he had a lot to say.
bad skin, bad skin caused by too much chi in my body. i can cure this by drinking more herbal tea, specifically chrysanthemum tea if i can. i also am at risk for developing low blood pressure and gall stones. i need more restful sleep, i have gastric digestive problems, and my liver is too 'heaty'. boris did his best to describe what heaty was. but i still dont get it. but the foot guy said that getting cupping done would help with the liver and the too much chi in my body thing. i told boris to tell him that i got it done in beijing and i liked it.
boris did, and then told me that they could do it here if i wanted. i looked around. we were in the tiniest 'spa' ever, and there was only one room.
boris noted my confusion.
'there is a curtain on your chair. they will pull it across. it is 20 yuan if you are interested'
twenty yuan is three dollars and twenty cents. heck yes i was interested. so a thin pink sheet was pulled across my lazy boy, and it was fully reclined into 'bed' mode. i walked behind the curtain and boris translated for me.
okay lay down.
no, face at the other end.
okay you can take your shirt off.
now bra.
this is weird.
then i saw my foot dude pull a piece of paper with a bunch of tiny glass jars over to me.he lathered up my back with oil. i saw the flaming tongs get lit, and then i felt it. the first cup was sucked on my back. but instead of just leaving it in one place, he started to drag it all over my back. it was like when i was little and dad would suck the vacuum to my pant leg. except this was a super human vacuum, and it was on my bare skin. this hurt. but it was over soon, and he began to place all of the cups on my back. i could feel my skin behind sucked up into them. i waited like that for about ten or fifteen minutes. then they were twisted off. i got dressed and paid the ridiculously low sum of eight dollars for the whole thing! over an hour, new feet, foot and back massage and cupping!
my mind was blown!
when i got out from behind the pink curtain i looked in the mirror.
i looked like a teenage mutant ninja turtle. the spots where the cups had swollen - a lot. i look like i had the most intense back muscles EVER! it was gross, and kind of awesome.
so needless to say, i no longer have cave feet.
and i have a fond appreciation for sketchy looking foot massage places :)

back in beijing

me and christoffer

instead of taking the train back to beijing i flew. it was about the same price, and twenty eight hours shorter.
the night before my flight i met up with my friends who had just finished the mongol derby. one of them had the same flight as me. so christoffer (who came in 4th in the derby!) and i set off for beijing the next night. when we arrived in beijing christoffer asked if i wanted to share a taxi into the city.
i explained that i was couchsurfing and told my hosts i would be taking a bus to where they live.
christoffer wasnt having any of this ridiculous 'bus' business, and insisted on a taxi.
we consulted a map and figured out that we were both headed in the same general direction.
christoffer was headed into the heart of the city to go pick up suits from a tailor. then he had to find a place to stay for the night.
he asked where i was going.
"couchsurfing" i said with a smile.
he didnt know what it was. i explained all about it. which i now do with pleasure. but every time i talk about it, it always sounds like im trying to get someone to join a cult.
"youve got to try it"
"everyone is amazing"
"ive told my friends about it and they joined - you should too..."
christoffer was intrigued.
when we got to the tailors i gave him my cs'ers phone number in case he needed help with something. i wished him luck with the suits, finding a place to stay, and his flight home to sweden in the morning. i also reminded him that if he got stuck, he could always call my host and they most likely would welcome him for the night if he was in a pinch. we hugged, said our goodbyes and then i was off in search of yue (the mom) and tong (the dad).
yue and tong sent me an offer to host me on couchsurfing after seeing an open couch request i had posted for beijing.
yue and tong are around my mom and dads age. they live in an apt in central beijing. they have one daughter who is a couple years older than me.
when the cab driver and i left the tailors i gave him tong's cell number to call so she could navigate us to her location. it worked like a charm. i could hear her on the other end of the cabbies phone rambling off directions in mandarin. and it worked. soon enough it was about 10pm and the cab had pulled over. i thanked him profusely and handed him the fare. when i turned to open my door i saw a short chinese women with a huge smile, nodding and opening my door for me. it was tong.
"emily?"
"hi!!! i made it!" i said while wrapping her up in a big canadian hug. which, by the way is by far the best greeting. screw europe and their stupid one, two and three cheek kisses, or the ever popular handshake. a hug is where it's at. and im a good hugger. i like to showcase my skills early on.
i released tong. she thanked the cab driver, helped me swing on my pack and we were off.
on the walk to her apartment i explained how my flight was. that i had taken the cab with my friend christoffer from sweden.
"from sweden?" tong asked.
"yes, gothenburg" i replied. and then replayed my answer over in my head to make sure i didn't say gotham city, a common slip - surprising for a non batman fan such as myself. although i could go for christian bale in a tight black suit any day.
"is he visiting beijing for a while?"
"nope, just picking up some suits and then finding a place to stay for the night before his flight in the morning"
"he doesnt know where he is staying?"

