Home at last!

It has been mentioned that I've not finished the blog since I'm apparently still in Mongolia. I did arrive home safely on Thursday, August 20th (after three different flights) -- somehow we managed to repeat Thursday -- we flew out of Beijing at about 7:00 pm and arrived in LA at 5:00 pm. Everything went well until I got to LA and the flight to Fresno was canceled. Stephen got right on the phone and made sure that I had a flight home since I had to be back at work the next morning.

Things are finally getting back to normal (no more camel milking for me), but I still have to put together my project and turn it in before I am completely finished.

It was a great trip but it sure is good to be home.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

We got back from the countryside of central Mongolia yesterday. It was a very rustic trip as we set up our own ger camp in someone's herding field. We got to build a ger, milk a mare, ride a horse, make yogurt vodka, and experience the thrills of a freshly dug pit toilet for several days. It was quite an experience getting to live like the herding families of Mongolia. The Mongolians are a very friendly and welcoming people. Just popping into their homes for a short visit was a good reason to break out all their best drinks and foods.

We also spent a night in the Hustai National Preserve where the wild Tachi horses lives. We were able to get up very close to a herd of eight of them in the early evening. They are a lot different looking than the horses that we are used to seeing. I also had the opportunity to see a smaller herd the next morning when I was out walking. Before we left, a group of us got to ride the Mongolian horses in the green hills surrounding the ger camp.

It has been a great experience, but I am definitely ready to come home. I miss the routine of home life and the support of those who are close to me. We fly out tomorrow morning around 11:00. Hopefully, we won't have any problems in Beijing but fortunately enough one of our group members speaks fluent Chinese so we should be able to get what we need.

See you soon.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

It has been ten days since I've posted anything on the blog, but we have not had access to internet during that time.

We got back two days ago from our seven day trip to the Gobi (to say Desert would be redundant since Gobi means desert). It was a wild and wooly time. Our first big adventure was the drive into the Gobi which was supposed to take us just six hours to arrive. It took us until 5:00 to arrive at our lunch site and until 11:30 to reach our final destination. There was one of our vans that just kept limping along. Finally about 5:00 the leader decided to cut our losses and leave that van behind to work out its own problems. We piled the other passengers into the remaining three vans. It only took us 16 hours to make the trip. Many of us came out of the experience with a new hobby of rock collecting -- there is not much else to do in the middle of the desert.

We did stay in gers several nights and enjoyed the hospitality of a rural school and stayed in their classrooms in makeshift dormitories. We visited a family in their ger -- shared snuff bottles, sipped airag (no fermented mares' milk for me), and ate goat cheese. We also had the opportunity to milk goats and camels and tried our hands at riding a camel. It was good times.

We are back in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, but we will be leaving tomorrow morning to head for central Mongolia and visit some more herder families.

This has definitely been an experience. I'm looking forward to sharing more with all of you when I get back.

Thur

Monday, August 3, 2009

We had to be in the lobby of the hotel at 4:50 this morning so that we could get out to the airport for our flight to Ulaanbaatar. Things went well. When we got to the airport we were met by a group of young adult Russians who were singing and taking alternate drinks of coke and whiskey. They were really wasted.

I was able to get a window seat and could see the terrain as we traveled north. The pollution was so horrible that we couldn't see anything as we flew out of Beijing. However, after that the scenery was wonderful. I am very excited to see the Gobi from the land level.

Spent today walking around the city with our director and getting to know the city. When I had free time I walked over to the Church offices that are only 5 minutes away from the hotel. A pair of elders gave me a tour of the building from the chapel to the family history center to the mission president's office. There are 8000 LDS members with 190 missionaries working with them. I also got to see the state department store and the circus. It is interesting to see all the things in the area.

More info to follow. We had a reception tonight where we met our host families. There was also some traditional musicians with horsehead fiddles and throat singers. It was so soothing! I bought a copy of their CD. I'll play it for you when I get home.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

We arrived around 6:30 this morning in Beijing, China. It was an amazing whirlwind day. The morning was spent in a pedicab being pedaled around the back alleys of the area. Then on to lunch at one of the small courtyard homes -- supposedly very authentic.

The afternoon, after checking into the hotel, we were bussed to The Forbidden City. What an amazing place. It was beautiful but also huge -- 10 square kilometers. Some of us thought that it would never end. It was hard to believe all of the people who were there -- and half of them had umbrellas. Check the internet for pictures of the place.

We then headed to Tianenmen Square. It was easy to see how the students who were protesting were trapped by the government soldiers. It was another huge square. The Chinese people have really deified Chairman Mao with a huge picture of him on the Hall of the People. They also have a huge mausoleum for him where they have frozen his body and placed it on display in a crystal casket. It is only open in the morning so we missed the opportunity to see that.

Had a Peking duck dinner at a nearby hotel. I can't believe how much food was left after they served us 12 courses. I was very happy to get back to our hotel and get to bed. It was a very long day!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Up early for my last morning in New Zealand. Checked out Victoria Square one last time and found my last geocache underneath the bridge. There was even a TB in it. The rest of the morning was spent in a conference room debriefing on the time in NZ. Lunch was at the old campus for Canterbury University. Afterwards we got to go to the street fair that was being held there. Had some interesting things there.

Our last attraction for the trip was at the Antarctic Center. We had a blue penguin placed down right beside us which was really rather cool. Then we were off in a whirlwind to the subzero room to experience the temperature of Antarctica, the penguin pool, and the Haagland all-terrain vehicle.

We spent the evening at the airport in Christchurch and Auckland. We are off to Beijing!