Meandering in Mongolia: Olgii Town, Foot and Mouth and Marmuts!!

The drive to Olgii took two days, we camped along the way beside a lake. Each day was only 200-250km, but the road conditions are so poor that it is slow going. On arrival in Olgii we were stopped at the outskirts of town by "officials" and had to drive through what looked like a sheep dip. When the conversation was translated to us, we found out that the area had a foot and mouth disease outbreak, and also potentially Marmut Plague! As it turned out the person didn't have marmut plague, which we were very relieved about as it would have meant we were in quarantine for at least a month!! Olgii is not somewhere you want to get stuck for a month that's for sure. However the foot and mouth outbreak meant we couldn't continue to do our three day trek over Tahilt Pass and through the Tsagaan Us Valley which was very disappointing. The travel company arranged for us to fly back to Ulaanbaatar on Thursday, so we had a day to fill in which we did by doing a day trek not far out of town, and visiting a man who had an eagle. They have an Eagle Festival here every October, there are about 1500 eagle owners in this area. We were also treated to a khorkhog. They heat up stones in a fire, place them in layers in a milk can with the meat (we had goat but it's usually mutton), and also the vegetables, and put it back over the fire for about 45 minutes. They have rearranged our trip so we head off to Terelj National Park tomorrow.