Today we will tell you about the time we spent a night in a yurt in Mongolia. This is probably one of the most exciting travelling experiences we had. As well as trying to live in a nomadic tent, we had the opportunity to experience food shortages on a 24-hour train journey, eat horse milk balls and drop a camera right in front of a horse's hooves...
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A day on the train - without food
Then it was time to leave Irkutsk and Lake Baikal in Russia and travel on the Trans-Mongolian railway (the line of the Trans-Siberian railway that turns off towards Mongolia and China). This time we did not have our own compartment but shared a compartment with two Norwegians, who turned out to be part of a large group of oil platform workers on an adventure.
Meeting the Norwegians turned out to be a stroke of luck. One forgot for some reason to connect to the Mongolian restaurant car and we had no food with us other than some Hot Cup soups.
Lite boring when you have a day's journey ahead of you. However, the Norwegians were equipped with "Kallen kaviar", hard bread, smoked omul (fish from Lake Baikal) and alcohol - and were happy throughout the journey that they could "rescue Swedes in distress".
Horses and Temples in National Park
As soon as we arrived in Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia, we were picked up and driven to Terelj National Park. We had already booked an overnight excursion with the help of the travel agency Bas International, which incidentally arranged the whole trip for us.
Wow, what nature! What vastness! The entire national park is covered in intense greenery, broken here and there by dramatic rock formations. Flocks of animals, such as horses, roamed everywhere (although they apparently didn't get caught in my pictures) and here and there you could see a small white yurt, a nomadic tent. And then suddenly ... a colourful temple appeared!
Living in yurt in Mongolia (and interesting food experiences)
A yurt is a kind of tent that nomads in Mongolia use as a home. In the centre there is a fireplace, so you can keep warm. Here we slept really well after all the day's adventures, we can say!
We must also tell you about our interesting food experiences in Mongolia. Among other things, we were invited to visit a nomadic family in a yurt and they offered some kind of balls made from horse milk. No favourite I can say, but you try to keep a good face.
Peter also drank a mug of their alcoholic horse milk ... In the evening we had much better food, but the problem was that it was so extremely so much meat that it was almost impossible to eat even half of it. "Good for health", said the Mongols.
Horse riding on the steppe
If we wanted to go for a ride the next morning? Yes, but of course we wanted to! The Mongol who took us didn't know any English, but gestured to us and gave us each a horse. Peter was immediately trusted to take care of his horse himself (men are supposed to be able to ride), while I (being the one who has been in riding school for four years) had to be quite insistent to take over the reins. But in the end!
The Mongolian rode over to Peter and offered a cigarette and then we rode out over the Mongolian steppe. Fantastic in every way, except we dropped the camera and one of the horses stepped on it ... The pictures of us on the horses are therefore the very last photos we have from Mongolia. We also spent a day and a night in Ulan Bator, but unfortunately do not have a single photo from there. Therefore, the journey on the blog continues tomorrow to ... China!
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Helena says:
Wondering where your comment went? We have had technical problems on the blog and had to reset to an earlier time, which meant that data (changes and comments) from the last 24 hours disappeared. We have read your comment and appreciate it!
11 February 2018 - 7:32
Lena - good for the soul says:
Hua, without food for 24 hours! I had gone up in atoms! Usually fun to try new food, but that with the horse milk sounded like a borderline case, hehe!
Hug Lena
12 February 2018 - 6:03
Helena says:
There was no food on the train, but luckily the Norwegians shared their supplies with us as we made it through 🙂.
12 February 2018 - 9:48
Marianne - Glimpses of the world says:
It's good to hear that the Norwegians were able to help in their time of need 😀 I've never been to Mongolia, but it's definitely on my wish list. However, I have spent two nights in a yurt on a high mountain plain in Kyrgyzstan. I would like to do something similar when I hopefully once get to Mongolia.
14 February 2018 - 0:25
Callinda says:
Oh what an adventure you had! I didn't have much of a wanderlust earlier in life but now at 72 I have got it. Think it's too late now but I love reading about other people's adventures. You will never forget this, will you?
26 October 2024 - 22:48