Rest day at the Great White Lake

Today we had a much needed rest day at the Great White Lake (Terkhun Tsagaan Nuur) which is one of the most beautiful lakes in the country. The area is teeming with life with various birds and eagles, and amazing aray of insects and a lake full of fish (but we had no fishing rods). Swimming is good with several beaches very popular with the locals. We spent most of the time avoiding the sun because any exposed flesh was scorched as the lake is above 2000m and the sun is very strong. The landscape is a result of past volcanic activity. On our way in we pass what looks like a coal seem in the road. I think there is a bit of black coal in Mongolia as we had come across small mines and seems elsewhere. Its strange to see large gulls at the lake that is so far inland...the sounds of the sea at an inland lake. Later during the day a Mongolian family of about 12 rock up and set camp next to us (this is common here....there is space a plenty but they will camp or park right next to you). One of the older guys and a younger man know how to speak a little english and are keen to quiz us on a number of things. They are driving an old Russian Jeep with a trailor and carry two full little Mongolian style potbellies and use dung to cook their food (but only after a snack of marmot when they arrive). The next morning i get the polaroid camera out and take a couple of shots of their family. The Polaroid has proved a most excellent icebreaker. After a couple of shots they came over and gave us freshly picked blue berries with sugar, bread made from locally picked flowers and some Marmot liver. This was funny because we were breakfasting on porridge with sultanas and apple. We tried some Marmot liver and the older man tried some porridge. We both grimaced, smiling at each other going '..Mmmmmmm!' trying to be polite. That liver upset up both our stomachs for the day. We have got some great photos however our memory card has become corrupted and we have lost two weeks of photos which is a real shame. We are trying to find software to recover the files so fingers crossed. >>Matt