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Out to base camp!

2 Agust 2013

I woke up feeling a bit better than when I went to sleep, but stomach still slightly upset. After a little brekkie we packed up all our stuff and checked out of the hotel, took a cab to the Ramada to drop our left over luggage and then through to the Mongol Derby HQ a couple blocks down. Everyone was buzzing around getting their last bits and pieces sorted. We go to cafe Amsterdam to get a late breakfast and some nibbles for in the bus to base camp. The bus ride from Ulaanbaatar to camp took about 2,5 to 3 hours, and everybody got so excited when we arrived at camp! We are finally on the steppe and this is where THE adventure is going to start! There were a set of 9 gers for the riders and crew, 5 people per ger. In our ger, no. 2 we had Tamara, Alex, Clare, Katie and me.

Photo by: Richard Dunwoody Photography

It was time to get dressed in my riding clothes, pick up my saddle and get them organised get ready for my first ride on a Mongolian horse! I get a little chunky buckskin, which I give the mane “Bucky”, up and we’re off! What an awesome feeling, I was finally in Mongolia riding a Mongolian horse over the Mongolian steppe! It was definitely a moment for a few tears of happiness.

We were allowed to ride around for an hour and test the horses, it was great fun! Cantered around, went up a hill and stood there for a few minutes looking at the rest of the riders and the amazing view. Bucky was being a good boy but preferred to stay close next to his mates and wasn’t too sure what all these idiots were doing with their horses, just going around in this valley and not mustering any kind of stock?! On the way back to camp, my horse stumbles in a marmot hole with one of his hind legs and is he lightly lame. Back at camp he is still a bit uneven but nothing serious and he can go back with the rest of the herd. After the riding it was time for dinner, a big tent was set up with tables, chairs and buffet with coffee and tea.  It was great to have dinner with such a big group and everyone is busy trying to get to know each other. After dinner everybody gets their topographical maps of the route, followed by a few beers and then its bed time. Unfortunately I seen every hour during the night, new sounds, little bugs creeping around, feeling like I was rolling out of my bed because it was on a slope and a few people in the ger who were cutting down forests in their dreams....

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