Mongolia Diary - 6th July

We had 'man tou' for breakfast this morning, on top of the usual cereals and yoghurt. They tasted really good in themselves, but accompanying it with ba kua, that some members in our group had the foresight to bring, made it unbeatable.

[There were several tips gleaned from the food shopping that some of these ladies did. Chow Pheng: buy the Croc Fruits from Carrefour (not the muesli). Doris: Freeze dried oyster mushrooms from Bee Chun Heng (who'd have thought); other dried fruits and wonders (sambal) from NTUC. Alice: XO sauce (fried rice or just onions) and Japanese sa-sa (condiments that can be sprinkled on anything.)]

We set off at about 9.30am. Today, we were to ascend 300m into the narrow pass that will take us into the Yamaatiin River valley. We were reassured that the gradient would be gradual. At our first stop, we sang 'Happy Birthday' for Foong Lian.

We reached the pass, elevation 2,965m. This was where we waited for the pack camels and horses so that they could start the descent into the valley before us. I guess we didn't want them to come tumbling down behind us.

The view from the top of the pass was simply magnificent. About 1000m below and beyond laid the valley through which the Yamaatiin River ran from our right to the left as far as our eyes could see. On the opposite side, there were the mountains.

The camels were coaxed down the narrow zigzagged track that took us into the valley. The rains had brought out a rash of wild flowers. We could not help but stop constantly for photo opportunities.

Reaching the bottom, we started following the river further down the valley. In the distance, we could see small bits of pine forests. These were the first trees we had seen in days. At one point, we actually came across this part of the valley that was carpeted with these blue flowers.

We took to the ground nearer the foot of the hills, so that we had to only cross these small tributaries that were trickling down to join and become the river. But we did cross a river on horseback one more time, the fastest and deepest we have had to negotiate so far. We were actually having some doubts about this and reassuring ourselves that Gana had not picked the worst possible point at which to cross. Fortunately, it all went without much incident, thanks to our excellent herders whom we piggy-backed on. Up a small slope and then we broke for lunch.

The weather was excellent this day which lightened everyone's moods considerably. There were moment's of frivolity and we were able to enjoy the surrounding flora so much more. One final river crossing which we completed on foot and we finally ended a short day's walk of 12km and made camp.

Our campsite was across the fast flowing river from the pine forest. We were warned against pitching our tents less than 2m from the edge of the river as parts of it have actually been collapsing due to the rains. We weren't really sure if it was urban legend, but we did not want to wake up in the middle of the night rolling down the river cocooned in the tent with all our worldly belongings. So Ranjan and I pitched our tent just 2m away from the edge.

The sun was actually blazing but the river was freezing. Not much washing to be done. Just lazing and enjoying the rest of that day and really looking forward to the rest that was planned for tomorrow.