me and yue in front of their apt

"nope, he was considering a hostel, hotel, and was even going to try using charades to ask the tailor shop if he could sleep in the shop until they open in the morning"
 "what a shame, you could have told him he could stay here"
"well i did give him your number in case he got stuck, or needed help translating with the tailor, so he might call"
"it would be nice to practice my swedish" tong said as we entered the apartment.
"practice your what?...you speak swedish?"
"didnt you see in our profile? we used to live in sweden, i even have studied swedish, and our daughter had lived in sweden since she was ten"
i couldn't believe my ears. christoffer would loose his mind.
tong opened the apartment door.
"we are home!"
and from around the corner popped yue with a plate full of sliced peaches. he helped me off with my pack. and we all sat in the living room. well, yue and i sat at first. tong raced about the kitchen preparing plates and plates of food to offer me. i felt like royalty.
i was still excited and intrigued about the swedish factor. i was asking so many questions they could hardly keep up. i explained christoffer and the tailor, and i asked about their daughter, and why sweden, and for how long. and then the phone rang.
tong whipped her head in my direction and smiled.
she answered her phone in english.
"hello?"
and then the phone was handed to me.
"think i can come stay with you tonight? would they mind?" asked christoffer.
i looked up into the eager and awaiting faces of tong and yue.
"when can you get here?" i asked with a smile.
then i handed the phone back to tong who then gave more directions to a cab driver christoffer had hailed. and within twenty minutes, christoffer too was sitting in their kitchen being stuffed with tea and freshly sliced peaches.

goodbyes

that night was a whirlwind of excitement. we stayed up talking late into the night. no one could really believe the chances of this group of people finding each other. especially christoffer, who now has a strong appreciation for my cult like love of couchsurfing. and the wonders it produces.
the morning came too soon. we all had more of a nap, instead of a nights sleep before we all woke for christoffers send off.
tong made us a big breakfast and we all left the apartment and walked christoffer to his cab for the airport. cameras in hand for a round or eight, of goodbye photos. 
 i spent the next four days becoming tong and yues 'white' daughter. i loved the position. family meals three times a day. family swims each night before dinner. even all three of us would cuddle up on the couch after dinner to watch tong's favorite chinese soap opera. beijing youth. even without subtitles i was able to follow the story line and become an addict.

pre-dinner swim at a lake near their home

tong and yue treated me like family. they helped me buy tickets online for my upcoming train rides. making sure i got good sleeper cars. tong even had a friend at the post office who got me a sweet deal on sending a package home. my stay with them was perfect. it satisfied a homesickness need i didnt realize was there. 

tong helping me send a pkg home

i dont think the world is a small place. that common saying is a little off. actually, it is a lot off.
the world is a huge place.
a huge place full of people that will surprise you.
surprise you with kindness. with hospitality. with generosity. with knowledge. with time. with stories.
and i really do love a good surprise.
when i have experiences like this one with christoffer, tong and yue, it really makes me think.
it doesnt matter where i am.
it is the people that make my trip.

goodbye dinner

sure being on the wide open plains in mongolia was unbelivable. but without the silly belgium, my friend sarah, or my horse henry, it would have just been me with a gorgeous backdrop.
i really do like traveling alone. i like me. i like spending time with me.
but i like those chunks of time to be sprinkled with surprise.
and couchsurfing and travel sure helps with the sprinkles. 







the adventurists

after my stint in the gobi i was thrilled to be in a hostel again. when checking in i met a girl from belgium, sarah.we checked in together. i was in a ten bed mixed dorm, and sarah was in a private double with an ensuite. well ooo-la-la sarah. she headed upstairs to her kingdom, and i dumped my bag amoungst a stinky heap in the ten bed dorm. now there really was a stinky heap. it was right beside my bunk.the heap consisted of duffle bags, dirty clothes, car cables, foot spray,well used sleeping bags and vegemite...aussies! the owners of this heap were ted, simon and bill. they had just completed the mongol rally. i told them of my love for the adventurists expeditions, and how i had friends doing the derby as well.

