After getting back from seeing the Argali Sheep, we were in UB overnight before heading off again to the Khustai National Park. Here we would be staying with a ranger and his family and hopefully going to see some Przewalski's horses, a wild horse native to Mongolia that became extinct in the wild and was subsequently reintroduced in 1992.

This trip would once again be with Hashi, but now with a different driver, Zizi, along with Margie and Bubba, a retired couple who would also be on the 3 week trip with us and were from Wyoming.

I think now is the time to tell the tale of the Belorussian visas.

So we want to spend about 3 weeks travelling around Belarus after Russia (but now entering via Latvia and Lithuania as you can't catch a train straight from Russia, despite there being a train line and it being really easy, unless you are on a transit visa for either Russia or Belarus or a Russian or Belorussian).

The Belorussian Embassy in Canberra closed in July 2018, therefore we would have had to post our passports to Jakarta if we wanted a visa, which we were not comfortable doing. Unfortunately, Luke's suggestion of visiting Jakarta for a week was neither practical nor affordable. We therefore thought to get them in Beijing. I am glad we didn't as we needed the passports to get through Tiananmen Square, and into the Forbidden City. We therefore decided that UB would be a good place to get them - we had the day after we got into UB to visit the Embassy and then would be able to pick up our passports the following week. According to the Embassy website, consular services were available Monday to Friday between 9am and 12noon.

Dutifully on the day after we got in, a Thursday, we walked down to the Belorussian Embassy - about 40 mins walk from our hotel, to find it on the 13th floor of a modern high-rise office block. We rang the bell and were greeted with a lady who did not speak English, but managed to get across that there were no visa's being issued that day as the Consul was away. Trusty Google Translate saved the day again, and we were able to establish that the Consul would be in on the following Monday, and we were to come back then.

Disappointed and with the plans slightly askew we considered all our options, as we were off on our tour to Khustai National Park on the Monday, and apparently we would be leaving at 9:15am. Not enough time to get to the Embassy and back.

I had contacted the tour operator and was told that we could not leave any later.

Thankfully we spoke to Hashi on our trip to Gun-Galuut, who said that actually we would be leaving at 10:30am. Great - we could get to the Embassy and back with hopefully plenty of time. Therefore, we got down to the Embassy for 9am on the dot, and were ushered in to the board room to sit and wait for the Consul.

After about 5 mins a rather dour looking man came in and asked for our application forms. He remained dour throughout the visit.

At about 9.25 he confirmed we had provided everything we needed and were to come back at 5pm that evening. We were going to be away, therefore Luke hesitantly asked whether tomorrow evening might be ok. He replied "tomorrow is fine, 5pm... no 4pm is better!". With that we were give the details of the bank account we were to pay the fees into, and told which bank we were to go to, in order to pay.

Now at 9:35am we walked into the appointed bank - it was pension day!! There were about 20 pensioners before us waiting to withdraw their pension!!! We didn't have time for this sh*t.

Rushing upstairs again, the receptionist at the Embassy came out, along with the Consul (to collect evidence of payment), and I asked whether I could do a bank transfer, or whether there was any other bank. There was! In fact any other bank!

It was now 9:45am, we had a half hour walk back to the hotel and we hadn't checked out!

Getting into the next bank (which was empty), the nice lady took my passport, started to make the right noises until I pulled out my Mastercard debit card... nope she couldn't do it.

It was now 9:55am!!! I think it is safe to say, I was feeling the tension.

Into the next bank and all the tellers were busy, but nobody else was waiting so we were first in the queue. Finally, after a five minute wait we were sitting down with the teller, once we established that we were able to make the payment, I told Luke to go and get us checked out and hold the tour... I would complete the transfer and get back asap.

Anyway, at 10:15am I left the bank having made the transfer. Messaging Luke "great success" I was told "start running". I am not a fit person. But to cut a long story shorter, I arrived back in the hotel at about 10.37am to find that the guide and driver hadn't turned up yet, but I was a sweaty mess!!! Ready to start the next trip.

So... back to the trip.

After driving for a couple of hours, and stopping for lunch at a canteen like restaurant attached to a supermarket, we reached our Ger for the night, which was a home-stay - so very simple.

We were greeted by the lady of the Ger and given what I think is the most amazing natural yogurt I have ever tasted. It was naturally sweet (I asked whether she added sugar, which she didn't), really mild and so creamy - it was YUM.

