The Mongolian Magic Kingdom...(posting from the road)

There is a common debate that I hear in hostels and airport lounges - travellers vs. tourists. Those who view themselves as "true travellers" refuse to be lumped into the same category as the Hawaiian shirt wearing, Disney bound individuals. They view themselves as explorers that gets down and dirty with the locals, only visit off the beaten path locations and would never dream to set foot in a western food chain. I am neither a traveller or a tourist, I view myself as some sort of a hybrid...while I don't want to sit on a bus and hear just an American's view of the world - I do feel a visit to any foreign McDonald's as mandatory. I have also learnt that, generally speaking, if something is touristy it is because it's awesome. The Eiffel Tower, Disney Land, Niagra Falls and Machu Picchu are some of the top tourist destinations in the world, and once you get through the massive crowds...all are awesome.

That was my long winded intro into my touristy but awesome morning adventure into the Ural Mountains of Mongolia. Our first stop was to visit, hold and even hug a massive Golden Eagle. These massive birds of prey are traditionally caught and trained to be hunters. The prevalence of 24-hour supermarkets seems to have erased this need however and the birds are now trained to not rip the eyes out of tourists as they play with them for photo-ops. (This a photo of Sara holding Wiki - note the MASSIVE wing span. And the bird is pretty heavy as well). Touristy and a little gimmicky...yes. But awesome still the same...yes.

We didn't even have a chance for our eagle-high to wear off before our mini-bus stopped at the next "ride" in our Mongolian Disney-like day...camels! Those who were subjected to my Egypt photos can recall how much I LOVE camels - they have very photogenic faces - but are horribly uncomfortable to ride. But my mind works fast to justify any animal encounter...and the camel that I rode previously was a dromedary camel (single hump) and these were Bacterium (double hump) camels...maybe more humps will lead to an increase in comfort...definitely worth a shot. So I mounted my massive beast and discovered, shortly, that there is no correlation between humps and comfort. Camels are just uncomfortable to ride. This was particularly unfortunate news for people who had to make the same trip that I am currently on...the traditional method of travelling from Moscow to Beijing was via camel...that is 40 days on a camel...I couldn't make it 40 min today.

So now a little more sore, predominantly Will and Pete, we piled back onto the mini-bus and headed for the next amusement park stop...an ovoo. This really wasn't so much fun as it was 'required'. No trip to Mongolia would be complete without walking clockwise 3 times around a large pile of rocks and then tossing a rock onto the pile while uttering a wish. I really felt I had to stop and search from some good luck after that pigeon snubbing at the Monastery yesterday. It was a little touristy for us, but the locals still actively use these cairns to pay their respects to the mountains and the sky.

After a full morning we arrived at camp, checked into our ger (survied a shortlived but wicked freak hailstorm) and then headed out to shoot a bit of archery before getting back in the saddle...horses instead of camels this time. Specifically Mongolian Horses - a breed unchanged since the time of Genghis Khan that is notably smaller than our stallions. So needless to say...we all looked a little silly on these pony sized horses as we rode through the fields but to their credit (and strong genes) the horses themselves didn't seem to mind.

And so we rode...through gorgeous fields full of cattle, sheep, goats and yaks - the landscape occasionally dotted by gers - while the sun slowly started to set over the Ural Mountains...it was quite amazing...but time was an issue…today’s attraction visits weren’t over yet…