Bulgan Province, Mongolia
October 30, 2013
Saturday was a fairly quiet one. I had to attend the orientation course for my trip out with the Nomad’s which took up a good few hours and then I headed back to the hostel to pop out for some tea with the other folks staying there. It was the last night in Mongolia for Julius and Micha so we stocked up on beer and Vodka and kept it cheap by staying in and having a few drinks and some decent banter.
I was quite sad to see Julius and Micha go as they have been very good to me since arriving in Mongolia. Giving me plenty of tips and generally being really good company. The beer and Vodka kept flowing and before I knew it it was the early hours of the morning and there was no point in going to bed as I had to be up at 6am anyway to head out on my four day trip into the Bulgan Province National Park. So slightly inebriated and very tired I packed my small bag up with a few essentials and got ready to head off.
I was really looking forward to this part of the trip and it was good that I was going with people I knew as George and Vaso a newly wed Greek couple on their honeymoon were also coming along with me on the same trip. It makes it easier when you know who you are going with and they were both great company for the duration.
We left at about 8am from the local bus station and crawled through the countryside for around four hours until we reached the nearest village to the various Nomad families we would be staying with. I tried to get some shut-eye on the way there but was slightly hampered by my arm constantly being forced up against a big puddle of condensation from the window, two beautiful yet playful little girls sat behind me who seemed to enjoy tugging my hair the whole way there and what has to be the most bandy legged Mongolian I’ve came across crushing my legs together!…..so fresh as a daisy I was ready to head out to the first family we would stay with.
Even in the wilderness the Nomads have still created their own little network of tracks that they use to navigate between each Ger camp and the various families that are dotted about and it wasn’t too far to the first camp. The first family was lovely. Just a couple in their 50’s as their children had moved off into the city to study and work. I struggle to remember all the names as they aren’t the easiest to say let alone remember but their hospitality was great. He was a herder with sheep, cows a few camels and a couple of horses. We were greeted with food and drink and sat round in the cosy Ger together. First up was horse milk which was interesting to say the least, very bitter and sour but it went down easy enough in the end. A few home-made pastries later and the Vodka came out. Similar to the Russians they seem to drink until the bottle is gone so a few neat shots later it was polished off. This was pretty much by lunch time and given the fact I had no sleep and had drank the night before it didn’t take much to feel a bit wobbly again before we headed out on a camel trek to one of the nearby hills to sit and take the view in. It really is beautiful out here. So peaceful with some stunning scenery. Golden grassy plains, with rocky hills and snow capped mountains as the back drop. Herds of sheep and cows dotted about in the distance and the one thing that struck me on the trek is how vast the place is.
It’s hard to get a perspective on anything. You spot a hill or another Ger in the distance and it only looks a few hundred meters away but due to a lack of familiar things such as trees or roads in between you can’t get a scale established so these things are literally miles away even though they seem much closer.
We seemed to be fed constantly. Anything from Horse milk, cream, pastries, Mutton, Cheese from horse milk….it was an interesting combination! The Ger’s are really cosy. Little round insulated huts with a stove in the middle fueled by dung, in this case camel dung. The people here survive on what they have available and do it very well. Mongolia is the last true place to have a population of Nomads that make up the majority of the general population and they have been this way for thousands of years. Yes they have modernized slightly, they have solar panels to harness electricity but the general way of life and harmony with nature is unchanged.
They pack up their Ger’s and move around the wilderness with the seasons and weather, taking their herds and livestock with them. On my way back from the ‘pit’ (toilet) there was some drama as the sheep they had just herded into their pen for the night broke down the fence and scambled all over the place. We tried to help the best we could but it was hard as the language barrier made it tough to communicate and you don’t really want to start wading in doing what you think is right only to find out your causing more problems. These people know what they are doing so we watched as they re-herded the sheep to another pen after making a make shift gate to keep them in.
The couple had two Ger’s, as do most of them and myself George and Vaso slept in one and the couple in the other. It was an early night as I’d only had around 4 hours sleep in the past 3 days and it didn’t take long to doze off with the warmth of the dung stove.
