Last night we watched some storms come across our camp site. It was like being in a nature documentary where the camera follows big storms across an immense landscape (seen "Baraka"?). We counted four storms pass around us, thunder growling, lightening flashing, but we didn't get wet. Just before we went to bed we watched spectacular lightening forks arching to the ground in the distance.
At 11pm Chris and I woke up as another storm approached. This one was coming directly for us. The girls were sleeping in their own tent. When I counted five seconds between the lightening and thunder I decided to run to get into their tent in case they were frightened. In the rain and dark I couldn't find the zips but I desperately wanted to get inside before the next lightening bolt. I finally fell into their tent, both were fast asleep.
The storm kept coming. I crouched over the girls - wet, cold and terrified. At its peak Chris says he counted 1 second between the thunder and lightening. I was just praying that the storm would move away quickly. We think lightening hit the ground about 1 kilometre away. I felt so vulnerable in our small tents with absolutely nothing else for shelter, and the van parked next to us probably acting as a lightening rod. Even though the whole storm lasted maybe 15 minutes I don't want to get that close to lightening again. The girls slept through the whole thing. When the rain stopped and the lightening was far into the distance I went back to my tent. I glanced at the sky and couldn't see stars, just an angry stretch of black. I felt frightened by the sky. No wonder the sky was held in reverence by Mongolians. We felt its anger last night.
Alesia has a rash from something on her face - maybe insect repellent or maybe sunscreen, or the combination of both. They are both covered in insect bites, despite my best efforts. We are tempted to go home a day early but will probably loose most of our fee so decide to stick it out.
Today we drove through large flat grasslands and saw small family groups of gazelle bounding through the long grass. We also followed a panicked marmot as he barrelled up the road away from the van. According to the map we spent all day today going directly south. There is a difference between the map and reality though,and Baabaa took the wrong "road" and found out when it ended at a ger 30 minutes later. Parts of the afternoon were spent trying to sleep in the car between the bumps in the road. We started looking for a bug-free camp site early in the afternoon. We pulled up next to the river, but then drove away (despite the girl's protests) and ended up camping on the side of the mountain/hill that overlooks the river.
As I write the wind is blowing, the vegetation is sparse and rocky. NO BUGS! While we were putting up the tents a group of horses came over for a look. For the first night since we started I am actually relaxing in a camp chair by the fire without fighting bugs or worried about the girls. So, advice for a good campsite: windy, sand or rocky soil without grass, or grass eaten very short by herds.
Just after dinner a man and his son rode up the hill for a chat. They live in the ger just below us (they will provide our milk for breakfast, Toya has finally brought out the museli to keep us happy at breakfast time!). They had a chat and then offered to let the girl's sit on one of the horses. Both girls were hesitant, but Baabaa was not taking no for an answer and whisked them both into the saddle. They were content to sit for just a few minutes, that was enough. The detail on the saddle was lovely, silver carved into wonderful patterns. Apparently the saddle had been in the family for a generation or so.
Chris, Sallymae and Alesia collected a nice pile of dung and scrap wood. There are plenty of stones lying about so Chris built a nice circle of big stones to form a small firebreak for the fire and we sat and chatted until the stars came out. Alesia was sad we didn't bring marshmallows for toasting....
