Staying with a nomad family
We had no accommodation arranged for the night. The plan was to find a
family of herders and to stay with them.
So Chinzo talked to a young boy who was looking after a flock, and after
some discussion the sixteen of us descended on his family, who were in
the middle of shearing. They had three or four gers and would move out
of one for us, but even with our drivers sleeping in the vans that was
going to be a bit cramped. So one van drove 500 metres or so to where a
young couple with one child had a single ger, their own little flock of
sheep and goats, and a few cows; it was arranged that half of us would
stay there (they would presumably move in with one of the other families).
Imagine if sixteen people turned up at your front door, without
warning, and it was considered normal for you to move out of your
main bedrooms to make space for them... this is pretty much how
Mongolian hospitality works, at least in the
countryside.
We brought our own flour and meat and we had an array of gifts, mostly
for the children, but there was no payment per se.
Christine later counted 36 gers visible in the valley; our local
cluster had maybe a dozen, which I suspect held three or four families.
Our host and hostess went back to shearing sheep and milking the cows --
they'd almost finished for the day. A few of us had a go shearing.
We played with the children, who got quite excited. Two frisbees that
people had brought as gifts were a great hit. One little girl was
extremely hyperactive — she played ball energetically and then started
carrying her not much younger brother around.
54mm, f/5.6, 1/250s, ISO 100 |
54mm, f/5.6, 1/125s, ISO 100 |
Our hostess, Chinzo and Basraa cooked dinner, while most of us sat
around drinking vodka, talking, and taking photographs of the children.
Dinner was excellent, with fresh dumplings and vegetables as well as
the near-mandatory mutton.
father and daughter |
A man with his young daughter came up on a motorbike around 10pm, stayed
around for a while to pose for photos, and then went off again.
I was in the group that went up the hill to the second ger — this had
a small solar panel and an electric light, which was nice. But it was
a pleasantly warm evening and the sky was clear, so I ended up sleeping
outside, along with Chinzo.
Friday 24th June
I woke at about 7am - Peter and Carol were already up. Packed up my
sleeping bag and walked down to where the others were.
a churning machine - also shows the ger frame |
at the water cart |
Before heading off,
we gave our presents to the family — mostly items for the kids — and
watched the morning activities: milking again, sending the sheep and
goats out to pasture, and so forth.
Next: Möron
Previous: the Selenge River valley
Up: 2005 Mongolia trip
