Home Again

The taxi came at 10:00 to take me to the airport - an uneventful trip, and I had soon booked my big bag through to Glasgow and got through security. I found the internet cafe and settled down to write some of this blog, and managed several posts before the flight was called.

We boarded on time, but then heard that China was not happy about the plane flying over their territory, so we had to wait for clearance; nearly an hour after boarding we finally took off. I got a window seat and was able to look out as we flew over China and Mongolia, but over UB we had to close the shutters for some reason, so I watched movies and read. Meals appeared - quite nice veggie food - and we got up a couple of times for a wander. Basically, though, we had 12 hours or so in the plane and I was very glad to see Heathrow.  As we began to descend, we opened the shutters again and ice patterns had formed on the window...

I got dinner in Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food restaurant - a bit of a treat - then headed off to find the flight to Glasgow. Another uneventful hop, and I was back in Glasgow - but where was the Bag? It was in the international baggage, of course, because it came direct from Seoul. Having sorted that out, there was Hamish waiting for me - he'd spotted me some time before, but I was fretting over luggage!

Back home, cup of tea and off to my own bed for a good sleep. ZZZzzzZZZzzz...

One Day in Seoul

Arrived at the Ramada Songdo Hotel, not (very) far from Seoul airport at 0500, following a slightly delayed flight and a long wait for baggage. I slept a couple of hours, but wasn't settling, so eventually I got up and went for breakfast. No knife to butter toast?! Never mind, use a spoon...

I took a taxi to the Sorae Wetland Ecological Park (about $9). This was a good idea - it's very interesting with reconstructed salt beds, bird lagoons and reed beds, as well as mudflats for "experiencing". There were gulls and ducks (ferruginous, I think), grey herons, one with a youngster, a blue heron, egrets, and lots of grebes, one of which had a nest in the reeds within sight of a hide. It was very hot out in the open, but there were shelters and observation hides at frequent intervals. It was quiet away from the visitor centre, even though it was Sunday. As I arrived back at the pick up point we had arranged, the taxi drew up and took me back to the hotel.

Experiencing mudflats!

After an hour or so resting and reading, I walked up the hill behind the hotel - Cheongnyangsan mountain. It looks as if everyone uses it as their evening exercise place, it's quite busy but not noisy. There are pine and oak trees and big granite boulders, and it's very picturesque with viewpoints over the city and out to sea. Seoul does seem to be quite hazy, I think it may be pollution, but the result is rather misty pictures, with the bridges out to the airport island barely visible in the haze. I'd expected it to be hot, but it was very shady and pleasant under the trees and the pines smelt lovely. There were lots of steps, some sandy tracks and a long stair down from the final viewpoint which is made to look like a boat.

Back at the hotel, I had to explain that I didn't want meat or fish with my salad, which was clearly not normal! When it came, though, it was a lovely crunchy salad with delicious kiwi dressing, which seems to contain kiwis and lime, maybe in yogourt. I'll have to try making some...

I tried to type some blog posts, but couldn't get the hotel computer to type in English, so back to the notebook until later...

A Day of Partings...

Susan and I woke at 0330 to say goodbye to Bernie, who was heading for the airport at 0400. Then up at 0730 and Ciera's getting ready to go too. More hugs, more goodbyes... So sad to see them go, but hope we'll keep in touch...

So to cheer ourselves up, Chelsea and Susan and I resorted to retail therapy again - I needed new straps for my big bag and a skirt for around the hotel in Seoul, and we all had souvenirs to find. Since I leave this evening, Susan and Chelsea will share the double room tonight, but I can still use it as a base until I go.

Chelsea joined up with the Denver Zoo girls to go to the market in the afternoon, but Susan and I decided to be brave and take a bus out to the Zaisan memorial and back. It was very hot, but we found the bus where the travel office said it would be, and (thankfully) it went where we intended. We got off, and set off up the hill to the monument from the south, which is probably the back way! It was a relief to get into the shade of the big circular memorial to various wars (mostly involving heroes portrayed in "soviet style". Down below, we could see the Buddha Park and the Tuule River, so we decided to go and see them before getting the bus back. We didn't count the steps down the front of the hill, but there were plenty of them!

At the bottom, there's a cafe area and we found the aloe juice that we'd enjoyed in camp - it's really good when you're hot and dry!

We looked round the Buddha park, hit the drum and rang the bell, then on down to the river, where people were paddling, washing clothes or just resting beside it.

The bus (33/43) came quite soon and we got of at Sukhbaatar Square before going round to the Zanabazar Museum. We saw the exhibition are there, but the rest of the museum was closed.