out we go

and it was this connection to the derby...and some suggesting from a friend, that persuaded me to try horse riding. cause apparently it is THE thing to do in mongolia. and luckily i had bumped into a guy from the states the day before who recommended one outfit that was great at catering to first timers horse riding needs. so we called up the number he gave us, and within an hour a man named mindee came and picked us up at our hostel and started to drive us out into the steppe. halfway to the camp mindee pulled over and told us someone else would pick us up soon and take us the rest of the way. right as he was finishing explaining the change of plan, a large blue van pulled up. sarah and i hopped in. there were six guys in the van already. four brits, and two belgians. all of them had just finished the mongol rally!

ger camp

the camp is just an hour outside of the city. but it is over a cluster of mountainy hill things so you feel like you are in the middle of nothing. or as a friend described it..."it looks like we are riding through the PC background"

just rolling green hills in every direction.

we pulled up to the camp and there were about twelve white gers clumped together. we got out, were outfitted with chaps and helmets, and then lead up to the horses. mongolian horses are all short and thick. not built for speed so much as endurance. they are the horses that helped chingis khan conquer nations.

our 'lesson' consisted of them explaining the 'choo' meant go, and to always approach the horse, get on and off from the left.

'what means stop?'

'there is no word for stop'

grrrreat.

the horses were dealt out. i was given one of the tame ones. i named him henry.

henry was grey and not too short. he started off slow, but when he heard our guide yell CHOO, well jesus did henry ever choo. i talked to him constantly.

slow down henry!!!

watch out for the marmut holes henry, you could break an ankle!

s-s-s-llll-o-o-W-W D-D-D-OWN HENRY!!!!

henry kept up with the guide the whole time. our guide would have to turn around and round up some of the horses that weren't being the most coopertive.

when we returned back to the camp about an hour later, we found one of the belgians who had turned back after just getting down the trail head.
'didnt like your horse jean?'
'well i say to him - lets go, and he say no, he turn round, i say okay - he da one walking'

this same belgian introduced sarah and i to some of the others.

'emily, dis is mattieu from england'

'hi mattieu im emily'

i learned three days later when talking to mattieu that his name is matthew. i had been calling him mattieu because a french belgian intoduced us. i felt like an idiot.the boys left that afternoon. but sarah and i were staying overnight in one of the gers, so we went on another ride that night with the same guide. only this time instead of an innocent hour long jaunt, we went on a five hour trek. over mountains, through rivers. well maybe over hills and through a brook...but still. it was the most beautiful thing i've done. i kept thinking while i was bopping along on henry that i couldnt believe i was actually there, on a horse, in mongolia. i couldnt stop smiling to myself.

after that crash course in riding mongolian horses, i felt like i had a better appreciation for my friends in the rally. my butt was sore, my thighs were rashy and red, and my back hurt. and every meal we ate at the horse camp revolved around flour, dairy and mutton.i never want to eat mutton again. mutton in soup, mutton on bread, mutton in bread, mutton boiled in the one pot the family had, so the water that is boiling for drinking water the next morning tastes like...MUTTON! but my hatred for it is nothing compared to that of my derby friends. who now cringe at the word. mutton and mountain are both curse words for the derby folk. who despise both equally.

henry

oh! and during the five hour ride, our guide got our horses to stop outside of a nomadic families ger. he tied them up and we went inside. the man of the house sat at a raised bed at the back of the ger, and we all sat to his right. his wife came in soon after and went to a tall and large blue plastic drum beside the entrance to the ger. she stirred the wooden pole that was inside of it. then dipped in a laddle and poured a huge portion of white liquid into decorative blue and white bowls. it was arag. my time had finally come to drink what i had been reading about in blogs and guidebooks. arag is fermneted horse milk. it is roughly 3% alcohol, depending on how long its been sitting about in the drum. it tastes like thin plain yogurt that is kind of sour, room temperature, and carbonated...and alcoholic.i knew if i drank the whole thing i would explode or vomit. so i politely raised the bowl to my lips. brought it back down and then licked my lips. not too bad. so i raised the bowl again, as the wife looked at me intently. ready to read my expressions. this time i took a gulp. smiled and set my bowl on the table in front of me. sarah finished her whole bowl...and lets just say it was a rough ride home for her.

we headed back to our hostel in UB the next day. sarah was leaving the next morning and i was waiting to hear back from a potential cs host.but when i called her she told me she was hosting a french couple, so it couldn't work out. but then she asked what id be doing for my last couple days in UB. i told her that i didnt really have any plans. but that night i was meeting friends at the mongol rally party.she told me she was going there with her boyfriend. he is australian and would be wearing a green shirt.i told her i would be with three aussies and i would wear a white shirt.so that was that.

