Alexander the not so great!!

The last post was a bit delayed due to a lack of internet so this is our more recent activity.

After spending a few days in Khatgal which is a small town at the entrance to Khovsgol lake, we decided to embark on a 3 day horse trek. We were originally planning on a four day trek but after the first day soon decided that 3 days would be more than enough.

We named our horses Bob and Betty who started off quite well, then for some reason whatever we tried, the horses would barely move and on occasions we thought Bob was going to keel over! At one point Jo turned round and Alex was in the distance trying hard to command his horse to move from a stationary position and Bob was having none of it. This in turn, made Jo have a giggling fit! On the way to our camp, we stopped a few times and as soon as our feet touched the ground we could barely walk. Now we know why John Wayne walked the way he did!

After lunch, we had another few hours before we encountered a boggy stretch of land which the horses decided to try and sidestep by going across a stony section near the lake. To get there involved manouvering the horse under a fallen tree, Jo went first and managed fine but Alex had a little more trouble!! Bob attempted to clear it but due to Alex being MASSIVE he was taken out and left clinging to the tree. This scared Bob shitless and he ran as fast as he could to escape, Alex luckily got away with a few minor scratches and a bruised ego! As Anwar Nuseibeh would have said 'Tree got taken out by a fellow tree'. Thankfully, our guide Naka, managed to retrieve the horse but Alex was no longer allowed command of the horse and had to be dragged along to our lakeside ger!

Day 2 was a better riding day as we were getting used to controlling our horses and by day 3 we were able to get our horses to trot on demand for longer stretches. The lake itself was really beautiful and in the end we thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Back in Moron now, heading to the capital tomorrow where we will pick up our passport with the Chinese visa in and try not to get tasered. Hopefully we will be in China within four or five days.

When near Russia, Moscow

Alex & Jo xx