Chelsea got back about the same time and we went out for an Indian meal this time. It was all vegetarian food, and the nan basket was more than generous, so i took one with me for later. Back at Zaya's I showered and changed, and had just locked my luggage when the taxi arrived -half an hour early! So final goodbyes to Susan and Chelsea, and off to the airport...

Back in UB again...

We were picked up by the Russian jeep and taken to Zaya's, where we all had hot showers and got into clean kit - lovely to feel scrubbed! After that, I joined Ciera and Chelsea on an expedition to find Chelsea's ticket for the next part of her journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway. The directions were not a bit helpful - UB does not go in for street signs - so we eventually found the tourist office in the Erel Bank and tey put us on the right track. About 10 minutes later we found the place and got the ticket - phew.

Then shopping, and cold drinks at Cafe Amsterdam. There's a Fair Trade shop under the cafe, where we found some lovely presents to take home.

Later, we met up with Moogii at Zaya's and he took us to the folkloric concert in the city centre. There was dancing in different styles, including a sort of ballet about an old man's dream. There are many different traditional Mongolian costumes and the dances, although they have the same name, are performed slightly differently in different areas. Sloists played the horse-head fiddle and a kind of flute and the Grand Orchestra played several pieces. The orchestra included different sizes of horse-head fiddles, similar to cellos and double bases in a symphony orchestra, a smaller type of fiddle that took the violin role, flutes and something like a clarinet or recorder, lutes and drums and cymbals. The music was beautiful, and we were really glad that we had managed to get to the concert.

Next, we met up with Gana and the students for a traditional Chinese meal, with a rogue serving device which tried to knock over glasses when you turned it round. Afterwards, we went to the Irish pub and shared a very large beer, but then it was time to go back to Zaya's and get ready for travelling home. It was good to see them all again, but sad when we had to split up...

Ikh Nart Day 10: The Last Day :(

Odmaa still had 20 sites to reocrd for her plant survey, so Bernie, Susan and I were up and away with her at 6am, and out onto the hills above the plain south  of camp in the Toyota. We were very effiicent! We identified, measured and photographed all the species in the final 20 locations by 13:00!

Back at camp, it was time to pack - all the luggage went back to UB in the Russian jeep with all the students. Only Tom, Hannah, Roger and Nandia are staying on for the next week or so. Then we heard that the injured vulture is going too, on its way to Denver Zoo. There's not room for all of us and a vulture in the Toyota, though, so the bird goes to friends at Shivee Gobi first, then we go and catch the train and the driver picks up the vulture and takes it to UB.

OK, that's a bit longer at Ikh Nart for us, so I went on a final wander round behind Camel Rock and into the next valley. Very sad to be leaving - it doesn't feel long enough and I want the adventure to go on... On the way back, a cuckoo is "singing" near the water hole, and I manage to get a picture.

After dinner, the vulture sets off for Shivee Gobi, and Bernie and I go for a final batting trip down to the far water hole with Roger, Nandia and Hannah. We get the bat nets set up, and then get snarled up in poles trying to put the tent up. Eventually it's all tidy as the light goes and then a bird gets caught in the net. It turns out to be a shrike (I've never seen one before) and it's not at all happy to have its flight interrupted in the name of science. Eventually Bernie and I left about 21:45, and they had caught and measured 8 bats already - I wonder how many they had by morning....

We saw the lights of the car as we arrived back in camp, so it was straight off to the station. We bumped along as usual, dodging jerboas again, until just outside Shivee Gobi, on the wide part of the road, the driver spotted a hedgehog. He stopped and went back and it was sitting in the middle of the road. Gana picked it up - she had gloves handy - and we took it to the friends who were vulture-sitting. Tom will pick it up in the morning.

We sat around in the station for an hour or so; Ciera was the centre of attention again - there aren't many blondes in Mongolia, and a drunk was getting a bit too friendly! On the train, we had a bit of sorting out of compartments, and eventually Susan and I were in with a young couple and their very well-behaved baby, with the other 4 in one compartment.

Ikh Nart Day 9: Local Naadam and the Great Hedgehog Hunt

We'd heard a few days ago that there was to be a local Naadam today - horse racing and wrestling competitions Mongolian style. Everyone went - in the two vehicles or on motor bikes, out across the plain,past Mad Dog Gers and keep going...

On the way we passed a small lake with a tern colony, where there were avocets and ruddy and common shelduck too. We stopped for pictures and a quick look through binoculars, but couldn't stay long - too much to do!

