Friday, 21 July.  Flew in the very early morning to northwest Mongolia, close to the Russian border.  Very small airport.  We loaded into three very sturdy vans, each with a foreboding snorkel exhaust, meant to be used when traversing deep water.  Turns out we never needed them.

A long drive began with a very nice, very new road.  But we soon went off onto a rutted side road which was the type of travel we experienced for much of our remaining stay.  Drove around a beautiful salt lake to a very ancient cemetery.  We visited perhaps the cleanest outhouse in Mongolia in a totally barren landscape.

After passing through a very small town we bounced and bumped for several miles over (through?) monster ruts to our lakeside ger camp.  Breathtaking blues.  Cattle and horses lazily strolling along the lake.  Made a short climb to a beautiful lookout spot.