Hello, Fieldsite!*

Written on June 23, 2008

When I read my horoscope in the UB Post on Friday, it said that I would attract people Monday through Wednesday. It's my first day of attraction, but all I know is that I'm deeply attracted to this camp site.

Yesterday, we flew from UB to Morun and took a two hour drive to Hatgal, the town on the southern tip of Lake Hovsgol. On the way there, we stopped to see the deerstones. Built around the bronze age, these carved stones lined up exactly North to South. Sacred burial mounds surround there. Unfortunately, these aging stones are only protected by an outline of wooden poles. Dr. Clyde Goulden (a researcher from the Academy of Natural Sciences Philadelphia) tried to nominate them as a UNESCO World Heritage site, but the Mongolian government withdrew the application. Either it didn't want to or didn't have the funds to protect the area. Sad...

As soon as we arrived in Hatgal, we took the bare essentials from our baggage and hopped on a small boat. The three hour ride to the camp site was more welcome than the alternative-- another van ride, except this one would last for 9 hours.

The valley we are staying in has a small river (stream?) that empties out at a small bay. We got off the boat near the river's mouth and took an old Russian jeep to the campsite about 3km away. We had scarcely set out bags down in a ger and began to take in the breathtaking sunset when the camp cook ushered us into the kitchen ger for an astounding meal of rice, beef, and a carrot/raisin salad-- a pleasant surprise after the long trip.

As the travel worn group of professors and students began to settle down, we realized that one ger could not hold us all. Our second ger was not yet ready, so I volunteered to sleep with the Mongolians in their ger. I nervously introduced myself to the 10 Mongolian students as well as the two researchers from the Asia Foundation also in the ger.

The Mongolians could not have been more hospitable. In broken, halted English, they encouraged me to sit near the warm stove and included me in the group's Mongolian/English lesson.

As the night wound down, I moved from this communal ger to the boys' ger to sleep. Outside, I saw the part of the trip I anticipated the most. I looked up and saw the stars.