Ogiy Lake
Trip Start
Aug 10, 2008
1
20
59
Trip End
Ongoing
Ogiy Lake,
Mongolia
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Narwar's brother
Wow, October already. Today was to be our last night, but in a slight change of plan we were to stay with our driver's brothers ger tonight. It's a private, small ger, and they were not used to visitors but we were so happy to stay with a 'real family'. As we left Kharkhorin, we stopped at Narvar's sisters ger, where we were given Airag (an alcoholic drink made from horse's milk) and lots of cheese. From there we went to a little museum out of town, which was just in the process of being set up - I got speaking to one of the organizers who explained that it was a branch of the National museum in UB. As we talked she asked out the problem with my leg - it's funny but so many of the Mongolians have asked about it - they are used to similar problems themselves - especially without the same access to health care - but seem intrigued to see it in a 'westerner'.
From here we went to Ogiy lake but it was so so cold and windy we could only bear it to be out of the van for a few minutes before we climbed back in to reach our ger. As well as our excitement, Narvar was also very proud to show us the ger, and the area, in which he had grown up. It was really in the middle of nowhere and the family were real nomads, with busy work and lots of animals. They were quite shy but welcomed us into their home and made some great food and all the milk tea we could drink!. That night, there wasn't very much room so the wife and young son went to stay in a neighbouring ger while we bedding down on the floor. We weren't cold when sleeping but outside there was snow and frost - Narvar let all the water out of the car so that it didn't freeze and damage the pipes. When we woke in the morning even the goats had frost on them, and as the sun rose, a thick mist lay across the hills.
