Leaving Ayanchin

Sorry that these are out of order. But the next three pictures are ones I took either driving to or from Ayanchin. They are pictures of Ulaanbaatar. The building is a typical apartment building--most are from the Soviet era and look as though there has been little or no maintenance.

If you look closely you can see a ger in the middle of the picture below. This is fairly typical, one sees gers set up in all sorts of locations in both rural and urban areas.
This was on the outskirts of downtown Ulaanbaatar. It isn't easy to see in this photo but the area pictured is an extremely poor district and would likely have no electricity (notwithstanding the nearby utility high tension wires) or running water.

We left Ayanchin Lodge around 9am and drove to Turtle Rock. All of us (except the moms) climbed up to the "shoulder" of the turtle.

Our family in front of Turtle Rock. (Looks like a loggerhead to me.)
This is the view from the shoulder of the turtle.
To get to the shoulder we all had to climb through this hole. Its a bit bigger than it looks from the picture.
The view from the top.
On our way back we saw a herd of yak and had to stop and take pictures.

Ayanchin

On Monday we traveled with the Sprengers and our Mongolian friends Odono and Dulguun to a lodge called Ayanchin out in the Mongolian countryside. We traveled around one hour along bumpy roads to get there. Along the way we happened upon a small group of Mongols offering camel rides and a chance to hold a golden eagle they use for hunting.

My brother Carter holding the golden eagle
Of course, I had to try as well.
All of my family took camel rides. Getting up and down were the most exciting parts!
Pictured here are my sister Emily and Holly Sprenger. A family picture in front of a ger (rhymes with chair). We all (except my mom) slept in a ger that night.
After supper some of us climbed into the hills surrounding the lodge and I took this picture.

Random pictures

We had our lunch at a little restaurant the first day and ate horse meat. It was pretty good.
A view of Ulaanbaatar from atop a hill we climbed.
Our family in Sukbaatar Square in the center of the city.
This is the huge dining room table where we ate all our meals with the Sprenger family.
One afternoon we visited a buddhist monastary. Inside this building is a 6 story high Buddha.

Getting there...

We first flew to Atlanta then Seoul, Korea and then Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Before the 15 hour flight.
While hanging out in Atlanta we found a Wheaton classmate of my Dad's!
Flying over Russia
Finally there!

The Mongolia airport. (They really like Ghengis Khaan there)