Stephy J Singapore: A weekend in the desert

Wow! I had no idea how much fun I would have camping and hiking in the Mongolian desert but it was one of the top five trips I have ever done! Thanks to the great hikers of Beijing Hikers and the fun group I had a blast! I was really lucky to meet some fun people to make the experience even more amazing. We started the trip with a drive in jeeps out to the desert - now jeeps in China on sand dunes with no seat belts is crazy! I was nervous but it was incredible! Then once we got out to the sand dunes, we started treking. The heat and sun of course were strong (Erin you would not have liked the sun but we all wore 60 SPF and hats. I made them!)....we spent hours hiking through the sand - just so incredible. The blue skies and the sand dunes were so beautiful. When we came across the lakes in the desert, you couldn't imagine the green around the lake with sand surrounding it. Though I hated the mosiquitos! Then we continued to trek through the desert to find our camp site which was near a lake and normand's home. They hosted us for dinner! The sheep wondered around us as we ate a great meal and enjoyed Mongolian beer. Then we watched the sunset over the sand - beautiful! Our guide made a great campfire before we headed to our tents for a much needed rest. The next day after some more hiking, we got to ride camels through the desert! So fun! I named mine Suzie, but later learned she was a boy- no wonder he got made and almost ran away with me on him! Now it's a funny story, but at the time it wasn't! We finished up the trip with some more time at the Great Wall - always a bonus to see the Great Wall. We visited some dynasty tombs too. But after the desert hiking, nothing seemed as cool! Thanks to the fun group - Gaby (my roomie!), Bob and YFong, and the other Americans, British, Danish, and Chinese for making this a once and a lifetime trip!
Here are some pictures from the amazing trip!

At the start of the hike