We made it to the airport in plenty of time, and I sat around and tried to upload my photos and write my journal. I made the decision to make this trip without my laptop, and I was already starting to regret that choice. Typing on the screen keyboard isn't easy, and the mobile apps are less consistent than the same programs on the computer hard drive. Not to mention, I bought the tablet for a completely different purpose, and it isn't as fast or strong as I anticipate when working with photos or journaling. But, it's too late now. I've left home without my computer, so just make the best of it. I got the journaling done (of which half of this entry was lost by the time I got home and started writing the blog), and most of the pictures loaded (after 3 tries) and uploaded to the cloud, and we made our plane to Ulaanbaatar on time. I had redundant saving with me on a large, brand new SD card and a 1TB external hard drive, so anything that didn't load to Lightroom Mobile on the tablet, was still available.
We landed around 2:00 am-ish, and as promised, we had a driver waiting for us when we cleared customs. My companion had to get the cash out, again, as I still had no way to access cash, but we weren't likely to need any cash until after the snow leopard camps unless we chose to go to town during our day at the hotel. We got in the taxi and headed for the hotel. When we got to a cross roads, the driver pointed out the city lights for Ulaanbaatar and turned the other direction. Our hotel was supposed to be secluded and a good place for birding, so that wasn't unexpected. After a while, we turned off the paved roads, and started down barely visible dirt roads. The driver kept calling someone and turning around, obviously lost. I didn't check time, but we must have traversed these areas for at least an hour. My phone battery was running down, so I only took one picture.
We sat in the back, quietly cutting up, and discussing which horror movie it was most like. I always send Bruce and Chrissy a message when I board a flight, when I land, and when I get to the hotel, and we have daily "proof of life" message requirements when one of us is traveling. Plus Bruce likes to track me on Life 360 when I'm gone. So, I sent a couple of tongue-in-cheek texts to Bruce, who kept asking me the name of the hotel we were going to, and I couldn't remember it and didn't really have enough battery to look it up. My idiot self didn't even think about grabbing one of those extra chargers out of my camera bag and plugging my phone in! I told him I thought the cabbie was lost, and his answer was, "I know." Apparently, he had been tracking the whole debacle. But it was a fun adventure, and suddenly, our driver pulled back out onto the pavement for a few seconds and off onto a different dirt road - this one with a sign that pointed to the Mongolica Hotel and Resort. When we arrived, we were escorted up to our room, basically the penthouse suite. Color me impressed!
I sent this video to Bruce and told him we had made it to our hotel, and his response was, "Charge your phone!" Nothing about glad I wasn't Mongolia Chainsaw'ed or anything like that. Just the instruction to charge my phone. Anyway, I plugged my phone in, unpacked the CPAP, and fell asleep.
I woke the next morning around 9:30 and went downstairs, still in my nightgown, which can double as a long, black dress in a pinch (or not in such a pinch, and I'm just lazy). This place has a pretty swank restaurant, but the guy said he'd bring breakfast up to us and confirmed that the water is not potable so would need to be boiled in the kettle if we didn't drink the bottles. I got a message from the guys from Soaring Adventures to enjoy the day around the hotel, and that the driver would be back for us at 4:00 am the following morning to take us back to the airport where we would meet Bina, one of the principals and our tour guide. I took absolute advantage of a day that I didn't have to get dressed and read my book while looking out the windows. And the view from the window was good. There were some birds, a herd of untamed domestic horses (that's an important distinction here), and a couple of kitty cats. And I did some laundry, washing our traveling clothes.
A nice, early night to bed, and up bright and early to meet our taxi driver at 4:00 am for the ride back to the airport. He didn't get lost this time. He even joked about knowing the way this time! And we met Bina at the check-in for our flight to Khovd. The first thing I learned is that his name is pronounced with a long I. I had been pronouncing the I as a long E, so that's going to take some getting used to.
