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selenakAs an interlude between beautiful landscapes, here's a post on how the most important human dwelling in Mongolia is built. In one of the camps we were staying, two more had to be put up (not on our account), and thus I had the chance to document the various steps. In case you ever want to build a yurt of your own, which, I can assure you, will keep you warmer in a cold night than a tent will. Also, elsewhere, we were invited in by a kind nomad, which means I can show you not just what a ger for travellers but also what a normal lived-in ger looks like.
It all starts as simply as that.
At this point, unfortunately, your faithful chronicler had to scramble off to dinner, and by the time she was done, the ger was finished. But the second one was already just where the other one had been left off, so...
Presto: Ger!
Here's what one for travellers looks like inside:
(That was in the south. In the north, the boiler oven is actually used, so there is a chimney, and very useful it is too.)
Now on to gers people live in all the year. Like this one, where we were invited in. This one was in the north.
Coming in, you're greeted by this sight. The tea on the table is there in every ger, tourist or normal one, I've been into. This is a nation of tea drinkers. Since I'm one myself, this was great.
Containers for milk, both mare's milk and cow's milk, because the nomads make lots and lots of curd - which is dried until it's stone hard - in the summer which gets eaten in the winter. Also yoghurt, which gets eaten right now, cheese, which is for winter and summer, and of course fermented mare's milk.
The kind owner is getting some yoghurt for German travellers.
Cheese in preparation:
Smoked meat. It's smoked by the fire of burned cow's dung, by the way, which ensures the flies keep away, which is necessary because the nomads we were visiting don't have a fridge, and this meat isn't for eating right now, it's for the winter.
Horse gear. One of the sons of our hostess had once made 12th place at the Naadam Festival. The Naadam festival, including the horse races, came at the end of our journey, so you'll have to wait for the big Naadam pic spam.
Cupboard with family photos.
The beds, doubling as couches, are the same tourists sleep on in the traveller's gers. Same type of matresses. Hard ones, btw, which is fine by me, because I can't sleep if you have the sense that you're sinking into something.
Our hostess. She gets up a bit before sunrise and is on her feet until about 10, 10:30 pm in the evening.
And for the end of my ger spam, the ger the last Khan lived in, which is in the Bogd Khan museum of Ulan Bator these days:
It all starts as simply as that.
At this point, unfortunately, your faithful chronicler had to scramble off to dinner, and by the time she was done, the ger was finished. But the second one was already just where the other one had been left off, so...
Presto: Ger!
Here's what one for travellers looks like inside:
(That was in the south. In the north, the boiler oven is actually used, so there is a chimney, and very useful it is too.)
Now on to gers people live in all the year. Like this one, where we were invited in. This one was in the north.
Coming in, you're greeted by this sight. The tea on the table is there in every ger, tourist or normal one, I've been into. This is a nation of tea drinkers. Since I'm one myself, this was great.
Containers for milk, both mare's milk and cow's milk, because the nomads make lots and lots of curd - which is dried until it's stone hard - in the summer which gets eaten in the winter. Also yoghurt, which gets eaten right now, cheese, which is for winter and summer, and of course fermented mare's milk.
The kind owner is getting some yoghurt for German travellers.
Cheese in preparation:
Smoked meat. It's smoked by the fire of burned cow's dung, by the way, which ensures the flies keep away, which is necessary because the nomads we were visiting don't have a fridge, and this meat isn't for eating right now, it's for the winter.
Horse gear. One of the sons of our hostess had once made 12th place at the Naadam Festival. The Naadam festival, including the horse races, came at the end of our journey, so you'll have to wait for the big Naadam pic spam.
Cupboard with family photos.
The beds, doubling as couches, are the same tourists sleep on in the traveller's gers. Same type of matresses. Hard ones, btw, which is fine by me, because I can't sleep if you have the sense that you're sinking into something.
Our hostess. She gets up a bit before sunrise and is on her feet until about 10, 10:30 pm in the evening.
And for the end of my ger spam, the ger the last Khan lived in, which is in the Bogd Khan museum of Ulan Bator these days:
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Date: 2013-07-16 06:17 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2013-07-16 02:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-16 04:35 pm (UTC)The landscape in the photo of your ger in the North was gorgeous.
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Date: 2013-07-17 11:42 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2013-07-21 01:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-11 10:35 pm (UTC)I noticed that the ger construction crew put a layer of what appears to be heavy plastic in between the base felt layer and the top layer of ... what, canvas? I imagine that helps with the warmth, but since, if I recall correctly, much of Mongolia doesn't have a lot of precipitation much of the year, what would the reason for the plastic be? Is it just that much easier, or lighter to carry than the felt?
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Date: 2013-08-12 05:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-12 01:01 pm (UTC)