Have Passport, will travel.

Ao I feel a bit more relaxed now, I have passport, monwey and have met some amazing new friends just from chatting with people at the guesthouse. So where was I? Ah, the Gobi.
As you can tell from my last post the Gobi is the most amazing place. (By the way, beautiful and amazing are words I'll be using a lot to describe this country...the English lexicon doesn't have enough wods really to describe this place.)
The two local Nadaams were both in Gobi and after National Nadaam it was interesting to see the smaller ones. Sat in the stadium you never got see things close up but ant the locals you could really walk around and watch the wrestling. For me it was good to have seen both, although the local ones seemed slightly comic. I should laugh, the wrestling has a real skill of it own and the egal dance has a cultural significance but it is funny to watch up close. But it was also wonderful.
The towns, however, were not. They were built during the Communist period when they were trying out c0ollectivisation and are, therefore, functional, squat and ugly. I found the towns really depressing. If you imagine a western frontier town, you know the type that have seen better days and have tumble weed blowing through them that's pretty much what the Aimag (provincial capital) towns were like. I always felt very depressed entering a town and I think it is because they were designed for function rather than beauty. There is nothing ediffying about these places. However we did stop in one (Dungov I think) and had the most fabulous meal of Horshaw (Mongolian mutton pancakes) provided for us by a local family. I have loved the food here and mutton has proved to be a suprisingly delicious meat. Goat cooked with hot rocks was too fatty and rich for my pallette but it was delicious.
So the next thing I rember is Tsetsleg and White Lake. Hmm, that proved to be an interesting experience for many reasons, not all of them great (But I'll get to than in a minute!)
Again Tsetsleg was not a beautiful place but Fairfields was. After walking around the town and visiting the container market we went to Fairfeilds which sold English food and drink!!! :D by this time I was just gasping for a cup of proper coffee and some trad home cooking so Fairfields was a jewel in a barren desert. I had my flat white coffee, which I always drink at home, which was a lovely reminder of home and had a burger. Then we picked up Ganzo.
Ganzo was a lovely Mongolian guy who had been in America and spoke very good English. There qwere some people who were on a shorter tour and he had been hired (blind I might add) to escort them back to UB. However it soon became apparent that he had a drinking problem! It's not uncommon to find alcoholics in Mongolia, it is a legacy of the Comunist period. Mongolian Vodka is made from distiling mares milk and is not as strong as Russian Vodka, however when the Russians came they brought their vodka and things got a tad out of control. The Mongolian government is now trying to promote beer instead of Vodka as it has a lower alcohol content but it is a newish program and the results have yet to been seen (or felt).
Anyway, back to Ganzo. Not only was he a drinker he decided he didn't like the staff and they weren't overly kean on him! SO it became a word of words. Sadly he decided to bad mouth the drivers to me almost all the way to White lake, down the Horg volcano (More of which I will write later) and late into the evening. I felt ver conflicted but I stuck up for my friends (Because after 2 weeks they were more that drivers they were friends).
It was decided that Ganzo could share my tent that night which I had no problem with. We sat by the fire, drank, had a laugh and retired to bed. Anyonewho knows me will tell you however that I am a bear with a sore head when it comes to sleep. I need a clear 8 hours uninterupted to function. I was very cleart to Ganzo on this point...if he waas to share my tent he must come to bed quietly and not wake me up.
So I was woken to the sound of raised Mongolian voices and the sound of a body hitting the floor twice,. I opened the tent and told Ganzo in no uncertain terms to get in there. He literally fell into the tent pissed out of his skull alledging that one of the drivers has assulted him. His story kept changing depending on what I said. I had, what seemed llike, a long talk with him and then fell asleep.
The next morning it transpired that what had happened was that Jess had taken Ganzo to the tent, one of the drivers had had a verbal go (the shouting that I heard) and then it seems that Ganzo might have fallen twice. Jess was stood outside the tent the whole time and heard everything! She thanked me for what I had done to contain the situation and asked me if I was alright. I siad yes.
The outcome of all however is that it brought the drivers and I closer, so it was a good thing.
so I am now tierd and will fill you all in on the nest instalment later. I'm also going out with some guys from the Guest House so I'll have to get myself all spruce moose.
Love you all and will write again soon.
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