P.S. I'm like back and stuff

It's been a few months and I'm a month behind on this little trip report, but I am indeed alive and well (and Michael is eating and sleeping again which is oh so happy! I think he lost more weight worrying than I did eating a diet of cabbage and mutton.). It was rugged being on rough roads and camping for so long, plus I had a hearty case of homesickness, but that said and done, here are some highlights. I'll let the pictures tell the story....

city scenes

(mosly soviet era buildings, but note the cute cardboard cutout of a Mongolian in traditional clothing on the crosswalk sign)

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and then off to the middle of nowhere (quite literally)
a typical day

1.

the driver debriefing

2.

off to the vans and jeeps

add bumps, mountain passes, and engine overheating for even more fun!

but at least it was a pretty view most of the time

(the snow-capped mountains are in china)

3.

wildlife encounters!

well, almost

mostly, the marmots ran too fast

(especially when the drivers honked excitedly at them wishing for a taste of their apparently delicious meat)

and the camels were slow

but the car was too fast

so all you get is this cave painting

and let's not forget the never ending herds of sheep, goats, and yaks

but let this be an endorsement for Planet Earth which shows Ibex and Snow Leopards, both inhabitants of Mongolia

4.

followed by native encounters

and maybe a visit to a ger for some dried goat yogurt

or just to visit the swamp man/toll keeper (I apologize that I only have a picture of his home (below) with its sweet solar panel and yellow door....but just imagine the most wrinkled and tanned old dude you've ever seen. ok. now think of the smell of a room full of jerky. there you have swamp man whom we picked up in the swamp, drove to his ger, then paid the goverment toll for the next two bridges, and partook of some of his "smoked" dried yogurt...mostly, it smelled like him)

and observe their culture:

like walking around an "ovoo" (a shrine) three times while throwing rocks to express your gratitude for making it over the mountain pass

or rearing sheep for meat and wool

and caring for their dead

(this is a kazak, not mongolian, cemetery...mongolians use simple burial mounds; but kazaks occupy the state where we spent half of our time, so we enjoyed seeing the contrast in the cultures)

5.

and yet more, errr, wildlife?

wild, check. alive, check.

the flowers were at their peak bloom and oh so pretty

(even the dead ones were lovely)

6.

oh wait, that's right.

we were studying these

not flowers, or goats

the above calm meadow stream (with awesome 'frostheave' i.e. the bumpy grass)

becamse a raging river gorge with huge boulders a few miles downstream

just next door (figuratively speaking...a few miles if you were a bird, about five days if you are a truck) there was a stream straight out of Souther Utah

but that's not red rock, it's tons and tons of lichen covering the rocks

7.

And crossing a few of them too.

the aftermath of a river crossing with a little to much mud

(the coil gave out and you would be amazed what these drivers could fix (this was the first of a series of breakdowns); we bought a new one from a local who said we could have it if we left before her husband got home...i hope they had an extra! one of the drivers almost spoiled the deal b/c he didn't know we were paying them double the price and suggested a price that was half way between the estimated cost of the part and the double price, utterly confusing all that were part of the negotiations)

8.

Ok, ok, most of my time was actually spent catching these

Which, was the whole reason for the trip, to collect lots of stoneflies (Plecoptera) for my thesis research. But probably not the part y'all want to hear about (but if you do, I'd be happy to talk your ear off)

9.

the motley crew of collectors returning from a long day

they all kindly shared whatever stoneflies they caught with me...it was like baseball card trading on an academic level

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So from the previous pictures you, like my mother, may say "did YOU actually go to Mongolia?you aren't in any of the pictures!". well folks, I saved some of the best for last. looking through the pictures, I noticed a cyclical nature to my self portraits, mostly captured by the progressive decline of my hair. as many of you know, I'm not figedty about my hair...i cut it myself (which I did in my hotel room immediately following my trip), i used a blow dryer for the first time in a year the other day, and Chelsea, my old roommate who's a hairstylist, will die when she reads that the first time I heard the word "product" in reference to hair was when she cut my hair during one of her beauty school tests....so now you're in for a treat (and these are the pictures I didn't delete immediately upon taking)...

without further ado, the hair progression...

Day one - washed and in braids

Day two (and sometimes three) - not to shabby, a little free flowing and frizzy

Day Four/five/let's not talk about it- woof. pull out the headbands...I usually went a day or so before realizing i looked like this (this hairstyle just demands respect from your fellow travelers)....actually, this was a day two early on which makes it even more scary...it was a rough start and this is the only surviving picture of similar hairdos...yikes.

Day six - large headband and bun to the rescue! This is after a few days with either long collecting days, uber cold rivers, or horse fly infestations that prevented hair washing.

Day seven - rinse and repeat!

(Now in good sport, all readers should go pour freezing cold water on your head and/or back and then we'll talk about travel hygiene...thank goodness it wasn't the tropics so we didn't reek to high heaven!)

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and finally back in the city...

my home for many a long hour looking at insects

(another fun little basement dungeon lab like my current one at BYU)

sorry there are no pictures of the inside, just enjoy the fake wood laminate for now

(again, I was lazy when other people had cameras)

that was quite the long intro for a boring photo

you've know you've been out in the wild a little too long when a third world hotel room with unrecognizable stains, an odd assortment of ancient chandieliers (see photo), a few incessant houseflies, and occasional brown sludge from the faucets feels like the 5-star treatment

*note my down sleeping bag (the red blob) all unpacked and "lofting".

mike and nelson would be sooooo proud.

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and now,

I'm home sweet home

with this view out my window

(a lesser known Wymount perk)

and this even better view by my side

(those blue eyes slay me even when pulling a goofy face)

getting lots of these from my love

(hugs that is, apparently no new pictures of us together since we've been married...at least not any I can find on my laptop)

and wearing my favorite summer attire
(this little number thanks to michael for my birthday, and no i don't have to dress up for work as everyone asks...I just like dresses in the summer...it's classified as an addiction when you wear them to play frisbee, do dishes, and make art messes)


and remembering this happy day a little over a year ago
(I still have guilt over missing our anniversary)

So, in a nutshell: I went. I saw some bugs. I returned. I'm happily home and enjoying the rest of the summer with my adorable, protective, patient, hilarious, and exponentially loving husband. Let's just say, I'm glad to be back.