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DAY 172 | Mongolia | How To Move The Stars | A bicycle ride around the world · How To Move The Stars | A bicycle ride twice around the world

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  August 4th, 2013 Stone Soup In the late morning I was caught by
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  two Mongolian men in their 20s riding together on a motorcycle.
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  They asked if I wanted to eat lunch with them.
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  I laid my bike over right there and we sat on the ground
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  together. They had a small plastic
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  container of diced meat and a golf ball sized onion.
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  Through gestures, I realized they needed my stove, and as I
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  got my stove out, they asked for my pot too.
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  Then they borrowed my knife to cut the onion.
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  They were making soup, and since they had no water, we used most
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  of what I had left. Finally, they pointed out that
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  the pot was not yet full. I added a package of thin white
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  pasta through the mix that dissolved and turned the whole
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  thing to the consistency of thick snot.
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  I filled their bowls and took the rest.
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  The taste started off OK, but the more I ate, the less
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  appealing the flavor became. What I thought was cue meat
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  turned out to be chunks of fat, sinew when gristle.
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  The fat was sticky and coated my mouth, while the rest was so
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  tough I had to swallow the pieces whole.
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  Eventually the flavor became so strong that I couldn't eat
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  anymore. I didn't want to dump out my pot
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  in front of them, so I put the lid on and packed everything
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  into my bag to empty later. The two guys live in the area
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  and we're out for a few days sightseeing.
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  Both were sharply dressed in jeans and black leather jackets.
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  They had no water with them, but they did have shoe Polish.
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  Each of them took a turn buffing.
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  They're already shining boots. I looked around at the most
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  remote place I've ever been and these guys are shining their
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  shoes. I got the sense they were going
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  around trying to meet girls. I imagine there isn't much of A
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  dating scene out here. After struggling to find
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  motivation yesterday, I was glad to be back to myself today.
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  Nothing could dampen my high spirits and I felt content to
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  slowly plod along under the hot sun.
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  I've rid of my bicycle for 5 1/2 months to be here.
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  I'm exactly where I want to be, doing exactly what I want to do.
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  Once I remembered I could only be happy at the end of the day,
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  I pushed my bike to the top of a gentle hill to lay my sleeping
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  bag in the grass for the night. I have a view of a lake and a
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  mountain in the distance. The sky has turned orange and
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  narrow shafts of rain are drifting across the land.
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  My body is tired in a way that feels good.
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  I'm going to sleep well tonight.