Top 53 Gobi Highlights

The amazingness of the Gobi cannot be described fully in words... but here are a few of the highlights:

1. When asking our guide how long she had been a tour guide, she consulted with the driver and said, "oh, about thirty more minute."
2. Being snotted on by an angry camel.
3. Falling asleep to the sound of crying camels.
4. Trying to avoid the creepy American named Ted, and his Thai "friend" (*cough*escort*cough*)
5. Using dirt as an unintentional condiment, spray-on tan, and inhalant.
6. Learning to love tumbleweeds, dust tornadoes, and cloud watching in the vast emptiness of the desert.
7. Realizing that the worst road in the USA is the equivalent to the best road in Mongolia.
8. The White Stupa's cliffs overlooking rolling red hills.
9. The strange quietness that envelops you in the desert - like when your head is stuffy from a cold.
10. Mongolians think that "yes" is an appropriate answer to everything - "how are you," "what did this used to be," "are we lost," "what's your name," etc.
11. Not knowing or caring what you're stepping in when visiting the "toilet" at night.
12. After days of not knowing where you are, finally finding a map and realizing just how far you came.
13. The breathtaking views...
14. Not being able to capture the epicness of a landscape, so resorting to simply soaking it in and keeping it for yourself.
15. The abandoned Buddhist temple at Little Rock.
16. The Dutch (Bridget and Maarten).
17. Outhouses.
18. Almost dying (see following post).
19. Goat yogurt that tasted like hot rotten eggs.
20. "You dead for sure Ted, you dead for sure." - The Thai woman
21. Walking through a stunning valley while it was raining - it was worth it, the scenery was like Shangri-La.
22. Shit-heated stoves.
23. Kites (the bird, not the toy).
24. The idiot woman who lit a cigarette at the gas station despite an exposed gas tank and five signs saying not to.
25. Riding into the sunset atop a moody camel (who I named "Mickey").
26. Asking our guide what my camel's name was and getting the response: "brown camel"
27. Stars.
28. Meeting Miles and Minda again in a random part of the Gobi, after first meeting them in Moscow and Irkutsk.
29. Vodka shots in gers with great friends. Tuktoy!
30. Listening to Miles rap about baby seal clubbing and making pot butter. "Killin' baby seals, keepin' it real."
31. "They say that friends are the family you don't choose... I didn't choose you guys, but I couldn't have been luckier. To great friends." - Miles' toast
32. Tsuivan!
33. Endless car rides. On average: eight hours per day.
34. "Our Mongolian Gobi, wonderful in world" - our guide.
35. Running, rolling, and having fun in the sand dunes with the Dutch.
36. Blasting "Fat Bottomed Girls" while flying through the desert.
37. Fermented camel's milk.
38. "Neuken in de Keuken."
39. The ghetto ger and the ant roommates.
40. Self realizations and reflection.
41. The mini, Biblical oasis.
42. Getting lost in red canyons made of compacted sand.
43. Sunsets.
44. Wandering aimlessly through the desert.
45. Pastel landscapes.
46. Pushing our car out of the mud.
47. The ankle bone game.
48. Mirages.
49. "These hills, they look like women's........... [breasts]."
50. Running out of gas and making it to the next town on a prayer and syphoned petrol.
51. Spending the last night in a tent.
52. GERS.
53. Sandstorms.

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