Explore Mongolia

Explore Mongoliahttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/eastern-asia/mongoliaExplore MongoliaDesert, Dunes & an Epic Festival: 10 Days in Mongoliahttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/discovery/10-days-in-mongoliaDesert, Dunes & an Epic Festival: 10 Days in MongoliaSat, 01 Oct 2022 00:38:08 GMThttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/discovery/10-days-in-mongoliaA Sandstorm in the Gobi Deserthttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/transformation/a-sandstorm-in-the-gobi-desertA Sandstorm in the Gobi DesertWed, 14 Sep 2022 20:55:28 GMThttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/transformation/a-sandstorm-in-the-gobi-desertA Haircut for Mongolia's "Half-Wild" Horses | Photoshttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/discovery/haircut-for-horsesA Haircut for Mongolia's "Half-Wild" Horses | PhotosTue, 29 May 2018 20:37:08 GMThttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/discovery/haircut-for-horseshttps://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/eastern-asia/mongolia/the-world-nomads-podcast-episode-17-mongoliaListen to Episode 17 of The World Nomads Podcast. Why travelers describe Mongolia as one big camp ground, the cause of pollution in Ulaanbaatar and the art of throat singing.2018-05-29T10:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/eastern-asia/mongolia/the-world-nomads-podcast-episode-17-mongoliahttps://www.worldnomads.com<h2 class="">Mongolia</h2> Mongolia is sandwiched between China to the south and Russia to the north and is known for nomads, Gers, and protein-rich food. Want to know more about Mongolia? Head to our <a href="https://www.worldnomads.com/explore/eastern-asia/mongolia/haircut-for-horses">Stories</a> section to delve a little deeper. <h2 class="p2">What's in the Episode</h2> 00:12 - Welcome 01:55 – Quiz Question 02.08 – Dimitri, spent 9 months in Mongolia which included time living with nomadic tribes. 12:26 – Genevieve used Facebook to find like-minded travelers to explore Mongolia with. 19.23 – Travel News 23:25 – Bloggers Goats On The Road 29:38 – Soulcatcher Expeditions 34:20 - Quiz Question Answer 34:30 – Bukhchuluun Ganburged (Bukhu) is a master student of the Music and Dance Conservatory of Ulaanbaatar 45:47 – What’s next in Episode 17 <h2 class="p4">Who's on the Show?</h2> Bloggers <a href="https://www.worldnomads.com/explore/eastern-asia/mongolia/trekking-in-mongolia">Goats on the Road</a> take us through the rolling hills and rushing rivers of Mongolia's steppe. Landscape and Travel Photographer <a href="https://500px.com/yadua">Genevieve Tearle</a> used Facebook to find like-minded travel partners to explore Mongolia with. Head to Resources and Links in the Shownotes for our latest article on Packing Hacks for Adventurous Women Travelers. <a href="http://www.itsdimitri.com">Dimitri Staszewski </a>was the runner-up for the World Nomads Photography Scholarship in 2016 and spent nine months living and working in the Mongolian countryside. Here’s a link to his <a href="https://www.mongolmusicarchive.com/">Mongolian music archive</a> too. Lizabeth Meuse from <a href="https://soulcatcherexpeditions.com">Soulcatcher Expeditions</a> discusses making Balsa Wood Surfboards in PNG. <img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/Podcast/Canada/surfboards.jpeg" alt="" width="750" height="490" /> Balsa Wood surfboards <img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/Podcast/Canada/Bakhu-1.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="490" class="gr-progress" /> Bukhchuluun Ganburged (Bukhu) with the World Nomads team after performing Camel song, a combination of folk and improvisation. <a href="http://www.horsefiddle.com/about-bukhchuluun-bukhu-ganburged/">Bukhchuluun Ganburged </a>(Bukhu) studied as a master student at the Music and Dance Conservatory of Ulaanbaatar and joins us live in the podcast studio to demonstrate the art of throat singing. Keep an eye on his <a href="http://www.horsefiddle.com">page</a> for details of his latest album due out soon. <h2 class="p2">Resources & Links</h2> Scholarships Newsletter: <a href="https://www.worldnomads.com/create">Sign up for scholarships news and see what opportunities are live here</a>. Heading off traveling on your own like Genevieve? Check out our article on <a href="https://cms.worldnomads.uat.local/explore/worldwide/sustainable-travel-for-women">Packing Hacks for Adventurous Women Travelers</a>. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/worldnomads/">Follow World Nomads on Instagram</a> for the latest stories, and #WorldNomads for your chance to be featured. <h2 class="p4">Want to Talk to us?</h2> We want to hear from you! If you have any travel insurance questions to <a href="mailto:podcast@worldnomads.com">Ask Phil</a>, want to give us feedback on the episode, or have suggestions for topics you'd like us to cover, email us at <a href="mailto:podcast@worldnomads.com">podcast@worldnomads.com</a> <h2 class="p4">Sign up for Podcast News</h2> Explore your boundaries and discover your next adventure with The World Nomads Podcast. Hosted by Podcast Producer Kim Napier and World Nomads Phil Sylvester, each episode will take you around the world with insights into destinations from travelers and experts. They’ll share the latest in travel news, answer your travel questions and fill you in on what World Nomads is up to, including the latest scholarships and guides. The World Nomads Podcast is not your usual travel Podcast. It’s everything for the adventurous, independent traveler. Don’t miss out. Subscribe today. <div class="AccordionSection nst-component nst-is-collapsed"><button class="AccordionSection-title nst-toggle">Full Transcript of the Episode</button> <div class="nst-content"> <div class="AccordionSection-inner"> Speaker 1: Welcome to the World Nomads podcast delivered by World Nomads, the travel, lifestyle, and insurance brand. It's not your usual travel podcast. It's everything for the adventurous, independent traveler. Kim: Thanks for joining us for Episode 17 of the podcast in which we head to Mongolia, and I'm so excited about this episode. Phil:  Yeah, me too. Mongolia is a landlocked sovereign state in East Asia. It's sandwiched between China to the south and Russia to the north, and it's the 18th largest and most sparsely populated sovereign state in the world. It's known for nomads, <g class="gr_ gr_986 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="986" data-gr-id="986">gers</g> or yurts, and very protein-rich food. Kim: Vodka obviously with Russia being there. Phil: Yup, Russian connection. Kim: Well, we will hear about the diet in our chats coming up. Now why I'm so excited about this episode is Bukhu. He or Bukhu, he studied as a master student at the Music and Dance Conservatory of Ulaanbaatar. Am I right there, Phil? You don't know. Phil: Sure. Kim: You're sure, yeah. Phil: Beautiful. Kim: He will join us live in the podcast studio to demonstrate the art of throat singing- Phil: I know. Kim: ... by performing The Camel Song. Phil: The Camel Song, okay, can't wait. Kim:  Bloggers, Goats on the Road, take us through their trek in Mongolia describing it as "one big campsite". Landscape and travel photographer, Genevieve Tearle, who used Facebook to find like-minded travelers to explore Mongolia with her. But she got there first and then used Facebook to find people to travel with. While there is no surfing in Mongolia, we do catch up with Liz from Soulcatcher Expeditions, who wanted to share the work she's doing with locals in PNG after hearing our podcast on Peru. There kind of is a little bit of a segue because Soulcatchers is planning to do something in Mongolia, so she touches on that as well, so plenty to come. Phil: Was it the world landlocked that gave you the clue there was no surfing? Kim: Yeah, I'm not really bright. Phil: You're [inaudible 00:01:51]. Kim: Plenty to come. Let's get the episode underway though with your quiz question. Phil: All right, recently, we've all seen those amazing pictures of the Kilauea volcano erupting in Hawaii. This is an easy one for U.S. listeners. How many islands are there in the Hawaiian group in the state of Hawaii? How many islands? Kim: Answer at the end of the episode. Kim: Phil, this man was the runner-up for the World Nomads photography scholarship in 2016. He spent nine months living and working in the Mongolian countryside. Would you like to introduce him? Phil: Dimitri Staszewski. Kim: Did we get it right, Dimitri? Dimitri S.: Staszewski. Phil: Oh, no! Kim: We are quite hopeless. Phil: Hopeless. Kim: Now I'm fearing- Dimitri S.: Don't worry. Kim: I'm not fearing. I'm feeling that we could roam far and wide with this chat. As we've been communicating, you've got video recordings of music, Mongolian music. But you're also able to chat about LGBTQ culture and the pollution problem. Phil: Can I ask the first question? Why did you decide to go to Mongolia? Dimitri S.: Yeah, great first question. I did a lot of backpacking and camping growing up in a ... outside of ... I grew up in San Francisco. There's just a lot of great outdoors near there, and so I just always loved backpacking and became pretty interested in nomadic cultures when I was in college kind of through just backpacking.  