Five hours in a seatbelt free van, rattling around avoiding massive pot holes we zig zagged all over the road through the steppe and finally arrived at our destination.....Bayangobi Ger camp, a peaceful little Ger village with amazingly electricity and running water, though not always hot.
Sitting in my little pagola looking out over the seemingly endless steppe........ complete silence.........all I can hear is the distant bleeting of sheep and goats as well as the occasional motorbike hum.
It's beautiful here, I feel nothing but complete contentment in this moment...absolutely beautiful.
I'm sharing with Talida tonight as per our schedule and lucked out with the most gorgeous view from our little door....
Sitting in my little pagola looking out over the seemingly endless steppe........ complete silence.........all I can hear is the distant bleeting of sheep and goats as well as the occasional motorbike hum.
It's beautiful here, I feel nothing but complete contentment in this moment...absolutely beautiful.
I'm sharing with Talida tonight as per our schedule and lucked out with the most gorgeous view from our little door....
It's so peaceful, the cool breeze is moving the long grass aside me and it's completely silent.......just my watch ticking, that's all I can hear.
Later we went for a horse ride out on the steppe after meeting a nomadic family and visiting their Ger. It was so homey inside with photographs and a tiny kitchen and table, we tried some more fermented mares milk...the Mongolian version this time 'Airag' a lot more alcoholic and not so foul tasting. We had some hardened goat curd which was interesting to say the least, a really strong flavour and really tough. Also some yummy pastry home made which was nice. The ladies in the family showed us how they milk the mare, they sort of trick her into thinking the foal is feeding but letting it stand next to it's mum and have a tiny bit of milk then pulling it off the teat but keeping it's head out of mum's sight so she thins it's still feeding and they do this with each female 5 or 6 times a day and retrieve half a bucket of milk which is a LOT of milk every day. They had two beautiful kids and twins on the way which we learned is quite uncommon in Mongolia but we seem to find twins everywhere!
We got a very quick lesson in riding which consisted only of the word 'Chu' which means go basically. We donned our chapps and off we rode to the top of a mountain overlooking the landscape....absolutely gorgeous. On the way back we assisted the father in the family to round up his huge flock of sheep, goats, cattle and a few horses which was a lot of fun, practically a jillaroo now :) We rode back into the now setting sun and back to the families camp, where we remembered how painful riding can be on your backside, we unhinged or locked knees to get off the horses. Completely worth it.......,
I learnt some really interesting facts about Mongolia today, though this country is massive they only have a population of 3 million people and 1 million of them live in Ulaanbaator their capital.
I learnt some really interesting facts about Mongolia today, though this country is massive they only have a population of 3 million people and 1 million of them live in Ulaanbaator their capital.
The entire steppe is not owned land, there are no fences and no boundaries. The nomadic people move as they need to which really only depends on the seasons, they move underneath the mountains in winter to protect themselves from the extreme cold.
The animals they own are tagged however they are allowed to run free, wherever they wish to roam and graze as they please. When it's getting close to sun down the male of the family will go and collect them on horseback or motorbike, round them up and bring them closer to home but they are never fenced in. Aagy said they never go too far because they know that the family are their home.
It is such a beautiful concept...complete freedom for the animals and they are all fat and healthy. They don't really have any vet services they just let nature take it's course which is fair enough I guess as that is what was intended, even the dogs that roam the steppe are not desexed or anything, they seem to be few and far between. Families don't own a dog, one will come and they will feed it and it stays close by. The dog in turn protects the family and the livestock but Aagy said rarely do they if ever attack the animals or chase them, their job is to protect if they choose to stay.
It is such a beautiful concept...complete freedom for the animals and they are all fat and healthy. They don't really have any vet services they just let nature take it's course which is fair enough I guess as that is what was intended, even the dogs that roam the steppe are not desexed or anything, they seem to be few and far between. Families don't own a dog, one will come and they will feed it and it stays close by. The dog in turn protects the family and the livestock but Aagy said rarely do they if ever attack the animals or chase them, their job is to protect if they choose to stay.
The temperature has dropped tonight and my bag just got a lot lighter, our Ger is cozy and warm and the mosquitoes have backed off with the temperature drop...time for bed.
Taking it all in...
Nice Photo Bomb :)
A beautiful moment this Mongol man happily let me capture.......
Out in the cuds with the sheep...Baaaaaaa
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