Go Go Gobi
After an hour of broken paved road the driver veers off onto a dirt road. In places the road diverges into two or more paths, only to converge a hundred feet ahead. It is bumpy and dusty, and the further out we go, the windier and chillier it becomes. The landscape slowly changes from small, rolling hills, no trees, some grass, to flatter, broken sandy land with sparse plant clumps. The sky is blue with some clouds, at times a few drops sprinkle down.
There is very little traffic past the paved road - we will meet no more than 5 vehicles today.
After some time the dirt road turns into a dirt trail - at points the tracks of other vehicles are barely visible. The trail is little smoother than the surrounding landscape, your only reason for following it is that someone else did.
At one point the car starts to overheat. We stop and let it cool down, then drive a while longer. The driver stops at one of the few gers that dot the area and asks the inhabitants something, then we're off. A couple turns later he backtracks to follow a different set of vehicle tracks, and we finally end up at a well. I think this is what he asked about at the ger.
Along the way we've stopped at a few ovoo (shamanistic piles of rocks and trinkets generally in high places), a shrine, at various points just to see the landscape (or because the old Russian jeep needed some work), and at a small town. Now the driver moves into the desert, no tracks to follow, and after another 30 minutes we arrive at the ger we'll be sleeping in tonight.
As dusk descends, the wind begins to die down. Perhaps the temperature differential of the sun's heat against cold ground creates the wind.
We are served soup comprised of pasta, some vegetables, and small pieces of either mutton or marmot.
After dinner we walk into the desert for a bit, eventually going our separate ways. I see some lizards, a few wolf spiders, lots of beatles, some small birds, and a strange insect, looks like a stink bug coloured white and tan. When i can no longer see the campsite, i stop and listen: some wind, and a few birds chirping. It is a very empty place.
Looking up, there is still cloud cover, and no planes. It's like 9/12/2001 - no planes, and no cloud streaks from where the planes had flown. It is quite a different, beautiful sight to behold.
Only in a few spots were there running wires. A few gers we passwed have solar panels on top, some have satellite dishes out front. The owner's ger at our current campsite has both.
I fall asleep easily at night, and wake up easily to kill the multitude of insects that are crawling all over me. I think they are mostly harmless beetles, but i try to kill while i still can.
There is very little traffic past the paved road - we will meet no more than 5 vehicles today.
After some time the dirt road turns into a dirt trail - at points the tracks of other vehicles are barely visible. The trail is little smoother than the surrounding landscape, your only reason for following it is that someone else did.
At one point the car starts to overheat. We stop and let it cool down, then drive a while longer. The driver stops at one of the few gers that dot the area and asks the inhabitants something, then we're off. A couple turns later he backtracks to follow a different set of vehicle tracks, and we finally end up at a well. I think this is what he asked about at the ger.
Along the way we've stopped at a few ovoo (shamanistic piles of rocks and trinkets generally in high places), a shrine, at various points just to see the landscape (or because the old Russian jeep needed some work), and at a small town. Now the driver moves into the desert, no tracks to follow, and after another 30 minutes we arrive at the ger we'll be sleeping in tonight.
As dusk descends, the wind begins to die down. Perhaps the temperature differential of the sun's heat against cold ground creates the wind.
We are served soup comprised of pasta, some vegetables, and small pieces of either mutton or marmot.
After dinner we walk into the desert for a bit, eventually going our separate ways. I see some lizards, a few wolf spiders, lots of beatles, some small birds, and a strange insect, looks like a stink bug coloured white and tan. When i can no longer see the campsite, i stop and listen: some wind, and a few birds chirping. It is a very empty place.
Looking up, there is still cloud cover, and no planes. It's like 9/12/2001 - no planes, and no cloud streaks from where the planes had flown. It is quite a different, beautiful sight to behold.
Only in a few spots were there running wires. A few gers we passwed have solar panels on top, some have satellite dishes out front. The owner's ger at our current campsite has both.
I fall asleep easily at night, and wake up easily to kill the multitude of insects that are crawling all over me. I think they are mostly harmless beetles, but i try to kill while i still can.
posted by francisco at 6/08/2006 07:57:00 PM
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