It was very serendipitous, but I was watching a few different documentaries that all happened to do with Mongolia, and then kind of just like, "Aw, I would love to go to Mongolia, but I'll probably never get to go." I looked up "Study Abroad Programs Mongolia" on Google, and the very first one that came up was this perfect program. I thought it was a scam at first, but it turned out to be a great program. It was like you're going to stay with a nomadic family, and you're going to work in the city, and then you get to do an independent project. It seemed too good to be true. Kim: What's it like living with a nomadic family? Dimitri S.: Basically, their whole day revolves around the schedule of their animals. You have to wake up really early to ... It's also very seasonal. [inaudible 00:04:02] time in the spring is doing the ... Babies are being born. A regular spring morning, you wake up very early, kind of wake up animals in a really calm way. Once they're awake, you start feeding the babies and then separate the babies from the adults, and go about your day making sure everyone, all the animals are fed. Again, it's just like life completely revolves animals and making sure that all the animals are doing well. Kim: We'll share your page in our show notes, but it's titled "Young Mongols: A 10-Part Video Series Updating Foreign Perceptions of Mongolia," and you served as the primary videographer for the series. What do you mean about updating foreign perceptions of Mongolia? Dimitri S.: Obviously, what we're first talking about is my work with traditional music and nomadic herding culture. But I got the impression that outside of Mongolia, people only ... That's pretty much all they know is about nomadic herding, Genghis Khan, the Mongolian Empire, those are the things that people know about. But, of course, Mongolia is a place that exists today in 2018. Ulaanbaatar, the capital, is actually a pretty modern city. There's certainly ... It's certainly developing. It's in a state of development, so there are certain things that you wouldn't see in another city, but it's just a contemporary city like anywhere else. We just wanted to show some of those ... Some of what young people are doing. I worked with my producer, Aubrey <g class="gr_ gr_950 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="950" data-gr-id="950">Menarndt</g>, who is a great friend of mine. She coordinated a ton of interviews, so we were filming everything from talking about the LGBTQ community to the media climate or food culture in Ulaanbaatar so really a wide range of subject matter. Kim: Tell us about the LGBTQ community in Mongolia. Dimitri S.: I think it's pretty much like an LGBTQ community anywhere else. But I think that Mongolian culture, not so different from American culture at least from my own culture, people have a hard time coming to terms with queer identities. We worked with some people who worked for the LGBT Center in Ulaanbaatar. What is really exciting <g class="gr_ gr_954 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del" id="954" data-gr-id="954">there</g> is how much impact that one NGO has had. They've really been able to enact some legal changes very quickly. Kim: Moving on to the web package that you did exploring the pollution, which was multi-award-winning by the way. Phil: Well done. Kim: Tell us about that, The City of Smoke. Dimitri S.: Yeah, thanks. That was ... I was working with a friend, Peter Bittner, and it was his master's thesis project for his program at Berkeley in California. Ulaanbaatar has some of the worst <g class="gr_ gr_1137 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1137" data-gr-id="1137">pollution</g> in the world. During the winter on a really bad day, the pollution levels can reach four to six times as bad as Beijing. Phil: Whoa. Dimitri S.: That's incredibly bad. What we learned is that when you have those levels of pollution, there are huge health implications <g class="gr_ gr_1134 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1134" data-gr-id="1134">to</g> young children, old people, and men. To babies, and depending on where the winter falls during a pregnancy, they can have different problems, whether it's ... Yeah, I forget which it is. But if the winter is early in the pregnancy, they can have brain damage. If it's late in the pregnancy, they would have bone damage like structural damage to their bodies. Kim: What's causing it? What- Phil: Where does the pollution come from? Dimitri S.: Yeah, okay. Yeah, sorry, let me back up. Ulaanbaatar is a unique city in that there's this constitutional right that every Mongolian has to a certain sized plot of land. What has happened is that people will claim those plots, and over the past about two decades, the city has exploded. Dimitri S.: Mongolia has a little over three million people, and almost half of those people all live ... or half of them all live in Ulaanbaatar. Because there was no infrastructure created for those homes, they're burning coal in these traditional <g class="gr_ gr_943 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling" id="943" data-gr-id="943">gers</g>, which is a Mongolian version of a yurt. Dimitri S.: In the countryside, they would burn the dried dung of their animals which has almost ... You're just burning grass basically, but in the city obviously they don't have access to that, so they're burning raw coal. A family could burn between one and two tons of coal per winter, and so there are about 300,000 homes like that. You're talking about 300,000 tons of raw coal in the air. Kim: That's amazing. Just in my mind, just doesn't sit against all this ... The nomadic herders throughout Mongolia and the music that you're talking about. It's almost like two different versions of the country. Phil: Yeah. Dimitri S.: Yeah, I think that's a really good way of putting it. Kim: Now on your website too, you've got a Mongol music archive, but later in this episode, we are going to have a performance by Bukhu who is a Mongolian throat singer. Dimitri S.: Amazing. Kim: He's going to be live in the studio, so- Phil: I'm so eager to hear him. I've never- Dimitri S.: That's awesome. Phil: ... seen it live, and I just ... It's going to be great. Kim: He was a massive deal on the music scene in Mongolia, so you obviously love the music as well. Dimitri S.: Yes, of course. I was in Mongolia for nine months on a Fulbright Scholarship, and my project there was recording traditional music performed by nomadic herders. The distinction that I made was that you have these nomadic herders who use music as a part of their daily lives. As traditional music has become more popularized and become more of a formal training practiced by professional musicians, these performances by nomadic musicians, who might not always be as technically skilled but are definitely skilled in other ways, are becoming devalued. My idea was just to capture examples of these recordings in the environment. Kim: I like the guy with the eagle on his shoulder. Dimitri S.: Yeah, yeah. The eagle hunters are ethnically Kazakh, and they live in Western Mongolia. I loved working with them because they really took ahold of preserving their ethnic identity. Partially, because they've seen how much foreigners have gravitated to it. To a certain extent, they've been able to capitalize on these aspects of their ethnic identity. These traditions that they have. The amount of eagle hunters has rapidly increased because it's become this much more popularized icon because of tourism. Phil: Let's face it having an eagle on your shoulder looks bloody good. Dimitri S.: Yeah, it's pretty awesome. Well, it's cool, because <g class="gr_ gr_1103 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="1103" data-gr-id="1103">at</g> the end of the day, training one of these eagles is a ton of work. I've just heard some criticism of like, "Oh the tourist culture is the only thing propelling these eagle hunters." It's like if you have one of these people explain to you just how much work it is to catch and train an eagle, it's not something that they're really profiting off of, you know what I mean? Yeah, it's really, really cool. Kim: Well, I knew we'd venture far and wide in this chat, Dimitri. Thank you so much. Dimitri S.: Yeah, of course. Thank you guys for having me. I really appreciate being on the show. Phil: Landscape and travel photograph, Genevieve Tearle, used Facebook to find travelers to explore Mongolia with her. But what drew her to Mongolia as a solo traveler? Genevieve T.: I left my job and decided that it was time to take a career break. First, I went with my family to [inaudible 00:12:34] on holiday. Then I came back, and I was thinking about where I was going to go on my own, and I came across a Lonely Planet for Mongolia that we'd bought about 10 years ago when we were thinking of doing a cross-country trip from Europe back to New Zealand which we never ended up doing. But we still had the Lonely Planet from it. And so I thought, "Actually, that's a really great idea. Now, I can go on my own and make the most of it." The next day, I actually booked the flight to Mongolia, and I left three weeks later. I think I spent the next three weeks going, "What have you done?" Doing absolutely no planning whatsoever, and so I arrived in Mongolia with a 10-year-old Lonely Planet and no plan whatsoever and a couple of Facebook groups that I'd found of other travelers looking for people to join up with them, and the first night's accommodation, and it's ... Yeah, that was pretty much how I started my trip to Mongolia. Kim: After that first night, what happened, and where did you go? Genevieve T.: I had shortlisted down to two people that I thought looked interesting to contact. One of them was heading off for six days around Central Mongolia. I thought it was a Finnish couple, so I thought that sounded safe. I contacted them, and it turned out to be a 33-year-old Finnish guy and a 22-year-old German guy and not a Finnish couple after all. I headed off to central Mongolia with them and two other girls. Yeah, despite the rather large age difference between the 22-year-old German and I, we decided to do a second trip together across Mongolia. He wanted to go to the Potanin Glacier which is on the border of China and Russia, and said, "Do you want to come with me?" "Sure, okay. Sure, why not?" We had similar times that we were leaving the country and everything to organize still, so we arranged a trip with the same people who had taken us on that first six days. It was basically just a driver and his van. We didn't take a guide with us on the second time. I did all the cooking. We picked up a 70-year-old British guy to come with us through one of those