After leaving the lush green valley behind we ventured into what I had imagined the Gobi Desert i.e. barren and dusty, however not sandy. In the main the desert was covered in low stubby bushes.

Traveling cross country we saw a few lonely Gers and not many flocks of animals, and those we did looked a bit sad. We saw lots of camels (2 humped bactrian type).

We were to stay in this type of landscape for the next few days. Driving quite long dusty distances and seeing very little by way of changing landscape.

Our stops in the Gobi (pronounced Gobby by Mongolians) included the flaming cliffs, a valley where the first dinosaur eggs were found; a hike to the top of cliffs to see some bronze age petroglyphs (and some more recent); a ruined temple complex known formerly as the "Tibet of Mongolia"; and two nights near the Khongoryn Els (sand dunes c164km long with the highest being 180m).

The one of the highlights of this part for me was the camel riding. I had a bit of fun when my camel decided to stand up when I was only half mounted and I had to hold on for dear life to the front hump while heaving myself gracefully into the saddle. I have to say that in comparison to the one-jumped camels we rode in Egypt, the 2-humped seem to be less angry, but a lot more vocal. Their complaints as they stand up and sit down sound more like human cries. The camel herders we rode with seemed to keep their camels healthy as the camels seemed pretty well fed and watered (and didn't smell particularly) as their humps were completely upright and they looked sleek.

A couple of nights prior to riding the camels we had watched a film called "The Weeping Camel" a 2004 which IMDB describes as: "When a Mongolian nomadic family's newest camel colt is rejected by its mother, a musician is needed for a ritual to change her mind." It was a slow movie, but beautifully moving, and being in the Gobi whilst watching it was quite special. It was a wonderful accompaniment to meeting the family of nomadic camel herders and riding the camels. Unfortunately, Luke provided other accompaniment to the movie by falling asleep and loudly snoring.

For Luke, the highlight was climbing to the top of the highest sand dune which was a real achievement, as it was tough. I made it about 1/3 of the way up, and sat and had a chat with 3 of the other ladies who decided 1/3 was enough for them too.

Luke said that the view from the top was spectacular.

It was amazing walking along at the bottom of the sand dunes as there was a creek and the land was lush and green. As it is Nadaam holiday in Mongolia (5 days of public holidays), there were a lot of Mongolians enjoying the oasis and the dunes. We came across one group who were singing to a spring. Apparently when you sang to this particular spring, more water came out (I couldn't see it). Of course that meant that the Mongolians then performed a couple of songs for us. Seriously everyone in this country has a good voice!

In return the Americans in the group sang "take me out to the ball game" which they presumed that everyone would know... anyway the Mongolians seemed happy with the song.

Otherwise there has been a lot of off road driving (ladies if you would like to do this kind of trip, bring a sports bra - I wish I had).

Our van mates change from time to time, but we tend to get put with Taivna (the youngest driver) and with whom Luke has developed quite a bromance with. They exchange insults in Mongolian (we have now collected a few) along with phrases like "I don't want to die" (for particularly hairy off road experiences). We have had all three drivers tell Hashi to teach us particular phrases. I think that has helped break the ice with the drivers who either have quite limited or very little English.

Taivna's phrases include "oh my god", "sorry", "thank you very much", and that's about it. He does speak Russian and I have managed to practice a bit on him. He seems to understand. I managed to use my Russian to also introduce Luke and me to the head driver (who speaks pretty good english), but we hadn't actually exchanged names so that the other two drivers could understand (so spending $$ on Russian was all worth it then).

Anyway on 13 June, we moved from the Gobi to the Orkhon Valley. On the 6 hour drive we suddenly noticed that the scenery was becoming greener, there was grass... real grass, and greenery - even trees! It feels like ages since we have seen trees! This begins the move north-east to the central region of Mongolia.