the rally party started at the finish line, where the cars are brought when they arrive to UB.at the finish line there was a bar. so we stayed for a while before it moved to a club that the organizers had booked for the party. we made our way over there with a guy who had just completed the rally in a wheelchair! i was imediately impressed when we were leaving the finish line bar, which is on the fourth floor, and he (several beers deep) made his way flawlessly down so many flights of stairs in a wheelchair!

me and henry

the club was really really nice. and it made for a hilarious contrast when it became filled with hords of people who had just finished driving from england to mongolian in beat up cars. there were people in complete outdoor include northface pants and tilly hats, a bunch of british boys in matching leopard print tights and neon muscle shirts, and just a general stink of traveler grunge. the evening opened with a tradition mongolian band playing. it was so awesome to see these girls and guys dressed in elaborate traditional dress playing insane looking instruments. oh! and there was throat singing too.

at around eleven i spotted an asian girl kissing a white guy who was wearing a green shirt. i walked over, inturupted the moment.

meg?

emily anne!

lots of hugging and laughing followed.

"emily, meet me at the finish line tomorrow at noon and ill come get you and you can stay with me"

and that is exactly what i did.

it was great to cs again. meg and ben were amazing hosts and

on my first night at megs place i had gotten a msg from the aussie boys inviting us to dinner. so i told them i would meet them at 5 at the town square. meg was going to grab a quick shower and meet us there at 530.

at around 520 i see meg walking towards me and the aussie boys. she was holding a black puppy. meg had walked by someone who was selling puppies out of a cardboard box and bought one.

'what did you do?!'

'i bought a puppy, but i told them i would walk around with it for a bit before i made a decision. so i still can return it'

soon later ben, her boyfriend arrived. not at all shocked when i explained.

'what did i do?!' meg asked, now fully realizing the stupidity of the situation.

'well i impulse bought a chocolate bar today, you impulse bought a dog.'

by bedtime, the puppy (who i named jack) had been returned.

and i was tucked into my sleeping bag, wondering what took me so long to return to couchsurfing.

the next day i said goodbye to my aussie boys as they all headed off in different directions.

but luckily one of the three (ted), was heading south like me. we exchanged emails and made a plan. we would meet again in china.

back in UB

well i did it.
i went to the gobi and survived.
mind you i did it quicker than previously thought. why you ask. cause its a freakin' desert! it was hotter than i ever could have imagined. i don't know how i worked it out that me, a hearty canadian girl could go by herself to the desert in the summer and camp...for a week. HA!
silly emily anne. you're not a camel.
no, i am not a camel. which is why after my first 24 in the desert i made my way back to the dusty southern gobi town of dalanzadgad and booked a bus ticket back to UB. where wind blows a cool breeze, not just more heat and sand. where you can find a cold beer around every corner, although to be honest i usually opt for a popsicle. and where there is often aircon at night time. and i get to cuddle up in a big duvet in order to fall asleep. i don't care if that doesn't make me worldly...i like to fall asleep wrapped in blankets in a room that is chilly! there i said it.

waiting for the bank/internet/apartment building to open

picked a direction and started walking

so after i wrote the last post from the apartment/bank/internet building i swung on my bag and wandered around the town looking for a place to stay that night. the first place i went in was a concrete square box on the edge of town. it was painted a fading baby blue color and had big block letters spelling out hotel across the top. i pulled open the large creeky wooden door and walked in to a dimly lit reception area. which was empty. when i walked in past the entry way a short plump little lady came in.
'nik?'
'yeah nik'
then she motioned for me to follow her.
nik is the number one. thanks to the english camp kids, i now know how to count to ten in mongolian!
we went up a flight of stairs and she led me into a tiny room with four beds. each bed but one was obviously occupied. i noted this by the clothing strewn about the floor and the unmade beds. i shook my head.

she walked me down the hall to another four bed room. this time when she opened the door and i peaked inside and saw a toddler passed out on one of the beds. the old lady shouted something, i assumed not at the toddler, or me...but i wasn't sure. seconds later i heard footsteps coming up the stairs and a man rushed into the room scooped up the little girl and ran away. she turned to me and smiled, as if she had answered my wishes. she was a genie.
'how much?'
she whipped out her cell phone and produced a laughable number on the tiny nokia dial pad. i shook my head and typed back half. she laughed and waved goodbye at me.

this i took as a sign, and as the advice i found online suggested, i picked a direction and started walking.

