More from Mongolia

The women worked together inside the ger for some time, chatting and talking, while they cleaned out the intestines and the stomach -- some really nasty work. Later, one of the city women carried the pan out on the steppe, in her heels, to empty it and clean it.



Donya considers the entrails.




We don't know why they put two in the car and had one slaughtered.



I couldn't watch the actual killing. Here they are conferring over butchering.








Women drove out there from the city. They were very fashionable and modern, but it is the custom to have a sheep slaughtered for a special occasion, such as a wedding or a big birthday celebration. The shepherd/slaughterer has put the sheep in a bag to drag it away from the herd.



This one wonders if he's next...

Let's go back to the ger for a few more pictures:

The guards stand at attention as our train leaves us at Datong.




Changing the bogeys in the middle of the night at the Chinese border: our entire rail car was detached from the train and lifted eight or ten feet in the air, with us in it, and a new carriage was slid beneath us to accomodate the change in the rails.



Back on the sleeper train across the Gobi, headed to Datong. We return to China, land of abundant, good food!



People feed the many pidgeons in front of the monestery. Made me think of Mary Poppins.



She is the green Tara, mother of all, mother of the earth, who heals and protects.






in the old, pre-Buddhist system of spirit gods, there are five colors that represent key spirits: blue for sky, green for earth, red for fire, yellow for sun and warmth, and white for milk. Today, people combine the old and the new, and it is common to see blue cloths or strings hanging in the home or here in the Buddhist temple in deference to the sky goddess.



One of the faithful.



This is in the temple proper.






The Buddhist monestery in Ulaanbaatar runs a school for boys.

Our camp.



Donya's altar in the ger (yurt). Includes a picture of her deceased husband, the goddess Tara, the Dalai lama, and several votive items, including a small Tibetan prayer wheel. In the morning when she makes the milk tea, she places a cup of it there before anyone else gets, and she prays.


milk tea.

Donya cooks for us. We couldn't communicate, but I pulled out a pocket knife and spent time peeling vegetables with her and watching how she cooks. Her food was delicious.



This man spends all day on his horse, looking after several herds that are allowed to roam free.

Our camp seemed very isolated, yet all evening, people came to visit the extraordinary woman, Donya, taht we were staying with.



Over mountains and hills...



Susan's horse decided to balk.



Our new home on the Mongolian Steppes.



through the Gobi Desert.



The Great Wall from the train.



One the train to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.



After the earthquake in Szechuan province, many pandas from the panda conservatory there were transferred to the Beijing zoo. Here's one of them.

Chrysanthemum salad.



End of the day in the rain: the huge crowd of chinese tourists in the Forbidden City disappeared.


Over the bridge in the Forbidden City.


This instrument is bona fide -- at the ancient atrological observatory.

photos

The train to Beijing was fast and comfortable. Here's the fabulous Beijing train station at night.



Our first morning in Shanghai: breakfast of dragon fruit, persimmon, and bean milk for coffee, purchased on the street late the night before.