On the third day I was woken up at around 5am by Otou stoking the fire, but no one really got up until around 8. At this time of year there is little for them to do, in the spring they will move to another area with their herds, in summer another move, another in autumn and again in winter. Winter is considered a time of rest, spring is usually the hardest time of year.
They like to make sure your well fed, I had bread with jam and sardines and biscuits for breakfast then to my surprise I was handed a big bowl of rice and meat as well.
I was trying to work out a way of approaching photography as many people find a camera in their home too intrusive and uncomfortable. I decided to try a subtle approach instead of asking outright so I got out my camera and started fiddling with some settings, the girl is immediately sitting beside me, staring at the camera in fascination. I scrolled through some shots for her to look at then showed her how to use it, fetching the attention of everyone else as well. Simbiu commented on how it looked like a very good camera, so I say that I trained as a photographer. Not strictly true as it was a school subject but the family offered to pose for me in their traditional get up the next morning, I promised to send them the shots in return.
Then into the van for the days trip. Tomrou, Bagi and the lady with the black and gold deel join us and we head back to the ghers in the forest where we had picked the lady up and we are invited inside her gher, after a little while I discover I'm to ride one of their camels.
These camels have two humps, are very hairy, very large and very cute in an ugly way, they carry themselves in a very stately and majestic manner.
I climbed onto the back of one and it lumbered to its feet with a high pitched whistling squeal. Tomrou accompanies me on the second camel, steering both at the same time. They have a rein on one side of the neck leading from a plug in the nose and they seem to respond to both "chuu!" and pressure on their sides. They're also greedy buggers and take huge chomps out of trees and plants at any opportunity.
I think we rode for about 2 hours; through the wood, all the way back to the tarmac road, over the road to talk to some herders on the other side then back to the ghers. The camels had a very comfortable and smooth stride, but their 'jog' was very jolting.
I got a short break back in the gher, Bagi was watching 'Men in Black' dubbed in Mongolian on the tiny screen. The film was ending and when the alien rips off its human skin and turns into a giant cockroach, everyone is suddenly transfixed by the sight with a collective and alarmed "ooooooooooh!".
I was sent back outside with a random Mongolian who had turned up, he is to be my guide for a horse ride. Unfortunately, they were not able to find a second horse so I'm put on a pale skinny reluctant bugger which is dragged along by the leading rein with my guide tramping ahead. I try not to feel humiliated by the fact I'm back on a leading rein after years of riding.
After a little while we come across two horses in a ditch, my guide immediately tackles a chestnut round the neck as it tries to flee. And we have two horses!
Two my relief the saddle and bridle is transferred to the chestnut and I hop on, my guide ties the leading rein round the stubborn ones nose and rides bareback.
My horse turned out to have a desire to go faster and a mouth of iron, it seems ready to bolt at any moment but its fun to ride, its companion follows us the whole way, whinnying despairingly at intervals.
We ride out of the trees and onto the plain towards a herd of goats. "Yama" my guide points out.
We rode past the ghers and dismounted, the guide uncovered a well and pulled up buckets of water for the horses, pouring them in a trough made of tire rubber.
A quick trot to the ghers then back into the van and away again, a brief stop at Tomrou's brothers gher, situated at the top of a hill, much smaller than any I have been in previously with a hip-hop compilation playing from an old tape player and a fierce wind shaking the chimney.
Back in Tomrou's gher a game of ankle bones then I accompanied Otou and someone I think was her sister and Simbiu round the town. It is mainly a winter base for nomadic families but it has permanent buildings as well and a small school and kindergarten. The wide dirt streets are filled with fierce looking mongrels who hover in menacing packs, I see one large pack savaging a single unfortunate dog.
We wander in and out of three stores, filled with food and basic clothing and mechanical parts.
Back in the gher an old black and white rather tragic looking Mongolian war-type film was being watched. I was given a bowl of beer and a bone to gnaw clean of meat and fat, followed by meat and noodle soup.
The next morning we leave for Ulaanbaatar around 11. The family posed for me in their traditional clothes and I hand out some thank you gifts.
On the three- four hour drive back to the city we pick up an old man from the roadside, he is headed to the city also and so Gana puts his goat and sheep skins in the back.
We make several stops in a settlement outside the city as the old man makes an effort to sell his skins. They are very fresh, uncured and bloody, I watch in fascination at the exchanges from the back seat. The skins are unrolled and examined, there is a pile of guts wrapped up in each skin and their elasticity is tested. I don't know whether the guts say something about the quality of the skin or whether they're going to be thrown in the cooking pot. Eventually a price is agreed with a woman as she rolls the goat intestines in her fingers, money changes hands and the goat skin in carried off, the sheep skin is thrown in the back of the van again.
Gana drops the old man off and helps him carry his skin and sack of belongings to a nearby bus stop, I unlock the door the Chimge's flat and gratefully throw myself in the shower a few minutes later.