Facebook Groups. We headed off, yeah, across Mongolia actually. Kim: What a story. You stayed during your time in Mongolia with local families. What's that like? Paint a picture. Genevieve T.: Yeah, so, actually, twice we ended up staying with the family of our driver, so once with his sister and the other time with his sister-in-law. His sister's place is in a small village. There were maybe a couple of hundred people who live in that village, wasn't much bigger than that. I can't tell you where it was, because it was literally in the middle of nowhere as we did our cross-country trip. We camped out in her backyard. First of all, we were invited into their house with sweets and milky tea. Well, I guess the meal finished with vodka which was also just as compulsory as the milky tea. In between, she made us this most amazing dinner where she had a sheep that had recently been killed, and she took the bones of the sheep and put it into this huge kind of like a wok over a fire that was in her kitchen, and she made us soup from that. And then, actually, the husband made these massive noodles that are kind of ... To describe them like, making a big pizza base in terms of size, and then was spread over the whole top of the wok, and they steamed rather than really set in the water. Kim: Wow. Genevieve T.: We had ... There are very few vegetables that we had in the whole time I was there. I think I ate potatoes, carrots, turnips, cabbage, and, occasionally, tomatoes and capsicum. Quite a heavy diet, but there were ... We were cutting the ... We had a little knife each and cut the meat off the bone and had that with these amazing noodles which <g class="gr_ gr_1156 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1156" data-gr-id="1156">was</g> ... and soup- Kim: Yum. Genevieve T.: ... and finished it with vodka. Kim: How did the soup, the milky tea, and the vodka all work in your tummy overnight? Genevieve T.: Not so well for my traveling partner, but I think I've got quite a good constitution after living in India, so I don't tend to have too many problems in stomachs. Kim: How would you describe <g class="gr_ gr_952 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="952" data-gr-id="952">Mongolian</g> people? Genevieve T.: Super-friendly and interested in you and in meeting new people. The guide that we had on the first six-day trip was a young girl in her early 20s who we befriended. I'm still connected to her on Facebook and still chat <g class="gr_ gr_1011 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1011" data-gr-id="1011">to</g> her on Facebook sometimes. She took us out both, in Ulaanbaatar, both times that we went back to the city. We took her and one of her friends out even so that he could practice his English, so very welcoming, very hospitable, "Come into our home." We had that quite a lot in quite a few different places as we traveled around. Kim: What kind of traveler does this destination appeal to? Genevieve T.:  Definitely those who want to get off the beaten track. Depending on where you go, more or less so, especially, when we went to western Mongolia. We were in the car for five days getting to the Altai Mountains, in the first place. Some of the roads are ... At one stage, we were following a Google Maps track that looked more like a horse track with a motorbike going alongside us. We went around [inaudible 00:18:34] of stops to have a vodka as a snack on the way. Definitely, ones who are quite comfortable with letting go, because somebody else is driving for you, is comfortable with roads that are really not really roads. And is open <g class="gr_ gr_1167 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1167" data-gr-id="1167">for</g> ... What is truly an adventurous destination, but one that hasn't changed all that much <g class="gr_ gr_1168 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation multiReplace" id="1168" data-gr-id="1168">yet.</g> If I look to ... I went to Cambodia back in 2002 and how much Angkor Wat has changed between then and now. Mongolia is still a place that you can get a quite authentic experience relative to a lot of other destinations actually. Kim: Links to Genevieve's amazing photography including Mongolia in our show notes. But Phil, what's happening in travel news? Phil: Okay. Look, I promise I'll get to some fun news in a moment, but first, a couple of stories that serve as a bit of a warning. It's quite sad, very, very sad. A British woman has been sexually assaulted by multiple staff members at an Italian resort after having her drink spiked. Five men have been arrested by police in Sorrento down on the Amalfi Coast for their part in the attack which happened back in October 2016. It's taken that long to make an arrest. The woman says she was drugged by a drink handed to her by two of the barmen. Never accept opened drinks or drinks that you haven't witnessed being poured yourself. You've got to try and avoid this horrible plague of drink spiking. Never leave your drinks unattended. The first signs of trouble, you'll start to feel unusually intoxicated for the amount of alcohol that you've had. Get to your friends or get out of there and get to somewhere safe, because it probably means you've had your drink spiked. Shocking stuff. The second terrible story, and because we support adventurous travel this is very worrying. Two European men both traveling the world by bicycle <g class="gr_ gr_1039 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1039" data-gr-id="1039">have</g> been murdered in southern Mexico. Their bodies were found at the bottom of a cliff in the state of Chiapas. At first, police dismissed their deaths as an accident on the winding mountain road, but protests by other cyclists and travelers in the nearby towns led them to investigate further. The men were robbed, murdered, and their bodies <g class="gr_ gr_1066 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1066" data-gr-id="1066">thrown</g> from the road. The men had been in the town of San Cristobal de las Casas and were cycling to some Mayan ruins about 130 kilometers away. This is a really popular backpacking route there to go and have a look at those ruins. I've got to say not everywhere in Mexico is dangerous, although there are some states which it's best to avoid because of drug gang violence. Chiapas is not one of them but could be soon because of a series of robberies on that highway leading to the Mayan ruins. Police have stepped up patrols on the highway, but they can't be everywhere at the same time. Kim: True. Phil: A Boston-based tour appraiser which organizes safari tours to the Serengeti in Tanzania, has been accused of complicity in a scheme to drive traditional Maasai from their lands to make way for more tourism. Thomson Safaris has strenuously denied the allegations, and there's a lot of evidence that they've invested in infrastructure in the region there. I think they're being the pawns in the game of this one. Kim: Wow. Phil: But a second company based in the UAE organizes hunting trips, actual shoot-to-kill hunting trips, for members of the royal family. <g class="gr_ gr_988 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="988" data-gr-id="988">They're also accused</g> [inaudible 00:21:51] implication in this as well. Kim: Its trophy hunting kind of stuff. Phil: Trophy hunting stuff. Kim: Gee, this has been depressing. Phil: I am sorry. Okay. All right. Well, anyway, this California ... This is really interesting though because this California think-tank which has raised these things. They fight for social justice, and they say they've been ... The Maasai have been run off their lands, and people are using the excuse of, "We need to do it for wildlife conservation." When in actual fact what they're doing is colonizing the land, so that they then can then on-sell it for tourism purposes. Phil: It raises the <g class="gr_ gr_995 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-del replaceWithoutSep" id="995" data-gr-id="995">question,</g> if you're going to go on something like that ... If you're going to go on a safari like that on traditional lands, you've got to make sure of the credentials of the company that you're going with. Kim: That it's ethical. Phil: That it's ethical. It's a really tough one there. Kim: That is ... I thought you said you were going to get to some fun stuff. Phil: Kind of ... Did you see ... Speaking of safaris ... I'm sorry, it is a bit depressing, isn't it? Did you see the video of the family who got out of their car- Kim: I did. Phil: ... in a Dutch drive-through safari park to take photos of the cheetahs? Did you see that? Kim: I did. I did. Phil: The cheetahs start stalking them, because not only are there two adults there, but they're carrying their baby. Kim: I didn't know they had their baby. Phil: Yes, they had a babe in arms. Kim: You serious? Phil: Yeah. Kim: That's even crazier. Phil: I know. It's like ... What's that? The Darwin Awards, it's like self-selecting. Kim: You did finish on something fun. Thank you. Although that is ... Phil: It is pretty serious as well. Kim: It is pretty serious. Phil: I'm sorry. I'll have more fun next time. Kim: Cheers for that. Back to Mongolia and bloggers Dariece and Nick, otherwise known as "Goats on the Road". Why do you think they call their blog "Goats on the Road"? Phil: No idea. Kim: Because everywhere they travel, there are goats on the road. Phil: Oh, okay. Kim: They take us through a trek they undertook in Mongolia. Just a heads up, there was a little bit of interruption to the Skype call as we kicked it off. Nick: This trip to Mongolia, we knew we wanted to do some epic treks. The country is just wild and raw. Dariece: Basically, a big campground. Nick: Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's one big campsite. We wanted to go and figure out how to get out there. We just looked on Google Maps actually. We didn't read any blogs or see anything on any website before. We just went <g class="gr_ gr_1191 