Into the Mountains

Another busy day. Meet up at breakfast spot and then our two cars headed up into the mountains to a (fairly) local ski resort, situated just above their world-class ice-hockey rink:

The group:

I can’t recall ever seeing the sign at any resort I’ve been to:

Two chairlift rides later, we’re up at the main area, and enjoy walking around, Julian handing custom stickers out to local photographers,

and some hot beverages and pastries:

 

Lovely pic of brother and sister Aika and

What goes up  must come down, and so it was for us. Back over to another lovely yurt resort for swing time:

Relaxation:

 

Horse with excellent home-made noodles:

and straight up and smoked camel milk (oh so dang sour):

The best part was the ability to recline between courses and/or bites!

Then a few minutes to change and chill at the hotel before we headed out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant hosted by Aunts and Uncles. Oh man, the food is excellent (so close to Chinese border):

By far the most impressive aspect of this dinner was the speed at which waitstaff replenished our shot glasses w vodka due to constant toasting

…thank goodness the vodka is lower proof than usual. I must have downed 6 shots and anyone who knows what a cheap drunk I am might expect I’d be carried out on a stretcher after such games. It is true that several times I held the glass to my lips and faked any ingestion (a practice which I perfected for days following this meal), but the whole scene was spectacularly fun and felt blessed to be part of a new tradition for sure.

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