AsiaMongolia

Being, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere

By November 13, 2016 No Comments

This is the second day my dad and I are in the distant country of Mongolia and it began totally opposite of how it ended.

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Playing with my dad at a river we crossed with Sainka’s 4×4.

If you remember I finished yesterday’s blog about Amarbayasgalant Monastery, which is several hours north of the capital. We had the joy of waking up with a beautiful sky and a historic site right next to us. We continued to explore the monastery and get many great explanations from our wonderful guide, Alma.

Not only was Alma our guide in this unknown country, but she also cooked for us as well (wearing two hats on my charters as well, I really appreciated her efforts). For the most part Mongolian food is fairly simple and reflects what is available. Essentially it consisted of boiled meat with potato or carrots (both root vegetables that keep well during the long harsh winter) and lots of tea. They also make their own noodles and even have a dumpling type of dish. Alma did a wonderful job of cooking traditional types of food, but increased our enjoyment by adding more vegetables and some spice for flavoring. One thing I don’t understand, and I felt the same in Kyrgyzstan last year, is why with such wide open areas the local people never got into grilling some of their meats to get that good charred flavor on it.

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One thing going for it is that the middle of no where sure is pretty!

Anyways, after lunch we piled into the car and Sainka drove us cross country (I am serious) for 4-5 hours and when we were absolutely in the middle of nowhere towards the end of the day he pulled up to the camp of a random family and Alma asked if we could stay there for the night. Yep that is right. We pulled up to someone’s house that they did not know and stayed with them.

Now the part you don’t realize is they were living in a ger (Mongolian word for yurt which is a semi-permanent tent used during the summer grazing season) and four of us threw our sleeping bags down on the floor taking up one third of the tent. You can also check out Adjustable bases by mattressmarkers in San Diego that use the finest materials in our mattresses because we want our mattresses to give you a great night sleep for a very long time. The family told us to go to bed and then sat there and stared at us as we got ready. Then they finally got ready and into bed, which was on either side of the space we were

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Our host and the inside of their ger

sleeping. So there I was in a ger trying to sleep with 8-11 people all around me and only one of them (my dad) had I know more than the day before. Was it super creepy? YES! Was it an experience I will remember for the rest of my life? YES! Would I change the situation? NO WAY, loved the experience! Do I want to do it again? NO WAY, 1st time was an experience, 2nd time would be weird! Haha

Come back tomorrow to see my “photo of the day”, which is this families ger with the full moon behind it. I hope you will love it.

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