Munkh-Od, Dorma and Other Nomads: A 12 Day Adventure Through The Gobi

Munkh-Od...
I'm back. And now I'm sick. I think I told many of you that "I know I'm going to get sick, it's only a matter of time." The time came, but thankfully it came on the very last morning of my big Gobi trip. They tell me I have sun poisoning, despite having no sunburns, and whatever that is sucks. And it turns out water can't prevent it. My driver was nice enough to rub my back as I bent over on the side of the road (it doesn't seem fitting to use that word, road, but oh well) to vomit. As it turns out, 50 degrees Celsius is no joke. The weather in the Gobi is nothing less than punishing.

I really didn't want to start out writing about this by saying, "I don't really know how to begin writing about 12 days of absolutely fascinating adventure" because it's such a silly introduction. Too bad I'm such a bad writer. In any case, many of you know that I favor bullet points. In fact, my journal was written in notes and bullet points. Let's just keep going with that.

Best Experiences

• learning how to sew traditional patterns and del buttons
• playing with 2 year old Dorma, the coolest 2 year old on the planet (SEE LEFT)
  
• riding in my "Russian jeep" or what I like to call, "Soviet carbon monoxide sweat lodge"
• drinking gallons of milk tea in every home
• napping on the floor of gers in the hot weather
• learning how to build a ger
• climbing insane rock formations as well as in and out of caves
• speaking in broken Mongolian
• drinking airag and khoolmog- fermented mare and camel milk
• singing poorly to a family
• riding on a wooden saddle for 15 minutes and then transferring to the back of a motorcycle (still sore)
• running up the Uush Sand Dunes (and then having to stop repeatedly to nurse my burned feet)
• teaching 15 and 18 year olds how to curse in English
  
• bathing out of a well
  
• walking 10km across the desert and not knowing I'm sweating because of the wind thinking I might die there
• taking an horse cart in the rain
• waiting out a gigantic hail storm

Darn, this is getting kind of long. More on "What I Learned" tomorrow.