We arrived in Mongolia about 2 weeks ago and just completed a journey through the Gobi desert...Mongolia is vast, wild and friendly. Although life is hard here, people smile easily (unlike the Russians "nyet" is not their favorite word). We spent a few days in UB--the capital...eating some food with spice (we have left the land of ketchup and mayonnaise)...then we headed off to the Gobi desert with our driver "Short Cut" Cent and a Canuck/Brit couple we met in Baikal...
Just 30 minutes outside of UB, you leave civilization behind and enter the land of Chinggis Khaan [also an excellent beer](Ghengis is the Persian spelling). Africa has its big five--Mongolia has the "five snouts" (cow/yak, horse, goat, sheep, and camels).
We offroaded about 8 hours a day...stopping at a ger every once in awhile to make sure we were driving in the right direction. Somehow we always arrived at our "destination"...Chinggis and his crew conquered the world drinking mare's milk and blood...we were conquered by the modern mongolian diet--mutton...it wreaks havoc on your intestines.
By Phong:
It is pretty damn desolate out here. There is 1.5 person per square mile out here. Which means there is alot of just open land. As one person put it "you drive in the middle of no where to walk in the middle of nowhere and then you are in the middle of nowhere". This is not to take away from the beautiful scenery but we have never seen such undeveloped land before and we just came from Siberia. There are no roads to speak of just dirt paths for the jeep to go. During the long jeep rides there are fields of grass and plains that are dotted occasionally with animal herds of goats, sheep and cows. What was amazing were the herds of horses. Apparently there are 3 horses to one Mongolian out here. And there are no fences. These animals are free to eat, crap and wander whereever they like. The job of the nomad men is to round them up to keep them in a group (Lisa--sadly, the job of the nomad women is to collect shit for their stoves).
Everynight we stayed at a ger. We were able to interact with some families. Mongolians overall are a trusting, inquisitive, giving , hard working group of people. They never ask for or beg for money. They are spiritually wealthy. Family unity is very strong. It is not uncommon to see 3 generations of a family stay under the same ger. These nomadic families seldom see other people especally white people which is an exciting occurence. They will invite you into their home, offer what little they have and are very polite and kind. We shared vodka, airag(mare's milk), mare's cheese and tea together. The landscape was also outstanding. We went dune hiking, horse back riding , camelback riding , hiking among rocks and walking through an ice canyon.
My last thought is this, all our troubles, problems, anxieties pale in comparison to the life and death struggle these nomads have every day. But they still have time to look up into the heavens, into the infinite stars and milkway and thank God they are alive another day. I hope I will be able to recollect these moments of wisdom during my trials of despair, sorrow and fustrations when I return to "home".
We love and miss you all.
Love Lisa and Phong
