You might think that the morning of the 24th would begin with a birthday kiss from the husband, but you’d be wrong. The first sight of the birthday girl is that of a little black-haired Mongolian lad, who’d come to stoke her coals at 6:00am. But having warmed her up, it was my turn to surprise Karen with a total lack of presents, but I did have the obligatory card … and some Charbonnel et Walker champagne truffles to be washed down with a drink made from instant coffee and powdered milk. Now, what romantic 50 year old lady would not have been satiated by such a morning ….?
Then I wished her “tursun uduriin mend hurgie” which you will probably have guessed is “happy birthday “ in Mongolian. The champagne was chilling in the camp kitchen, but I’d have been better advised to just leave it outside the ger tent door, because it was so cold outside overnight.
After a leisurely start to the birth day, we ambled over to the main building for our brekkie … now here was a bigger surprise than my birthday gifts. After some bread and coffee, out came the broth of soup, potatoes and some other related starch vegetable. It was really tasty, but made it difficult to finish off the coffee, which was a problem, because the Mongolians can’t abide the throwing away of any milk products.
After receiving our packed lunch, off we went across the steppes. Much easier than the steps in Lugano … these do not require any upward walking … just lots of walking across flimsy grass on sandy plains, all at 1500-1600 metres elevation.
During our 4-5 hour hike, we saw a total of 2 people, both on motorbikes, and 2 dogs, whom we saw later on herding about 300 cattle from one part of the plain to another (presumably in search of food because the grass is so sparse).
We got back somewhat tired, so we retrieved our Laurent Perrier to recharge our energy, had our shower within the allotted timeslot, and cruised over to the breakfast building in time for our 7:00pm meal.
We got there at 6:45pm because Karen’s brother was due to call, but Gege told me to disappear and to reappear at 7:00pm exactly. She stated it firmly and in such perfect English that it was obviously planned and rehearsed. So I made some excuses to Karen (fortunately she had stopped in the toilet enroute) and we delayed for 15 minutes back in the ger. On return, the entire staff (all 7 of them) sang happy birthday in English as we entered, to which Karen responded thank you in Mongolian. The net result was that neither side had a clue what the other was saying, but the sentiments were obvious.
We sat down to our dinner of mutton and cheese (in a different type of pastry) and enjoyed a dessert of yak’s milk and chocolate layer cake with a candle and the number 50 atop. It was a fantastic end to a truly extraordinary day.
The little black-haired Mongolian boy stoked Karen’s coals again during dinner, so she was truly ready for a big night’s sleep after dinner. Just as well, because a huge storm came through and the thunder, lightening, rain and wind all combined to make a truly memorable night (great, cos I could just go straight to sleep).
So where is the pic of the little black mongolian boy stokin oor Karen's coals and when is he going to stoke mine???? :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Guys, a belated Happy Birthday Karen!!! But where'e the bubbles? Clive & Ces xx
ReplyDeleteHey there - for anyone reading this, Peter & Karen can't get online to Black Humour or FB for the next month - Chinese (fire) walls!! Peter will give us all an update probably in month's time.
ReplyDeleteIf you speak to Pete before, tell him he can bypass the Chinese firewalls via a website called;
ReplyDeletewww.vtunnel.com Tricks of the trade! :-)
CD