Imagine

Imagine waking up to a sunny day in Mongolia. You have a day of horse riding ahead of you on the shoe of a lake in the northern parts of the country. Even though it is a clear day and you can't see a cloud anywhere on the sky, you put on all you have of warm clothes and makes sure that your jacket is properly zipped up so that the freezing wind won't sneak in under you scarf.

You help your guides load the pack horses before you climb up on your own horse and the group sets out into the nature. It doesn't go fast, you have all the time in the world to enjoy the nature around you, the colors and the quietness. The wind blowing in the threes, the birds that sings and flies away as you pass by. It is a wonderful change to the Russian minivan you have just spent three days in.

After a few hours you stop for lunch. You all enter into a ger where you are served home made bread with cream and sugar and a salty milk tea with butter. According to Mongolian hospitality, travelers can enter any ger on the country side and they will be served whatever the family has to offer. It is great!

As the day comes to an end you arrive at the ger where you will spend the night. It's already pretty cold and you hurry inside the warm ger, help yourself to s cup of tea and relaxes a little bit before dinner. You have to keep the fire alive at all times, if not all the heat will go out through the big hole in the roof that they have to get light in the ger at day time.

Going to bed you put on your thermo underwear, scarf, glows and a beanie before you climb into your sleeping bag and pull the blanket over you ready for a good night sleep. In the middle of the night you wake up and can't really feel your toes anymore. It's dark, the fire has gone out, you really want to get up and start it again, but you can't get your self to get out into the cold ger so you try to fall asleep again. And eventually you do.

Morning comes and the ger gets brighter and brighter as the sun rises and slowly you wake up in minus 2 degrees Celsius to yet another day on the horse back in he Mongolian country side.