Days Fifteen & Sixteen Khvolsgol Nuur

Day Fifteen

The early birds are out and about - Richard for his daily walk, Suzanne wandering with her camera at the ready, and John, usually with the camera round his neck, is today doing our laundry.  Jess offers a day walk to the top of a nearby mountain and all except Janine accept the challenge.  Jess carries lunch and John, water and a stove. 

Turuu drops us off about 3km from camp and we follow the road to the top.  Every area of shade is taken advantage of as we zig-zag up, ever up!  Some very steep zigs are compensated by some not-so-steep zags, and it’s basically just hard work…Meaghan struggles with her breathing in the early part – but the views!!!!  At every turn in the road there is another aspect of the lake or another perspective of the mountains.  The lake changes colour and range upon range of mountains stretch back from the lake, some are forested, but others are stark, their sheer black ridges reaching skywards! 

We are overtaken by a young woman who is walking to the top because she doesn’t ride – the rest of her party, from Taiwan, catch us up on horseback some time later.

We stop for lunch on a rocky plateau, short of the top, in a sheltered place out of the wind, and with magnificent views of both lake and mountains.  After a good rest, a fine lunch and a reviving cuppa, we climb to the top where we can clearly see the snow-capped peaks on the Mongolia/Siberia border.  There is a Russian communication tower but, more spectacularly, hundreds of uvoos!  There are all shapes and sizes, some obviously built by visitors like ourselves, are quite simple, small and unadorned, but others a piled high and have khadags, flags or other decoration.  We add our own special uvoo to support our friends who  are doing it tough at the moment – they know who they are. 

Julie decides to go it alone on the return with the rest of the party following slowly…the downhills are also challenging and deserving of respect.  Some of us have probably not had enough to drink and are starting to feel the effects…and we probably should be having more regular rests.  John starts to get the wobbles (a forewarning of the onset of a 'bug') and Graeme is slowing down markedly.  By the time we get to the log cabin where Turuu dropped us off, Graeme needs serious rest time, so jess decides to continue as ask one of the boys to pick him up.  Suzanne, Richard and Meaghan go with her and John and I wait with Graeme.  After a rest with the mozzies, and an encounter with a chipmunk, Graeme decided he would like to continue slowly towards camp.  Another rest by the lake and here comes Sandag!

Janine has had a restful day walking in the area and has the camp all ready for dinner preparation.  John and I catch up on our fluids with cups of tea and water while assisting Jess, Janine and Julie with dinner.  Graeme rests up and recovers well.  Our dinner of Korean spiced yak and vegetable rice is yummy and just the thing after a long day.  Janine and Richard light the fire but most are in bed early.  John has a squirmy tummy tonight.

Looking back

Lunch with a view....again!



The long climb

Uvoo overlooking Khovskol

Cheeky chipmunk

 

 

Day Sixteen

A lazy day today.  John elects to miss breakfast and ends up sleeping under the trees for the morning.  There’s lots of laundry around, and folk are walking, taking photos, reading, snoozing, swimming (brrr!) and just relaxing.  Turuu and Sandag are mending tyres today, using the lake to locate any leaks.  A family camped nearby packs up and the daughter takes a plastic bag of rubbish into the nearby scrub to dump…go figure!

Jess prepares dinner and places it in her African ‘beanbag’ as backpackers pass by on the road as well as a couple of horse trek groups, complete with pack horses. Richard and Meaghan ride this afternoon, albeit a short ride, but an experience nonetheless.  John continues to sleep the day away but says he feels OK.  I’m a bit of a wuus and warm up some water to wash my hair and it gets decidedly cooler with a few spots of rain.  A heavier shower sends everyone to their tents.  The fire I lit to heat my hair water struggles on (with the help of a large log thrown on by Jess as the rain started) and we are able to stoke it up for the evening.

We have an early start tomorrow as we head back to ‘the real world’ after yet another unforgettable experience.  The variety of this country knows no bounds and we continue to be in awe of it and its people.


Sunrise over Khovskol



Early morning

Tree creeper

Richard & Meaghan off riding

Campsite