Hovsgul Lake

We entered Hovsgul National Park and before we got to the lake we stop at the road side where some road traders where selling their goods. They also had some reindeer that you could take photos of, as long as you paid them! We stayed a while looking at the jewellery and other crafts and chatting to the lady selling them as her English was quite good. We bought some more Mongolian products and then went on our way. Driving down towards the lake was magnificent. To say Hovsgul is beautiful is such a huge understatement it is criminal. As we drove over the hill and saw it before us we were all speechless. The blue of the lake reflecting the clear blue skies, the trees around the lake which acted like a border around a painting, it was just breathtaking. Once we all got our breath back we started looking for a Ger to stay in, this did not take long as we found one right on the water front five beds, log burning stove, Yaks walking around outside the Ger just wandering around without a care in the world, all perfect. Straight away Bryan & Eric got changed into their swimming trunks and went to prove how manly they were by going for a quick deep in the freezing water (remember Siberia is just up the road over the Russian border!). Later in the evening we got invited to some more local traders selling goods, Jody wanted to buy some gloves so after some thinking and trying on she settled on a pair of pink knitted gloves. She asked the sellers what wool they were and they said it was yak wool. Jody said ‘I’ve never seen a pink yak!” They all found it very funny and started giggling and laughed out loud. It was quite funny as only the one lady understood and you could see the joke being passed from one to another as the translation was passed on. Well we had 5 beds and had offered one to Teleh, but he did not come home that night, where had he gone? who was he with? we did notice that children were around 9 and 10 years old. Remembering that he had been travelling this route for over 10 years. Oh how the mind wanders when you are having fun. We never did find out where he slept for those two nights though. Hovsgul Lake ger Room rating: 10/10 - we were so cozy Location: 10/10 stunning Staff: 10/10 - they lit our fire at 6am each morning! Value for Money: 10/10 £5 a night each Other comments: just perfect Stay again? any time Overall area experience: 10/10 Wow!!!