A week away at Lake Khovsgol (part 2)

I went away for a week to visit Lake Khovsgol, located in the north western part of Mongolia. I've decided to break this week into three parts so as not to bore my readers with too many pictures

Part two, in which our hero ventures into local gers and eats various homemade cheese and curd products, and drinks traditional mongolian vodka made from milk. He also visits a hot spring, gets caught in a snow storm (in the middle of summer??) and takes control of a dance party on a boat. All this and more.. so read on for the exciting second part of this story.

One of the families we stopped off at on the way to the hot springs had these delicious cheese type cookies almost. they tasted like a faint farmers cheese. It reminded me of what is inside of blintze. Quite tasty but after a few I was in need of a break.

A nice break from the dirt and grass roads, this is a log bridge which isn't over any water or air, just laid on the ground. The bumpiness from this is still less than the "road" we were on

These are the cabins we stayed in at the hot spring. pretty cosy, except my bed was sort of broken so i slept on the floor.

yep, my foot and shit. I stepped in some fresh horse or cow shit. it was hard on top but soft and warm on the inside. not my finest moment.

The hot springs. Each hut had a different temperature water ranging from 22-48 degrees of celsius. There was that nice sulfuring smell all in the air.

myself, mai, beka, and pete in the hot tub. Drinking vodka and staying classy. Funny story about this place. So that night we sneak into the springs at midnight and go in for a dip. well I must have been in for a while and really dehydrated myself. when we go to leave i feel sick, I mean really, really sick. I don't know if i'm going to puke or shit myself or both. it was raining outside so i end up going to just sit in the rain. I feel like shit, pure shit. I think partly that i could die here. I'm pretty weak and delirious. I'm telling the others to go on without me and I have visions of either being woken up naked outside the hut by the mongolians who run the place or of being eaten by a wolf (yes, there are wolf around these parts) After some time, and help from Pete, I make it back to the camp. Weak and tired i gulp some water, put my sleeping bag on the ground, and pass out.

On the way home it starts to snow. Nothing like a snow storm on an August day.

The following day is a disgusting rainy day. We decide to move to the ger camp across the street from where we were the night before, and to also go on a boat ride around the lake. No one is too plussed about it as it's rainy and nasty out but we decide to go. pretty much as soon as we drop our bags in the new ger camp, the sun comes out. It's still very cold, but we have son. This boat (not the barge) is the boat we go out on.

notice the snow capped mountains. These were where we walked a few days before. there was no snow then, but covered now. Timing is everything. :)

more majestic mountains, now with snow

The cruise director. I took her hat and donned it on my head, she seemed ok with it, as long as we posed for pics.

As the music started playing, the dancing took off. as the dancing took off, i made my rounds with the dancers. This lady knew how to get down.

Rocking the middle of the dance circle. These mongolians know how to get down, and how to have a fun time on a boat

Look at me, driving a boat. Though Carl clearly steals the picture with his face and thumbs up.

I'm the captain. and I'm purposely driving us off course left as covertly as possible :)

captain carl. seriously, he had me cracking up all day. A great boat ride indeed.

but could this day get any better???

I guess we'll need to see what happens in the third installment of my week at Khovsgol.