The Gobi!

Wednesday:

Before heading out to the Gobi, we stopped off at an old Buddist temple - it's no longer a temple, it's a museum. It was really cool to see, but very unsettling too. Parts of the inside were really ornate and beautiful, and other parts were very violent and almost evil looking. Severed body parts, blood, very gruesome.

We all hopped into one van/bus and headed out to the Gobi - we later found out that we would drive 4 hours on Wednesday and technically make it to the desert 'til the next day. We drove 4 of the most bumpy hours I've ever experienced in my life - I can't even explain how bumpy this ride was, and I was one of the lucky ones in the middle!

We stopped at a Ger camp for the night - we were all so excited to stay in a REAL Ger - finally!! We hung out, played cards, and the boys were complete idiots (should I be surprised?) and decided to hike up to the tallest hill in view right as a lightening storm was rolling in. And then it started pouring - so badly, you couldn't even see that there were hills in the first place. I was a nervous wreck (also not surprising), and they finally made it back (soaked) about an hour later. I was so glad they made it back fine, and then I was so mad... I hate worrying like that!

We turned in pretty early, as we were completely exhausted (as I have been every night by around 9). Keith (the guy who brought us on the trip) came by and warned us we might want to shake our beds out before we got in them, because he found bugs in his... so we did, and thus the start of the one of the most miserable nights I have ever experienced! There were bugs EVERYWHERE - they kept getting on the beds with us, falling from the ceiling (we could hear them thudding on the floor continuously, and occasionally making a soft thud... which we realized meant they had landed on our bed, not the floor). I would doze off a little, then wake up to something crawling on me - I would bat it away, but then my adrenaline would be rushing and I would be hot and not able to sleep... just lay there. listening. thud. thud. soft thud . thud. something tickling my arm . HORRIBLE!! We finally got up and left the Ger (which, by the way, smelled like wet, dirty dog - well, actually... wet, dirty sheep - but I'm sure you can imagine the dog smell a little easier) and just walked around the campground. Finally we saw one of the Mongolians that came with us (Bear - he is AWESOME) leave his Ger and drag his entire mattress outside to sleep. They were now not only crawling on him, but actually biting him. We felt much less like weenies with a big, burly Mongolian not able to sleep in there either. He opened up the van for us, and Kaitlin and I bailed on the Ger and slept there for the rest of the night (this was about 1am, so we did give it a good try, seeing as we went to bed around 9:30!). We had never been so excited to sleep in a van in our lives!! We thought we were going to get a lot of crap about it for the rest of the trip, but instead, everyone (even the guys) were like, "Ya, that was smart - that was a good idea." AAGGHH!!! So glad that's over.