Merry Christmas!

Global Warming

Dec 18th, 2006. My ice axes are gathering dust in the basement and Mal killed a mosquito today...

House

Our new pad...

Christmas is lame...

As requested, photos from this year's Haunted Barn Halloween party. A good time was had by all who attended (and made it out alive...)

Clifton and Acadia

I have been back from Mongolia for a little while now. It was nice to get in one more (chilly!) rock climbing trip before the "off-season" between the end of rock and the start of ice.

Seoul Searching

Fun day in Seoul!

Last Disco in Outer Mongolia

I survived one more drive across the Gobi. I spent my last night in UB having a quiet beer and some dinner in the "Grand Khan, Irish Pub". I'll miss Mongolia but mostly I am looking forward to coming home.

S.

Coming home

Today is my last day in camp, I head home tommorow!

S.

Wedding

We went to a traditional Mongolian country wedding last night. It was a good time, but not an experience I care to repeat soon. You are pretty much forced to drink copious amounts of vodka, airag (fermented mare milk, vile beyond description..) and mongolian vodka (distilled airag). The snuff bottle that the men pass around certainly didn't help the hangover this morning either. I was also coerced into singing. This was difficult because I don't actually know the complete lyrics to anything other than "Happy Birthday". It wasn't pretty...

Happy Birthday Michelle

Have a cold one!

Why I love Mongolia

Absolutley no workplace health and safety regulations!

Rowie's First Cast

…the result of a living room dancing injury. It is undoubtedly not your last :-). Get well soon.

Love Oncle Stefan.

Family Day - 4, Men's Mongolian Wrestling

Family Day - 3, Highland games

I take full credit for introducing Highland Games to Mongolia. We had hammer throw, braemer stone and caber toss events which were hugely popular.

Family Day - 2, Ladies Sumo

Family Day - 1, Kids

We had family day here at camp where everyone brought their kids, parents, third cousins-twice removed etc... for a tour of the camp, food, fun and games. This is the first of several posts showing highlights from the day, starting with the kids events.



Three legged race



Bushka's Daughter



The kids



Batushvim and his baby




Rice Bag Race

Department of Culinary Arts

Camp is winding down and people are slowly filtering out. Our Aussie chef left today. From now on Bushka will be cooking for the expats. She tries hard, but tonight we had sausage-pickle pizza for dinner.

Stef.

More on snakes

If I seem a little fixated on the topic, it is because our little serpentine friends are one of the few causes for excitement most days. I personally bagged four today.

As I have mentioned before, snakes are revered as sacred animals in Mongolia. "Sacred Animal" status, however, only means you can't kill them. Stuffing one in water bottle and using it to scare your buddies is fine; as is duct-taping them to the floor.

Where's Waldo

Hey Kids! How many Siberian pit vipers can count in theses pictures?

Ten hours and two flat tires

My first jeep ride across the Gobi was a great novelty. I spent the whole time glued to the window. After half-a-dozen such treks, the novelty has wore thin...My new strategy for making the drive is to stay up really late the night before, and then take two gravol just before getting in the jeep. I wrap my head in a sweater and buckle in tight. The objective is to chemically-induce a stupor and keep my head from bouncing off the windows, so that I can sleep through as much of the drive as possible. The drivers aim to make my trip as comfortable as possible by playing the same CD over and over again at top volume for ten hours straight, and to offer me cold, fatty hunks of mutton from a plastic shopping bag.

S.