Gobi desert: day2

20.10.11

Next up was the sand dunes of Khongor. Still early for me (9am) we left the ger camp powered with coffee and tea.

On the way we ran into some more shamanic outposts,

cured our driver Tumee's headache with paracetamol and head massage,

found the secred ingredient of Coca Cola (the plant Jasper is holding has a distinct smell) and did some excersise (at least Greg AKA strongman did),

Picked up some water with these wild horses,

spread some seeds of Babylon in form of chocolate for this little boy,

while Jasper AKA Dr. Vodka observed the views from top of the mini-bus,

and I was resting comfy in the trunk with our bags.

The wildlife is awesome here! Every now and then you can see camels, horses and packs of dogs running free in the desert, some of them marked with collars, piercings or patches of paint.

Before we knew it, we were already at our next ger camp, in the feet of gorgeous sand dunes.

The camp seemed to be better equipped than the last one. Had great outdoor leopard fur seats too!

There was also an oasis by the feet of the dunes so of course my first impulse was to take a swim as it was still quite warm. When I got there I had to settle for a mud/camel poo treatment for my legs as the water (including ankle-deep mud) was only up to my knees at best. But let me assure you my feet felt great after walking through the oasis (and certainly smelled better).

While I was busy bathing my feet, Greg, Jasper and Elise had took off to the dunes, so after I was done, I went to get some water and spare clothes and head on to follow them. It seemed that the dunes were pretty close and not that high. While walking there the magnificence of the dunes dawned on me as they soon shadowed the sun and I was getting cold in my shorts. The silence was so deafening my ears were ringing.

Soon enough I saw a small dot waving smaller dots in the middle of the climb to the top of the dunes (later I learned that the highest points can be up to 800m high! In Finland we don't have anything higher than 1000m). I had no choice but to follow. At this point Chris and Vladka had joined me for the climb. The higher I got, the colder and more tired I got so in the end I was wearing everything I had on me (started with shorts and a t-shirt). Let me tell you I haven't had this much exercise in years! On the top I couldn't care anymore. The view that opened from there was by far the most awesome thing I have ever seen. We stayed on top until sunset admiring and photographing the views. Here are some shots by all of us. Thanks for sharing guys!

Upon reaching the top I started hearing discontent murmurs about not bringing the vodka… Sorry guys, sometimes I'm not properly equipped!

Our camp as seen from the top.

Soon enough it started to get really cold so we made our way down freestyle, wishing we had some skis or boards but even with boots it was a lot like downhill skiing! It was great really…

…until something unexpected happened. What we thought was a camel turd or a black stone turned out to be some sort of less known specimen of wildlife here in Gobi! With incredible form, limberness and power a Gobi desert sand ninja sprung up from the dyne and started making it's way down, clearly out for a kill! Luckily it seemed indifferent to us and we got to witness this marvel of nature unharmed, albeit scared.

Got it on video too!

With all these experiences we head to the ger, happy and content. Today it was Rice with tuna and pineapple on the menu.