Today is Andy’s birthday and the weather is sunny but windy. We are leaving our Nomad hosts and making the long 8-hour trip to the tourist ger camp, which is on the other side of Ulaan Baatar. It is a long and uncomfortable journey bumping over the rough terrain of the Steppe most of the way. To our horror we realise that our driver is in no fit state to drive and is falling asleep at the wheel. We have to insist that he pulls over and Tom takes over the driving. When we stop for lunch we decide to change cars and share with Monica and Craig for the rest of the journey. We arrive at the tourist ger at around 7pm just in time for dinner. After three days without washing facilities all we wanted was to take advantage of the showers and a decent toilet!
The tourist ger camp is really a glorified campsite with posh tents. After having been promised decent showers we find that that they leave a lot to be desired – the water pressure is pathetic! But at least we have clean toilets. Andy had Mongolian barbecue which is more fat than mutton and I had a curry (the chef here is an Indian who apparently speaks excellent Mongolian). The ger has rather less comfortable beds that at our Nomad stay, although they are much more picturesque. In fact all the furniture in the ger is brightly painted and we have wood for the stove which lasts much longer than cow dung. But the tent is still very cold during the night and it is difficult to keep warm once the stove has died down.