中北蒙古十日游／10 Day Central and Northern Mongolia Tour（Part Three）

＊第四天／Day 4
今天依旧待在湖边，一大早就起来到附近走走，欣赏周边的美景。
This is the first time we do not have to do any driving for the day for we are to remain at the lake for another night. First thing we did in the morning was to take individual walks to admire the beautiful surroundings.

早餐后就骑马去。这可是我第一次骑马，第一次坐在马背上感觉怪怪的，好像随时会跌下来似的。可惜的是，主人家没有一个会说英文的，所以没有人给我们讲解该如何应付这些马儿，只教我们，要马儿走，就说：“Chuu!”。至于要怎么让马停下来，要怎么让他们往旁边走，没有人教我们，我们都得凭自己的想象力来应付这些马。带路的导游除了说“Chuu”和对我们傻笑外，也就不会说别的了。好在我的那匹马还算温顺，只不过贪吃了一点，除了经常停下来吃草外，就没有给我其他的问题了。
After breakfast, it is time for horse riding. This is my first attempt at horse riding, so you can imagine my excitement. I must say, the feeling of sitting on the horseback for the first time felt really weird. It was as if I would fall off with any slight movement. Unfortunately, our host family do not speak a single word of English. Hence there was no one to explain to us on how to handle the horses. All they did was to point you to a horse to indicate that you have to take this horse. Then they taught us to say "Chuu" in order to make the horses go, and that was that. There was nothing on how to make the horses move to the left or right, nor were we taught how to stop the horses, which was a pretty scary thing now that I think of it. We did have a guide, but all he could do was say "Chuu" and smile at us. It was up to our imaginations on how to handle the horses. Luckily for me, I had a good tempered horse which gave me not much trouble except that it loves to stop for grass every few minutes. 我们骑了大概两个小时，来到一个已经“死”了的火山。到火山上拍照留念，再欣赏一下周围的风景，就骑着往返回家的路。和前几天一样，傍晚看到了漂亮的日落，晚上又看到了漂亮的星空。

We rode for two hours and arrived at a dead volcano. After climbing to the top of the volcano for a few pictures and a short rest, we went back the same way. Then it was back to sitting outside our ger and waiting for the beautiful sunset and more stargazing.＊第五天／Day 5
这是到目前为止开车最久的一天，共坐了十个小时的车子，连午餐也没能好好地享受，只是吃了蒙古的小吃Khuushuur（唸“hor shor”）。这个小吃和我们常吃的咖哩卜非常相似，只不过我们的咖哩卜里面是有辣椒味的马铃薯，khuushuur里面包的是…　…对啦，就是他们最爱的羊肉。

This was the longest ride so far, it took more than 10 hours. Not only did we had to get up real early, we could not even have a decent lunch, having only a few khuushuur each. Khuushuur is a popular snack in Mongolia. It comes in many sizes but most are shaped like our curry puffs. Only difference is, our curry puffs contain potatoes and spice, mongolian "puffs" contain... ...you guessed it, mutton. 开了一天的车，外头又一直下雨，大家心情都兴奋不起来。唯一的“亮点”是，车子第一次抛锚了。不过我们的司机什么都行，自己动手修车。后来修好了，走了一段路又发现煞车系统有问题，我们的好司机又自己摆平了麻烦。好不容易挨到了目的地，送上来的晚餐又是饭和羊肉，大家看了都怕，所以就自己动手弄了韩国“大餐”；米饭、紫菜、包菜配kimchi浆料，再加韩式泡面，虽然全部杂在一起吃怪怪的，但对我们来说却是美食。今天入住的地方真让人失望。原本以为是个民宿设备会比较好，可以好好洗澡，怎么知道和之前住宿没有什么两样，一样是睡在蒙古包，没有沐浴室，厕所只有两个半星（有四堵墙，可是又暗有臭，又有苍蝇）。哦，对了，如果你还不知道在蒙古大草原上什么才算是五星级厕所的话，告诉你，那就是大自然的“厕所”（就是随便找个地方解决啦！）。为什么说大自然厕所是五星级？因为没有臭味、没有苍蝇，又不必在“做生意”的时候看到“前人”留下来的“纪念品”，面对的是大自然的美景。
With such a long drive and dreary weather outside, you can hardly blame us for being down spirited. The only "bright spark" for the day? Our russian jeep broke down for the first time during this trip. But our dear driver Tumaa is Mr Know-it-all, and he got the jeep repaired in no time. Although the brake had a problem later on, Tumaa fixed the problem easily. It was a big relief to finally arrived at our destination. But at the mention of rice and sheep for dinner, we almost fainted. So we declined dinner from the hosts and came up with our own Korean meal, aka rice with seaweed and kimchi paste, cabbage dipped in kimchi paste, plus korean rameon. Although it seemed a weird combination, it tasted heavanly to us. The "camp" for tonight was a real disappointment, not only in terms of food. It being a guesthouse, we were expecting proper rooms and showers to clean ourselves. What we got was a ger and a 2 and half star toilet, i.e. four walls, but dark, smelly and with lots of flies. By the way, if you have been wondering what is a five star toilet, it is the one "made" by Mother Nature. No smell, no flies and beautiful scenery. You don't have to observe what is left behind by others before you while you are doing your business. ＊第六天／Day 6
今天白白浪费了一天。早上出发到另一个湖，原本大家都非常期待看到这里的美景，怎么知道老天不作美，从早上就一直下雨。就这样下了一天的雨，到处又冷又湿哒哒，我们就只能待在蒙古包内，哪儿都不能去，哪儿都不能做。唯一让我们感到开心的是，这里有真正的澡堂，而且还有热水，我们六天来第一次真正地洗澡。
An absolute waste of a day. We woke up feeling excited as we are heading for the biggest and most popular lake in Mongolia, Khovsgol Lake. It was a two hour drive, which means we will have the whole day to explore the lake. But the excitement soon gave way to disappointment as we heard the pitter-patter of rain outside. The rain only got bigger as we got nearer to the lake. In the end, when we finally made it to our ger, we were all soaking wet and cold. The rain didn't abate the whole day, and we could only stay in the ger, reading, sleeping and chatting while praying for good weather the next day. The only comfort we got was that this was a five star ger camp, with hot shower (using firewood), a four star toilet and great service. So we managed to get our first hot shower in six days.