big camp sites

about three or four hours later i picked a spot. i laughed when i remembered what my lonely planet guide said.
'there is lots of opportunity for camping around dalanzadgad. just walk a couple km in any directions and pick somewhere secluded'
secluded HA! it is the desert. the best i hoped for was to set up camp within walking distance of a shrub that was taller than the rest, to act as my bathroom privacy. i spent two nights here before heading back into town and booking the first ticket out of the scorching inferno.
my bus arrived at 8 in the morning. i stood by the driver as he loaded the bags and boxes into the boot.
'do you want to put this back there, or have me take it on the bus?'
for a brief second the driver looked at me as if i had sneezed, before continuing on with loading the boxes. as if i didn't say anything. the man standing beside the driver however shouted into the crowd of people waiting to board the bus, then he looked back at me and smiled. soon a woman was standing by my side.
'can i help?'

transport back to UB

pee break

and she sure did! it was the mans wife. they were on their way back to UB with their daughter. the mom works for world vision in mongolian and dealt with a lot of canadians, which is where she perfected her english. over the 16 hour bus ride back the mom took me under her wing. she told me what seat was mine on the bus, she woke me up at rest stops, she held a jacket around my bright white butt when we took pee breaks in the open nothingness of the gobi, she translated the lunch menu for me, and she even asked a local to drive me to my hostel when we arrived back in UB, so i didn't have to pay for a cab. she was my desert angel. and along the bumpy drive back i watched her and her husband and daughter. the daughter was their only child. she had just graduated high school. the mom and dad rotated seats every few hours to sit beside the daughter. when they switched, the daughter would curl up into a ball and rest her head on her mom or dads lap and the mom or dad would pull her in close over every big bump and jolt of the bus. i stared at them. it reminded me of my mom and dad. and how they would do the same thing. i got teary eyed as the mom put a jacket over the napping daughter, and when she handed the dad another cucumber sandwich and he kissed her hand as she gave it to him. that family trip gave me my first tinge of homesickness. i put my headphones on and played  michael buble's home and made the situation ten times worse.

local woman selling goat milk and other dairy products

i am now back in UB. yesterday i booked a flight to beijing for the 21st. i will head there to attempt to get my pakistan visa. if i don't succeed i will still head into western china and then figure out something from there.

*fun mongolian fact. they drink aloe juice here. it is like sweet water with chunks of aloe plant in it. it was weird to adjust to at first...since it felt like i was drinking huge chunks of backwash. but once you get over the vomit worthy texture issue, it is amazing!

 

 

gobi

so the next morning i did get picked up by sergy. sergy is a petite man from ukraine who runs a summer camp for kids with his wife, odna.odna is from mongolia. they have two boys. hakim and ohhantucsk.
sergy picked me up at eight sharp. we drove along roads littered with pot holes and dust. it took about an hour and a half to get to our destination, terelj national park. he talked the whole way there. i just kept nodding and smiling and trying to decipher when he was telling a joke, so i would know when to laugh.
'the mongol people, how they live. hard life, lots of babies. i don't know why so many'
i nod.
'the mongol goverment, how it function. they put president in jail, you know?'
i smile.

i didn't intervene. i photographed. 

as we got further into the national park i started to see more and more ger's.
some were in clumps or rows. those sergy explained were tourist camps. the ones that were out further and only one or two standing alone, those were the real deal. we pulled up to a fenced in area with about 18 gers in rows beside one another. each labeled with a number. sergy took me to 12. it was all mine. i set down my bag and sergy sniffed the air. was it me? then he turned and walked out the door. while walking away he said
'it smell, too much rain. we dry'

terrifying

i followed him outside. the door leading into a ger is short, so most have to duck to get through. sergy is short, he didnt duck. i am new to the ins and outs of using a ger, and im not short. this combination left me with a sizable bump and scrap on my forehead. when i did make it outside without any injury, i saw a group of boys coming towards me with sergy behind them. the boys evenly distributeted themselves around my ger and started to lift up the bottom pieces of canvas and wool liners and were tucking them into rope holds. sergy explained that they do this in the day to air out the ger, and at night they put them back down to keep in the heat and keep out the creatures.

my dunking was less violent

the next couple days i spent with the kids. the campers range in age from 10-22. the older campers stuck to themselves. which meant i was buddy buddy with a slew of pre-teens. my favorite kid was a little girl named anungoo. you pronounce it like an-un-gaw. her father is the prime minister of mongolia. anungoo spoke english very well and she would come to find me each day and would practice her english.

