Before we could get on our way today we had to stop for petrol - not usually an issue, but in the middle of the desert it becomes a little tricky. We found the pump, but the real test was finding where the worker lived in order to get him to come to fill us up. After a quick drive around honking our horn the worker surfaced and we soon had petrol! In the meantime some of us went on a mission to find a petrol cap to replace the one we lost the day before - but no luck, the dirty old rag will have to do, and we'll keep on enjoying the gasoline smells as we bump along.Today we got our first taste of real desert driving and spent the first hour of our trip making no progress - we went down one route, back-tracked, down another route, back-tracked, and then back to the original track!
We stopped for lunch in front of the Bogd Mountain range, where to the East sits Ikh Bogd Uul (3957m) and to the West Baga Terguun Bogd Uul (3598m). In the incredible heat one smart person (Liv) decided to walk along the base of the range and relax in the sunshine overlooking the vast desert, while the rest of the group made it to different levels on the steep climb up the range. Champion Adam pushed to the top where we scored some awesome views over the landscape. 
We made our way through a gap between these 2 great mountains, and our progress was slowed by the high temperatures (over 35 degrees), which meant we had to stop often to cool down the engine. We tried to coincide these stops at gers where we could relax and meet new families, while 'enjoying' airag, cheese, and milk tea. At one stage we were lucky to come across some gold miners in the middle of nowhere, who managed to put us on the right track.We'd like to say that we soon arrived at our destination, but that's not exactly the case. However, we did eventually get to the Tsagaan Agui (cave) where we walked through a small sandy gorge before entering the rocky cavern. This cave purportedly housed stone age men 700,000 years ago and was lined by crystals that we admired as we crawled through into different caverns.
Adam continued to stress poor Chana out by climbing the cliffside and exploring some of the other, higher caves, but soon the sun began to set and we headed off to find a place to sleep. We couldn't find a ger with space for us, but we did find an oasis in the middle of the desert with green grass, a water well, and plenty of goats for company. Here we enjoyed beer cooled down in the goats' well water with Bimba, who showed off his lassoo skills by lassoo-ing Adam!! 
Adlibing an ancient cave.
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