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1191" data-gr-id="1191">on</g> Google Maps and found a river that went between two villages that we knew ... That had a hotel <g class="gr_ gr_1192 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1192" data-gr-id="1192">at</g> the village at the start, and a hotel at the village at the end, and there was a river connecting the two. We zoomed in with satellite imagery- Dariece: It sounds very- Nick: ... to see the river and how ... That there's a path. There's no path, but that we could follow the river along the way. Just from our ... Just basically from Google Maps, we decided, "Yeah, this is doable." Luckily, when we got to the village that we planned to start from, there was a guy who owned a little guest house there, and he was like, "Oh, I never heard of anyone doing it, but for sure it's doable." Dariece: Mm-hmm. Nick: He put us in contact with some people that helped us to plan the routing, totally get started on the trek which was incredible. Dariece: I think there's ... There's not really any space. It's completely ... There's Ulaanbaatar, and then the rest are called "sums", so the little villages dotted throughout. But the entire country is just empty. You'll see rolling hills, rolling steppe, and then in the west, you'll see jagged mountains and stuff. You're allowed to camp anywhere that you want. Locals do it. They're nomadic, and they move around with their <g class="gr_ gr_930 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="930" data-gr-id="930">gers</g>, which are like yurts, and then a lot of tourists do it as well. Nick: Yeah, like in Canada, we would call it Crown Land. It's not privatized. No one really owns much land throughout Mongolia. The only land that's really owned is in certain parts of the cities, and then when you leave the cities, it just seems like it's open for everybody. Nick: The people own the land, so you're allowed to camp. You're allowed to fish in most cases, although you do have to get permits. But you can pretty much set up your camp anywhere <g class="gr_ gr_1000 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1000" data-gr-id="1000">like</g> the locals do. Kim: We head earlier from Genevieve that a trip to Mongolia is not for the luxurious traveler. Dariece: I would agree with that statement absolutely. Nick: Yeah, I would add to it that it's also a place that a foodie traveler probably wouldn't want to go. Dariece: [inaudible 00:25:49] or like a vegan especially would really struggle. They eat a lot of meat and dairy. That's the staples in their diet. I don't even think we saw a vegetable- Nick: Not- Dariece: ... maybe a potato. Nick: Yeah, in Ulaanbaatar you see some, but no. Dariece: Outside of the city. Nick: For luxury travelers, you'd be missing ... As soon as you leave Ulaanbaatar, you'd be missing pretty much every "luxury" that you would want to see. When you get out to the countryside, it's not luxury at all. It's all about the adventure and the beauty of <g class="gr_ gr_1057 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-del replaceWithoutSep" id="1057" data-gr-id="1057">the nature</g> and just interacting with the local people, who are really friendly and welcoming and hospitable. Nick: Yeah, the food is not ... It's not a foodie destination, because <g class="gr_ gr_1090 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1090" data-gr-id="1090">like</g> Dariece said, it's all meat and dairy. <g class="gr_ gr_1091 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1091" data-gr-id="1091">There's</g> not herbs in the steppe. When you go down to the Gobi Desert, it's a desert, right? They don't have any imports, so <g class="gr_ gr_1092 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1092" data-gr-id="1092">there's</g> no herbs not a lot of seasoning. Very basic food and very basic accommodation, but that's what makes it adventurous and fun. Kim: There was nothing luxurious about the way you guys did it. I think you boiled water for freeze-dried meals each morning. Dariece: Yeah, exactly. When we did this trek for that eight days, that's all we had <g class="gr_ gr_1025 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1025" data-gr-id="1025">were</g> those freeze-dried meals like you said, we just added hot water. I think a luxury we had was we had some of those instant hot chocolates, and we added a little bit of hot water, and that was our luxury on the steppe. Dariece: But apart from that we slept in a tent just on the ground, on a ground mat with <g class="gr_ gr_1022 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="1022" data-gr-id="1022">sleeping</g> bag. Trekked on foot. Carried everything, and Nick did some fishing. We ended up catching a couple fish which was a great bit of protein to add to our meals. Nick: The cool thing is, is that when you land in Ulaanbaatar, or you arrive there by train like a lot of people do, is there's a lot of things that you can get in <g class="gr_ gr_1046 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1046" data-gr-id="1046">a main</g> city there. You would start your adventures from there as kind of a base. There's outdoor stores, and things that you can buy, freeze-dried meals, small, little, compact stoves, gas, all the stuff you'll need. Sleeping bags which you can also rent and not buy. But you can do everything and set up your whole kit there, while you're in Ulaanbaatar, and then adventure out from there which is really cool. Kim: Give us an idea of some of the tricks that you'd recommend. Dariece: In Mongolia, there are ... You mean in Mongolia, obviously ... <g class="gr_ gr_1077 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1077" data-gr-id="1077">There's</g> a few different areas that you can go to. The Altais in the west that's more for the intense traveler to do a lot of mountaineering, expeditions. You have to be really physically fit for stuff like that high altitude, snowy mountains that kind of thing. If you're into that definitely you want to head west. Dariece: If you're into more kind of what we did which was through the steppe and near lakes and rivers and more adventurous and beautiful but for a medium, I guess, intermediate- Nick: Mm-hmm, difficulty. Dariece: ... hiker. Yeah. Probably Central Mongolia and Lake Khövsgöl is a good area as well. Nick: Lake Khövsgöl is to the north along the border with Russia. Nick: Yeah, and then, also, a mere ... just 37 kilometers outside of Ulaanbaatar is, is that Terelj National Park? Dariece: Yeah- Nick: Terelj National Park has a bunch of easy day hikes, and you can just stay in like a tourist or a local ger inside the National Park, and then they have a bunch of beautiful day hikes around. You can trek for three hours, one hour, go for a four-hour, <g class="gr_ gr_955 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="955" data-gr-id="955">there's</g> even multiday treks within the park. Nick: That's a good one for if you're just starting out, or you don't know exactly what to do. If you want to follow a kind of a marked trail, then that's the best place. Dariece: Yeah, there's so many areas literally. Mongolia- Nick: Yeah, so many. Dariece: ... is a trekker's paradise. Nick: The whole thing is a trek. Also down in the Gobi, when you do a ... Most people do a Gobi Desert tour, where they hop on a van or some kind of SUV kind of thing from Ulaanbaatar, and they travel down to the Gobi for a few days. There's a bunch of day hikes that you do while you're on the Gobi trek, or, if you want to, while you're doing that Gobi tour, you can do day hikes around, or whatever, on the way. Dariece: Yeah, I think multi-day trips is probably central, western, and northern probably. Nick: Totally. Kim: Phil, we've heard about Mongolia's landscape, the people, the music, and one thing <g class="gr_ gr_926 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="926" data-gr-id="926">is</g> certain, it's not a surfing destination. Phil: No, it's not, but after our episode on Peru, where we talked about the surf culture with Amy from Unleash Surf, we got an email that read, "Check out our surf trip. We're going to Papua New Guinea and build balsa wood boards with the locals." Phil: I have admittedly gone, "What the," about that one. Let's get this person on. Welcome to the podcast, Elizabeth [Mews 00:30:07]. Elizabeth M.: Yeah, welcome to Soulcatcher Expeditions. Phil: Yes. This is part of your ... You organize these very responsible, ethical trips to do these amazing things. That's what Soulcatcher does, right? Elizabeth M.: That is correct. We like to think of our trips as beyond the average experience. A lot of travel these days, it's focused on having ... This idea of experiential travel is really big obviously around the world, and there's a lot of companies doing it, but we take it to the next level. Phil: You're in the right place here with World Nomads, because that's exactly what we believe as well. It's all about the experience that you have and the way that you travel as well. There's a great synergy between the two there. Phil: But come on, just tell me, balsa wood boards in PNG ... You saw some local material over there, and it's a community project, how does it work? Elizabeth M.: Yeah, actually, we sourced a board maker from Australia. Phil: Of course. Elizabeth M.: Yours truly, and he's been doing this for quite a few years. He started in Ecuador, sourcing balsa wood, and then found out that PNG had actually better and more sustainable methods and a stronger timber, so they started doing this program. We sourced the program from them to turn it into a surf trip, and we're marketing it to surf companies here in San Francisco and as well out of Australia. Elizabeth M.: It employs locals in PNG. A lot of their <g class="gr_ gr_927 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del" id="927" data-gr-id="927">economics</g> are not like the rest of the world, not even like Australia. They're very close to you, but their <g class="gr_ gr_928 