Day 36, Khovd to somewhere to towards Altai

High point: An amazing sunset, followed by a great dinner with equal thanks to Dave and Vestey Foods for their invaluable inputs.

Low point: today was my personal nadir. It started with a sore head as I’d imbibed perhaps a touch too much of the local potion the previous evening. This was followed up by a 185 k drive on tracks that made sitting in Martha feel like being in a washing machine. Also it was a filthy hot day. Finally, every stop we made was warmly greeted by a swarm of ravenous mosquitos. Wow, I hope I’m not sounding as fed up as the stage one crew. It’s really not that bad!No point: Mosquitos.

Mongolian phrase of the day: mal sureg targan tavtaiyuu? I hope your animals are fattening up nicely.

Mongolian dish of the day: buuz. Mutton dumplings. Not bad.

Author’s comments: a tough drive from Khovd today, with Martha really not enjoying the terrain, with a few bits becoming loose like the screenwash tank, the exhaust quick fix didn’t quite last out, plus a leak of oil from the rear diff. She received some good treatment at the end of the day, but we’ll have to look after her, she has a long journey ahead.

We had a spell on the road where it seemed like death valley. Firstly we passed, and macabrely reversed back, to view a pit of goat carcasses gradually decaying. Then we drove passed a rotting horse, being ravaged by a pair of kites. Sadly we didn’t have the windows rolled up for that, as the old nag was proper stinking. Out here there’s no one to tidy up this stuff, nature looks after itself. But it certainly generated some hearty chat in the cab though.

Mosquito bite count: Steve currently leading the stakes, with possibly more than 100 bites, and some beauty lovebites on his neck. James has several and most notably, a few direct strikes at his left temple. Ross has been harrassed, sporting some chunky nibbles on his arm, but it looks like the mossies are giving a wideberth to the hairsuited one. Dave is pretty much untouched, clearly Welsh meat not up to their palate. I have several bites including one on the cheek, but definitely still plenty of space for tonight’s sortie.

Ben

[flickr album=72157624665099599 num=30 size=Square]