The next morning we were fattened up yet again with more horse milk and pastry, then it was time to pack up and head off to the next Ger. We left on Camels and then changed to a truck with another family stopping off at a shrine en route before arriving at the next family Ger sat at the bottom of the rocky hills we had seen in the distance the previous day.
This Ger was a lot smaller and felt much more rugged. It was hot, steamy and dark. The stench of animal carcasses filling the air. Various other Nomads popped their heads in and out before an older guy turned up to take us out for some horse riding. I’ve never ridden a horse before and was a little nervous at first especially when he cracked the arse of my horse to set it off on a gallop! But it was fun and I really enjoyed it so much, enough to be tempted to learn horse riding at some point as it felt quiet natural to me.
We took a ride up to another stone shrine on top of a hill before heading down the other side to ‘swan lake’. The lake was stunning. Small but unbelievably clean and peaceful. I lived over the lakes this past summer but this was something else. The water so clear and clean, the air so fresh and the landscape beautifully untouched. The odd eagle soaring above over the nearby hills and rocks and not a soul in sight as far as the eye could see. Just to the South of the lake were some sand dunes and beyond that in the distance rugged snow capped mountains provided the back drop to the whole composition. Absolutely stunning.
An hours ride took us back to the Ger where tea was already under way. This tea was a bit more interesting as when we entered the Ger the lady was blow torching the wool and skin off the heads of three sheep. It was an interesting sight and aroma….enough to turn George white through and send him outside. Once she had scraped the skin down into the pot they went to boil up with some milk and rice.
A couple of other Nomads arrived for the meal and they sat about cutting various bits of meat from the sheep. Tongue, throat, cheek it was all to be eaten and to be fair it was very tasty. Communication was a bit tougher at this Ger but photos from mobile phones of friends, family and where we came from was a good ice breaker as not much language was required. This was followed by a game of ‘ankle bone’. It’s a handful of sheep’s ankle bones which are thrown on a table and you have to flick the bones at each other matching those that have fallen on the same side from the four different sides available. It’s very popular with the Nomads as we found out and was great fun to play. This family was quite large, with a mother, father, couple of kids and a grand mother all crammed into the one Ger so we were taken a few hundred yards away to a different Ger to ourselves to sleep for the night.
We stayed up a while to look at the stars…. and what stars they were. So clear and brilliant. The milky way stretched out across the sky easily visible, so much clearer than I have ever seen before with the odd shooting star darting across between them.
The next day we returned back to the family Ger for breakfast before moving on again to another family. Full of aches and pains from some very novice horse riding I might add! The next family was orientated around horses as well and they were so so friendly and welcoming. The children so cute and curious and the father about 28 years old very proud of his family and what he had. The food here was amazing as well, mutton with noodles and soft dumping parcels were served up. The daughter took us out for a hike up the nearby rocky hills, weaving through trees and streams and over the top to a small hidden valley with wild horses and the last remaining ruins from the Ghengis family tree.
There wasn’t much left to the ruins. All over grown with trees sprouting up among them but it was interesting to see non the less and to imagine that a Queen once lived here many centuries ago. The trek was a good few hours there and back due to the rocky climb up but once back we were fed and watered with yet more milk then it was back down to some serious ankle bone competition.
The father takes it very seriously yet with a sense of humour behind it and the game seemed to go on for hours before he finally decided to see us off once and for all and claim all the bones on the table. The Ger we slept in was very comfortable and clean and we had a good nights rest before waking up on the final day.
We had nothing planned for this last day so spent it purely sat around with the family and playing with the children which was great, they were so hospitable and friendly and made us ever so welcome to be there with them. It was sad to leave as we had been treated ever so well and welcomed in to these people homes despite the fact they have so little themselves. But unfortunately it came to an end and we were picked up and taken back to the village bus stop for the long drive back.
The buses here seem to get over booked as there weren’t enough seats for everyone so I spent the four and a half hour drive back sat in the aisle on what can only be described as a camping chair for a three year old. Wedged between two very hefty locals both intent on stretching their legs as wide as they could in order to crush the Jonny foreigner sat on his midget seat.
It’s been a very special few days and certainly the highlight of Mongolia for me so far, such beautiful warm people who make you feel so welcome in their country.
