For all you who share my view that long international flights in economy class are horribly boring I can recommend flying to Ulaan Bataar from Moscow. You will never know exactly what will happen, just that it will probably not be a regular flight. At the gate was ten or so Russian and Chech hunters in camouflage and bandanas, so drunk that they could barely stand up. Makes me sad to see, they represent nothing that I associate with hunting. I was surprised that they were allowed to board the plane and even more surprised that they were allowed to sit on the armrests and sing as we taxied for take-off. They behaved like annoying drunken old men with a lot of money (I’ve heard that it costs about 15 000 USD to shoot an ibex or Argali) for the rest of the flight. Speaking of the flight, my ticket said it was a direct flight but just before we entered Mongolia the plane landed in Krasmoyovsk (or something similar), apparently the fuel is cheaper in Russia so they decided to fill up the plane before landing in UB…
What is a scheduled flight plan against market economy and good bizznizz.
At landing the pilot announced that it was 3 degrees below zero, the Italian man next to me who wore shorts and a T-shirt looked quite baffled… He will learn the lesson that “guidebooks can be worth their price” the hard way.
On the way to UB our car collided with a truck, the other river had fallen asleep. Luckily Miji is a great driver and escaped a head on collision. That saved his life but he is still in hospital. I went to visit him and gave him postcards from many of the Swedes who has been in camp. Miji got so happy that he hugged me (which is a big thing for a Mongolian man). We all hope that he will get well soon, the time in Tost without him will be very empty.
Tomorrow I am leaving for camp, will have four days to set up camp and build snares before Tom and a TV-guy from ABC arrives together with Nadia, Kullu from India and a volunteer from Australia. As Tom leaves a group from WWF arrives. Will try to write but I expect to be busy until 22nd of October or so.
