31 May 2018

Desert Run!!

Run in 21st country!!
6K run in the vast nothingness. Winds were howling but the sun was pleasant. Running into the wind was exhausting. Had to come back to the ger camp once to refill water.

You might notice me running with my head down. First off, every time I lifted my head, the scenery was not changing much. But more to the point… there was horse poop, camel poop, cow poop, sheep poop, the-guy-who-never-quite-made-it-to-the-outside-toilets poop all over….

31 May 2018

This one is for Sharmila and Shauna … from Gobi with Love

(also known as “How Frustration can be turned into Fun”)

After watching sunset in the Flaming Cliffs, we headed back to our ger camp. On the drive back, we noticed the moon coming up with its full glory. Must be a full moon night in the desolate landscape of Mongolia. We asked the driver to stop the car and got out to take photographs. The moon is very difficult to take pictures of. I even put my camera on the car hood with a rock to stabilize the angle. No luck.

Finally, took the camera in my hand and rested my arms on the car to see if I could get a good shot. All I got was a criss cross pattern in the sky. The shutter was open for multiple seconds and obviously my hand was shaking.

Since I could not get the better of the moon, out of sheer frustration, decided to convert the criss cross into English alphabets. So, I focused at and shot the moon. Moment the shutter opened, I moved the camera in the pattern of “R”. And sure enough, I had written Roger’s and my name in the sky with the moon!

This was fun! All four of us were laughing our heads off.

We then went on to writing “S” for Sharmila and Shauna.

And upon relentless insistence of Roger, I drew a heart sign too!

Putting them in a collage was sheer brilliance from me 🙂

You will be amazed how silly the two of us can get when together.

Especially if you hand us a pen worth a thousand bucks 🙂

30 May 2018

And he thought he can one up on me…

Roger: “Sara, How do you say Shutup in Mongol”
Sara: “To who?”

Roger looking at me yells “TOWHO”
Me (calmly): “I think the proper word depends upon whether you are addressing somebody formally or informally. She wants to know who are you addressing when you want to say Shutup”.

Roger (muttering under his breath): “I can’t get a break, can I”

And this is reason #152 why it is so much fun to travel with this guy…