For most of us, the overnight train ride to Sainshand was a first. We loved the cabins we got to share and how we would always magically get locked in our rooms until the train attendant came to the rescue. The Lux hotel was very interesting and had many quirks of its own. Then we traveled around the city and visited a museum of natural history and learned about the local Buddhism. Having hotdogs for breakfast everyday we were given the energy to explore 2 prominent sights of Mongolian Buddhism. At these sights we determined our future luck with ankle bones, whispered our sins, and made a wish. We also went to a place of sacrifice specially for women. All of the girls got to pour a cup of milk onto the rocks which were symbolized to look like a women’s breasts. The boys also had a chance to make a sacrifice on a mountain where they got to pour vodka over the mountain. (don’t worry they didn’t drink any ???). Then we returned to our ger camp where we got to take showers and enjoy a peaceful night of pickings wild leeks and watching the blood moon rise and searching for shooting stars for hours. Our last day in Sainshand we wrestled on sand dunes and 3 people decided to jump in a large squishy pile of mud. They got completely covered from head to toe and had to quickly take showers to wash themselves off. We then got to ride camels, and then celebrated Graysun’s birthday by the statue of the Mongolian soldier. We then returned to UB via the same night train we came by, moping all the way that our trip was almost over.
