A Visit To The Countryside, Day 4: Reindeer And An Ancient Volcano

We awoke in the morning to a chill breeze but perfect sunlight. Breakfast resembled a porridge-dish and included rice and raisins, but was also curiously sweet. We set out back toward the south, our trip now in the second half.

We stopped at teepees we had passed on our way to Lake Khuvsgul. Last time we had passed by, there had been reindeers outside. I had never seen a reindeer before and hadn't even known they were real creatures until a few years ago (I believed they were mythical, courtesy of Saint Nick). Stopping by a yurt, we asked where the reindeers had gone. We were told they belonged to a nearby family, and pointed in their direction. For 1,000 tugrik each, we were led to the reindeers and even sat on them. They were smaller than I thought they would be and their horns miraculously furry. They were beginning to shed their winter coat and there was even a baby reindeer among them. It looked like a strange cross between a deer and a wolf, with small, budding horns and a wolf-like muzzle. This was quite possibly the highlight of the trip for me; I had actually met a creature that was once on the same level of fantasy as dragons.

Continuing on our journey, I found it hard to stay awake. The countryside passed in a blur as we bumped down the same road we had two days before. At one small town, we stopped and went into a home where we were given milk tea. It was our driver's brothers' family. After some time, we waited outside while the driver spoke to his brother. The sun beat down at us and we stared at the brother's child. This kid was wild, and I mean really wild, alternatingly growling at us, picking up a stick and running around, and screaming "baas, baas!" at dog poop on the ground.

"Well is this one a girl or boy?" I asked Ella. I had gotten it wrong before and since Mongolians don't cut children's hair until they're two or four, it gets hard to tell.

"That's a boy," she said, as if it were obvious.

"What, thats a boy!?" Bashi exclaimed.

"Just kidding," Ella smiled, "I'm joking."

"Well how can you tell?" I asked. Last time she had explained another child was clearly a boy because he acted like one. This time, this child seemed just as overactive and rough at heart.

Ella explained that in the countryside a certain machismo is valued and this child's clothing was too feminine for it to be a boy. "She's pretty badass," Ella said. Bashi argued that in the countryside clothing matters even less and you can't use that to compare. While they argued back and forth, the kid pulled down his pants and peed in the yard.

We all stared.

"I think its a boy," Ella said. No kidding. 

Bashi used this as evidence that clothing doesn't matter. Ella refuted that the pink clothing drying on the fence was too large for him and clearly his mother's. This continued while the boy ran around us screaming and yelling until we gathered into the car and left. Two countryside boys passed us as we headed toward our car, discussing where we were from. "Amerik," said one of them. Well, he got it right. Up until this point most countryside people had discussed where we were from, guessing time and again Korea, all while having no idea that Ella and Bashi could understand everything they were saying.

A few hours later we made it to our ger camp for the night, located near an ancient volcano that we would visit later that day. Turns out this camp is far nicer than the others we've stayed at and we were blessed with showers with real, hot water. I almost cried of happiness. This was the fourth day of the trip and the first time we got to shower. I took the most fulfilling shower ever, then changed into a tank and capris because wow, was it getting hot.

 

Our last adventure of the day was visiting the crater of an ancient volcano, which we could see in the distance. It didn't look too tall and had only short grass on its hillside, so I figured what I was wearing was perfect. We climbed into the car and drove toward the volcano, which was when I fount out we were not hiking up the nice, grassy side, but instead the opposite forrest-y side. Okay, no big deal. It didn't look like too long of a hike.

We were hiking up when Ella pointed to a plant and said, "Don't touch that." I wasn't planning on touching any random, unknown plants. But that plant was everywhere and I was wearing capris and sneakers so it somewhat inevitably scraped my ankle. It started stinging like crazy and turned red. Ella told that to get rid of it, I had to pee on it.

I laughed and responded, "No, that's just an old wives tale."

"No, you really have to pee on it."

"I'm not doing that, its just a little spot and not that bad anyway."

"You're going to regret that," she warned.

We got to the top of the volcano, which had a buddhist prayer mound at the top, this time exclusively made of sticks. I circled it three times, making a wish, and tossing a stick into the pile. My ankle now had red bumps on it and the stinging was only intensifying, so I panicked and wished that my foot wouldn't fall off.

The pain soon started to subside though; after all, it was just a small spot. We peered into the center of the crater of the volcano, where we see a small black pool. Bashi and I thought it was the coolest thing and wanted to go down and see it close up. Ella thought that was a bad idea and stayed where she was. Along the pool are thousands of volcanic rocks, which my cousin started picking up to take with him. I picked one up too. I didn't like the idea of taking one because the entire aura this place was giving off was strange. I didn't need to be told it was sacred to feel that it was. But I still thought about taking one; none of that superstitious stuff is real, right?

But the second we started picking up rocks, it began to rain, lightly at first, and then it started to pour. Oh shit, this is it, I angered the volcano god; I'm so sorry. I tossed my rock back down immediately. We started running up and out of the crater, the wind picking up. Heading down the mountainside, it was incredibly windy; we could barely see where we were going. I lost my footing and slip, landing my entire left calf right in the center of the plant that wasn't supposed to be touched. I freaked out, my leg immediately on fire, but we kept walking down until we got into the car and the hell out of there.

"You had to take the rocks!" I yelled at my cousin.

"I don't care if this volcano god brings wolves to our door, I'm not giving them up," he shoutsedback.

My leg was now completely red and had bumps all across it. It felt like lots of little needles were piercing it. The driver looked at it. "Yeah, you're definitely gonna have to pee on that," he said. Everyone in the car agreed. I had no idea what plant this was and was wondering if my leg was going to fall off.

And so, I got over it, cut a cup out of a plastic bottle, peed in it, then poured it on my leg.

Bonus: I looked up the plant when I got back to Ulaanbaatar and it was one I really should've known; can you guess what plant it is?