July 9 -- Today was a fun and active day, our last one in a ger camp. We started off early, hiking upriver five kilometers. A heinek (half-yak, half-cow) carried rafts on a cart. We helped pump up the rafts, which were different from whitewater rafts. It was a catamaran with two pontoons upon which you sat. Our trip was definitely not whitewater with swiftly moving but calm waters. We thought we could drift along, but miscommunication between us and the guide due to the language barrier had us stuck against some branches. We struggled for a while before finally limping to shore. Then, we had to drag the raft out of the river and carry it about fifty meters downstream, across a sidestream to find a place to get back into the water. At that point, I had been up to my knees in the water, which was fairly cold. But at point it meant I was comfortable dragging my foot through the water. That helped keep me safe from the hordes of flies that were attacking us. Quite a little adventure on our raft. The other raft had a much more peaceful and placid ride.
After lunch, we were going to go horseback riding, but it was forestalled by rain. I ended up buying a yak hair shawl and playing a Mongolian card game with the eight-year old kid.
When we finally went riding, it wasn't especially exciting. The horses were friskier than I expected and we were led in pairs by a guide. We did an hour ride and my knees were sore by the end -- the stirrups were short for the likes of a tall one like me.
After riding, we tried our hand at archery as well as tossing our Frisbee around. Oh, and playing tag with the kid (Batjin). He really is quite friendly with us. He's the grandson of the camp manager out to have fun here over the summer.
Tomorrow, we leave for Ulaanbaatar, but we'll stop to see a local Nadaam.
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