Uran Togoo

A nomadic family home we visited.

Inside the ger.

One of our drivers and the man of the ger having milk tea.

The family.

Selling fermented mare's milk from the back of vehicles.

Beautiful open country.

Buhuu shows his prowess.

Milking a mare.

Two men dressed for the festival in Erdenet.

What would you order?

Typical apartments, check the balconies that are enclosed to make use of the space in winter.

Back to the paved open road...

and then the two wheel track country roads.

Many times we saw herds of horses gathering for a meeting.

A small family unit.

Monday, July 9^th.

Our convoy got under way about 9:00 and we drove for about a half hour before we stopped at a nomadic home where they were milking mares. Unfortunately, they finished right when we got there. However, we were invited into the home and got to sample some of the products they make: fresh warm yak milk, yak milk tea, little fried bread sticks with fresh yak butter, airag (fermented mare’s milk), and vodka made from yak yogurt. All were good and better than expected. I had heard from other travellers that a lot of people didn’t fancy these epicurean delights. The man of the house encouraged Tony and I to have a couple of shots of the vodka, which we did. It was very smooth and didn’t burn going down the throat as most booze does, and remember this was about 10 am. We thanked our hosts and drove off.

Shortly after that we stopped at a viewpoint where there were a number of trucks parked that were selling fermented mare’s milk from the back. Because Buhuu heard that we were disappointed at not having seen the milking he had us stop at another nomadic homestead where they were still in the process of milking the mares, so we all got to see that, which is strange for most western people as we don’t think of mares as having teats. In order to get the milk flowing they let the foal nurse and then they take it away and milk the mare. At one point the herdsman carried a three-day old foal over to us and immediately the mare and a posse of other mares came galloping over behind us to get the foal back and then they herded it away from us. We stayed there for a half hour or so and then continued on our way.

As usual the scenery was of wide open spaces with gers and small mountains in the distance and lots of herds of goats, sheep, cows and horses. Then, we drove to the second biggest city in Mongolia, Erdenet. We stopped there for lunch at a little local restaurant and then took a short walk to the ATM’s and a grocery shop. In town we saw the stadium where we could see they were setting up for their local Naadam Festival and some archers were practising. On the way out of town we drove past the huge copper mine, industrial buildings and factories that the Soviets set up here in their era.

After driving for another hour we went off roading again, on two wheel ruts over hill and dale for 35 kilometres to the 16^th century monastery, Amarbayasgalant. (see the next post).