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Published: August 30th 2010
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The Mongolian's have a love affair with Chinggis Khaan, the only famous Mongolian there is or ever was. On the way to the ger camp, which was a very,very bumpy ride, they are not good with roads in Mongolia, they perfer big pot holes. We'd never been off roading in a minibus before....Anyway, we were taken off to see a massive stainless steel Chinggis, he was certainly huge but Chenggis didn't really appeal to us international folks as much as he does to the native. We then travelled on to the camp, which was in the middle of nowhere, with only flat plains and mountains in the distance. They were other family ger camps that you could just make out.
Our bus pulled up and we were greated by about 6 teenage Mongolian gilrs, who all had a great grasp of the english language and put us to shame with our lack of Mongolian. One girl did have 2 mobile phones in her pocket which made us laugh. Lliving the nomadic lifestyle in a ger still exisits but with a modern twist. For example they had many horses but also a motorbike. They wore designer knockoff t-shirts but still had
traditional clothes for hore riding and other things. They even had a solar panel on the roof. Instead of constantly moving around they moved with the seasons because of the weather and the pastures for their grazing animals. They moved into the mountains to get shade from the snow and bad weather.
The camp was home to a working Mongolian family and also some other locals who came to work there every day. It was a small camp with a toilet and shower block and a room for meals. Wild horses ran through the camp and cows wandered freely around. Each familiy has a number of dogs with different jobs. Some guard the camp and bark and howl if there are intruders or even noises and others are used for herding the cattle on the mountains. The ger were comfy and homely. Our's had 4 beds placed around the outside and traditionally the left was for females and the right for males to sleep in. In the middle was a table and the wood burning fire. Ger doors always face south and this is mainly due to the direction of the wind. Each evening one of the gilrs
would come and light our fire. During the day the weather was very hot and the sky reached on forever with no cloud at all but as soon as the sun set it became cold and so the fires were much needed. The gers maintained plenty of the heat from the fire and along with thick duvets and woolen blankets we were as cosy as could be. By morning the sun was up and the heat began again. At the top of the Ger was a transparent piece of material which let light in. Unfortunately it was a full moon on one night and it let that in too. The next morning one of the English gilrs was telling us how she thought that god had visited her last night but her sister kindly told her it was a full moon. The Mongolian air does strange things to people.
The food on the whole was very nice although perhaps a little too meaty. The vegetarians had it good at meal times. Mutton is a Mongolian favourite but certainly not a favourite of mine. At breakfast they served hot juice. In the evening we played a traditional game involving bones
fom a sheep. We have bought a pack and so you can all look forward to playing ti at home with us. We tried our hand at archery too and were terrible. Mongolian horse riding was on offer but Ogi (the guide who had a strange habit of saying Excuse me) said that you should not do it if you hadn't ridden vefore as they were not really domesticated horses so what with my love of animals I was out but Jacks was in and raring to go.
7 of the group were brave enough to give it ago but had to sign a waiver of does and dont's. They ranged from don't pat the horse on the neck or ears to always get on the horse on the left and stand clear of the back end. The Mongolians are excellant horsemen and have a totally different riding style than most people. They stand in their stirrups and gallop. It is quite a sight to see. when we wlked over to the horses it was clear that they were semi wild and us non riders were soooo relieved that we weren't partaking. Even some of the riders looked petrified
but not Jack her days riding Dinky had stood her in good sted. The horse riding attire at a lot to be desired (see photo). After mounting the horses the group went off tentatively at first and all that could be heard was the sound of the words "Cheea Cheea" Which means MOVE!!!!!. The groups sson split into 2. The more experienced riders wished to go faster than just a walk. Jack's group got the horses to trot and then canter which was fantastic on the wide open Mongolian plains. Jacks is considering becoming a horsey person again after such an amazing experience riding with these gracefull and experienced riders.
We were also treated to a visit inside a families ger half an hour from the camp. it was the home of one of the horsemen from the camp. We had to take a small gift too. when we went in it was set out as ours was but was a little less decorative. The daughter of the family gave us some local curd taken from the milk. Iit is true to say it was revolting. We also had a bowl of fermented horse milk which is known as
the horsemans beer. This was vile. Putrid in fact. Why? 1) It was from a horse. 2)It was fermented
The non riders went for a short walk which lasted 2 hours and meant we returned after the horse riders so really they just sat and lazed around on a horse while we exercised vigorously for 2 hours!! Hhhmm!!!!
Later that day we walked to a nearby family to get a look at a nomadic ger. it was the home of one of the camps horsemen. The daughter greeted us after she called the dogs off. We had to take a gift as a thank you. she offered us curd from the milk and it was yuck. But then fermented horses milk which is known as the "horseman's beer" it was vile. In fact putrid. WHY? 1) It was from a horse and that's just wrong 2) It was fermented 3) It had flies all over it and 4) Just because it was. we asked her lots of questions and her guide translated. I aksed her if she liked living this lifestyle or would she rather live in the city in Ulaanbaatar. She said the city.
Before to long
we were making our way back to a the large, dirty and dusty city. It didn't have much to offer but we did go exploring then got lost and then broke into a park which was stillunder construction but a nice Mongolian lady returned us to our hotel safely.
The next morning we were back on the train for another day and a half and 1 night to Bejinig.
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JKB
non-member comment
Ger...eat!
Such space! Such a different way of life. No noise or light pollution at night. Magic!