I've been intending to upload this post for quite some time, however I haven't been able to get around to doing so until now. Last spring some fellow PCV site mates and other expat friends of mine along with the HSUM-GAA college professors had an expedition to the "mirage of the Gobi." Now when I was originally approached by Jargal (one of the teachers at HSUM) about this trip I was all for it, camels, off road travel and the desert that's an adventure in the making for sure I thought, and boy o boy was it amazing. We left the college around 9am and hopped in our russian van loaded with food, water and a gang of eager travelers. It wasn't that long into our journey when we stopped for a morning "snack." The meal consisted of chicken drumsticks, rice, bread and an array of assorted pickled vegetables and sweets. We laid out a blanket for our impromptu picnic and with the beautiful mountains as our backdrop we feasted. Then it was back in the van and we continued our journey for about another hour until we arrived at our destination...Khaliun village. Shortly upon arriving we were ushered into the home of the student that was traveling with us. Not only was this young man our tour guide, we would later find out his family owned the camel farm (if thats what you call it) which is why the teachers asked him to join us. So yea, we entered his home, (belly's still full from the breakfast we had 45 minutes earlier) and were seated in the living room. We were offered aka in Mongolia given traditional milk tea, now don't get me wrong Mongolia is second to none when it comes to hospitality, Mongolians genuinely give even when in some instances they don't have the means to do so. It is seen as being extremely rude to turn down food or drink especially after a journey. After the milk tea, soup, dried meat and pastries, we were back in the van for a short 2 minute ride to where they kept the camels. Much to our surprise it was that time of year when the camels fur is shaved and the new calfs are marked/branded. We had the opportunity to both ride and milk camels. As we were hanging out with the camels, it was then that I realized what Jargal was referring to before about the "mirage of the Gobi." As I looked west there appeared to be some type of body of water either a pond or a small lake (I couldn't tell), but this my friends was the mirage. We would say goodbye to our camel friends have a quick tour of the bag (a small village less than 2,000 people) and were on our way back to Altai. As always I've included some pictures below of our adventures. Enjoy :)
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| The villages secondary school children. |
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| Meat Drying |
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| Some of the herders wrangling a camel, in preparation for shaving. |
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