they got teacher real good

all of my meals were taken care of. they revolved around rice, mutton and milk. breakfasts were a variation of the same thing. rice in a bowl full of hot sweetened milk, rice in a bowl full of hot milk and hot goat broth, or rice and unsweetened cold milk. needless to say my lactose issues took a hit.
on my last day there two local men who help run the camp, killed a goat. one of the boys came running to get me. 'teacher teacher!!! they have whole goat today!'

scraping off the stomach gunk

he knew i would love to see what was happening, because yesterday they prepped three goat heads, and he was with me the whole time i watched, to translate for the men dealing with the heads and me. when we got up to the goat prep station...aka in concrete stairs in front of the kitchen, i saw the process in all its glory.
the men had already skinned it, and were now folding up the skin, and taking the legs and ribs into the kitchen. i stayed with my mini-translator and watched as about four women dealt with all of the innards. they showed me how to dump the contents of the stomach and intestines, how to scrape off the stomach lining, and what parts are good to stuff in the intestines for sausage.

bottom right...bucket of blood

that night odna told me about a closing ceremonies type thing for the kids. she asked me to host it. my hosting duties consisted of greeting them and then handing out medals and certificates to the kids. odna would have liked to have me read off each students name, but we quickly came to realize that no one would understand me as i tried to sound out the names. i was fine with the three russian campers. julia, christina, and anya. but when it got down to anungoo, oronbaatar and zozozaya...i would struggle.
and that was it. my brief stint as an english teacher was over. and early the next morning i crammed into an old school station wagon with a couple other of the mongolian teachers, and a driver who must fancy himself an indie 500 hopeful, and we headed back to UB.
when i got back to my hostel in UB i met up with three girls and a guy who were here for the mongol derby. now i have heard of the mongol rally before but not the derby.

torchin' up some heads

my ger

the rally consists of people buying shitty run down, or silly vehicles (we met guys from sweden that did the rally in an ambulance) and then driving them in a race from england to mongolia. the mongol derby is organzied by the same people. it consists of a race around central mongolia by horse. they are basically on the horse for 14hours a day. they have check points every 40km, where they swap horses, grab food and continue. there are penalties for bringing your horse into a checkpoint dehydrated or out of breath. last year the winner did it in 9 days. and this year they are predicting 8. but most people do it in about 10 days. this year there are only 35 people doing it. and on average 2 of those 30 dont even make it past the practice sessions on the two days prior to the race. you can follow their progress at www.theadventurists.com.

one of my students and odna's youngest son, hakim

my friends in the race are:
aimee from england
charlotte from england
linda from norway
and christoffer from sweden.
they left for the first practice day on the same morning i left for the gobi. we even timed it out so that i can meet them at the hostel on the 20th when they return from the race. they all booked rooms at the ramada for that night. to treat themselves post race. and im going to tag along!

mongol derby friends and me

so we said our goodbyes and i headed for the bus station. i was the only non-mongolian on the bus. it took fifteen hours, four squat outhouses, one questionable truck stop meal, two quick-fix breakdowns, and two snickers bars.
we pulled up to the bus station at around 1130. everyone but me seemed to have a ride come and get them. the bus station seemed like it was onthe edge of town, so i put on my pack and headed into what looked like an open field. as i got closer it didnt look so much like a field. more like a construction yard. i had to balance myself across a ditch with huge pipes laid inside. then i found some large dirt and rock piles. i found a flat spot in front of one of the piles and set up my tent. i was cozy in my sleeping bag by midnight.

first sunrise in the gobi

this morning i woke early with the sun. packed up my gear and headed in town. with the help of a local girl i found the somewhere to use a computer. it is in a bank/apartment/internet building. i started to google about people walking from here to yolyn am, but so far haven't found anything concrete. all i've got is 'pick a direction and just walk'...for hours. so i think that's what i'm going to do. either this afternoon or tomorrow morning.
ill post again from here in a couple days.

