Clean Slate

   When people have visited my home state of South Carolina I have chided them for missing Charleston or Columbia. I have thought that Myrtle Beach or South of the Border was not the real South Carolina. I was wrong. The Grand Strand along with Dillon's best known attraction are both authentic South Carolina.    Before visiting Mongolia I longed to limit my time in the city of Ulaanbaatar and maximize my time in the countryside or the real Mongolia. Well after ten days here I was wrong again. Both city and country are Mongolia just as both Rainbow Row and the Gay Dolphin are South Carolina.    Tomorrow morning 28 of us head West in a convoy of five to six vehicles to the less populated areas of this nation. We will camp out, cook, visit more family, see Naadam in the boonies and I think have a wonderful time. We plan to go about 2,000 miles in our loop and get close to the Western border with the Russian Federation near Uuvs Nuur outisde of Ulaangom.    Uuvs Nuur So we

The Tuul River or Tuul Gol  Isaac heading up one of the 10 hills surrounding the camp/resort  We saw rotating herds of cows, horses and sheep heading to and from the river daily Across the river was the Terelj National Wildlife Refuge The camp from above: 10 modern Gers, 10 small houses, 10 cabins and various scattered gers A little Smoky Mountain feel  Flowing swiftly and quite chilly Buddhist prayer mound Dina Look in the distance and you can see Isaac and then Louis, III Louis, III leading the way as we hiked all ten hills Sheep in the distance Tseegii, Enkhii and Dina have hiked enough and head back Mongolian poppies? Closer to the sheep Amazing little dude

 Aav, Moogii & Dina Aunt  Moogii & Dina  Wholesale Market with dozens of stalls  Fresh smoked pig's head  For a Lord of the Flies-themed party  About 3 million people in Mongolia with a current total of 73 million combined head of cattle, sheep, goats and horses means meat is popular for both domestic consumption and as an export product