Disappointed
Not that I am a good rider, but I like it, and I was eager to learn from people that literally (and literaryly) lives on horse’s saddle.
I got my ride at the end, but it was more a Luna Park ride than the real thing.
Unfortunately my Couchsurfing plan did not work as it should have, so I stopped in a hostel with my two companions (I joined forces with two French in Irkutsk, more later) and I had to rely on hostel organization for a tour. We opted for a Ger-to-Ger one, hoping to move between gers by horse or camel.
Maybe I should have been more resolute in the choice. Travelling with other people is not always that easy, and now I am feeling like I jumped in this boat with too much enthusiam. Anyway, I am now bound till Tibet, and better I get the best of it.
Fun people, we spend lot of time laughing. But they are travelling on a tight schedule, and sometimes this actually does not fit to me.
I had also thought of coming back to Mongolia after Tibet, but I was fast in discharging the idea. It seems quite unlikely I could make it to Singapore by the end of September, especially now that I getting an “holiday” from my trip for Vincenzo weddding in June.
I realized I was not in the best of the mood in Mongolia.
So we went Ger-to-Ger. The Disney-land sensation was in a way mitigated by the lack of water and of a wc. We had to use the desert for our very private needs.
I had a nostalgic shit on the rocks.
It was easier when I was a child in my family country house. First, it was summer. No risk of freezing my ass. It was simple as that: a spade to cover the tracks, some paper, maybe a magazine, and then out I was, hidden by the grapevine.
This time was not that easy task. Actually it was mostly much ado about nothing.
When not busy trekking or looking for a suitable spot, we are fed by our host. I mean, we do not have a lot of Mongolian words, and they neither have a lot of Englis, apart from “eat eat eat”.
I am far from getting Nirvana, but on the way to become a Buddha.
The scenery in front of me is wonderfully wild, in a sense. Rocks at my back, the praire in front, far away I can see the semi-Gobii desert, and an horse and a camel pasture nearby.
An idillyc scenery, but in the ger they keep the TV too LOUD!
I am forced to use ear-plug, and it seems works. The only noise being my heart bumping.
I shoud use them as well to soft Cyril’s burping.
At the end I got my horse ride. And and horse kick as well.
Horses here are not really trained for riding, so they become nervous when saddled.
My very horse was a follower. Could not make him go on his way.
To get some galop I was forced to follow Cyril’s horse.
Riding after dinner was better, I was able to get a new horse, more independent this time.
I really need some more training. My idea to stay a few days more anyway was abandoned for logistic reasons. I should wait till Monday to look for something and it would mean having just Tuesday ad Wednesday for organizing, as anyway I had to be in Beijing for Saturday.
I will come back to Mongolia. For sure.
PS: no post about the Transiberian route till now. I will write about the Russian part it as soon as I have time. You have to take my word for it for now: it was worth to do it.