The morning before left we watched a bull get castrated. 3 men sat on the bull while one made a tiny slit in the sack, the testicle was squeezed out, tied off, and quickly cut. When both were off, the site was washed off with gasoline and they let the bull up. He slowly got to his feet and walked off, a little less bullish.
After that quick farm chore Pembuk and I were off! With just the two of us and our pack horse we could travel much faster and Pumpkin Thighmaster was running with minimal encouragement.
Our path climbed up through the mountains throughout a long day of riding. We crested a hill and a sweeping valley full of wildflowers stretched out in front of us. We hobbled and staked the horses in the meadow and settled into making our standard dinner, Mongolian soup.
First you boil a big pot of water, then you take your dried yak meat and tenderize it by beating it vigorously between two rocks. If you are lucky there is a bunch of dried fat to go along with it. Noodles and meat pieces go into the pot, a little salt, and voila! Dinner is served and slurping your soup is expected.
I got up to take pictures of flowers when Pembuk asked, "Leeez, hot water?" And he gestured for me to follow. We walked up the valley and to my amazement, around the bend there were a series of small wooden huts and steam rising from the river.
I jumped and skipped my was excitedly to the source of the Hotsprings where you must cup the water against each eye so it looks like you have a tear running down each cheek. Then I started looking at and in all the cabins. They had wooden signs over the doors telling how hot the water was in each hut, the hottest being 118 degrees.
I walked into a hut and Pembuk started talking to a woman nearby. The floor was wooden planks with a hole in the floor and a bench along one side. The water was about two feet down.
I threw off my shoes, pulled up my skirt, and stood in the blissfully hot water. I didn't know what the etiquette was, do you wear a swim suit? Do you pour water over you? None of the doors had locks and none of the windows had coverings... Desire overcome inhibition. I ripped of my clothes and sunk into the water up to my ears.
Sweet love! It was heavenly! Days of hard riding, cold wet feet, and not showering melted away in an instant. I had to stop myself from making happy moaning noises. When I was sweaty hot and red as a lobster I jumped out, dripped dried, and walked out with a huge grin. We walked back to our camp and I slept like a rock.
The next morning I woke up with the sunrise and found my tent covered in a layer of ice. Back to the Hotsprings I went and soaked until I was oozing pure joy. I hung my coat up in the window and not a person bothered my cabin for the hour I was there. As I walked back to camp the sun was up and the day was warming quickly.
I wanted to stay for two nights, but that was lost in translations and we soon packed up and headed down the valley watching golden eagles fly overhead.When we stopped for the night we looked over and right in front of us a cow decided to have her baby!
We watched for hours as the calf dropped, the mother licked it clean, it took it's first wobbly steps, and finally had his first meal. I was so happy that we only stayed at the springs one night, everything seems to work out when I don't try to fight it.
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