Heading back North from the dunes of the Gobi, we encountered a lot more of nothing, exactly what you look for when you come to Mongolia. Actually, the landscapes the next few days were incredible. We had mixes of grasslands, small mountains, rock canyons, rock-strewn plains and even got into a forested area of higher elevation where we saw our first trees in a few days. Eventually, we weaved our way to Orkhon Khurkhree, a waterfall set among a gorge in a lovely yellow grassland, surrounded by yellow, orange, red and green trees. There was also an unfortunate mishap along the way. Heading downhill on a bumpy set of tracks, we heard a faint honk and looked over to see a local on a motorcycle trying to make a pass at a very bad time. Hitting some of the rocks and bumps, coupled with going too fast down the hill, his bike soon began to swerve uncontrollably and then fell underneath him, sending him and the bike flipping down the hill. As with most locals, he wasn't wearing a helmet, so we were quite worried. Just as we stopped, Erwin was already out of the van, offering a hand to the man on the ground. Dazed, he looked up, blood spilling from his head. His cut was actually not too deep, though, especially considering the speed of his crash. More embarrassed by the group of tourists trying to help him, going against the macho Mongolian way of the nomads, he was anxious to get back on the bike and on the road. We suspect he had a concussion, though he wouldn't wait around, so we bandaged his head, fixed the broken pieces of his motorcycle, and he was off. Luckily, his thick del also served as some protection against scrapes and bruises for his upper body, though I still doubt that he was in good shape when he finally looked himself over that night. We passed him again down the road, a few people fearing that he was holding his head, though he was actually on his cell phone, so I guess he wasn't in a dire state.
(Erwin claimed he was stronger than the Russian van. You can guess who won that one. Actually, this was one of our smoke/bathroom/stretch breaks. You can see the bathroom just around the back of the van, and the front, and the side, and behind it...yep, it's everywhere you look.)
(A bit of color for our drive.)
(Stopping of in a provincial capital, we were happy to have a brief stint of paved roads and even a shower. Here are a few locals walking to the morning market, dressed in dels.)
(Mongolian cowboy. Or possibly yakboy or goatboy. Sometimes you can't tell.)
(A small herd of yaks. A strange animal, they seem like a mix of a cow and a shaggy dog. Sometimes a shaggy dog with huge horns.)
(Heading up a steep, wooded hill, we finally made it to the top, where we stopped at the ovoo. These monuments are scattered along the countryside, and you are supposed to walk clockwise around it three times, tossing pebbles or tiny bits of money into the middle for good luck on the journey. If we didn't have time to stop, Muha would just honk, which apparently assuages the gods long enough until our next stop.)
(Only late September, the colors were already changing, and the drive through this area was beautiful, despite a bit of overcast skies.)
(This simple meal was actually the one bit of variety that we did have. This one had carrots, in addition to the noodle and mutton. Again, I liked it all, but others were happy to have a new meal. Other than Erwin; he was sick in the van at the time.)
(After an incredible drive, we stopped at our campsite at Orkhon waterfall. The nice locals greeted us with handshakes and hellos, along with a blazing fire fueled by wood and yak dung in our ger, which was quite nice, since it got down to about -5 C/20 F that night.)
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