After breakfast, we took off. Our driver and guide
said that there was local horse racing and we were asked if we wanted to
watch. Naturally we agreed. This was not on the program and we would be
interacting with the nomads.
We wandered around looking at the horses. Interestingly the riders are children aged 8
thru 12. Occasionally there will be an
older child, who is small. Both girls and
boys ride.
Horses on line
As we were walking around, it started to rain and I
don’t mean drizzle, but a full-fledged down pour. Our guide led us into the Ger where we
experienced Mongolian Nomad hospitality.
In a silver bowl I was offered fermented mares milk. There was no way out; consequently I took a
sip. The bowl was refilled and offered
to other parties. There was a bowl with
candy and other food, which I was offered.
I was told that it was safe to drink because the bowl was silver which
killed any poison! Later I was offered
vodka from a common bowl. There was no
way to refuse without causing a problem.
They had a second small ger which was used for
cooking. As we passed by, one of the men
was in the process of slaughtering a sheep for the party at the end of the
racing. Tony watched and said that they
carefully washed the intestines. They
took the innards and threw them in a pot and boiled them. Apparently this is considered a delicacy.
Fortunately Tony did the tasting of the innards for the group.
There was a teenage daughter and a young daughter, who
was maybe two or three. The older sister
doted on her and took care of her. When
Linda showed her pictures on her phone, the girl appeared to know how to
operate the phone. In the ger there was
electronic equipment and a washing machine.
At least the mother had a cell phone.
Outside the ger, there was a dish for communication and two solar panels
to provide the necessary electricity.
We finally left although our guide and driver would
have preferred to stay longer. We
followed the horses to the starting point of the next race. The race was about 6 to 7 kilometers long.
We were driven to the Flaming Cliffs where the
dinosaur eggs were found in 1923 or 1924.
They are probably called the Flaming Cliffs because the soil around
there is red and would appear like flames.
There were a few people selling souvenirs, but wonder of wonders, I
didn’t buy. I was disappointed that
there were no remnants of the dinosaur digs.
Next was lunch at another camp. After lunch we visited the town of
Bulgan. This town exists because of a
spring which supplies enough water for the people to grow vegetables, which
they principally sell to the nomads. It
was a small town of may be a thousand people or less.
Our last and final experience of the day was vising a
sand dune and being offered a camel ride.
I turned it down. I don’t enjoy
riding camels as I learned in Israel and Egypt.
However Tony and Linda did. There
was a small child with the boys who handled the camels and he wanted to ride
the camel. Linda offered to have him
ride with her. On the way to the camp,
the baby fell asleep. I immediately
thought of Nathan who falls asleep in the car.
I was driven to the camp and invited into the ger
where I saw the woman making toy camels and I was offered fermented camel milk.
This time it was served in an individual porcelain bowl. Eventually the merchandise was displayed and
I bought 5 camel dolls for my grandchildren. I was careful to get all of the
same design so there can be no arguing.
We headed back
to the camp where we had dinner and I collapsed.
Tony and Linda in Mongolian royal attire
Linda and Tony in royal Mongolian attire ready for battle
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