When our interpreter, Girlee, the girl in the grey
jacket, discovered that I didn't have riding pants, she made white chaps
overnight from material we scrounged up at a local market. She cut and
sewed the whole thing together in a few hours. These impromptu riding
breeches saved me from horrendous blisters. Thanks Girlee!
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In our horseguide's ger, waiting for a bowl of Mongolian
porridge to heat up (the porridge is made from rice, milk, and sugar
- it's especially good if you add a little honey). Our guide is fairly
prosperous - he owns ten horses - but he still lives in this small ger
with his wife and six children! They move the ger 3 times a year, moving
to a sheltered valley during winter and following better pasturelands
the other two times. The horses roam free until they're needed; the
horses never stray too far from their home territory, but on this day
he couldn't locate all of them after a morning's search through the
surrounding fields. We have 5 people supporting us on our horse trip:
an interpreter, cook, support-vehicle driver, and two horse guides.
Even with this many people, the trip is fairly economical - the two
horse guides and their horses charged our travel company under $100
for the week!
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