A year in Mongolia: this chicken has really big talons....

Yesterday I had such a super fun day! I went with my friends who make the TV show here, to the countryside where they were making an episode about the national park, Terelj.

It is about an hours drive from UB, and our friend Ash drove in his very comfortable car. Spirits were high, and there was much laughter and singing. On the way we saw a man at the side of the road, with a big "mad max" style motor buggy, and a HUGE EAGLE! We stopped the car to have a good old gawp, and the guy beckoned us to come and have a closer look. He then let us hold the eagle (for a small fee of course) and then pet it! It was sooo cool, the bird was magnificent, and very docile, and not as heavy as I thought it was going to be....

Whan we got to Terelj, we had lunch first, in a cute little restaurant.

Then Ash and I climbed to the top of Turtle rock, to be filmed, waving and posing, from the ground. As we climbed up and around the rock, we came across a gthering of mongolians having some kind of shmen ritual. there was feathered headresses, coats with bells, and some cool singing. It reminded me that shamans are somehting I havent seen yet properly. I made a mental note to find a shamen in UB and see what they're about.

Scrambling down from the rock a little later, we were met with the news that the guys wanted a to get a shot of riding horses. It is tourist stuff, so you just get a gentle walk on a very docile horse for about ten minutes, for 2,000₮, but it is still quite fun, and you know that the guy with the horse probably doesnt have any other way to make money, so for less than £1, it is fine.

After the horses we walked up to the Buddhist temple, over the rope bridge and up all the steps. I had been here before, but in the cold - it was a very different experience in the blazing sunshine.

The temple caretaker, this nutty old mongolian guy, really took to us. And took advantage of having mongolian english speakers there to ask us some mongolian "riddles". One was

"a man is travelling, he is carrying water in a bag. He visits a Ger, the woman of the ger gives him some milk. he puts the milk into the same bag with the water, yet the water and the milk do not mix. How is this possible?"

Answers on a postcard....it took us ages, we didnt get it right, but I was quite close with my idea.

the other one was hilarious,

"there is a man, he sees another man walking in the distance. He wants to go to him. Why?"

the answer is so mongolian. I'll tell you next week.

While we were talking we saw a hawk soar overhead, we all turned to look, and the caretaker told us that the hawk lived in the temple, we thought it was a mistranslation, but he pointed to the eaves on the front of the temple, and peering behind a big wooden slat, we could make out the hawks chicks, who started squawking and ruffling, so we tip toed away.

Back to the car, and off to find some camels! Afer a stop at the river, to paddle and skim stones and mock J for his pronuncialtion of the word foal (he says it like 'fowl').

The camels were pretty scraggly, but we had a quick go anyway, as I just LOVE camels, and I love riding on them, they remind me of star wars creatures. I cant get enough of them. My next ambition is to meet a camel baby, oh, what bliss that would be...