Camel ride to pictographs

I had wanted to go to Mongolia since seeing the TV show the long way round. The show is about Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman driving on a motorbikes from London to New York, via Mongolia. The shots of Mongolia just stayed with me, the beauty of the steppes and I wanted to experience it for myself.

I had 5 days in beautiful Mongolia, full of Ancient history, beautiful untouched grasslands and beautiful people, which was much better than seeing it on TV. My travel treasure is the last day of my tour in Mongolia when I met with a Nomadic family in Elsen Tasarkhai.

In Mongolia 50% of the population are Nomadic, living off the land looking after their animals still living in traditional round tents called Gers.

We drove, from the Ger camp where we spent the night, to the nomadic family that I would be meeting. After a quick introduction to the family the son then took us to the camels, which we were going to ride around the local oasis.

We went across the desert to see some pictographs with a quick stop to see the rest of the herd, as there were very cute babies to see. We went across the sand to see some pictographs, which my guide said was around 3000 thousand year old, and were pictures of animals. My guide didn't know who drew these pictures, but there was a feeling of awe that despite the years we could still connect to those people through their pictures.

We went back to the Gers and I walked into a Ger where they were butchering a sheep. I'm a vegetarian so seeing a sheep dead on the floor and people butchering was slightly shocking. Though it shows the families hospitality that they were slaughtering a sheep for their guests.

I was welcomed into the main tent where I was offered some fermented mare's milk, a Mongolian speciality, which was like really sour yoghurt. I also got shown a traditional Mongolian snuff ceremony. There was hand shakes and exchanged bottles of snuff then you took the snuff.

I then got showed the animals which were in the process of being milked. Where I got shown how to milk a horse. I had to kneel and warm my hands then squeeze the teat. It was a very weird sensation and I can't believe that I can say that I've milked a horse.

I loved this experience because it was great to spend time with people whose live was so different from my own. There was something about their life living of the land was amazing and the hospitality and friendliness of the people was part of what Mongolia such a wonderful place to visit.