＊第七天／Day 7
一早起来看到还在下毛毛细雨，感到非常失望，还以为今天又是什么都不能做了。好在老天有眼，太阳渐渐地出来了。看到当地人一个个开始在附近摆摊，我们一边开心地研究他们的货品，一边庆幸我们今天总算可以按照原定计划再一次骑马去了。
Woke up to the sounds of rain beating down on the ger and the first thought was, “Oh no, another wasted day!”Thankfully, heaven took pity on us and the clouds gradually gave way to the sun. The sight of locals spreading out their wares on the grass patch in front of us was a welcoming one as it means that we will be able to stay outdoors today. While waiting to start on our main program for the day (horse riding), we took time to check out the wares. 这一次骑马的经验比上一次好上几倍。不论是导游还是马都非常“专业”，在开始骑马前有人负责讲解该怎么应付马，而那些马看起来都比较温顺，显然是训练有素。
The horse riding this time round was way more enjoyable than the last time round. Be it the guides or the horses, everything was very professionally done. We had protectors for our pants, someone to explain the do and don’ts of horse riding, and many careful checks by the guides to make sure we got things right after we got on the horses. 刚开始要穿给村子，路不好走，到处都有粪的臭味，真的不好受。不过一进入山区，我们就开始享受骑马的过程。因为大家已经有过一次经验，这次骑得比较快，很快就到第一个休息点。导游带我们到当地一户人家那里休息，主人家立刻端出他们自制的乳酪。加上他们自己摘的野梅子，实在是好吃极了。
The start of the ride was not fantastic, as we had to go through the village, which had lousy roads and smelly animal poo all over the place. But once we enter the mountains, we started to enjoy the horse riding. Since we already had the experience, everyone was able to go much faster on the horses this time round. Thus we made it to the first pit stop in no time. We stopped by a local’s house, and the friendly hostess immediately served us with tea and homemade yogurt. Throw in a bit of wild berries which they picked themselves, the yogurt taste even better than the ones we get in the supermarket. 休息完毕，我们再往前走，穿过森林，再往山上走，根本不是像之前那样跟着大马路走。最后来到山顶，一眼望去，尽是那漂亮的湖。在休息的当儿，我们友善的导游还让我们穿上他那传统蒙古服装拍照。
After we are done with the yogurt, we went on our way. We made our way through the forest and started climbing up the mountains till we finally made it to the top of a little hill. What beheld us was the beautiful Lake Khovsgol. It was really too beautiful for words. While resting and admiring the beautiful scenery, our friendly guide let everyone of us tried on his traditional Mongolian robe. 休息够了，我们又再继续往深山走，走着走着，大草原又突然出现在我们面前。后来又来到另一户人家，和之前一样，虽然他们家里看起来什么都没有，他们还是热情地拿出茶和乳酪来招待我们。我们一共骑了五个多小时的马。虽然屁股很痛，但大家都玩得尽兴。
After the break, we went further up the mountain before going downhill, and suddenly, the big grassland appear in front of us again. We stopped by another local’s house and again, even though their house was bare, they readily brought out their milk tea and yogurt. All in all, we rode for almost six hours. Of course, the bums hurt like mad. But what we saw more than make up for the pain. 回到大本营后，我们看时间还早，就漫步到湖边欣赏风景。这果然是个非常漂亮的地方，这无疑是到目前为止玩得最开心的一天!
Back at the ger camp, since there was still quite a bit of daylight left, two of the girls and I decide to take a leisure walk to the lake, since we only had a view of the lake from the top so far. It was indeed a beautiful walk. Without doubt, this is the best day of the tour so far!