The rest of the group arrived on Saturday。

We were so excited – we even made up a dance routine with our hats for their arrival on the coach。 We waited ages and when the bus finally pulled up it was full of people from the other program i to i and not ours。 So we were just stood there looking foolish with our hats on。

They took us to a restaurant for breakfast where we met the others。 It was incredible to see them all again， especially Kieran， Rob and Sebastian。 They had actually traveled for 40 hours from the south of China to come and see us。

It wasn’t long before we started chatting about random rubbish。 It really didn’t seem like we hadn’t seem each other for a month！

For the first day we went to the grasslands。 For the whole trip we had the best tour guide ever – his name was Rocky， and when ever he got on the bus we sang the Rocky theme tune。 He was amazing and （unlike a lot of Chinese people） he even understood and was able to use sarcasm。 He sang traditional songs and made jokes for the whole journey there。 It made the time fly by。

When we got to the grasslands we were apart of some kind of traditional Mongolia ceremony。 Kieran wanted to be Mongolian King and I had thought about volunteering to be the Mongolian Queen – that was until Fiona said that last year they made the king and Queen drink Bijou （a strong Chinese spirit） until they fell over。 Instead Alex volunteered。 They were dressed up in traditional Mongolian clothing and made to cut up a spit roasted sheep in a special way。

After the ceremony we headed out on horses into the grasslands。 The horse I got on the way there was really old， and it felt like it was going to die before we arrived at the Mongolian house we were heading for。 It did make it。 It even tried to trot for some of the way – but it was a pretty half hearted attempt。

At the house we had Mongolian cheese。 It was very disappointing – it was basically a kind of hard yoghurt。 It was tasty， but I would never describe it as cheese！

We then made a wish at some wish thing （I clearly didn’t take in much of the culture on this trip） and horse rode back。My horse was a lot livelier on the way back。 Mine and Kieran’s seemed to be related so stuck side by side for the whole journey which was pretty useful so that we could catch up！

There was a bit of drama on the way back。 Rob and Thore‘s horses were at the front of the herd。 Clearly that position was part of the hierarchy of the herd。 When one of the horses decided that they would go ahead of them all three galloped back to the paddock。 They crapped them selves！！ Apparently at one point or another they had all considered jumping from the horses。 It did mean that we had to hear about their brush with death fro the rest of the trip ：-P Trust it to be them。

We then watched some Mongolian wrestling， had barbeque and went to the bars from the previous night – I am sure a lot more happened， but I just cant remember ：-S