Central Mongolia, Day Two
The old woman is up a 6am stoking the fire and making the milk tea. This is the Mongolian staple served everywhere you go and you’ll either hate it or kind of like it. I’m of the latter group as long as the tea they mix the milk with isn’t too salty. She mixes cow milk with green tea and it’s good. We’re on the road and happy, the kind of happiness that comes from new friends, food, and warm hosts. We leave the couple with sweets, wet wipes, and the empty bottle of vodka.
After lunch he takes us on a hike down to the waterfall which hasn’t thawed yet and is still just a big cliff with a pool at the bottom. Further along there is a river that cuts a ravine through the volcanic rock and we climb down to walk among the sweet-smelling ponderosa pine trees.
What Muugi lacks in English proficiency he makes up for as a master of mimicry. He points out the yak (saltlak) and grunts while gouging the ground with his imaginary horns. The progression of animal imitations continues and they’re spot-on, finely tuned from a life spent tending the beasts. We follow him along the river until we reach an actual waterfall where we strip, some of us more than others, and have a makeshift bath amid the melting ice chunks.
Tags: Eurasia: Marco Polo-in' it, Mongolia
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