Walking on water.

S

heep, horses, camels, gers, and wide open sky. These were things I was expecting to see on my trip through Mongolia. Never in a million years was I expecting to see water zorbs. Would you? :-)

As we drove along the shores of Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur (Great White Lake), we all of sudden saw five brightly colored plastic balls floating on the surface of the placid lake. Huh? What was this all about? We had to find out so our caravan of SUVs pulled over and we all jumped out. As we neared the balls, I could tell they were zorbs but I had never seen ones on water.

I have to admit it was a very unexpected sight....five balls floating in a lake in the middle of nowhere Mongolia. For some reason, I felt compelled to do a "Happy Jump" to remember all this by like I would ever forget this sight :-)



























The zorbs were owned by a Mongolian family, who for a small fee of $3000 tugrik (about $2 USD)would allow you to get inside the ball and walk on water. One of our drivers, Gambaa, decided he would do it.

They unzipped one of the balls and Gambaa clamored inside.



















They then started to inflate the ball. Gambaa patiently waited as did we all to see what would happen next.



















In no time, the ball was fully inflated and Gambaa was able to stand up.



















They gave the ball a gentle push and it floated away from shore. Then, the giggling began as we watched Gambaa struggle to stay upright.



















The objective was to stand up inside the ball and walk on water. The harder that Gambaa to tried to do this, the more he fall and the more we laughed. And we laughed and laughed. I laughed so hard there tears were streaming down my cheeks and my stomach was hurting. It was s-o funny and Gambaa was such a good sport for doing it.


































Soon, it was time to reel in Gambaa. Poor guy looked like he had had enough of it all.



















After Gambaa, Forrest, Evan, Eric and Cathleen all took their turns. More hysterical laughter from the *peanut gallery*. Forrest and Evan had about as much success as Gambaa at trying to stand up - basically, they just tossed about like lottery balls in the air machine. Eric was successful because he was tall and lithe enough to use his finger tips hold himself up and balance inside the ball. But, it was tiny Cathleen (who's shorter than me) who surprised us all - the girl struck a hands-free pose!























Water zorbs. Who knew they would be so entertaining? :-)