The story, or smth like this

Once upon a time, was a french girl, exchange student at NCCU, alias National Chengchi University, Taiwan. After few months there, she was crazy about that place, but summer was coming and with it, the hottest weather she had ever experienced. That was me. I was there, making my own way, meeting great people and working on my exams, when my father suggested me to go on holiday with my sister. He is actually kind of "family person", which is good, definitely. So here we are, I was wandering in North Vietnam - yes because between my classes, I did this 10 days trip with friends from my school in Vietnam- and we met this swiss girl, who was travelling by herself, and she was going to a trip in Mongolia few months later. She gave me the contacts of the company running a small business about horseriding treks.
And here we are, back home -meaning to tw- I checked that out, and after few emails exchanges, we booked a trip there. I had -and still have- a Mongolian friend, IMBA student in NCCU, who told me everything I had to visit, every food I had to try, the most important words I had to know -meat (I was a vegetarian at that time), oil, fat, etc- I am a freak with food. Anyway, he did a great job, and I was more than ready to go there.

My trip was Taipei - Seoul / Seoul - Ulaanbaatar on the 3rd of july 2009. The second flight was delayed for four hours, and I remember lying down on the seats in the waiting space in front of the boarding gate, an amazing view on the planes. I can refeel the atmosphere of the place, very quiet, like waiting to step into another world, I can see the light, dark blue with some lighter spots from the planes' lights. I fell asleep. It was just part of my trip, so I enjoyed even this delayed trip. In the plane, only mongolian people, almost. I landed, and everything changed. The landscape, basically nothing, the sky -the same-, and the sound, just mongolian around me. Soe from the hostel picked me up. I was in the car, and I can remember the feeling it gave me, freedom, starting from scratch, I don't know how to explain, just a newness, I was absorbing everything.

I arrived at the hostel and met up my sister, that was great after all these months. We wandered in the city for the day, and the next one, the "manager" picked us up and in a minibus, we left towards the countryside, Harhorin. After 6 or maybe 9 hours on a single lonely bumpy track in the middle of nothing, we arrived at the place. Ger to sleep, hotty day, cold night. We met the coupl who was going to travel with us, 10 days horseriding trip in the steps, sleeping in a mini ger we were going to build -must say the driver and the guides did most of the job, though he helped all the time, but it is a pretty complicated thing to do- and eating what the cook would prepare us. Yes we had a driver, we had a cook, and we had two guides. Actually this was the "comfort formula", which means you do not sleep and eat with locals. But you had anyway to sleep on the floor, you had to eat whatever was prepared (and trust me this is not a place for a vegetarian, or soe who cares about her weight), and no water so no shower ahah. 10 days. Ok we got one at the hotsprings, right in the middle of our trek. That felt great, that was the best shower I had in my life I guess.

Ohhh stop. Too much info. It is just too dense. Ok so one of the guide, actually the trainee guide had been the reason why I came four times to Mongolia over a year. We are not together anymore due to lots of reasons, but I still love Mongolia, loved what I experienced there, and care to share my souvenirs, before it goes somewhere deep inside my memory. I know my bf will read these lines, so I am just telling you ma petite fraise enrobée de chocolat noir trempée dans la crème anglaise, do not worry. This blog is about Mongolia, though it is kind of connected to my ex bf. You know people need sometimes to write down what they feel, to make it clear, to feel better, to find an answer. There are so many different reasons why people do that. I did it. Now I am writing down about my souvenirs - place, people, landscapes, feelings associated to these souvenirs- not about my ex bf. I did the work I had to do to overcome this previous relationship, with success. I feel good, I feel quiet, I feel happy (except for the job part but again, that is not the point here).
ok you know what? this post is already too long. I will start another one about the first trip in Mongolia, and pictures will come with it.