For those of you who heard about the riots in Ulaanbaatar, I will write something about them in another post. Briefly, we were not affected and watched most of it on the local tv, even though it was only about two blocks or so from our apartment building. We are also excited, as the hot water has been off for about ten days for maintainence, and this morning it is back on - so hot showers! But right now now I want to post some photos about a trip we took last weekend before we head off for another long weekend that will result in many more photos!
Last weekend we spent a night in a Ger camp in Terelj National Park. We were still under a State of Emergency, so we were not sure if we would be able to leave the city, but all Chris had to do was show some ID when we drove through a check point. The park is about two hours drive from Ulaanbaatar. It is popular, as it is close to the city, but it is also beautiful. We struck some lovely weather, sunny, blue skies and hardly any wind. We did lots of walking up small mountains and clambouring around rock formations. Alesia learned about setting goals (we will rest when we climb to the next tree, we will rest when we climb to the next big rock) but I think she enjoyed achieving something by walking to the top mostly by herself.
We travelled with some friends, who work with a French NGO (Action Against Hunger, in English, sounds much better in French) that is in the same complex as ADRA. They have a little girl, Manoux, who is about three months older than Keira. The ger was comfortable to sleep in, the food provided was bad, the toilets were good, the advertised hot showers were bad. The best thing was the setting for the camp, wonderful rocks and cliffs. We have had a lot of rain, so everything was green.
There were lots of lovely wildflowers in the grass, mostly very small. This blue ones were about the size of my thumbnail. We also saw wild rhubarb and strawberry.
Chris being King of the Mountains
Chris carrying hats discarded by the girls and the aerobi (frisbee)
Some poses in the forest while resting after the climb down. We "bush bashed" our way down one mountain (not that there was any bush) and it took my legs two days to recover!
A group photo using the auto timer on Chris' camera