We used GPS to find the site for the naadam - that's Ger Positioning System, stop and ask at a ger, and they say "over that way, so many kilometres". There  are plenty of "roads" to choose from, but eventually we started to see trucks, motorbikes and cars converging on a hill. At the top of the hill we found a very big ovoo (cairn) and some monks were holding a ceremony in the middle of a crowd of people. As the ceremony ended, all the vehicles jolted down the hill to a flatter area below and formed a rough circle. Some people were selling pasties called horseshoes, containing mutton, which are deep fried - not unlike a super-greasy bridie. We had a picnic with us - sandwiches made after breakfast.

The riders in the race are boys and girls aged about 7 to 10, so they are light-weight, and they often have only a light saddle or none at all. They are super-confident riders, riding around in groups as they wait for the  races. The horses' tails are usually tied half-way down and many of them have a cloth around their neck and chest. The riders for each race walk their horses out to the start point, in this case the first race, for adult horses, started 15km away, the second race, for young horses, was shorter. A crowd of vehicles, motor bikes and non-racing horses goes along too - many Dads go along to give final advice and cheer their children on.

We watched the riders leave - i followed for a while, as did Ciera and Chelsea, then back to the cars to wait. After a while, we moved the cars across to near the finish flag, and stood on the small hill behind to watch for them coming in. The marker car, with a red flag, came in view, followed by the riders and accompanying motorbikes. Two young riders were neck and neck, a long way out in front, tearing along even at the end of this 15km race.

After the races, it was time for the wrestling - inside the circle of cars and trucks. The only preparation was one man removing the more jagged rocks from the "ring"! Apparently, in the past, some women beat the men at wrestling and the men were so annoyed that they changed the top part of the costume so that you can be sure it's a man! Certainly it's not a style i could imagine many women being happy to wear for wrestling! Anyway, it was a knock-out competition, starting with 66 entrants. Some of the boys from Ikh Nart entered, but although they tried hard, they did not get very far...

The prizes for the horse racing were awarded next - things like TVs, toys and electronics are among the prizes. The horse that came second is owned by on of the ladies from the Ikh Nart Co-operative, and her nephew was riding it. in the picture they are arranged right to left with the winner on the right.

We got back to camp about 7pm, and had a quick dinner, then it was time to hunt hedgehogs - Tom needs more for his research, and they are being a bit shy about appearing, so we're trying a night hunt, starting at 2100 from camp, and all going in the Russian jeep or on motorbikes - plenty of singing on the way! About 20 people, in teams of 2 or 3 with head torches and flashlights trying to walk 2km in staight lines. It looked fairly orderly to start with, but we had to look in every bush and under rock ledges, so some teams took longer than others. I was with Remu and Sanaa, and we found a birds nest and saw a "small mammal" of some sort dash off into the darkness. Like everyone else, though, we found not one single solitary hedgehog! Time for a rethink... and a night's sleep! My feet had survived all day and night in boots, too, with powder in my socks to help them...

Ikh Nart Day 8: My Poor Feet

Woke up this morning with sore feet - not blisters, just sore. They look red and unhappy and I can hardly bear to walk. I'm in camp for the day; no boots, because we think it's something to do with spending too much time in damp sweaty boots and socks.

So I sat awhile with my feet in salty water, which felt a bit better, then tried some antibiotic cream, which was OK until I had to move around wearing sandals to keep them out in the air, then the sand stuck to the cream and it was really uncomfortable.

The others had gone out to pick up Roger's bat team and do small mammals, and when they got back Roger, who had heard about my feet, produced Gold Bond powder, which he uses in tropical batting places. Bliss - it took the heat out of my feet and a couple of hours later I could walk normally again (in sandals).

So I vegged around all morning, reading my Kindle and enjoying the sunshine - even with that chilly wind - and after lunch got some washing done and settled down to help Roger, Hannah and Nandia mending bat nets. The sunshine went away, though, and we had to move into the shelter. The rain came on, really heavy, and the wind got up, so we gave up and retreated to the ger until dinner time.

After dinner, Nandia gave us a talk about reptiles - we've seen lots of lizards around, and met the coluber in the dining ger, so it was interesting to hear more.

At the end of the evening, the  stove in our ger was lit - it was good to be warm, but the smoke-hole cover had to be pulled back from the stove-pipe. About 2am, the rain came on again and the cover was flapping around outside and rain was dripping in. So I arranged the buckets to catch drips, which helped a bit, but I couldn't see how to sort out the cover. A bit later, Bernie reorganised our kit so the trickles of water on the floor didn't wet anything important, and we slept some of the remainder of the night - it was a good thing they'd steadied it up the day before, or we could have been in a bit of a mess!