This weekend we took a trip to the Hustai national park. It was about a 2 hour ride to the country side. We went there to stay in a ger (pronounced g-air) over night and to see the wild horses that Mongolia is known for. This adventure began with the ride to the park. We went with Dr. Noble and her translator Doko (who was a super sweet woman!). Doko arranged for someone she knew to drive us to the park in his VW-like van. Mind you, we have told you about the roads here and now we are traveling them in this van. We're trucking along the (actually nice for once) road when we come across a group of horses in the middle of the road. Our driver didn't slow down but went off the side of the road to, what we thought was to avoid the horses. We realized after he did not get back on the road, that this was actually the way to the park. We off-roaded for about 45 minutes (in this van don't forget) which was a fun and bouncy ride. We saw many herds on the side of the road and in the road. It was amazing to us that our driver knew which dirt path to take given there were about 5 of them branching out from the one we were on. We finally get to the national park/ ger "hotel". The hotel is actually a bunch of gers set up in a fenced in area and a main building that housed the people who worked the hotel and a small dining hall.
We had dinner in the dining hall and they fed us good food. They also started a fire for us in our ger. When we finally got in our ger to sleep for the night is was unbearably HOT! Doko told us they would come stoke the fire for us during the nighttime so Laura and I geared ourselves for the temperature. About midnight, right before they came to stoke it, it apparently went out dropping the temperature about 40 degrees! Luckily it didn't take long for the ger to heat up again!
we woke up in the morning, had breakfast, and started our treck into the mountains to see the animals. we were told that if we did see animals, it would probably be with binoculars as they would be far away. Doko told us the spirits were with us so maybe luck was on our side.... an boy it sure was! We saw a TON of animals on the trip. Immediately, standing right on the road was a HUGE black yak. He even posed for a picture :) We went a bit further and cam across the famous Mongolian wild horses or
Takhi. It was breath-taking to see them. We saw many other animals as well. Yaks, horses, hawks, pheasants-like birds, deer, marmots (which we called the whatchamajig the whole time until Doko told us what they actually were), and cows. there were also baby animals, lots of them! The trip was amazing between the wild animals and the breath-taking views in the mountains.
This weekend we took a trip to the Hustai national park. It was about a 2 hour ride to the country side. We went there to stay in a ger (pronounced g-air) over night and to see the wild horses that Mongolia is known for. This adventure began with the ride to the park. We went with Dr. Noble and her translator Doko (who was a super sweet woman!). Doko arranged for someone she knew to drive us to the park in his VW-like van. Mind you, we have told you about the roads here and now we are traveling them in this van. We're trucking along the (actually nice for once) road when we come across a group of horses in the middle of the road. Our driver didn't slow down but went off the side of the road to, what we thought was to avoid the horses. We realized after he did not get back on the road, that this was actually the way to the park. We off-roaded for about 45 minutes (in this van don't forget) which was a fun and bouncy ride. We saw many herds on the side of the road and in the road. It was amazing to us that our driver knew which dirt path to take given there were about 5 of them branching out from the one we were on. We finally get to the national park/ ger "hotel". The hotel is actually a bunch of gers set up in a fenced in area and a main building that housed the people who worked the hotel and a small dining hall.
we woke up in the morning, had breakfast, and started our treck into the mountains to see the animals. we were told that if we did see animals, it would probably be with binoculars as they would be far away. Doko told us the spirits were with us so maybe luck was on our side.... an boy it sure was! We saw a TON of animals on the trip. Immediately, standing right on the road was a HUGE black yak. He even posed for a picture :) We went a bit further and cam across the famous Mongolian wild horses or Takhi. It was breath-taking to see them. We saw many other animals as well. Yaks, horses, hawks, pheasants-like birds, deer, marmots (which we called the whatchamajig the whole time until Doko told us what they actually were), and cows. there were also baby animals, lots of them! The trip was amazing between the wild animals and the breath-taking views in the mountains. 
Well it sounds like your having a great time. I have enjoyed all of your stories! I can just see you riding in the back of that van...lol.
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