Back in the comfort of the hostel in Ulan Bataar and in one piece

So we made it back to UB in one piece. And we think the bad karma may be gone - or at least we hope it is.

The rest of our trip went fantastically well and was well worth that crazy first day on the road. We spent two nights chilling in the gers at the white lake, rode big stocky (and slightly coco) Mongolian horses around the area and hiked to the top of a volcano.

Carl at the top of the volcano

We drank Mongolian wine (definitely not something to look for next time you feel like a drop of red) in the evenings and feasted on rice or noodles, indiscriminate meat and, of course, some trusty potatoes. One night we even went Mongolian gourmet and ate vegetable dumplings. We finally tried Mongolia's national dish, fried mutton pancakes - and they weren't bad if you like your meat meaty and your arteries nice and blocked.

We visited the Erdenne Zuu Monastery, watched a German straddle 'penis' rock (less said about that the better), had the best shower in the world at a local bathhouse in the middle of nowhere, and froze our butts off in the mini Gobi.

I even think that, by the end of the trip, Moshi had forgiven us for the incident on the buddhist shrine. It seems a shot of vodka fixes everything, even in these parts.