For my third New Year's in Mongolia, I also celebrated twice. The first time I was invited to celebrate with the staff and volunteers of the Bayasgalan Day Care Centre. My fellow PCV Katie works there and I had met her co-worker once (when we registered with the local governor's office, before I had my own co-workers to help with that sort of thing). That meeting was all it took to get me an invite! I am constantly amazed and humbled by the generosity and inclusiveness of Mongolians! We went to a really great Mongolian BBQ-style restaurant (cheese factor = a million) but I was feeling a bit under the weather so I skipped out on the karaoke & dancing after.
For my second celebration, on Dec 31 & Jan 1, I traveled down to Omnogovi to visit the Ice Canyon (Ёлын Ам, pronounced "Yolyn Ahm"). It was my first time in the Gobi desert, so I was excited to say the least. We left UB on Sunday, full of anticipation:
Selfie on the bus!
First stop: Mandalgovi, Dundgovi.
We got into Dalanzadgad, Omnogovi around dinnertime so we met up with our hosts Rose and Sam, went out to dinner then called it an early night.
The next day we played tourist all around DZ:
Dinosaurs everywhere!
Littlefoot!
This is my "tisk tisk" face at the historical inaccuracy of the mammoth's presence.
Camels everywhere (although we only saw one herd of live camels).
View of DZ from the restaurant we had lunch at.
Outside the government house.
Outside the Naadam Stadium.
Ice skating inside the Naadam Stadium!
Poppin' a pose at the hotel we ducked into to warm up.
There was a sign inside that struck me as aptly timed.
Then we went to the movie theater/rec center that had all this awesome natural science stuff in it...
We were having a deep conversation.
Then we called it a day and headed back to Rose's ger.
Chopping coal for the ger stove.
The coal dust goes right through the gloves and I was only chopping for a few minutes!
This is camel meat and fermented camels milk we picked up at the black market.
Chopping up the veggies and camel meat for dinner.
This is stir-fried camel meat. So delicious. (The fermented milk was good too!)
Just hangin' in Rose's ger.
On Tuesday we kept a low profile until the Mandalgovi crew joined us and the NYE festivities started:
Then on Wednesday it was time for the main event, the Ice Canyon:
Leaving DZ
Driving through the foothills...
Finally made it to the parking spot. Time to hike!
What up Gobi-Gobs!?
An ovoo with Ibex horns on it; ibex are super rare but we were still hoping to see one (we didn't).
Finally, the ice!
I wish Makade could have been here to help me find fossils in the craggy rocks!
A frozen waterfall.
Group shot!
We had lots of fun!
There was a lot of open water...
These little guys made very loud chirping noises.
In the narrows of the canyon.
The frozen water rings around the base of this ovoo were really cool!
Unfortunately for us, because it's been so warm, the Ice Canyon was more like the Slush Canyon and we only got about half-way back into it before we decided to turn around. All of us had wet feet from the slush soaking through our boots. :( But it was still a very beautiful place; the ice formations were breathtaking, the color of the ice shining white then sparkling blue...We had a really great time.
Then on Thursday we got up before the sun to catch the bus back to UB. It was an eventful ride to say the least:
These are our sad faces because we got a flat tire about an hour south of Mandalgovi.
Both tires were completely shredded off.
Sure was beautiful scenery though!
Can I get a ride to UB please? Anyone? Then we started singing "On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair..." because, well, what else could we do?
Theeeeeeen the bus got another flat, on the other side, about an hour north of Mandalgovi.
At this point, Laura and I had gone a little crazy.
It took us about 2.5 hours longer to get home than to get to the Gobi, not just because of the two stops to fix the tires but because there were only two spares...And three blown tires...So we had to drive painfully slow the last leg of the trip as the driver's side of the bus had only one tire/wheel instead of two. Safety first, right!? But if given the chance, I'd do it all over again...Maybe with galoshes this time though.
