Reply #13: I have a geologist friend in Oman

[China_cat]

who sends out a letter every year that keeps everybody in stitches (I'm illustrating his book for him...Around the World in 80 Proof). This year was about the month or so the family spent vacationing in Mongolia after a quick trip to China for some duck.

Here's just a few of the highlights,

17. Drive out of Ulan Bataar, some 130km to our campsite.
18. Camp in the “Gun-Gallut Strictly Prohibited Area” (some 370 000 km2 of grassland, lakes, river and steppe).
19. Ride horses.
20. Fish. Tyuma shows me the Mongolian way. I catch a bone-snapping Taiman (jaw-breaking seriously furious salmonoids that top 100 kg here in the wild) that weighed all of 15 grams.
21. Ride horses. Ignore the children about “Their Father. The Fisherman.”
22. Swim in the slippery, blisteringly, extremity-numbing swiftly-flowing rivers. Watch Tyuma and Baya laugh.
23. Ride horses.
24. Camp some more. Watch all the eagles, hawks and other raptors (the likes of which I’ve never seen; I’m not big on Ornithology, until now).
25. Ride horses.
26. Visit the locals - horse nomads. Watch them ride horses. Watch them catch horses. Watch them milk horses.
27. Ride horses. Politely sip mutton-flavored tea with horse milk. Politely sip the fermented mare’s milk: “Iragk”. Politely not barf in their presence.
28. Growl at Tyuma & Baya for laughing.
29. Ride horses. (Which, from here on out is a given, unless it’s a reindeer or camel; I’ll flag those passages).