Equus

Day 24: Kharkhorin (MNG) – Mongol Els (MNG). “Still, it could have been worse. You could have got a bowl full of sheep's testicles”, Karen said remembering my biggest concern about coming to Mongolia. I nodded in agreement, shrugged my shoulders and picked at the meal.

We had travelled across the Khan Uul Nature reserve, deep into the heart of the desert to spend the night with a lovely family of nomadic people who had chosen to make their life in this inhospitable environment. During the long journey, Jack our guide talked openly about his life in Mongolia: Under the Soviet regime he worked as a mechanic in the west of the country, but with the abolition of communism he moved to Ulaanbaator, to make a better life for his five children, Eight years ago he was introduced to Mr Kim, the owner of the hostel back in UB who offered him a job as a guide and Jack has never looked back since.

Jack's stories were totally absorbing, colourfully interspersed with jokes about the Chinese people and his clever observations regarding the behaviours of the various nationalities that he came in to contact with in the course of his work (Which, in the interests of diplomacy, I shall not disclose here in fear of causing a major international incident!) So much so that the three hour journey simply flew by.

Arriving at the families camp, we were encouraged to take their horses to explore the countryside. At sundown we returned to the ger, absolutely famished. In true spirit of the days equine theme, our nomadic host presented us with a lovingly prepared dish of horse meat. Ordinarily, this may not have bothered me unduly. But today, after spending quality time with our dinners best mate it felt; a little wrong and so without our hosts knowledge we emptied the dishes in to the fire and tucked into an open packet of biscuits!