first twenty-four in UB

i caught the train in beijing. no problem.
it was an almost sad night, saying goodbye to all the friends id made at the hostel.
at first i was kind of regretting staying at the hostel instead of cs'ing. but the people i met were beyond amazing. i have made friends from so many places! it was a weird feeling leaving beijing and the people i met there. they were my travel friends.they were all solo travelers. but they were all leaving too. soime where going home after a year of travel, some had school, some were continuing on to a new country. so i guess it was time.
the train left at 8am and got into mongolia 30hours later. i bought the cheapest ticket possible. the hard sleeper. it was a cabin with four beds in it. there was only me and one other guy in my cabin. his name is mike. mike is 25, from southern california, greek and an artist. we befriended lots of other twenty-something travelers on the journey north to ulanbaatar.
even at the six hour border crossing there was a group of eight of us that left immigration and went out into the town to find a restaurant for a last meal of chinese food and beer before crossing the border.
when i arrived in UB (ulaanbaatar, capital of mongolia) i was greeted by a gorgeous mongolian woman with a sign that had my name on it. i felt super awesome. everyone else was trying to arrange taxis and i had a sign lady. i was one of those people who you see walking into a town car at the airport, while you have to go wait at baggage claim for your mom and dad. well not today! but instead of a town car we squished into a really old grey mercedes with grey suede seats that had the louis vuitton LV symbol embossed all over the suede seats. it was really weird. there was our driver, a large mongolian man who spoke perfect english and in the passenger seat there was another big guy who i later learned is named kenny. he has been in mongolia for over three months. he got here and bought a motorcycle for 950$ and rode it all around the country. and the hostel here kind of adopted him, he helps them out, they help him out. kenny is from georgia state. and in the back of the car was my sign lady, me and a dutch couple on their honeymoon. oh and the car was also blasting 90's rap.
when we got to the hostel i took off my shoes at the entrance, as per the neon orange signs request. then i waited in the lobby before i got given the grand tour.
"we have four bathroom. this one the toilet is broken, this one cold water. this one is the only one that gets hot water...and only between 2 and 4 pm, and NO wifi between 11pm and 7am, breakfast over at 9am"
i was shown my room. a six person dorm. i chucked down my bag and headed to the closest atm.
mongolian money is insane. i took out 450,000$!!!! which is about 300 canadian. this makes for ordering food confusing.
'id like one panini and a sprite'
'6000 dollars please'
WHHHHHAT??!?!
tonight i met up with five other guys from the train ride. thanks to my handy traveler cards...NOT  business cards. i gave them out when we parted ways on the train and a few hours later i had heard from two of the guys to see if i wanted to meet up for dinner. so a couple hours later i met with an australian, malaysian, czech, american, and a brit for dinner. we pointed to four things on the menu and hoped for the best. it worked out and dinner was amazing! it also didnt hurt that it worked out to about four dollars a person.
after dinner i parted ways with them. i wanted to head back to the hostel to meet up with the dutch couple and see if they had figured out a tour to go on. i was interested in the same. maybe a three day tour before heading north west to camp for a week or so. when i got back to the hostel i was coming up the stairs to the front door and i heard
'hey canada, wanna go teach english in the national park for a couple days?'
'uh i darn tootin' do!'
it was kenny. he had done it for a month a little while ago and loved it. after i said yes, he got on his phone and called sergy. sergy is a little russian man, who appeared at the hostel twenty minutes later. i met him, we shook hands.
'what time i pick you up?'
'in the morning?'
'yes. eight'
'well alright then, ill see you at eight'
'bye. eight sharp i here'
and that was it. that is all i know. kenny hinted at the fact that there was food provided and maybe sleeping in my own ger. but other than that i know nothing. i dont even know for sure what date im coming back. i dont know what ages the kids are...or even if they are kids, i dont know if there is a shower, if i need to bring money, what park it is in etc. im putting all my faith in this kenny character.
so im off to bed now, and in the morning a little russian man is driving me somewhere, to apparently teach english to someone...
fingers crossed!

*fun mongolian fact. its mongolian law that drinking and selling liquor is illegal on the 1st of every month. i arrived on august first. the guys were not impressed!

great wall

i took the subway to the long distance bus station. when i got there a little old woman came up to me and kept pointing at my journal. she was correct in assuming it contained a list of where i needed to get. i showed her my journal. i had written the city i needed to take the bus to, and then the village i needed to hire a mini-bus to take me to. before i left my hostel that morning i had gotten one of the receptionists to write my directions in mandarian so i could point if necessary. i also wrote the mandarian pronounciation down too, just in case.

after i showed it to her she pointed down the bus station to the very end of the tunnel, where it started to get dark. she followed me as i walked speedily down the tunnel. she guided me into the right line up and everything. then when i got to the front of the line she was there to meet me again. she told the ticket lady where i was going, and then before i got on the bus she shouted at me.

"fire station! FIRE STATION!"
what the heck? she held up a flat palm at my and kept saying fiiiiieeeeer station.

i smiled, nodded and got on the bus. she was still shouting.

