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.

Choijin Lama Temple

I am back in UB for a couple of days. I had the afternoon to kill, so I took a tour of the Chojin Lama Temple, near my hotel.

S.

First Day of School

Congratulations Erika on starting school. I am very proud of you!

Love,

Oncle Stefan.

Full moon on a cold night...

Falling

Completely unrelated to life in Mongolia, but I found this clip on the web. I had seen it years ago on a climbing video and it always makes me laugh. Never say, "Je peux pas tombe".