Mongolia - Stepperiders
14. August 2007 - 18. August 2007
We were picked up from the train station and drove straight out of Ulaanbaatar to a ger camp about an hours drive away from the capital. The camp is a small business run by Mendee and his wife Baynaa. We had booked it on the internet and it was absolutely fantastic. We can only recommend it: www.stepperiders.com
The camp is tucked away in a valley on the side of a hill with a breathtaking view and no civilisation in sight. There are three gers for the guests (nice and clean and warm), a ger for meeting and eating and two gers for cooking and living. Also after the disgusting toilets on the train, the latrine-toilets at the camp were spotlessly clean and wonderful! There is also a shower with water that is either heated on the stove or by the sun.
The first two days in the camp we spent with a very nice English couple - Jane and Andy - and Baynaa and her two children - Tamujin and Anujin, as Mendee was on a horse trek with some Americans. We relaxed, went walking in the lovely countryside, helped to collect cow dung for the fire, played with the children (that mostly consisted of us playing "horse" with them and carrying them on our backs until we were gasping for breath) and I even braved the horses the second day.
I strapped on a helmet and jumped on my little Mongolian horse Andy and I had named Clive. Lena and the two others gave me good pointers and off we went with our guide Hassaa. And I even got the hang of it after a while and enjoyed myself! It was a lot of fun and exhilarating to canter accross the steppe.
On our way back to camp we were invited by a Mongolian family to their ger for some Arak - fermented mare's milk. It tasted like sour buttermilk with a slight vinegar taste. Not really great, but not really bad either. I am sure it is ok if you get used to it. The inside of the ger was extremely warm, as the family had just slaughtered a goat that was being butchered in front of the ger and were cooking parts of the meat on the stove in the ger. We were also offered dried yoghurt that looked like biscuits, but tasted like very, very strong Pecorino. The children gobbled them like sweets - we definitely preferred the Arak.
We stayed for four days at the stepperiders camp, enjoying every minute of it. The food was really good, and Baynaa and Mendee were extremely friendly and helpful hosts. We were very sad to leave, because it was so peaceful and relaxing.
We were picked up from the train station and drove straight out of Ulaanbaatar to a ger camp about an hours drive away from the capital. The camp is a small business run by Mendee and his wife Baynaa. We had booked it on the internet and it was absolutely fantastic. We can only recommend it: www.stepperiders.comThe camp is tucked away in a valley on the side of a hill with a breathtaking view and no civilisation in sight. There are three gers for the guests (nice and clean and warm), a ger for meeting and eating and two gers for cooking and living. Also after the disgusting toilets on the train, the latrine-toilets at the camp were spotlessly clean and wonderful! There is also a shower with water that is either heated on the stove or by the sun.
The first two days in the camp we spent with a very nice English couple - Jane and Andy - and Baynaa and her two children - Tamujin and Anujin, as Mendee was on a horse trek with some Americans. We relaxed, went walking in the lovely countryside, helped to collect cow dung for the fire, played with the children (that mostly consisted of us playing "horse" with them and carrying them on our backs until we were gasping for breath) and I even braved the horses the second day. I strapped on a helmet and jumped on my little Mongolian horse Andy and I had named Clive. Lena and the two others gave me good pointers and off we went with our guide Hassaa. And I even got the hang of it after a while and enjoyed myself! It was a lot of fun and exhilarating to canter accross the steppe.
On our way back to camp we were invited by a Mongolian family to their ger for some Arak - fermented mare's milk. It tasted like sour buttermilk with a slight vinegar taste. Not really great, but not really bad either. I am sure it is ok if you get used to it. The inside of the ger was extremely warm, as the family had just slaughtered a goat that was being butchered in front of the ger and were cooking parts of the meat on the stove in the ger. We were also offered dried yoghurt that looked like biscuits, but tasted like very, very strong Pecorino. The children gobbled them like sweets - we definitely preferred the Arak.
We stayed for four days at the stepperiders camp, enjoying every minute of it. The food was really good, and Baynaa and Mendee were extremely friendly and helpful hosts. We were very sad to leave, because it was so peaceful and relaxing.
posted by Daniel.Lang at
07:21
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