Khuvsgul Lake -- Trip 2

In early September two senior couples came to visit Murun from UB.  The Richardson's are Humanitarian missionaries and came to visit the vegetable gardens, and small animal projects done by members this year. They also did some wheelchair visits.  The Farmer's are over Family History and did several trainings while here, trying to help the members of this branch prepare to attend the temple and do some of their own family history work.

The trainings and visits were very successful.  On Monday, we went with them to Lake Khuvsgul and had a great trip.  They needed Puje as their translator and we were originally not going to go because of space, but were persuaded to join them.  This is the type of road we followed.  We actually made better travel time this time in an SUV than we did before in the meeker!

On the way, the Richardson's did a wheelchair visit to an 81-year-old lady who used the wheelchair to take care of her grandchildren while her daughters worked.  We stopped in the small town and a woman at the grocery store knew where the lady lived and climbed in the SUV with us to show us where to go.  The people  here are extremely willing to help out.  The lady with the wheelchair was pretty amazing and was so grateful for the mobility the chair provided.

She also thought the iPad was pretty amazing.

We took pictures of the family and then recorded her telling how appreciative she was to have received the wheelchair.  It was a fun visit to make with them.  She insisted on giving us a snack directly from her hand to show her appreciation!

We got to the lake a took a little hike up the hill overlooking the lake and the valley.  It was a beautiful vantage point and really showed how beautiful the area is.

Us, the Richardson's from Huntsville, and the Farmers from St. Louis.

This is our amazing translator, Puje.  She is so fun.  But after we got back from this trip she had trouble with her back.  She has scholeosis of the spine and the climb up the hill was not particularly good for her.

After the climb up the hill, we went down to the lake to wade.  The water was icy cold and I was cold already, so I didn't wade, but sat on the log and watched.  Everyone said it was great, but I was glad I was on the beach and not in the water.

This is the Mongolian version of an island resort lounge chair!  It was actually pretty creative and Alan said it wasn't even too uncomfortable!

After the wading, we went back to the Blue Pearl, the resort where we stayed.  This was the same resort we visited when we came with the young Elders and Sisters and branch members in July.  We brought lunch and ate in their dining room.  We had our other meals there too.  The dinner that night was delicious.  Breakfast was eggs and bread and lunch was soyven (sp?)

After lunch we were assigned our gers for the night.  This was ours.  It was really pretty comfortable.  At night, when it started to get cold, the resort staff came in and started a fire in the stove.  It got hot really fast.  We went to the Richardson's ger for FHE and by the time we got back, our fire was about out and it was getting a little cool.  We threw on more wood and then walked down to the lake.  It was the most beautiful night with a full moon shining on the water.  The picture didn't turn out very well, but it was indeed a night to consider the beautiful world we have and the One who created it for us.  And, yes, we went down and sat on those comfortable lounge chairs shown in the pic above!

This is the bed in the ger.  There were actually three beds so we were able to take the mattress, aka cushion, from the one bed and use it for more comfort.  The blankets were really warm.  I used two and didn't need the second until early morning!  It was really a much more comfortable sleep than I had anticipated!

 Below is the alternative sleeping accommodations!  Actually, Alan did not have to sleep in there, but it was a pretty cute play house for the kids.  The stairs were really steep and there was a narrow balcony on the back side--just wide enough for a chair with no railing and looked like an accident waiting to happen.

This was the sunrise that awaited us the next morning.  It was gorgeous!

 After breakfast that morning, we took a walk down the road along the beach.  It was a beautiful day, with typical Mongolian blue skies.  I now know why they call this land that--The Land of the Blue Skies. Although I understand that Murun and the Lake have blue skies more days than does UB.  They have lots of haze and clouds.  Those visiting us from UB were really soaking in the sunshine and clear air!

While on the hike, we ran into these two guys who were biking across Mongolia. (the youth on the bike is a local.) One was from Austria and the other from Uruguay.  They just happened to hook up and so decided to travel together.  They had taken most of the summer to do the trip.  Pretty simple way to travel!

And then we said "goodby" to our home away from home--our ger sweet ger, so to speak--and headed for home.  It was a great chance to get to know the other couples better and to enjoy each other's company.  We also picked the Richardson's brains about how things work in the branch they support and learned a lot.  The Farmer's have come since we got here and so are still learning the ropes like us.

This was the parting shot of the lake.  It was truly a beautiful day, a beautiful place and a wonderful experience!