There are few nomadic people left in the world. In Norway for instance, the Same tend to settle down, not following the reindeer across the tundra any more. In Mongolia, herders still follow the animals as they move according to the seasons. I had the chance to experience this nomadic life during a six days trip in the Arkhangai Province, west of UB and around 50 km from the town Tsetserleg. Together with a group of 4 Americans and a German, we went from ger to ger by foot, by horseback or on ox cart, participating in the daily lives of the families, observing their routines of milking of the animals and preparing dairy products, tasting of course, and sleeping in the ger (typical Mongolian round tent).
For more information about my stay, please have a look at this blog: http://travelingliz.com/?s=mongolia
You will find some interesting articles about ankleboning and crossing rivers without pants (also some of my photos are on this blog)
day 1
Out first family is the one of M. Batochir. He is a professional dairy products producer. He has many animals: sheep, goats, yaks, horses. Every morning at dawn, they milk all of them and after that, they heat the milk to produce different products. The cheese is tasty but has a very unusual taste, Arag (fermented horsemilk) leaves us all with surprised faces. The custom when you arrive in a nomad family is to serve milk tea; a mix of tea, water, milk and some salt. We soon get used to it. They greet eachother with "Sain bainu" which means how are you and you are supposed to answer "sain", I’m good thanks.
We sleep in the family’s extra ger, some in beds, some on the floor, after having practiced our shooting skills with an arch and M Batochir himself.
day 2
Next day starts off with breakfast, some lingering around the ger, watching the family at work and trying to discuss with our few Mongolian words. Then we set off by foot to the next family. The journey is pleasant and even a little dramatic as we have to cross a river with quite strong current and water up to our waists. The gers of our next host family don’t seem to get closer in this overwhelming scenery. The family of M Batdelger lives of dairy products of course, but also of horse training, mainly for the annual horse competition of Nadaam. They have many horses, some of them which we will ride the next day. I forgot to tell you about the dogs… They can be quite ferocious and scares us a lot. This is normal as they are protecting the crop against wolf attacks during the night. During the day, they mainly sleep, exhausted after a hard night’s work and bark whenever strangers approach the animals. It is so nice to gather around the fireplace when it’s cold outside. The fireplace is situated in the middle of the ger, a chimney evacuates the smoke through a hole in the top. There are two pillars around the oven, symbolizing man and wife. You are not allowed to sit between them as this would mean that you separate the couple.
day 3
Next morning we set off on horses and ox-cart. The ox is massive! It manages to drag the cart full of our luggage, 3 passengers and the driver. Pure muscles. Mongolian horses are not very big but they sure can gallop! The saddles on the other hand are in wood and if you are not Mongolian, they are far from comfortable. They hold the reins with the right hand only and the left one can be used to encourage the horse to go faster or just hold on to the saddle so you don’t fall off… Our third family is the one of M Nerguibaatar. He has won many medals at Nadaam and his horses are quite wild. I tell him that I like to gallop, which I think I should better have kept to myself… A refreshing bath in the river nearby does miracles after an exhausting day. The little girl of the family loves to pose for photos in the sunset. After, we learn how to play anklebones, a popular game among nomads. According to the position of the bones you can flip them and if you touch the right bone, you’re allowed to keep it. The one with the most anklebones wins.
day 4
I never thought a horse could run as fast as my horse on this day. It sets off at a whistle and doesn’t stop until he has passed all the other horses, and only because I put all my effort in doing so. What a feeling! It is extremely exciting but scary too. I ask to switch horses midway, this one is calmer but still gallops steady. M Sumyadash speaks English quite well, we decide to call him “the chief”. He used to work in the construction business but has now retired to nomadic life. His daughter Sara prepares delicious food. His grandson is a modern herder, replacing horses with some other horsepower. We learn some new anklebone games, eat and go to bed. We’re getting used to this life now.
day 5
We are supposed to go hiking today but the weather is better for staying inside and practicing our anklebone skills. A new expression is born: “to anklebone”. You can anklebone someone’s name (write it in anklebones), anklebone a shoe (put anklebones in the shoe) or even the coffee… We decide to go for a walk and what is better than wearing a Mongolian dress to protect oneself against the cold? The landscape is beautiful even in bad weather. What is this? A winter residence apparently, abandoned during summer. We dig up potatoes for supper; delicious dumplings filled with meat, and potatoes for the vegetarians. Last evening with the family… The chief initiates us to the Mongolian tradition: in order to get a drink you need to produce a song, which we all do. We play some harmonica and go to bed, tired and a bit cold. It is raining so hard that we have to take down the chimney and cover up the hole so the rain doesn’t pour in. There is heavy wind too. Then the dogs start barking, the chief yells something. We stay inside the ger, too scared to even look outside. The next day, snow covers the mountaintops and we learn that the wolves took a sheep last night. Winter is coming, it’s time for them to move on, and for us too.
day 6
A driver takes us to Tsetserleg, a charming little town with some houses, some gers. I stay in Fairfield hostel. After a walk in the center, a climb to see the view, I take the best shower ever, eat some delicious food and sleep in a bed, alone.
