Day: 276

Ick!!

It’s the only thought that was able to cross my mind as the 14^th blasting gust of sandy wind pummeled us from the window of our over-crowded aging Russian beast. The German girl’s driver also decided to crowd his was into our van, sitting on a pile of pillows at Felicia’s and my feet. 10 hours in the car like this and the sight of Arvaikheer was a welcome relief. It did take us a three tries to find a hotel with hot water and a shower, but finally after some haggling we found one large room with five beds and one shower. Slightly refreshing.

As I left Gobi Bear territory this morning a tear fell from my eye…. No Bear for me.

GPS 46’15.941 (N) 102’46.724

Day: 275

Today is our first day in a week that we haven’t had to pack up our bags and move on to somewhere new, although with the insane afternoon sandstorms we ended up huddled in our ger for a few hours anyhow. The break was exceptionally deserved after what the morning did to my ass.

The morning, before the winds set in, was filled with a couple hours of riding an angry, stinky, camel through the scorching sun. It is almost as fun as it sounds.

In the evening a pair of German girls found us in our ger, and after a sorrowful tale of their escapades of broken car stuck in the middle of the desert and a pissed off driver we all agreed to let them tag along (sharing some of the cost of our tour price!) with us for the next few days on our way back towards Ulaan Bataar. The Russian pimp-mobile is going to be crowded.

GPS 43’49.415 (N) 102’23.489’ (E)