Eleven intrepid tourists,
Two guides, two drivers, two vans
Assembled in Ulaan Baatar
To explore Mongolia as much as they can.

To start it was Nadaam;
Archery, horse racing and wrestling,
Competing in National Costume;
Fancy hats, vivid styles of dressing.

Knucklebones and Mongol chanting
Stole our hearts away,
Then off went the intrepid explorers
To party the night away.

Departure time came and went,
Robin staggered out pissed,
Dereck escorted a friend
And Scott and Dups were sadly missed.

We bumped along the road
To the tune of a certain “TING!”,
Singing “Ole OleOle”
As the wheels began to spin.

Natan and Tuvik drove bravely,
Scott and Mieko supplied the treats,
Ghengis Khan lit up the nights
And Sarah and Dups performed drinking feats.

Each day the twinkies rocked on
Mongolia showed her skirts
Of valleys, mountains and rivers;
Beauty so raw it hurts.

We stayed in gers of felt,
Strange cheesy smells we smelt.
Steve tried all the foods
And drank and sang like a Celt.

We climbed a few wee mountains,
Lori slid down on her bum,
“Ah Soo” said Mieko,
“That is not how it’s done.”

We stopped at Khovsgol Lake,
Lori’s bum again created a stir,
Robin lit up the night
Trying to burn down his ger.

Mieko, Scott and Dups
Climbed Ikh Url’s 3000 metre peaks!
We were all very impressed
With our Nippon and charming geeks.

The Traditional night was amazing,
The instruments and operatic voice,
And Jagalaa requested a bonfire,
Again vodka the drink of choice.

Dups danced like a certain merkat,
Dereck photographed each scene,
Sack laughed at all the antics,
But Sarah’s horse-riding had made her less keen.

We drove past thousands of horses,
Thousands of sheep and goats,
Hundreds of beautiful yak,
And pulled off and on our coats.

We found it was 10K to anywhere,
We loved mutton cooked in a can,
We were surprised by humpety pumpety
In homestay ger of Mongolian man.

Danielle and Dereck loved sleeping
And missed a lot of the pain,
But Barbro missed nothing
And her and Steve were always game.

Toktoy! To Jagalaa,
Twenty-one along the way,
Intrepid Tour Guide,
Wonderful every day.

We all loved Robin our Leader
Whose smile and rosy cheeks
Kept us all confident
That he and Jargalaa would provide treats.

Nurse Barbro was always on hand
And Danielle was our shining light
Of how not to drink and play up
Though we didn’t get it quite right.

We arrived at the beautiful White Lake
And lit up our fires so bright
Then noticed many a spider
That came to enjoy the light.

Dereck arranged Aussie visitors,
We played ‘Harbourside’ half the night,
Madness was the poison
And Dereck disappeared out of sight.

Kharo Korin was hard to find
But we found the camels all right
We rode off into the Gobi
And were then rained in for the night.

So finally back to UB
And sad farewells to face,
But we’ve had a fantastic time
And may meet again some place.