The Mongolian adventure continues!

Returning from Terelj, we are left at the black market. They sell yurts there, it’s interesting to see their structure.

With my chinese visa in the pocket, I am waiting for one thing only, to leave this city again. I thus decide to take a bus to Mörön, from where I will be able to reach Lake Khövsgöl, which is said to be Baikal’s little brother. I actually have a precise plan: to meet up with some people who have been travelling Mongolia by horse for several months.

I am still with Atle. The bus breaks are impressive: we have the feeling we are literally stuck in the middle of nowhere (which is kind of the case!).

After a night, we arrive in Mörön, that isn’t a very interesting town.

We even get to eat a nice soup with lots of sheep fat, mmmmmh!

It’s impossible to contact the people who are riding horses, because of the very poor connectivity in the region. I don’t want to wait another day in this place, I thus accept to abandon the idea of joining them… Nevermind!

We take a taxi under the pooring rain for Khatgal, village at the very end of the lake an hour away from there. The guesthouse where we arrive is very cosy!

In the evening, I spend a great moment in the company of other musicans, we improvise a little jam session under the sunset. Yeah!

12.08.2015

“Still in Mongolia. I really feel like I have left all civilisation behind. Eddie Vedder’s song ‘Society’ is playing on a loop in my head. How do they live already, over there, in Switzerland? I don’t really miss comfort, even the food. My friends, a bit. I would like to share with them the spectacular landscapes that are scrolling before my eyes. It’s my birthday soon so necessarily, I think about it more than usual. I apprehend that day a bit, I don’t know where and with whom I’ll be. For now, I am close to Lake Khövsgöl, in a small wooden house of a nice guesthouse, still with Atle. I like him a lot, but I am also looking forward to being alone again. Tomorrow, normally. I think I am not made to travel too long with someone, it makes me a bit weird, more lunatic, irritable, I don’t like that. I like my own little world of mine, it costs me a bit to share it too long with the same person. It isn’t the first time. Maybe it depends on who, too.

I love the fact that there are horses everywhere, here. I remember when I was younger and I spent hours alone with those animals, in the fields clsoe to my house. I didn’t do anything special, I just liked their soothing company. They are magnificient animals, I will never get tired of looking at them. I also love waving at the children, they are so cute, so full of life, and they love to throw huge smiles to tourists, just like adults actually. Mongols are people who admittedly give out an impression of a certain toughness, indispensable to survive in such a climate, but mixed with a lot of patience and benevolence. I enjoy it, most people give back my smiles in the street and in shops, unlike in Russia. They make a lot of efforts to help us and communicate, despite not speaking a word of English. So even if my emotions sometimes play tricks on me, I take, I take everything I can around me, all the beauty of nature and people. So much calm, so much freedom…”

“Society, crazy indeed, hope you’re not lonely without me…”