Jamie was a social worker that had spent the last year working at a children's refuge and his younger brother, Geoff was visiting on his way to live in Canada. We left UB early and headed to a Ger camp an hour out of the city. It was my first journeying out onto the Steppes. They are simply stunning, so much green rolling space. It reminds me of the desert around Alice Springs, the same feeling of vast emptiness.
We headed off on our horses. I was a little nervous. I had eaten horse the night before. But I figure this could go either way. It invoke fear in my horse, making my ride sweet or cause intense dislike, making my ride a bumpy road to hell. With my black stead, it just seemed to provoke disinterest. Horses here are as Mongolian as Chinggis Khan. They are wild horses, set free by herders in the harsh winter to increase their chances of survival. While mighty, they are also short, you sort of slide off a horse instead of falling.
After a day's riding, we pulled into a ger. Our guides, a couple of young Mongolians, took us to another local ger where we sampled some Mongolian whitegoods. These people take dairy to a different level. Hard cheese, soft cheese, sweet cheese, cream, goat's milk, cow's milk, fermented mares milk. Whilst I appreciate the high energy value these provide in the winter months, I won't be smuggling any back to Australia.
After dinner (boiled mutton soup- at this point still a novelty), the boys and I climbed a nearby hill and watched the sun go down. Over a bottle of vodka, the super moon rose along with our blood alcohol level. We then headed back the ger to find six kids sleeping there too. We found a bit of space, threw down mats and slept like logs. Vodka turns out, is very critical for a good night sleep in a ger.
We woke up like kings the next morning and had a cuppa. It was at this point things were getting a little critical. What you will notice in the vast rolling green Steppes is that there are no trees. There are also no toilets. This is fine for the boy folk, more challenging for the ladies. I had been keeping together for the last 24 hours but it was time for a pee. I trekked off for about a kilometre to where I finally felt my modesty would be preserved. Mongolian woman are more relaxed about this. I guess I will be soon too. Upon returning, we wandered over to the guy in the ger next door for some shearing. This man and his family had about 100 goats they would bring in intermittently, leaving them to roam the Steppes at other times. Shearing was done with shears and a cigarette. The kids would drag a new goat over when dad was finished. The wool would then be graded. The good stuff would be sent off for commercial use. The lower grade would be felted for lining the ger.
With rain threatening, the rest of the day was spent riding back to our starting point across a landscape devoid of any other humans. We spent late afternoon kicking back and watching kids ride horses. Four year olds would need lifting up onto the horse before galloping off alone, putting our poor horse efforts to shame.
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