We headed to the sand dunes part of the Gobi desert! It was a reasonably short drive distance wise, however the van could only travel at around 70kmph which was quite slow. It was incredible to see the changing landscape from the beautiful mountain ranges to the steppes and slowly to the insanely massive sand dunes! This was also the day where I learnt how to pee in an open field with people around!
Lunch! A cucumber was never as tasty! By this stage, I was craving vegetables and fruit.
When we finally arrived at the nomadic family's gers, we were offered milk tea and also biscuits and their curd. Apart from having meat, dairy is a massive component of their diet and I really don't think there is another culture that consumes that much dairy! The dried curd - or aaruul- is made during the summer and the dried pieces can be stored almost indefinitely which is why they are produced traditionally. I love cheese, but aarul has a very strong taste and I actually ended up pocketing it since I couldn't finish it and I only took a 1cm cube at most!
The family owned camels and we rode on the two hump camel. The two hump camels are native to Central Asia. I had only seen one hump camels previously (tidbit, Australia has more wild camels than anywhere in the world. Seriously! However there was a multi million dollar culling program a few years and I think it is now under control). What was most interesting was discovering that a lot of people hadn't seen camels before or even ridden one. I guess it isn't the most common animal to ride, however it had never crossed my mind that it would be something so exotic! The most annoying thing was trying to explain to the other tour members that sitting on a one hump camel isn't super weird and that you don't actually sit right on top of the hump. In fact, I spent a lot of my time on the the tour explaining to people about little things here and there.
My attempt at a camel selfie
For those who have ridden a camel, camels are very calm and patient creatures. Riding a camel (whilst it is walking) is a very soothing and easy ride. Their walking gait is quite rocking and the hour flew by.
Dinner consisted of the traditional food of khuushuur which is a fried dumping. It can consist of anything including ground mutton / lamb or innards however this time the tour guide had made them vegetarian since she knew that we needed a break from eating meat. This was greatly appreciated!
After dinner, we headed to Khongoryn Els or Duut Makhan. The sand dunes extend to over 965 square kms. The sand dunes are around 6-12km wide, 100km long and around 300m height maximum! A popular thing to do is climb to the top of the sand dunes to watch the sunset. My photos don't capture the steepness of the dunes but it was effectively 15 degree angle (almost vertical). It was the most painful and exhausting thing I have done in ... honestly, it might be ever! Around halfway, it was so difficult (since it is sand) and everyone was on their hands and knees climbing to the top. There really is nothing glamourous about going on all fours to climb to the top of the sand dune. It was so tiring and I ended up trying to make myself take 10 small steps and then break for a little bit before continuing. However, I made it to the top and it was beautiful! It was also very very windy and I really couldn't see anything at all. Luckily I had my bandanna!
See where the people look like ants? Yes that is where people got on all fours since it was so so steep.
As anyone who has been to sand dunes, getting sand stuck in your hair is a very gross feeling. However since there was no running water, there really wasn't anything you could do about it! It was a very disgusting feeling. However the night sky was incredible and this was in fact the last clear sky of the entire trip.
This was my ninth trip as part of #take12trips. To see previous trips please click here.
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