Dude, what a country.

Well as you may have geussed from my last post I have just spent two days in Khenti province, relaxing by the Tuul river, camping and not doing mucj else. This was an awesome first taste of what to expect from the next 18 day.
To start from the very begining we left UB at about half eight to trek into the country. Jess didn't know where we would end up but knew that it would be in Khenti somewhere. The reason she didn't want to take us to Terelj is that it was far too touristy (wether that was Mongolians or Westerners or both I couldn't quiet make out) but I think she made the right descion. We stopped at a forty fioot high, brushed steel statue of Chinggis and climb to the mane of the horse where we had awesome views of Kheti province, I won't try to explain what it looked like now rather I'll let the photos speak for themselves, then we drove on. Later we stopped at a ger to ask for directions to the river and we were all invited in. We were given Airag, fermented mares milk, and were given permission to take photos. Airag is best describe as thin, slightly fizzy natural yoghurt...it's definately an aquired taste but the Mongolian hospitality is beyond reproach. Then we drove on to our campsite. Surficed to say it was the most amazing plce, we camped right on the banks of the Tuul with forest steppe, reaching right up the hills, before and behind us. A hawk circled above our camp and, although it is comman to see them, I took it to be a blessing. We enjoyed a simple meal of curried vegatables, rice and beef stew before sitting round the fire and finally retiring to bed.
It's late here so I'm going to sign off with lots of hugs and kisses and fill you in on the erest tomorrow.
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