What an experience! They live well the nomads, but this life is not suited for vegetarians, as they don’t grow anything and their diet mainly consists of meat and dairy products.
My Mongolian experience has come to an end. I strongly recommend you to go there, as the possibilities are immense. I want to see the Gobi desert next time.
photos Nomads
For more information about my stay, please have a look at this blog: http://travelingliz.com/?s=mongolia
You will find some interesting articles about ankleboning and crossing rivers without pants (also some of my photos are on this blog)
day 1
Out first family is the one of M. Batochir. He is a professional dairy products producer. He has many animals: sheep, goats, yaks, horses. Every morning at dawn, they milk all of them and after that, they heat the milk to produce different products. The cheese is tasty but has a very unusual taste, Arag (fermented horsemilk) leaves us all with surprised faces. The custom when you arrive in a nomad family is to serve milk tea; a mix of tea, water, milk and some salt. We soon get used to it. They greet eachother with "Sain bainu" which means how are you and you are supposed to answer "sain", I’m good thanks.
We sleep in the family’s extra ger, some in beds, some on the floor, after having practiced our shooting skills with an arch and M Batochir himself.
day 2
Next day starts off with breakfast, some lingering around the ger, watching the family at work and trying to discuss with our few Mongolian words. Then we set off by foot to the next family. The journey is pleasant and even a little dramatic as we have to cross a river with quite strong current and water up to our waists. The gers of our next host family don’t seem to get closer in this overwhelming scenery. The family of M Batdelger lives of dairy products of course, but also of horse training, mainly for the annual horse competition of Nadaam. They have many horses, some of them which we will ride the next day. I forgot to tell you about the dogs… They can be quite ferocious and scares us a lot. This is normal as they are protecting the crop against wolf attacks during the night. During the day, they mainly sleep, exhausted after a hard night’s work and bark whenever strangers approach the animals. It is so nice to gather around the fireplace when it’s cold outside. The fireplace is situated in the middle of the ger, a chimney evacuates the smoke through a hole in the top. There are two pillars around the oven, symbolizing man and wife. You are not allowed to sit between them as this would mean that you separate the couple.
day 3
Next morning we set off on horses and ox-cart. The ox is massive! It manages to drag the cart full of our luggage, 3 passengers and the driver. Pure muscles. Mongolian horses are not very big but they sure can gallop! The saddles on the other hand are in wood and if you are not Mongolian, they are far from comfortable. They hold the reins with the right hand only and the left one can be used to encourage the horse to go faster or just hold on to the saddle so you don’t fall off… Our third family is the one of M Nerguibaatar. He has won many medals at Nadaam and his horses are quite wild. I tell him that I like to gallop, which I think I should better have kept to myself… A refreshing bath in the river nearby does miracles after an exhausting day. The little girl of the family loves to pose for photos in the sunset. After, we learn how to play anklebones, a popular game among nomads. According to the position of the bones you can flip them and if you touch the right bone, you’re allowed to keep it. The one with the most anklebones wins.
day 4
I never thought a horse could run as fast as my horse on this day. It sets off at a whistle and doesn’t stop until he has passed all the other horses, and only because I put all my effort in doing so. What a feeling! It is extremely exciting but scary too. I ask to switch horses midway, this one is calmer but still gallops steady. M Sumyadash speaks English quite well, we decide to call him “the chief”. He used to work in the construction business but has now retired to nomadic life. His daughter Sara prepares delicious food. His grandson is a modern herder, replacing horses with some other horsepower. We learn some new anklebone games, eat and go to bed. We’re getting used to this life now.
day 5
We are supposed to go hiking today but the weather is better for staying inside and practicing our anklebone skills. A new expression is born: “to anklebone”. You can anklebone someone’s name (write it in anklebones), anklebone a shoe (put anklebones in the shoe) or even the coffee… We decide to go for a walk and what is better than wearing a Mongolian dress to protect oneself against the cold? The landscape is beautiful even in bad weather. What is this? A winter residence apparently, abandoned during summer. We dig up potatoes for supper; delicious dumplings filled with meat, and potatoes for the vegetarians. Last evening with the family… The chief initiates us to the Mongolian tradition: in order to get a drink you need to produce a song, which we all do. We play some harmonica and go to bed, tired and a bit cold. It is raining so hard that we have to take down the chimney and cover up the hole so the rain doesn’t pour in. There is heavy wind too. Then the dogs start barking, the chief yells something. We stay inside the ger, too scared to even look outside. The next day, snow covers the mountaintops and we learn that the wolves took a sheep last night. Winter is coming, it’s time for them to move on, and for us too.
day 6
A driver takes us to Tsetserleg, a charming little town with some houses, some gers. I stay in Fairfield hostel. After a walk in the center, a climb to see the view, I take the best shower ever, eat some delicious food and sleep in a bed, alone.
What an experience! They live well the nomads, but this life is not suited for vegetarians, as they don’t grow anything and their diet mainly consists of meat and dairy products.
My Mongolian experience has come to an end. I strongly recommend you to go there, as the possibilities are immense. I want to see the Gobi desert next time.
photos Nomads
No comments:
Post a Comment