The weekend leading up to the start of work has been a great one. As previously stated (or aluded to, or not), the overnight stay in Terelj was magic. As you can see from the dumping on my flickr page, the scenery was spectacular.
The two boys of the family who ran the place were crazy, energetic little scamps who took us sledding down a nearby slope on pieces of masonite. They were always keen for a bit of wrestling too, even having a war sitting on myself and Dave’s shoulders while we ran them around.
I went on a couple of solo walks, climbing up and over rocks and boulders. When I say solo, I actually mean accompanied by one or more of the dogs that the family keep around, who would appear out of nowhere about 10 minutes into a walk/climb and provided great company.
The horse ride was great and I didn’t fall off and injure myself like I was half expecting to. I do have a sore arse, but I’m not sure if that’s form the horses, going over bumps while sledding, wrestling with the kids (they don’t hold back*), or a combination of the above.
Last night was Playtime, a huge Mongolain alternative rock concert. It was insane. There were supposedly about 30 bands playing, of which I saw maybe 15-20. The event ran differently to any other concert I’ve been to. It was all in one hall on one stage and the bands played a maximum of 3 songs each. It was weird at first because you’d want to hear more of the same bands, but in a way it worked, because everyone came on with full energy and pumped out their top tracks.
I was mightily impressed all round. Most bands were either metal or punk and they all played hard. There were some really young bands too; high-schoolers up there thrashing about. I’ll find out some names and get some CDs soon, maybe even put some samples up here. The music scene is intense.

*I got strangled with my own scarf and kicked in the nuts lightly.