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del" id="928" data-gr-id="928">economics</g> are very different there. One of the things that Soulcatcher stands for is that every tourist is a humanitarian. That's in our ethos and our thinking in how we build trips. The reason behind our trips <g class="gr_ gr_1161 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1161" data-gr-id="1161">are</g> not just to provide a cool trip. It's to change someone else's life also. A lot of people go on these trips to have this life-changing experience, and I think that the conversation around tourism has shifted. We're working on a trip <g class="gr_ gr_1008 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1008" data-gr-id="1008">in</g> Mongolia right now where we had to push really hard to even get into this area, where there have been adverse effects based on tourism. We just took a little bit different approach, and we're going in on their terms instead of our terms. Phil: Quickly, what sort of problems in the area had tourism brought to that Mongolian area? What sort of stuff? Elizabeth M.: Well, just stories that had been relayed to us about helicopters coming in and visiting tribes. That's what I'm referring to. Those types of trips that aren't really sustainable- Phil: Yeah, yeah. Elizabeth M.:  ... in any way. Phil: You've mentioned Papua New Guinea. You've mentioned Mongolia, and I know you have had or are planning some other trips as well. What sort of places do you go to? Elizabeth M.: We are focused on quite a few trips in Africa right now. Without giving too much away, there will be a few equestrian trips. We have a client that we're working with to go see gorillas, and that's another environmental-focused trip. An interesting endeavor involving farms, so food farms and chocolate, and so that's another theme out there that we're working on. I guess, in closing, I would say another one involving tree houses. Phil: Oh, okay. Elizabeth M.: We've got horses, gorillas, chocolate, and tree houses coming up for the year. Kim: We'll have a link to Soulcatcher Expeditions and a peek at the beautiful boards in show notes. Now, Phil, let's get the answer to your quiz question <g class="gr_ gr_929 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-del replaceWithoutSep" id="929" data-gr-id="929">now,</g> before we introduce our studio guest to wrap up the show. Phil: Okay. How many islands in the Hawaiian chain, the state of Hawaii? There are eight. Kim: Phil, this is the most exciting part, I believe, of this episode, the podcast on Mongolia. Bukhu studied as a master student at the Music and Dance Conservatory of Ulaanba- Phil: Ulaanbaatar. Kim: Ulaanbaatar. I've been practicing that. Bukhu G.: Ulaanbaatar. Kim: Ulaanbaatar. Thank you. He's live in the podcast studio, as you just heard to chat about his life, and he's also going to be demonstrating the art of throat singing and playing for us, so welcome. Bukhu G.: Thank you. Kim: You've corrected us on the name of the city. What is your full name? Bukhu G.: My full name is Bukhchuluun Ganburged. Kim: Bukhu is- Bukhu G.: Bukhu is my short name. Kim: Yeah, yeah. The easy one. Phil: When you're in trouble, does your mother use the full length of your name? Kim: No? Bukhu G.: Yes, actually. Kim: Yeah. Okay, so tell us, how then did you arrive in Australia? Which is where we found you here in Sydney at World Nomads headquarters. How did you come from Mongolia to Sydney? Bukhu G.: You mean on the plane or ... Kim: No, not on the plane. Phil: No, no, no, no. Did you- Bukhu G.: Sorry. Phil: ... have to ... You've immigrated here. But why did you pick ... Why did you come to Australia? Was it to study or ... Bukhu G.: Yeah, it was actually my wife's decision [inaudible 00:35:46]. Phil: Sensible man, well done. Bukhu G.: She wanted to learn English, speak English, and then she decided, "Yeah, we should go." I said, "Oh, no, I have <g class="gr_ gr_1115 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1115" data-gr-id="1115">work</g> here. I'm teaching and playing at the Philharmonic of Mongolia. Why I need to go and learn <g class="gr_ gr_1112 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="1112" data-gr-id="1112">new</g> language and start from the beginning?" She said, "Oh, it's very important for us, especially, for you, because you're a musician definitely." I said, "Yeah, okay. Okay, let's do it," and then we came to <g class="gr_ gr_1113 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="1113" data-gr-id="1113">Australia</g> 2009. Yeah, then studied for a year for English course, and then my wife studied, finished the course, and then she went to uni for accounting. She's an accountant now. Kim: It was <g class="gr_ gr_948 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="948" data-gr-id="948">opportunity</g>, but was there a big ... You were playing at a philharmonic level. What happened when you arrived here? Because I've heard that you started busking in one of the Sydney suburbs. Bukhu G.: Yeah, it's very ... home a lot. I'm just playing music. I had no idea what am I going to do. I was thinking ... My teacher actually told me, "If you play your music anywhere, everywhere, you have food." Phil: Yup. Bukhu G.: It stuck in my mind. That's actually ... Yeah, I could play street. And then I find a spot in Newtown, it's very noisy. But the first time people hear Mongolian music, they're really interested. Every people just stopping, listening, asking so many questions. Then I really don't understand what they're talking about. I just- Kim: Just smile. Bukhu G.: ... just smile, and then what should I say now? Yes or no, yes or no, maybe yes. And then, yeah. Just really, really hard. Kim: Is a big part of your culture music? Bukhu G.: Yeah. Kim: Give us a taste of the history. Bukhu G.: Because in Mongolia there <g class="gr_ gr_1035 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1035" data-gr-id="1035">is</g> lots of different ethnic groups. All ethnic groups have beautiful melodies. The main instrument in Mongolia is called the morin khuur. Morin <g class="gr_ gr_1033 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1033" data-gr-id="1033">mean</g> horse. Khuur <g class="gr_ gr_1034 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="1034" data-gr-id="1034">mean</g> fiddle. Horse fiddle or horsehead fiddle or horse head fiddle, because the two strings made up from <g class="gr_ gr_916 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del" id="916" data-gr-id="916">horse tail</g>. Phil: Oh, okay. Bukhu G.: And then <g class="gr_ gr_939 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="939" data-gr-id="939">bow</g> is horsetail which <g class="gr_ gr_941 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="941" data-gr-id="941">mean</g> play it with both, with horsetail with horsetail only one instrument in the world. There are lots of singing different types of different ethnic groups singing styles. Also, throat singing is one of the biggest <g class="gr_ gr_940 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="940" data-gr-id="940">thing</g> in Mongolia. Kim: Do you train to be a throat singer, or is it some ... Phil, can you sing? Not throat sing, but can you sing generally? Phil: Yes, but my children tell me to shut up all the <g class="gr_ gr_915 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-del replaceWithoutSep" id="915" data-gr-id="915">time,</g> because I sound terrible at it. Kim: Yeah, so I'm totally tone-deaf. Is it the case that you are naturally able to use your throat to create music? Bukhu G.: Yes. But you needed lots of, lots of practice from when you <g class="gr_ gr_919 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="919" data-gr-id="919">start</g> learn throat singing. Phil: Some of the songs, some of the throat singing <g class="gr_ gr_937 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="937" data-gr-id="937">goes</g> on quite a long time, so obviously, it doesn't hurt <g class="gr_ gr_912 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del" id="912" data-gr-id="912">then</g>. There must be ... Is it a relaxing thing that you do rather than a tension? Bukhu G.: Depends on the songs. But, mostly, it's very relaxing. But you have to balance every ... hold your body, lots of tightness, lots of blood pressure happening. I have to balance it, same time you control 10 things. And then you make it like two notes. You have to make it ... adjust these two chords. Kim: That must be pretty exhausting. Phil: Listening to it, it can be quite meditative. Is it meditative to the performer? Bukhu G.: Yes, it's because there are all these throat singing styles. Mostly we, the nomads, the Mongolians, they brought from <g class="gr_ gr_975 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-del replaceWithoutSep" id="975" data-gr-id="975">the nature</g> all the styles from the waterhole or nice mountains or river sounds, all came from there. Most of the herders, when they're herding their animals, they heard lots of beautiful nature. It's a spiritual thing. Kim: Well, you've been so kind enough to not only come and educate us on throat singing, but you're going to demonstrate it for us with your ... I call it a horsehead fiddle, and we'll be able to show a picture. It literally does have a horse head on it. Phil: It does. It's beautiful. It's gorgeous. Kim: What do you call it? Bukhu G.: Morin khuur. Phil: Morin khuur. Bukhu G.: M-O-R-I-N, morin, K-H-U-U-R, khuur. Kim: Yeah, best if I don't try it. All right, well, let's let you get your 10 steps together, and yeah, it would be thrilling to hear you perform for us. Kim: Take it away. One, two, one, two, three. Go for it. Bukhu G.: You ready? Kim: Yes, absolutely, we're ready. Team: [crosstalk 00:41:39]. Bukhu G.: (singing). Kim: Wow. Team: Whoo. Phil: Oh, wow. Team: That's amazing. Kim: That was awesome. We will have links in our show notes. It wraps our episode highlighting Mongolia. Subscribe, rate, share on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and on iHeartRadio, and you can contact us by emailing podcast@worldnomads.com. Next episode, we're off to Argentina. Phil: Okay, [inaudible 00:45:51]. Kim: No, see you. Speaker 1: The World Nomads podcast, explore your boundaries.     </div> </div> </div>iStock.com/SeppFriedhuber 0