We shared a Ger with Margie and Bubba and through a little misunderstanding which we were too British to correct, we ended up sleeping in a king-sized single bed - not so comfortable.

The Ger's themselves were based on a slight hill, and had a long-drop about 50m away which had a modesty screen (it came up to your chest standing up) which was open on one side so it truly was a loo with a view. The luxury came in that it had an actual loo on it - no squatting required, so you could actually sit on the loo, enjoy the view of the Mongolian steppe stretching off into the distance and contemplate your existence.

Dinner that night was great - the ranger had come back, and was a really friendly guy, wanting to know about us (with Hashi translating). After Luke had mentioned beer (which had been magically provided from our van), I then made the mistake of mentioning vodka... we were meant to be leaving to see the horses at 7pm. At the word "vodka" our host basically got out the vodka and poured possibly a 100ml "shot" for me and handed it over.

It would have been really rude to refuse, so I did the shot. Then so did Margie, who had never had straight vodka in her life, Bubba who sipped half and Luke who knocked it back with no issue, unlike the rest of us.

At this point their vodka ran out, so Luke got our bottle (which made the ranger really happy) and the ranger and his wife then did their shot. We then had another round of more sensibly sized shots.

It was then time to sing... the ranger and his wife sang a beautiful melodic folk song... but what did we have? Waltzing Matilda??? Anyway Hashi suggested The Beatles (who are really popular in Mongolia), and that they would know "Yesterday". I kind of know it. I had to sing it, on my own and unaccompanied. It makes me cringe every time I think about it.

The feedback from our hosts, was that it was not too bad, but my high notes could have been better! It makes me cringe even writing about it.

Anyway we were all the best of friends now, and being 7:45pm it was time to see the horses.

We drove out with the ranger and saw a solitary horse in the distance.

We decided to walk further up this valley as some other tourists were watching some more horses in the distance and suddenly coming over the hill in front of us were about 15 horses and their foals, who first stopped for a drink, and then came for a salt lick about 20m away from our car. Another three harems came into the valley near us and we ended up almost being surrounded, although the other groups of horses kept much further away from us. Now, the literature says we should stay 300m from the horses - lucky we had the ranger with us, and that the horses came to us. After about 45 mins of watching them, and far too many photos, elated we drove back to our Ger.

The family had 3 dogs, an annoying puppy, a 14 yo bitch who didn't move much whilst we were there, and a 4yo Mongolian Mastiff (the 14yo's son) who was a fearsome looking fellow with a massive head and paws the size of my hands. Anyway the Mongolian Mastiff was actually a really sweet dog who loved the pats and even came to lean on you when you patted him - such a good looking dog.

During the night there was obviously something that got their attention as there was quite a bit of barking. We didn't sleep brilliantly.

Next morning it was up for some rice pudding type breakfast and a drive to see the family's Sea Buckthorn plantation (an orange berry used for medicine and as it turns out juice for cocktails) and a wander in the park.

There were heaps of little Timothy's, HEAPS of marmots (which is what the ranger is actually there to stop people poaching) a few Corsac foxes, some Brown Kites, vultures, (heaps of) Shelducks and weirdly for a country with no coast line - gulls. It was really great.

On the way back to UB we stopped at some Turkic burial grounds (6th-8th Century AD) and saw a line of stones which apparently represented each person a particular rich warrior had killed. Hashi said there was no exaggeration, but I don't know. The line of stones went on for about a few kms.

The scenery in the park was amazing, and I am so glad we did this trip to see it.

On the way back, Luke was dropped off at the Belorussian Embassy to (hopefully) collect our visas. We have Whatsapp as our means of contact here, and I got a message saying "I have been told to wait 40mins, I'm in their boardroom." Then there were a few questions about payments, and finally a message saying that Luke had got the visas and was on his way back.

We went out to an Irish pub for dinner to celebrate where I had a schnitzel and Luke had German sausages and mash with sauerkraut (?).

We were therefore ready to meet the group of 11 others we would be travelling with for the next 3 weeks, the next morning - with very slight trepidation as we have been told that we are the youngest in the group... by about 6 years... there is then a 47 year old and everyone else would be in their 60s or 70s. I haven't been the youngest anywhere for a while. Anyway, we looked forward to seeing what we have.