Day 190: UB to The Gobi — Three Camel Lodge — Camel Riding and Dune Sledding
Today was our earliest departure of the year: a 6:20am flight from Ulaanbaatar to The Gobi.
The Shangri La packed us takeaway yogurt, muffins and apples.
Ganzo was on our flight and is joining us for five nights in The Gobi. The kids obsession with him is growing by the minute.
It was an hour ride on a dirt road to The Three Camel Lodge. Both kids snoozed.
When we arrived we had a brief intro to the property with other new guests, Alan and Carol from Philly. Alan was super friendly, asking our names and engaging the kids. Such a warm personality.
We are staying in a family ger (pronounced “gear”), which is actually three adjoined gers: a grownup room and a kids bedroom with a connected bathroom in the middle.
Gers are the traditional home of the nomadic people of Mongolia. It’s round, with lattice walls covered in felt, and a canvas roof. I feel like we know a lot about them because (a) the Chengis Khan exhibit in Copenhagen and (b) Ganzo gave us a little model that Margaret, James and Willa built and unbuilt twice in UB.
The gers at the Three Camel Lodge are luxurious and super comfortable . There is also a cozy communal game room with a bar and a separate dining ger.
We had a couple hours before lunch so Margaret and I tried to nap. We were in and out of sleep for a while but the kids pestered us intermittently.
We had lunch with Ganzo then got back in the Land Cruiser and headed off on our first excursion: riding camels to sand dunes.
I pictured The Gobi to be rolling sand dunes — quintessential desert. But Only 5% of The Gobi is actually sand dunes. Most of the land is a super flat, dry sandy, gravelly surface with brownish / yellowish / greenish grass.
The camel wrangling family are nomadic. The mom / wife welcomed us into her ger and served us milk tea. We all took a few sips from our bowls including the kids.
Then she left and came back with fermented camel milk. No joke. We all took sips of that too… including James! It tasted like a sour Greek yogurt. I’m not a huge fan but it wasn’t spit-it-out terrible.
After conversation and Q&A with the mom and her two daughters (13 and 10) we got on three camels: James went with Margaret while Willa and I had our own.
We walked for about 20 minutes. This was my second camel ride of the year (Wadi Rum in Jordan) and third for Margaret and the kids (Wadi plus Giza). But these were two-humped camels which are much more comfortable to ride.
There were storms in the area all afternoon which gave us the dramatic sky for some great pics.
But right as we got to our sand dune destination the wind picked up significantly, blowing sand sideways into our faces.
Our driver had conveniently come to meet us at the dunes so we got in the truck for a second to avoid the mini sand storm. The wind died down temporarily and Ganzo pulled two pink sleds out of the back of the truck. Game on.
clone tag: -6697426405258978012 
The 5 of us spent the next 30 minutes sledding on the dunes, playing tag on the top and capturing a lot of content.
The wind was probably 35 mph, blowing sheets of extra fine sand everywhere. All of us had sand in our eyes, mouth, ears and every possible exposed crease in our skin.
Back at the lodge we showered (and still didn’t get all of the sand out of our ears) then headed to dinner. We had kale salad, lamb shank and banana cake. Margaret and I shared 3/4 of a bottle of Cloudy Bay — the rest of which will be saved for tomorrow.
After dinner we made our way to the Game Room so Ganzo could teach us how to play Ankle Bone. This is a traditional Mongolian game in which players take turns dice-rolling four ankle bones — yes actual bones from sheep and goats.
Each of the four sides to the bone represents an animal: horse, camel, goat or sheep. The goal is to roll horses. For each horse rolled you move forward in a “horse race” against your competitors to a designated finish line.
The kids LOVED it. Willa won.
After the game we walked up the hill behind the lodge to check out the sunset. It was still clearing from the rainstorms so the sky was dramatic and the views were stunning.
Recurring thought since we arrived: There is just so much damn sky in this country.
It’s incredible.
Other quotes from a long, busy and fun day:
We drove by a shepherd herding his goats. James asked, “Why is that guy chasing those animals?”
Ganzo to Willa posing for a picture, “You’re going to be a Hollywood star one day!” Willa’s response: “No, I’m going to be an engineer.”
At lunch, me to James who was eating with his hands, “Buddy, please use your fork.” He responded, rolling his eyes, “What do you have to have so many announcements?”
Me questioning Willa, referencing our expecting-friends and their two year old: “Willa, will you babysit Oscar when the baby comes?”
“Yes, if it’s money work.”
MONEY WORK! (Love this new phrase)
Willa on why she didn’t like the lamb shank, “It tastes too farm-y.”
“Jimce” in Mongolian means fruit. So we’ve been calling James “fruit” or “fruit boy.”
Willa while watching lodge staff demoing how to build a ger, “It’s so satisfying.”