https://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/eastern-asia/mongolia/unique-experiences-mongoliaThere aren’t many destinations left in the world that offer unique experiences, traditional culture, and authentic festivals. Mongolia is one country keeping its traditions alive.2018-05-11T10:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/eastern-asia/mongolia/unique-experiences-mongoliahttps://www.worldnomads.com<ul> <li><a href="#gobi">The Gobi Desert</a></li> <li><a href="#naadam">The Naadam Festival</a></li> <li><a href="#railway">Trans-Mongolian Railway</a></li> <li><a href="#olgii">Olgii Eagle Festival</a></li> <li><a href="#homestay">Staying in a homestay (ger)</a></li> <li><a href="#podcast">Listen to the World Nomads Podcast - Mongolia</a></li> </ul> Bouncing around in an old Russian van for a week, covered in dust, and drinking fermented camel’s milk is one of the most memorable experiences from my travels in <a href="https://www.goatsontheroad.com/guide-backpacking-mongolia/" target="_blank" title="Goats on the Road: Mongolia">Mongolia</a>. Joining a tour with four other adventurous travelers from France and Germany, we loaded up the van and said goodbye to the comfort of our hostel (and its showers), before embarking on an adventure we’d never forget. Our destination was the Gobi Desert, which spans from northern China to the south of Mongolia. <h2 id="gobi">The Gobi Desert</h2> Leaving the <a href="https://www.discovermongolia.mn/about-mongolia/destinations/ulaanbaatar-capital-city" target="_blank" title="Discover Mongolia: Ulaanbaatar">industrial city of Ulaanbaatar</a> and heading into the countryside was literally a breath of fresh air. Dotting the lush green landscape were white gers (yurts), and herds of sheep and goats which would be our primary source of food during the trip. To my surprise, the landscape continuously changed. Initially, I envisioned the Gobi Desert to be just that – a desolate, parched terrain. However, we found ourselves passing through grassy hills, sandy dunes, towering cliffs and Yolyn Am, a rocky gorge, covered in ice for 10 months of the year. During our trip, the ice had melted and we rode horses alongside the river; <a href="/explore/eastern-asia/mongolia/5-things-i-wish-i-knew-before-going-to-mongolia" target="_blank" title="5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Going to Mongolia">something I never expected to do in a desert</a>. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/Explore/mongolia/gobi-desert-camel.jpg" /> <figcaption>Gobi Desert. Photo credit: iStock.com/nonimatge</figcaption></figure> At times, we were the only people around for miles. All we could see was the bright blue sky, rocky gravel, and patches of shrubs. As soon as our vehicle’s engine was turned off, the silence was eerie but beautiful. It was at that moment, when we were in the middle of nowhere, that one of the shocks on our van completely gave out. We couldn’t drive any further. Thankfully, we had done our research and ensured that our van had a GPS, satellite phone, basic tools, drinking water, and of course, a spare tire and shocks. Our driver ordered us out of the vehicle, got on his back underneath the van and proceeded to change the part. Once the vehicle was sorted out, we were able to continue exploring the highlights of the Gobi Desert, all of which were spectacular. The aptly named Flaming Cliffs were picturesque when the golden sun illuminated the rock, creating a flaming red color. it's where dinosaur eggs were first discovered in 1923. We also rode double-humped Bactrian camels at the Khongoryn Els sand dunes, at the base of the towering Altai Mountains, which was a very memorable experience. The best part of the Gobi Desert tour wasn’t about these popular sites. The most memorable part of travel is often the “in-between” bits, and this was especially true in the Gobi. We watched a local family assembling a ger, and pulled over to lend a hand. We asked our guide to find us some traditional fermented mare’s milk to try, and she found a nomadic family who had a barrel full in preparation for the Naadam festivities. We played with inquisitive children, befriended a baby goat, and sat in a circle with a couple of local men and sniffed snuff, scented tobacco inhaled through the nose, which is offered as a greeting in Mongolia. Here are a few of the other unique experiences to look out for <a href="https://www.discovermongolia.mn/about-mongolia/practical-information" target="_blank" title="Practical Tips for Travel in Mongolia">when traveling in Mongolia.</a> <h2 id="naadam">The Naadam Festival</h2> At this annual festival, held each July, burly men, wearing nothing more than boots, their underwear and an open shirt, compete in wrestling matches. In the past, women would disguise themselves as men and win the competitions, which is why the wrestlers must now wear the open style shirts. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/Explore/mongolia/naadam-festival.jpg" /> <figcaption>Naadam Festival. Photo credit: iStock.com/pius99</figcaption></figure> As well as wrestling, the festival features the nomadic sports of horse racing, ankle-bone shooting, and archery competitions, all important parts of Mongolian culture. This is a time when friends and families wear their best clothing, feast on food and drink, enjoy music, and watch the traditional sports. The main festival is held in the capital of Ulaanbaatar, but there are smaller festivals in other towns around the country. <h2 id="railway">Trans-Mongolian Railway</h2> One of the world’s greatest train journeys, the Trans-Mongolian Railway follows an ancient tea-caravan route from China to Russia, and connects Ulan-Ude in Russia, with the Chinese city of Jining, by way of Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia.  Board the train in Ulaanbaatar and head north towards Lake Baikal and Irkutsk in Russia, or make your way south into China, passing through the Ural Mountains and the Gobi Desert. At 4,700 miles (7,622kms) in length, the journey takes around 30 hours to get from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing, and about 26 hours to get from Ulaanbaatar to Irkutsk. Note: times vary based on delays and which train you take. Consider booking with a reliable local travel company such as <a href="https://www.discovermongolia.mn/" target="_blank">Discover Mongolia</a>. <h2 id="olgii">Olgii Eagle Festival</h2> In the west of Mongolia, the province of Bayan-Ölgii ai is home to many Kazakh people. Held every October, the Olgii Eagle Festival (aka the Golden Eagle Festival) celebrates the Kazakh eagle hunters’ heritage, and the unique relationship between man and eagle. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/Explore/mongolia/mongolia-eagle.jpg" /> <figcaption>Mongolian eagle hunter. Photo credit: iStock.com/SeppFriedhuber</figcaption></figure> <a href="https://www.discovermongolia.mn/travel-tools/the-best-time-to-travel-to-mongolia" target="_blank" title="Best Time to Travel to Mongolia">Festival</a> awards include Best Turned Out Eagle and Owner; Best Eagle at Hunting Prey (small foxes and rabbit); and Best Eagle at Locating Its Owner from a Distance. During the festival, you'll see beautiful traditional clothing, can try local food, listen to traditional music, and buy crafts. Don’t miss the hand-embroidered tapestries made by the women, plus traditional Kazakh coats, and wool rugs. Olgii is a three-hour flight from Ulaanbaatar. Accommodation is typically in a shared home, and you can arrange transport to the festival by shared taxi or local taxi ($0.35/kilometer) Tours to Olgii for the festival are also available. <h2 id="homestay">Staying in a homestay (ger)</h2> Staying in a ger is a quintessential part of traveling in Mongolia. You can either go on an independent hike, meet locals along the way and stay in their ger, or join a tour which will include a ger stay, or a stay in a tourist ger camp. The nomads of Mongolia use horses and trucks to move their gers from pasture to pasture, a few times a year. Gers are warm in the winter, and cool in the summer. They have one door, are windowless, and are made of felt covers pulled over a frame of wooden lattice and columns; a hole at the top allows smoke from the stove to escape, and numerous wooden poles keeping the circular structure together. If you <a href="https://www.discovermongolia.mn/about-mongolia/things-to-do/visit-nomad-family-stay-in-ger" target="_blank">stay in a ger with a family</a>, or if you’re staying in one during a tour expect basic, but comfortable accommodation. There will be meat and cheese hanging to dry, and the family will be incredibly hospitable and offer you plenty to eat and drink. Gers in tourist camps are made specifically for travelers. They have proper beds and a small wood-burning stove, and you’ll have access to hot showers and flush toilets. Tourist gers are sometimes more comfortable than the family gers, but they don’t come with the added bonus of a friendly local family. When you’re invited into a family ger, it’s important to respect the customs and culture, and sample everything offered to you. <h2 id="podcast">Listen to the World Nomads Podcast - Mongolia</h2> The best treks, the art of throat singing, and why travelers describe Mongolia as one big campground. <iframe width="100%" height="190" src="https://webplayer.whooshkaa.com/episode/241804?theme=light" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay"></iframe>Goats on the Road 0 Goats on the Road

