MONGOLIA day-4 25th June 2006

80km from Bulgan 132.75km, ave: 15.40 kmh.
A hot uncomfortable day traversing all gravel roads, that eventually became a fast claytop in which we paced an overladen lorry for perhaps 10km. Our camp is surrounded by pretty hills and the pasture has the scent of cineole oil, which is vaguely similiar to mint. By the afternoon we were heat exhausted and the only motivation was to reach the Tuul Gol . Once there, the area was infested with mosquitoes and the black mud on the banks made swimming impossible. The water itself was putrid with horse excrement and muddy brown. The town has a mine, a petrol station, some permanent dwellings and a Ger camp on the western bank. It reminded me of an alcohol riddled aboriginal community. The girl in the shop spoke clear basic English and even in my heat addled state, I made the effort to communicate, as she was particularly sweet and engaging. Michael simply floundered against a stone wall guzzling Mongolian cola. After visiting the open pit toilet with it's flyblown 10 metre deep pit toilet, we bought water and made haste to the open pastures.