Horses

Mongolian horses are small, sturdy and strong. We spent our day off riding some in the countryside. Before we had even left the car a little band of Mongolian women had named an claimed us to ride each of their horses. They had discussed our weight height and suitability and assigned us each a horse. When we walked over there was a bit of a fight over Laura; the reasons why never became clear. We had a guide, he had a whip and we were off.

We crossed this deep river. The current was strong and the horses stumbled a little, but they made it. I got my feet wet. You don't wear helmets and to make the horse go faster you have to stand up. So it's as dangerous as it is exciting. i.e very. Hwai-jinn's horse, an independent sort, drove her straight into an over hanging branch. Completely slapstick. She fell off hard. It was not funny at the time. Then it was very very funny.

Laura's horse decided, without letting her know, to sit down on some cool mud it found. She was trying to take a photo at the time so she fell off into the same mud. It was funny even at the time.

My horse was thankfully quite feisty and was up for the occassional gallop. Ken's horse was badly stoned and didn't achieve much. Heidi and Ben did the best. Heidi had a crazed horse which suited her fine, because she has experience and Ben rode his bad boy like a cowboy.

Finlanded

Flying from Beijing to Helsinki is confusing because you end up with 24 hours of daylight to begin with. Then you get to Finland and the sun refuses to set much anyway and you realise the next 9 days will be nightless.

Walking around a Finish supermarket today i had the most preculiar feeling of being at home and completely not at home at the same time. It reassuring to see fruit without worm holes in it and loads of food on the shelves, but it makes you wonder if it really is all necessary. It's weird to be back somewhere normal. It feels like a bit of a cop-out really. It's so easy.

Finland constitutes our three day holiday. Then we will do some "work" here and head into Russia next week. Work will be talking to a Finish youth group, packing some humanitarian stuff for Russian prisons and helping out at a Christian conference. Very very excitingly, Lucia is coming to visit on Sunday.