https://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/eastern-asia/mongolia/trekking-in-mongoliaNick and Dariece from Goats on the Road camp, trek, and fly-fish their way through the rolling hills and rushing rivers of Mongolia's steppe. 2018-05-11T10:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/eastern-asia/mongolia/trekking-in-mongoliahttps://www.worldnomads.com<ul> <li><a href="#river">Camping and fishing along the Chuluut River</a></li> <li><a href="#nomads">Meeting Mongolian nomads</a></li> <li><a href="#horse">Horse trekking in Mongolia</a></li> <li><a href="#trip">Trip notes</a></li> <li><a href="#trekking">Great trekking areas</a></li> <li><a href="#packing">Suggested packing list</a></li> </ul> <h2 id="river">Camping and fishing along the Chuulut River</h2> Nick and I boarded the Trans-Mongolian Train in Beijing, China, bound for Ulaanbaatar, <a href="https://www.discovermongolia.mn/" target="_blank" title="Discover Mongolia">Mongolia</a>. This was the moment we had been waiting for, and while we were ecstatic about the upcoming travels, we hoped our travel planning was sufficient for the adventure we were about to embark on. We had planned the trip six months earlier in our apartment in China, with Google Maps open on a laptop, as we tried to create our own trekking route and search for a river to trek beside. We both know how to fish, had been on a few <a href="/travel-insurance/activities/hiking-travel-insurance">trekking trips</a>, and love <a href="/travel-insurance/activities/camping-travel-insurance">camping</a>.   The river we were hoping to find needed to have a sum (town) at the beginning and end of our trek, it needed to travel through flat terrain, and have plenty of fish, so we could fly fish for fun, and for dinner (we would carry backup food in case we weren't successful with our rods). We wanted to be far enough away from the much-visited sites, yet be close enough to local nomads, in case of an emergency. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/Explore/mongolia/fishing-in-mongolia.jpg" alt="Fly fishing in Mongolia." /> <figcaption>Fly fishing in Mongolia. Photo credit: Goats on the Road</figcaption></figure> Eventually, we found “our” river and route. We decided to trek 75mi (120km), between Chuluut Sum and Tariat, across the steppe (large area of flat grassland), along the Chuluut River, completing it in eight days, camping and fishing along the way. We trekked in August, in the Arkhangai Aimag area, which is known for its pretty landscapes, rushing rivers, and pastures filled with livestock, with Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur (White Lake), our final destination. Following the Chuluut River, we camped each night under the stars, fished, endured endless rains and flooding of the steppe, were invited into numerous gers (portable, yurts) for food and drink, and even taught a Mongolian man how to fly fish. As we were completely self-sufficient when it came to our food, water, and shelter, we carried a sleeping bag, waterproof tent, stove, and dehydrated/freeze-dried meals during our trek. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/Explore/mongolia/cooking-in-mongolia.jpg" alt="Campers cooking their fresh catch along a river in Mongolia." /> <figcaption>Cooking the catch of the day. Photo credit: Goats on the Road</figcaption></figure> Each morning we would wake to the sound of dogs barking at a nearby ger, or from the sun beating onto the tent, and breakfasted on cereal bars and nuts. We’d break camp at around 8.30am and walk until the afternoon, covering around 12mi (20km) a day.  We’d set up camp near the river, as it was our source of food, drink and our laundry. Nick would cast his rod into the river, while I would boil water from the river for our freeze-dried meals, which were sometimes supplemented with fish. It was lovely to read my book with no sounds other than the fishing reel. Each evening we were asleep by 7:30pm, tired from a day of trekking. It was just the two of us, with the occasional ger and a few yaks in the distance. <h2 id="nomads">Meeting Mongolian nomads</h2> One of the best parts of our trek was meeting local herders and nomads along the way. When camping out on the steppe, we met Mongolians every day who would ride their horses to our camp to meet the strange foreigners who chose to walk rather than ride a horse. Each time they brought us gifts of cheese, yogurt, biscuits, meat or wood for the fire. We were invited into a traditional ger, and saw how nomadic Mongolians lived, learned how the ger is built and tried the local food. If you <a href="https://www.discovermongolia.mn/tours" target="_blank" title="Discover Mongolia: Tours">travel as part of a tour</a> you will get to stay in a ger, with nomads as your roommates or neighbors. The Orkhon Valley in Central Mongolia is a great area to join a tour and enjoy a ger homestay. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/Explore/mongolia/mongolina-ger.jpg" alt="A traditional ger, or portable yurt, on the Mongolian steppe." /> <figcaption>Mongolian ger. Photo credit: iStock.com/molloykeith</figcaption></figure> Another option is to stay in a tourist ger camp, where you get to enjoy the luxuries of a shower and flushing toilet. There are camps at White Lake, Terelj National Park, Altai Tavan Bogd National Park and the Gobi Desert, among others. <h2 id="horse">Horse trekking in Mongolia</h2> While <a href="/travel-insurance/activities/horse-riding">trekking on horseback</a> is a good option if you’re not overly fit (make sure that the saddles are Russian, as Mongolian saddles are incredibly hard, with little padding), we wanted to walk. Mongolians are proud of their strong, stocky horses, and Mongols are born to ride. Horses are a huge part of Mongolian culture, and should be ridden at least once. <a href="https://www.discovermongolia.mn/tours" target="_blank" title="Horse or Camel Tours in Mongolia">Horse tours are available around the country</a>, with day trips available in the Gobi Desert (among other places). Do your research before committing to a tour; find out how the horses are treated and whether the company is highly rated by other travelers. Stepperiders offers multi-day horse treks, plus a solo trekking program where visitors spend a week learning about horses, horse-riding, and Mongolian customs. At the end of the program, you can rent your own horses (one for riding, and one for your gear), to embark on a solo journey. <h2 id="trip">Trip notes</h2> The weather in Mongolia is freezing in winter (it can reach -40°F/C at night) and warm in the summer (temperatures can reach as high as 104°F/40°C), can rain at any time of the year, and during June and July, you can expect a lot of flies. Always dress for the weather, and have warm clothes packed just in case. Plan an exit strategy in case of emergency. Figure out if your phone will work where you’re going, and maybe choose a trekking route that has a road nearby. Carry a topographical map, GPS, and a compass and learn how to use all of them before you head out on your adventure. Pack more food than you think you will need and make sure you will have a water source nearby for the entire route. <h2 id="trekking">Great trekking areas</h2> <h3>The Altai</h3> The Altai in western Mongolia is unlike any other part of the country; rather than the usual vibrant, green steppe, you’ll find snow-capped, jagged mountain ranges. The trekking here is for those who are in good physical shape, and are looking for an intrepid mountaineering trip filled with culture and wildlife. It’s best to join a group tour if you’re going to tackle the Altai. <h3>Lake Khövsgöl </h3> There are numerous trekking options here. While the lake itself is a popular tourist destination, not many people opt to trek around the lake, or to follow one of the rivers which lead into this body of water. A popular route is from Lake Khövsgöl to Darkhad, which is around 77mi (125km). <h3>Khangai Mountains and Otgontenger </h3> This is an easier area for hiking, and is also a popular spot for camping. Highlights include Tsagaan Nuur (White Lake), Otgontenger Uul (tallest peak in the Khangai Mountains), and Dayan Davaa (a sacred mountain pass). <h3>8 Lakes</h3> A picturesque area in Central Mongolia. This is a great spot for intermediate hikers, with trails listed as “moderate”. The area has eight lakes and numerous rivers, and is an excellent spot for camping. <h2 id="packing">Suggested packing list</h2> Note: if you’re carrying everything on your back, make sure the items you purchase are lightweight. <ol> <li>Sleeping bag – it gets cold in Mongolia, even during the summer months.</li> <li>Waterproof tent</li> <li>A stove – we used the MSR Pocket Rocket</li> <li>Fuel canister – 16oz lasted our eight-day trek, only cooking dinner and not boiling drinking water</li> <li>A mess kit</li> <li>Bug spray, sunscreen and a hat – the flies and the sun can be intense at times</li> <li>Moist towelettes – unless you are going to bathe in the river you’ll want these to “shower” with at the end of a trekking day.</li> <li>Multi-tool/knife</li> <li>Duct tape – for fixing holes in shoes or in the tent, or anything else that might arise.</li> <li>First-aid kit – with gauze, plasters, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, bismuth, scissors, safety pins, antihistamines, and ibuprofen.</li> <li>Flashlight / headlamp</li> <li>GPS / compass / map – you don’t want to get lost…</li> <li>Water purifier / steripen / water purification tablets – you can drink the river water provided there isn’t any livestock around. Sterilize the water just to be sure.</li> <li>Food - I recommend dehydrated/freeze-dried meals when trekking because they are lightweight, filled with protein and all you do is add water. Smoked meat, cheese, nuts and seeds, chocolate bars, instant noodles and instant mashed potatoes are also good. Make sure your meals are high in calories and protein. Having a hot drink is always nice at night or in the morning – bring some tea, coffee or hot chocolate.   </li> <li>Heeding the advice of locals before you head out is also something I highly recommend doing.</li> </ol> Happy trekking!Goats on the Road 0 Goats on the Road