'ONE HOUR THEN FI-ER STATION!'

the bus started up and i was off! about an hour later we hit my first stop, miyun. miyun is a small city...i would compare it to a chinese windsor, ns. i was half asleep when we got into miyun and wasn't really paying attention. i could feel the bus come to a stop and then i heard shouting and someone grabbing and tapping my shoulder.
'miyun here, MIYUN NOW!'

well jesus...so i rushed and grabbed my pack and hopped off the bus. i assumed the person shouting at me was the driver, who had overheard the kind bus station angel telling me where to go. but as i walked off the bus, i saw the driver sitting in his seat. when everything clicked it was too late. i was now standing at a bus stopped surrounded by vulture-like cabbies.

'where you go?'
'how much?'
'lady come me!'

'you go wall? i take now, gooda gooda price rewe cheap just fo you'

i was infuriated. they had seen me on the bus, i was white, they made the connection.

then i saw another bus drive by, same number as the one i was on. same bus line. so after i thoroughly reemed out the cabbies i waited for the next bus to come by. i flagged it down. it stopped and the cabbies pushed past me and onto the bus. they were talking to the bus driver...presumably about me. i pushed past them and showed the driver my ticket. he said something and pointed to the stop outside. i started rambling back to him. they hate the language barrier. i sounded like an idiot, but they didnt know what i was saying.

'im not getting off, these men are assholes. take me further into town and then ill get off. you can just start driving. im not going anywhere dude. im stubborn and sweaty. im canadian...im friendly....so DRIVE!'

it worked. he got flustered at my talking, or annoyed or something...and he started up the bus.

then all of a sudden 'FI-ER STATION' made sense. one hour and then fire station...five stations....five stops. i needed to wait until the fifth stop in town. and i did.

when i got off at the right stop it went much smoother. i was still surrounded by cabbies, but they were nicer. not as rude. the one that i settled with even flagged down some girls around my age to do the translating for us. i bartered until i got him to agree on driving me to hexi village, one hour down the road, for 100Y. which is about sixteen dollars.

when i got to hexi village the minibus dropped me off at this staircase and the driver pointed to a ticket booth style looking window and then drove off. i walked up to this completely run down ticket booth and pointed to my journal where it read 'entrance to wall?'

the old man shook his head and started to get up. when he did that i started to walk over to where the stairs were. that is when his wife appeared and also when he started to limp/chase after me. this is also when the charades began.

he got chased up the stairs after me shouting. grabbed my pack and then my jacket, still shouting. he got in front of me and pointed at me and shook his head and finger. i acted out walking - sleepy - tent - wake up - more walking. he countered with rain hands - big arms x's - and more head shaking. he was also adding sounds. rain hands came with a thunder and lightening auditory add-on.

so so yummy. tiny village dinner.

this continued for a while before i gave up. i had gathered from our interaction that i couldnt go on the wall tonight because it was supposed to be bad weather that night, that i would be going to stay with a woman who lived down the road, i would be giving her 100Y for the accomodation and dinner and breakfast and that i could meet old man guard guy at 9am tomorrow morning to see if the weather was better and then i could go on the wall.

i felt defeated. not being on the wall on my first night. but im all about the journey not the destination. so if this was part of it all, then so be it. i enjoyed the most delisious meal so far that night. the woman cooked me up a feast! and in the morning i had a great breakfast too. as i was getting ready to leave the woman sent her son over to me with a piece of paper that read 60Y food. i was pissed. she was trying to rip me off. i laughed at the boy, wrote 100Y on the paper and then circled food and sleep beside it. he ran it back to his mom, who then came over to try and explain further. i got what she wanted. what she didnt get was that im not a push over. i pulled out my 'babble english till they fold' card, and it worked again.

'no im not paying that much. i already gave you 100, and we agreed that it included food. im not an idiot, 100 is already far more than enough. i dont like being ripped off. i was having a pleasent time up until now, and it's too bad you had to spoil it'

i picked up my bag and left immediately. it was only 7am but after that unpleasent morning encounter i didnt want to chance the old guy not letting me on the wall again, so i headed straight there. when i got there i was pleased to see he wasnt at his post yet. so i started up the steps. there was a man at a bus stop on the same road. he started shouting at me as i started going up the steps. i didnt turn around. the shouts got louder. i kept thinking 'dont turn around, if he wants to stop me enough he'll come after me'. he didn't. and at last, i was on the great wall of china!

the next two days and nights were spent keeping watch on fellow great wall explorers as they approached my tower, reading a novel, sleeping through massive thunder storms and exploring the surrounding watchtowers.