I got called back for luggage inspection. I had to open my suitcase to show them that what they thought was a whip was actually my tripod, and what they thought were small batteries (that aren't allowed in checked bags) was hand warmers. We talked for a bit and learned that the mama snow leopard they had been watching was still there with her three cubs, who are now about one year old and will stay with her until they're two. And we were going to Khovd, where we will drive over and meet an eagle hunter tonight and then head to the snow leopard camp in the morning.
We got settled onto the plane - and then came back off because of a "technical issue". Personally, I'm glad they found it and fixed it. While we were waiting in the airport, Bina gave us some cultural information, animal preservation/conservation, language information, and pretty much any information we asked for. He said it's only a 2 hour drive from Khovd to the eagle hunter, so we should be fine. We went to the "Nice to CU" store and got some snacks. We had fun trying to properly pronounce the town we were going to, and eventually reboarded our plane and were on our way.
Upon arrival, we met our driver, who took us to our hotel, where we checked in and had lunch. Then we headed to Polbo, about a 2-hour drive, just as promised. It was a pleasant drive and pretty scenery.
This statuary was just on the way out of town
One of the only signs of civilization between Khovd and Polbo, fronting a beautiful rock hill.
Lots of goat crossing signs
I especially liked this one
We went through part of the Altai Mountains
And skirted the highest peak, Tsambagarav, with an elevation of just under 4,200 m (13,500 ft).
When we reached Polbo, we met 69-year-old Leikham, a seventh-generation Cossack-Mongolian eagle hunter. And just now, while writing this, I'm realizing that he may have been saying Kazakh-Mongolian instead of Cossack-Mongolian, which would make much more sense, since we were quite close to Kazakhstan. These are two very different cultural groups, and Kazakh fits much better with a nomadic eagle hunter than the Russian warrior Cossack does. Anyway, I digress.
We learned quite a bit about eagle hunting. They catch them wild, preferably as fledglings or stolen directly from the nests, but sometimes trapping older birds. It takes a little over a month to train a fledgling and a little over 3 months to train an older bird. Most of the training is to teach them to kill but not eat the prey. During hunting season, they feed the eagles washed cow lungs. This is to keep them healthy, but hungry enough to hunt and come home for more food. During the off season, they feed them rabbit. Mongolians do not eat rabbit. They only use female eagles for hunting because they're larger and stronger than the males. They generally keep them for 6 or 7 years before releasing them in the wild again so they can breed and keep the species promulgating. Sometimes, they will have an especially good hunter, and they will keep her longer, sometimes up to 13 years. The tradition of eagle hunting is passed down based on interest, not based on birth order, and no descendants are required or pressured to take up the sport. Recently, women have started entering the field, but Leikham is not a fan of that practice.
As is the practice in Mongolia, when visitors come, they put out food. Most of this spread was candy and the Aaruul, a fermented yogurt made from some type of milk curds (cow, yak, camel, or goat). He also had milk tea, which was yak milk and tea powder. I thought that was quite good.
He also showed us many of the awards he has won for horse racing and eagle hunting (mostly on the walls) as well as the coats and hats he has made from the hides of animals, mostly fox legs. They may not eat rabbits, but they do eat fox, and while I was never clear what they do with the rest of the fox hide, I'm sure it gets used. These people are very thrifty. Not much goes to waste. The fox leg pelt is used in his coats and hats because that's the softest part of the pelt.
The inner lining of this coat took the fur of the legs of 30 foxes. It's one of his most prized possessions.
This coat and hat are made of wolf, an animal too large to be taken by an eagle.
After talking and learning, we went outside and met Ana, his current eagle, with whom he is very happy. She's a very sweet girl, and we even got to hold and pose with her wearing the fox coat.
As we drove back to Khovd, we drove through a short-lived but significant snow storm. Still not really enough to put much on the ground, but it blew hard and obstructed visibility. Didn't seem to faze our driver, though.
When we got to Khovd, there were lights up all over town. This is apparently the normal state of streets in Mongolian towns.
After dinner, we went to our rooms for a good night's sleep and a good shower. Tomorrow, we leave for the snow leopard camp. I won't have overnight electricity to use my CPAP, and we won't have showers for a while.
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