https://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/eastern-asia/mongolia/preparing-for-mongoliaPrepare ahead for your experience with the nomadic people in Mongolia with Lisa Cape's tips on what to pack, and what to expect from Mongolian food.2019-02-05T11:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/eastern-asia/mongolia/preparing-for-mongoliahttps://www.worldnomads.comMy mother always told me, "Wash your hands, and have clean underwear." So when preparing for a 12-day, self-organized trip with six other adventurous women to Mongolia, these words of wisdom rang clear. Mongolia offers a chance to experience perhaps the last of the truly nomadic people on the planet. In such a commercial, fast paced world, <a href="https://www.discovermongolia.mn" target="_blank" title="Discover Mongolia">Mongolia gives travelers the rare opportunity to escape, even from time itself</a>. To protect this pristine and delicate status quo, all travelers have a responsibility not only to protect the environment, but also to protect themselves. You need to think about your safety, your belongings, and for some, <a href="/travel-safety/eastern-asia/mongolia/health-and-happiness-mongolia">your diet</a>. I should point out that one woman in our group is a vegan – a culinary challenge anywhere you travel. However, with the staple diet in <a href="https://www.discovermongolia.mn/about-mongolia/practical-information" target="_blank" title="Practical Tips for Mongolia">Mongolia</a> being anything that can be derived from Yak milk and a hearty blend of meat, meat, and more meat, it made for very creative suggestions on what we should pack. After some serious (and not so serious) research and constructive input, we compiled the following suggested checklist. <ul> <li><a href="#food"> Food to Pack for Mongolia </a></li> <li><a href="#packing"> Other Things to Pack for Mongolia </a></li> <li><a href="#podcast">Listen to the World Nomads Travel Podcast - Mongolia</a></li> </ul> <h2 id="food">Food to Pack for Mongolia</h2> <ul> <li>Two-minute noodles</li> <li>Freeze-dried meals (just add water)</li> <li>Space-food sticks</li> <li>Muesli bars</li> <li>Hard candy, nuts, trail mix, dried fruit</li> <li>Gastrolite and hydrolyte tablets</li> <li>Tea bags and coffee</li> <li>Spices – sugar, chili flakes, salt and pepper packets</li> </ul> <h2 id="packing">Other Things to Pack for Mongolia</h2> <ul> <li>Toilet paper, baby wipes, sanitary hand gel</li> <li>Fully "topped up" first aid kit</li> <li>Flashlight and batteries</li> <li>Clothes line</li> <li>Small fold-up umbrella – for shielding yourself when you need to pee roadside</li> <li>Can opener (apparently cans are not of the pull-ring variety)</li> <li>Ladies sanitary products</li> <li>Red wine (that’s just for my daily required intake)</li> </ul> Needless to say that for the dietary-challenged member of our group, it was more about survival than taste, I’m afraid. However you prepare and whatever you take, just remember that you have five senses – and use them all to fully experience the wonderful thing that is travel. Now back to my mother... A few years ago, the same usual suspects who accompanied me to Mongolia ventured to the Elvis Festival in Parkes. Yes, in the middle of Australian summer, we headed off to the heartland of high temperatures, sandals, and singlets. What we got was two nights in a tent with 44°F (7°C) nighttime temperatures and a backpack full of inappropriate attire. I slept with two pairs of clean undies on my head, a pair around each foot and a pair around each hand... which also kept my hands clean! Ah, my Mum's haunting words. Who knew they would become a travel mantra. <h2 id="podcast"></h2>Getty Images/Anton Petrus 1688844850 Getty Images Mongolian Yurts

https://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/eastern-asia/mongolia/5-things-i-wish-i-knew-before-going-to-mongoliaMariana from MIR Corp tells us the things she wishes she'd known before traveling to the Mongolian hinterland.2019-04-02T11:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/eastern-asia/mongolia/5-things-i-wish-i-knew-before-going-to-mongoliahttps://www.worldnomads.com<a href="https://www.discovermongolia.mn/" target="_blank" title="Discover Mongolia">Mongolia is a country with a fascinating history and culture</a> that is well and truly alive today. Even if you stick to the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, you will see portable gers (round felt tents used by Mongolian nomads) set up in the backyards of neat brick houses, where young newlyweds live until they are ready to find their own house. Four-wheel drive tours take you out to explore the endless steppe where large herds of animals graze, or through the arid scrub of the Gobi Desert, where dinosaur fossils have been found. Wherever you choose to travel in Mongolia, here are five things to know before you go. <ul> <ul> <li><a href="#festival"> The Naadam Festival </a></li> <li><a href="#driving"> Four-wheel driving might make you motion sick </a></li> <li><a href="#windy"> Preparing for the Mongolian steppe</a></li> <li><a href="#horses"> Mongolians love horses </a></li> <li><a href="#etiquette"> Important ger etiquette you should know </a></li> <li><a href="#milk">The many milk products of Mongolia </a></li> </ul> </ul> <h2 id="festival">1. The Naadam Festival is not what you might expect</h2> Many people come to Mongolia to see the annual <a href="/stories/discovery/10-days-in-mongolia">Naadam Festival</a>, a mix of pageantry, competition, and national celebration like no other. The opening celebration has a parade that is reminiscent of a half-time show at an American football game, but from there on, Naadam is a world away from American festivals. The competitions, called the "three games of man", feature archery, horse racing and wrestling – but they are carried out in a strictly Mongolian fashion. Male and female archers shoot arrows from tall bows (which haven't changed much since Genghis Khan's warriors used them to conquer the known world). School-age jockeys urge their horses along an overland route that can be 17mi (27km) long. And powerful wrestlers in skimpy costumes flap their arms gravely in the ritual Eagle Dance before grappling with each other. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/mongolia/nadaam-festival-mongolia.jpg" /><figcaption>Photo credit: Getty Images</figcaption></figure> <h2 id="driving">2. Four-wheel driving might make you motion sick</h2> Much of the terrain in Mongolia is really rocky – so rocky you might even feel sick while driving through it. One of the things I wish I'd packed was medication for motion sickness. There are very few paved roads in Mongolia, and while driving off-road is fun and exciting, it's an awful experience if you get motion sickness. Just pop a motion sickness tablet an hour or so before the 4x4 driving begins – whether it's a <a href="https://www.discovermongolia.mn/about-mongolia/destinations/gobi-desert-mongolia" target="_blank" title="Gobi Desert: Discover Mongolia">Gobi excursion</a> or a drive to the ruins of Genghis Khan‘s capital, Karakorum – and you'll be able to fully appreciate the Mongolian landscapes without looking at the bottom of a bucket. <h2 id="windy">3. Preparing for the Mongolian steppe</h2> The Mongolian steppe has few trees – same with the Gobi Desert. There is no shade out there, and nothing to slow down the <a title="Mongolian weather tips" href="/travel-safety/eastern-asia/mongolia/weathering-weather-and-bureaucracy-in-mongolia">ever-present wind</a>. Pack a scarf or bandanna, a windbreaker, a hat that covers your neck, sunscreen, and lip balm. <a href="https://www.discovermongolia.mn/travel-tools/what-to-pack" target="_blank" title="What to Pack for Mongolia">These items take up very little space</a>, and are worth their weight in gold when the Mongolian winds are howling. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/mongolia/mongolian-horses.jpg" /><figcaption>Photo credit: Getty Images</figcaption></figure> <h2 id="horses">4. Mongolians love horses</h2> If you have a good local guide, you will most likely stop to visit nomadic herders on your travels across Mongolia. All herders have tough Mongolian horses, and for a small tip travelers can usually ask politely to take a horse ride. The herders' children are usually happy to lead you around. As my co-worker discovered, it's a good idea to learn how to say "stop" (zogs) – not to the horse, but to the kid who is leading you. Tchoo means giddyup, and apparently the horse next to you will giddyup too on command. <h2 id="etiquette">5. Important ger etiquette you should know</h2> As you approach a ger settlement, remember that the proper way to greet the locals is to yell, Nokhoigoo!, which means "Call off your dog!" Inside a nomadic ger home, do not lean against the ger wall or furniture, and don't remain standing over the threshold. Sitting with your feet out in front of you is considered impolite; tuck them in when seated on a stool, or kneel. If you are offered food, it's polite to accept, even if you don‘t finish it. Take food offered with your right hand. Tand bayarlaa means "thank you," but you don‘t need to say it often – nomadic people far from the city take it for granted that they will be offered hospitality in a stranger's ger, and they offer it to you as a matter of course. <h2 id="milk">BONUS: The many milk products of Mongolia</h2> Herders <a title="Health tips" href="/travel-safety/eastern-asia/mongolia/health-and-happiness-mongolia">out on the steppe</a> mostly eat meat (usually mutton and goat) and milk products. Mongolians have found creative ways to use the milk of all of their domestic animals such as yak, camel, horse, cow, goat, and sheep. You may be offered salted tea with horse or camel milk, sour coin-shaped milk curds you might see drying on top of the ger (aaruul), fermented horse milk (airag), and sweet or sour yogurt.Discover Mongolia Travel 1 Discover Mongolia Travel Wrestlers at the Naadam Festival, Outer Mongolia.