After such a busy week, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend yesterday (Saturday) than to go out in to the countryside of Mongolia for some fresh air, beautiful views and lovely company. Our in-country management team organised for a group of us AYADs to visit a traditional nomadic Mongolian three-generation family.
The drive to and from the family’s ger (literally meaning ‘home’, the ger is the traditional Mongolian tent, called a yurt in English) was absolutely stunning. We even got to see a group of camels with two humps, along with many goats, sheep, cows and of course, Mongolian horses.
Upon arrival at the family’s ger we were greeted by the elders through hugs and instead of kisses, sniffs on both cheek. We then went into the mother and father’s ger, entering in to the left hand side of the door. We were given a cup of white tea that instead of sugar, is flavoured by a few pinches of salt. I thought it actually tasted quite nice.
There were also some snacks for us to try that were kind of like bits of hard donuts.
We had brought along food to made a hor hog, the real traditional Mongolian barbeque. The father of the family was responsible for cooking this (not that different to an Australian BBQ) so while it was being prepared we were told to take a walk and a look around their beautiful property. During this time we also visited the elders ger, which was actually a traditional Kazakh ger. They were really lovely and even let us try on a traditional Kazakh outfit. The hat I’m wearing is actually made out of fox feet!
On our way home back to UB we stopped at the big Chinggis (Genghis) Khan statue, which shows Chinggis riding a horse. According to legend, this is where Chinggis had found a golden whip. The statue is 40 metres high and apparently you can climb up to the head of the horse. Unfortunately it was getting quite dark (not to mention FREEZING cold!) so we’re hoping to go back again in the daytime.
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