Khatgal

Khatgal lies at the southern tip of a large lake, the name of which just might be Khovsgol Lake. This is the destination of Mongols and foreign tourists alike.

As I left the guesthouse this morning I met a man I knew from a guesthouse in UB. Michael had been going on a 12 day horse trek to the Darkhad region with two other tourists and a guide when they had the same fate as we had. Three times their baggage had fallen from the horse. Then, their pack horse was spooked for some reason, which set off the other horses. One woman fell to the ground and bruised her leg so as not to be able to continue the trek. So Michael was back in Khatgal making plans.

I went shopping. On my list: tent, stove, tarp, poncho and hand cream. In the first store I walked into, I found four of those items, but the tent was not satisfactory. It was one of those pop-up tents, which are nearly impossible to fold back up (any hints on how to do so?). It did not have a fly cover, so I continued to look elsewhere.

Michael and I took a three hour boat tour on the lake. This is quite popular with the Mongolian tourists. An animateur kept the crowd entertained with karaoke and a running monologue, interspersed with disco beats. A couple guys climbed up on the railing of the bow for a photo-op. No safety regulation against that one. And a drunk walked up to me and punched my water bottle. Watch out for drunks.

I ordered a tent from Moron, but it arrived with no flycover and improvised stakes. So I did not buy it. Instead, I called a contact in Moron to have another one and a stove shipped up the next day.