Stinging Nettles

There I was, in shorts and thongs (flip flops for the English). Taking photographs of the bridge over the Tuul gol (Tuul River) outside of Ulaanbaatar when as chance would have it, I stepped through a small plant. Hmm, thinks Thomo, there is something hot and itchy on my left leg. I naturally then rubbed the left leg with the right leg. Damn, hot and itchy on both legs now. I photographed the plant, photographed the bridge and then came back to the car. I showed my favourite Mongolian Family the picture of the plant on the digital camera and they all laughed. Thomo had stumbled through a patch of stinging nettles. In Mongolian, these are called khalgai (thank you for that name Alimaa).

I can report, however, that standing in the cold, fast moving waters of the Tuul gol relieved the stinging feeling from my legs. Er, the beer helped as well ;-)