Stopping for Lunch
We had been on a good, well-paved road for several hours when the first surprise happened: our driver suddenly did a 90 degree turn off the highway and started out across an open field. After a while we came to a dirt track and turned down it. Another 20 minutes or so brought us to our first stop: Hustai National Park, where the Przewalski’s Horse has been reintroduced to its natural habitat. We had a short introduction at a little museum at the park’s entrance and then went back on the road, where we soon came across the horses- called Takhi in Mongolia.
Przewalski's Horse- or Takhi
After several photo stops we continued on and an hour or so later stopped by the side of a half-frozen stream where several shepherds were watering their goats and sheep. Our guide and driver made a wonderful hot soup for us while we wandered around the hillside. The male shepherd sat himself down beside the truck while lunch was being prepared and was given a couple of biscuits. Later another shepherd did the same after lunch was ready and our guide handed him a bowl of soup. This seems to be the traditional way: anyone who shows up is given– and accepts– hospitality without question.
After our lunch break we continued to drive cross country before meeting up with a paved road again. I breathed a sigh of relief, but too soon: we soon took another sharp left across a field, eventually meeting a faint dirt trail. This was to be our normal mode of travel for the rest of the 5 days, often going down steep embankments and fording streams or circling back when the trail ended abruptly in a ravine. Fortunately our driver was extremely skillful and we eventually accepted what at first seemed like death-defying plunges into the unknown with only a minimal amount of white-knuckled clutching and bracing.
As the sun was beginning to set we arrived at what we thought would be our first night’s lodging: several gers hard against the side of a cliff. A group of Westerners were just returning from their camel ride. We went into the first ger and were met by a lovely older woman who served us milk tea- a Mongolian specialty consisting of hot water and goat’s milk mixed with green tea leaves and salt.
Lady of the House at Our First Ger Stop
After our tea we were shown to the ger where we were to stay, but then our guide told us there was a problem: there were already two groups there and a third was on its way. We assumed this was another group from our hostel who had been going on a longer trip, so we agreed when it was proposed that we share the ger with them. A few minutes later, however, our guide came back to tell us that the other group didn’t want to stay with us, so they took us instead to a different family only a short distance away.
Center posts of ger with slats radiating out.
The gers are made with two center posts, usually beautifully decorated with traditional designs. Wooden slats radiate out from the top. A lattice work, also of wood, supports the size. The stove is in the center and there is a hole at the top for the stovepipe. Felt covers the whole framework, and usually brightly colored fabric covers the lattice work on the inside. Furniture is often decorated with the same traditional designs as the center posts.
Inside of ger
I found this first night a little unnerving: after making us supper, our driver and guide went off, leaving us alone until the morning, with the promise that someone would be in to stoke the fire early in the morning. Despite sleeping bags and fleece liners it got rather cold in the pre-dawn hours– as returning groups had warned us- and for the remaining nights we pretty much took charge of the fire-tending ourselves.
Our First Ger Camp
Seeing the view the next morning, however, all my night terrors were quickly forgotten. After breakfast we walked over to the first camp for our camel ride. It was the first time I had ridden these double-humped camels and I found them much more pleasant-tempered and easy to ride than the single-humped Saharan type. Lin and I were given traditional felt boots that came almost to our knees for the ride. They were very warm, and the ride, led by the camel-herder– the husband of the woman who had served us milk-tea — was delightful. The old man sang or smoked his pipe as we rolled along. Later he told us that the pipe was from his grandfather- and offered to sell it to us for a million tugriks. That works out to less than $1000, but there was no doubt he prized it as if it had been worth a million dollars.
Left to right: Jack, Kate, Sarah and Lin
Though we declined the offer of the pipe, as we were leaving some beautiful silk bags caught my eye and I remembered that our friend Ros had said the lady sold ankle bones- a traditional game using the ankle bone of the sheep, which has four distinct sides. (These, confusingly, are called ‘camel’, ‘horse’, ’sheep’, and ‘goat’, leading me to think at first that the ankle bones came from all these different animals.) The sacks were made by the woman herself, and she was selling a set in the sack of your choice for 5000 tugriks- about $4. I bought a set, as did Kate, and Jackson bought several of the sacks for presents.