Shine-Ider to White Lake

We stopped briefly in the soum centre Shine-Ider so Peter could try to call Australia.

We also stopped at some more graves, where we tried to remember the different kinds from Chinzo's lecture of the previous day.

We stopped to take photos before crossing a long wooden bridge over the Ider river.

Lunch was a picnic stop just outside another small settlement. Here I managed to take a photo with everyone in it but not a single person looking at the camera! Left to right: Peter (standing), Chinzo, Barb, Basraa, Mike, Jaye, Suzanna, Jamie, Karen, Justin, Patti, Christine, Naidan, Everleigh, Carol.

I went looking for rodents: when I saw a long-tailed souslik scuttle down a hole, I staked it out, sitting about two metres away downwind. The E1 shutter may have been quiet enough that it didn't hear, or maybe it wanted to get out the alarm, but I got in three photos over about thirty seconds when it stuck its head out and cheeped, before it disappeared back down the hole.

We stopped at another övoo at a pass, where there were fields of wildflowers. So the macro lens got a workout again.

Then it was more driving, on very bumpy roads. It was quite warm, and nearly everyone in my van kept dozing off, despite the bumps. This was probably the longest and hardest day of the tour for our drivers.

Next: Great White Lake
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Up: 2005 Mongolia trip