A day’s ride from Tsaganuur brings us to the Lkhagvaa family winter camp.The path to this hidden spot winds through forests for three miles. They are in a copse above the river. The location provides shelter during the harsh winter months when the summer pasture is too exposed on the open steppe.

Inside the ger we are greeted in the traditional Mongolian fashion – salt tea and biscuits around the fire and a discussion about our journey.  The wife and son are happy to see us and go about their chores with beaming smiles while we settle in. It is warm in here. The circular walls are lined with functional essentials – two cots. an alter containing family items, kitchen, central hearth etc. All this can be packed in a day and moved to new pasture.

Outside the ger goats are housed in a circular paddock and beyond the goats horses graze freely on the range.   I bring out a bottle of vodka from our baggage and it is happily received.  We rest here tonight.

As the sun drops below the trees and the family settles in the ger, Ghandii arrives.  He is a traveller of the north, aquainted with many locals and on his way to collect stones from the mountains near Russia. His riding boots are so patched that he looks like a ragbag, and is hard as nails. In the morning he kills a sheep for our meat supply on the journey.

That night talk turned to myths.  When Ghandii was young, he and six friends heard the voice of the chotgor bird. It was a malicious, frightening and loud sound which surrounded them in the forest. Then as quickly as it arrived it was gone 10km down the valley.

But a more convincing story occurred on November 5th 2003 near Burkh Eeleg Lake in the Western Taiga. Ghandii and Ghost (the original shaman) were walking across the frozen lake to find a fishing spot. When they looked behind them their footprints were red. The icy footprints in the lake looked like they were soaked in blood above 50 inches of ice and 10cm of snow.  Ghost performed a ritual for their protection, but an explanation was never found for this phenomena.

With talk of legends and a bottle of vodka drunk i pass out in the corner of the ger. During the night I dreamt of unearthly gibbon-like creatures passing in the forest. Their heads were covered in fur and they were gentle looking with big ears like those of a bear. They walked upright with a grace that suggested extra terrestrial intelligence.    Not far from this gibbon-like bunch I paid homage to a group of human/wolverine creatures who lived on the fringes of humanity. I could not tell if this odd smooth-hair covered bunch were clad in anmal hides or if the hair itself was growing from their skin. The shapes of their faces were not human, but some strange hybrid of smooth-furred animal and man.   My imagination was running wild…

The cat, of which there are two in the ger, brought in a mouse last night. With a pair of tongs, the famiy friend removed the rodent from the home. Two cats are employed here for rodent control.