Mongolia Part 1- Girls Camp

Tired of spending the night in hotel room after hotel room, Zach and Tiffany decided to trade in the comforts of hot showers and heat for outdoor, nomadic-type living in traditional Mongolian ger camps. Our first 'ger' experience was at Jalman Meadows, located in the Siberian Taiga.

The camp was run by a strict and professional Mongolian woman and it showed in the camp. The ger Zach and I were assigned was beautifully decorated and sparkling clean.

The weather was chilly, particularly at night, but we soon became spoiled by the fire elves that snuck into our ger an hour before we woke up to light a fire in our stove.

No smelly outhouses here! The outhouses were constantly deodorized and stocked with toilet paper and even had a sink with soap!
Even the meals were dignified. We had tea time every afternoon, and meals were served with real plates and silverware. The meals were a bit heavy on mayonnaise-based dishes (everything from beets to carrots), mutton and meat fat, but we really couldn't complain since usual camping food consists of power bars and PB&J.

Although the region has been in an 8-year drought, our arrival seemed to please the rain gods, as it stormed a majority of our time in Mongolia. But there was just enough sun to power the solar panels, allowing us to get a lot of reading done.

We also spent plenty of time in the Genghis Khan library playing games with sheep ankle bones (apparently all the rage in the nomadic circles)...and dressing up like traditional nomadic herdsmen...During the few brief respites from the storms, we managed to befriend some of the furry locals. This guy looked pretty tough, but was quite friendly and gentle.

We even came across the remains of some furry animals, as the drought has been tough on many of the herds. Zach was eager to smuggle this home, but Tiffany was less than eager to integrate animal remains into the home decor.

Horses outnumber people 14-1 in Mongolia, and have been an integral part of life for centuries. So it was inevitable that at some point we'd suit up and give horse riding a try. We cavalierly overlooked the camp's warning of 'not recommended for unskilled riders', after all, we'd collectively ridden about 3 times in the past 5 years, that surely must put us solidly in the intermediate category.

We realized we might be in a bit over our head when the ger camp's horseman was sent out to round up our horses, as most of the time they roam freely. We found out through experience that Mongolian horses have a mind of their own and aren't one to follow commands, especially when they're coming from two green foreigners. To make matters worse, the saddles provided were missing pommels, as Mongolians traditionally hang on to the horse with only their legs. So when our horses broke into full-on galloping, something they did often, we had nothing but a corner of horse blanket under the saddle to cling to with our white knuckles. Needless to say, after a morning of each of our horses taking turn breaking away from our small group and galloping off into the vast, never ending expanse of grasslands, we both kissed the ground as soon as we dismounted.
While we were a bit disappointed with the weather, by the time we left for the Gobi desert, we had noticed a huge change in the grass. It had gone from a deadish brown hue to a bright green color after just 4 days!