What is it to live in Mongolia?: the first trip 3/07/09

I do not know where to start. At first, we were two groups,and we split two days after. I do remember not wanting to stay with them, but once we split, I missed them, for few minutes, few hours maybe.

the two groups just before we split

You have to imagine how the trip was like. We were on our horses, in the middle of nowhere -in the steps- it was just a big green land -called the grassland-, with an open big blue sky, not any single tiny cloud, nothing, I had just theis feeling of big open space, the feeling of being lost in the nature, I felt disorientated. I was afraid of the quietness, of our group, of being face to face with people we shared nothing with at that time.

this emptiness of the steps

The couple was simply great. They were funny, interesting, kind, respectful, opened to newness and discovery, and they were trained: they had done a previous 5 days trip with another formula, sleeping with family. As a human beign, we recreated our community, four european and five Mongolian (the driver, the cook and her child, the guide and the trainee). We didn't have anything to do but ride horse all day long, and enjoy the nature. At night, after having built our ger, we usually spoke, play cards or have some magic tricks (the man was a wanna be magician kind of). I usually helped the trainee to take care of horses, because you could think, ok at 6PM they are off, and they just do nothing, do they, the Mongolian people had quite a lot to do, and the trainee has to learn everything, so I just felt, well, I can benefit from his training and learn also a bit. That consisted on taking off the saddle, the snaffle bit so that the horses could eat, and attache their anteriors so that they won't run away during the night. Because they were no fence, again, everything there was -and still is- about freedom. Or maybe it's just because in our modern world, everything is about rules, and dos and donts.

building the ger

Anyway, that usually took a while, and we were just happy to lay down for diner, and go to bed.

ger built

No shower. that was a tough thing for me, who usually take between two to three showers a day (if I train). Well you had no choice so. Though actually I do remember having the alternative of washing in the river. Except that the guide soaked his cap in the river, and flies were around for couple of hours. OMG I prefered from far not washing. So basically, this trip helped us -OMG it's gonna sound so cliché- discovering another sense of life, what is important, what is useful, what is fun, what is culture. Yeah in France, as in any other developed country, we think museum is culture. Well I say people are culture.I have learnt so much over the last year, that I could speak about it for ever. I always explain to people what I have experienced, and I always come up with a different way of explaining things, because there is just too much, because this is about people, and they are so complex, so interesting, that there is always newness about them.

During this trip, we played baseball with dry cow's poo and wood stick, football, jump rope with a rope lead, races, also we used to steal our trainee's rubber band, and pass it to another, and it always finished into my hand because I had -though the tiniest- the fastest horse, so at the end I would just run away. He would eventyally follow me a bit, but just drop it (his horse was fastest than mine but he was here as a trainee, he coudln't just play with us like this, he had to watch out people, the safety of the clients is the most important thing for a guide).

So it actually helped to develop our imagination, because we just had nothing with us. Nothing that we use in France to be occupied: mobiles, games consoles, laptop, internet of course. It seems that now, computer + internet is just enough to make our day. This is just so sad. I have the feeling I have lived more within these few months than in France over a same period, because internet can be a treasure, but it can also be a huge waste of time.

As promised, here are some pics from the first trip: our games, but also the bond between us, that felt great. We used to play with every single thing we found: wood, feather, whatever...

our games: a plastic bottle and a wood stick

our team

The second part of our trip started with the shower. Yeah, that rocked :)) We were quietly wandering in the steps, when our guides said we had to hurry because of a storm coming. So we actually galloped for almost half of our day (43km) under the rain. We were just exhausted, and so the horses were. oh бурхан минь

We arrived at a tourist camp, and slept there because we couldn't just build a ger, it was too wet,still raining, and all our clothes were wet. So the guides offered to stay there overnight. OMG that was like a 5* hotel for us. A real ger where you can stand up, hot, real bed to sleep, and hot shower.
Yes we did a bit of laundry!!

On the next morning we felt fresh, but I was a bit reluctant to go, as I had to put wet shoes and pant. However with the ride, it dried quickly, and we were back to our adventure.

We stopped at Tovhon Monestary, a small retreat hidden in the mountains, founded by Zanabazar. They were quite a lot of tourists, if we may say so, but after few days without seeing anyone, hearing english all around felt weird. There were two ways of doing it: one simple; and one more technical, as you had to climb and go all around the temple.But you know, Mongolian people are very traditional and it's just better to do it the way they do it.

However they are also very traditional in the women/men segregation thing. So there was this part, forbidden to women, were men went to bow and pray maybe. I do not know really. that will remain the secret of Mongolia.

some views from the monestary...

We had a great time, and it sounded almost like the end. I can't remember properly, but I guess two days more and the trip was over. We actually met a group of tourists (from the same company), who encountered some difficulties about their trip (I skip the details, this is not relevant), and guess what? I met the girl from Vietnam. That was incredible, I mean to meet again soe we met randomly in a country, she gave me the contacts of the company, and here we are, in the middle of the countryside, and she is there!! But I was in a bad mood at that time, because we were heading back to the camp, and that was our last night with our group. I felt they were intruiding, and we couldn't help but stand their presence there with us (yes because their guide had to ride over the countryside to find lost horses). I felt angry, as I didn't want to share my last night with them.It is such a european feeling again. Mongolian people just do not care about that. It sounds just normal, and they even do not bother themselves with that kind of feelings. There is no right or wrong, there is not happy or unhappy, there is not like or dislike, there is just "that's the way it is", and they always make their own way through.

They left with another guide a bit after we left the camp, and we could appreciate our last day with our group. That was good, but it was almost the end. There were of course good things to come back, like shower and bed, no mosquitos anymore, a bit of intimacy and good food (yes because the food is tragically the same and 100% lamb made...I will dedicate a post just about the food do not worry about this)

I can't really recall the end of the trip, just tired and funny. We sat in the café (which is part of the company in the small village of Harhorin) for diner, already speaking about souvenirs, what we have done, sharing our laughs. I was not very sad, as I usually am after a trip because the couple was going to spend two days in the capital city and we three, so we had this perspective of being together again. That was like stages: first we leave the steps, then the countryside, then the couple, then we go back home. I cried anyway