Today is Wednesday. This morning we drive about an hour to the Flaming Cliffs region of the desert where, in 1921, the first dinosaur egg (83 million years old) was ever discovered, thus proving that dinosaurs laid eggs like birds, and didn't birth their young like mammals. Today the Gobi is the third most active site in the world for dinosaur paleontology.
Leading the discussion is Dr. Tsogtbaatar who is the chief paleontologist in Mongolia.
He demonstrates the richness of this area by searching for and finding some small dinosaur fossils (whoite, above).
We also spot a tiny Mongolian race runner. He can't be more than a few inches long. They're everywhere and you can step on them easily since they blend in so well.
Later that morning we visit a nomadic camel herder who lets us ride camels! Note, however, that American safety weirdness has come to Mongolia: they make us don helmets! (Maybe that was National Geographic's insistence.)
What a pair of stunning beauties.
And don't I look like a dork in that helmet?
This afternoon we attend the Nadaam Festival where local Mongolian nomads meet to socialize and play games, including wrestling ...
... archery ...
... and a horseback race.
All the fans sit in the dirt nearby, and in an odd comparison to baseball beer hawkers, women bring out and pass around a bowl of sour camel's milk. You've never smelled anything so rancid! (Debb tried it but I was afraid of an involuntary international incident so I passed.)
They also had a bowl of sheep if you were so inclined .... no!
Tomorrow is a long travel day: up early,, Land Rovers for an hour and a half to Dalanzadgad airport for the return flight on Aero Mongolia to Ulaanbaatar. We then transfer to our plane for a six hour flight to Yangon, Myanmar (Burma). I hope to get this posted tomorrow.
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