Zun (Summer)....maybe.

Hello! Its finally full on spring/early summer here. Trees are blooming, flowers are out, it actually rains, the air is cleaner, and life is generally pretty decent.

Looking inside the world of Terelj National Park

80° one day, 4" of snow and 30° the next.

Mr. Camel, hanging out and eating grass. I always see him in this area. 

Nasaa making friends with the camel. 

Nice overview of the city. It is amazingly calming and grounding for me to have a temporary escape from the foreign concrete jungle. 

May or January?

At least the larch are springing green.

This past weekend, I went on a day trip to Terelj with my landlords, Nyama and Buyan. We met Buyan's sister on the way there. She works for a Korean company that has just built a school near Terelj. We got a tour of the entire operation.

This might be the most "green" I've ever seen since I've been in Mongolia. Very nice.

I'm not sure what these are, but I'm arleady hungry looking at them.

Gotta have the typical ger dog shot.

Very happy school children, running around playing, hollering, and generally in their own little world.

They liked to say "hello" to me, and shyly laughed after I said hello back to them.

Korean food for lunch. Yummy!

A newly built monument honoring the great Chinggis Khan. This is larger than it looks (about 8 stories tall), and includes a multi-level museum at the base.

Nearby tourist ger camp.

Chinggs is looking bigger. 

You can climb a bunch of stairs, or take the elevator if you're lazy, and look at Chinggis head on, right on the top of the monument. 

A view down at the parking lot.

On the way to Terelj, there are plenty of stops where you can ride a horse, camel, and come in close contact with these predators. He was huge, had very sharp claws, looked mean, and I didn't want to get too close. 

 

The Tuul River, which runs through Ulaanbaatar, was entirely frozen less than 3 weeks ago. Now its running swiftly, and provided a refreshing ice bath for my feet. Maybe next time I'll take a swim.

See you next time! At the moment, I plan on moving home in September. Woo hoo! I found out there is likely to be NO field work this summer, which is a huge dissapointment. So, I will have to make the best of getting out during the weekends and seeing what I can while I'm still around.