Mongolia’s Undisturbed Beauty
Written and photographed by Laura Becker
Before its first democratic election in July 1990, Mongolia saw 100 years of socialism as a Soviet satellite state. Before that, it was under the Manchu (Qing Dynasty) rule for nearly 200 years. A country in transition, Mongolia has not reached market efficiency and will not for another 25 to 50 years.
Because of the lack of infrastructure, it is best to hire a tour guide when visiting Mongolia. Most travel in the countryside is by horse, camel, oxcart or Russian Jeep, to which the typical tourist is unlikely to have access without a guide. There is no shortage of tour providers, but Ger to Ger sets itself apart as Mongolia’s first geo-tourism agency incorporating corporate social responsibility and audited by the Mongolian government. Ger to Ger provides a non-touristic method of community-based exploration and supports nomadic families’ livelihoods by returning 70-80 percent of the revenue to the families. Partnering nomadic families provide homestays, meals and cultural experiences and receive supplementary income that helps them sustain their traditional way of life. To a traveler on a budget, Ger to Ger’s low operating costs mean very affordable trips: a six-day tour costs only $300 USD.
Approaching Mongolia’s Chinggis Khaan International Airport is a strange and thrilling experience. The vast steppe, resembling wrinkled fabric and as foreign as the surface of the moon, yields suddenly to Ulaanbaatar’s blocky Soviet architecture and crowded streets. Ulaanbaatar is a study in contrasts: sheep and goats graze beside streets clogged with taxis and foreign cars, nomadic herders rub shoulders with wealthy businessmen, Buddhist lamas shop at the massive State Department Store and tattooed youths skateboard in Chinggis Khaan’s shadow at Sukhbaatar Square.
The Ger to Ger office is guarded by a life-size metal predator sculpture at the front door. This gives the traveler a good idea of the experience that awaits in the Ger to Ger travel orientation. The director, confident in his decades of experience, gives a Mongolian history lesson and complete run-down of possible disasters. Because the orientation is only four hours long, he talks rapid-fire to cover everything from wild animals to vodka-drinking etiquette. While his forceful personality can be grating to some visitors, he manages to put the traveler somewhat at ease: bragging about the low rate of accidents, as he points out that the few accidents that did occur were when tourists failed to take his advice.
After the orientation, travelers are set loose into the countryside. Buses from Ulaanbaatar reach across Mongolia’s vast, diverse geological terrain carrying tourists, locals and urban-dwelling Mongolians who leave their modern flats in the hot summer months for the unmatched comfort of the ger.
Staying with four different nomadic families for five nights is an uncomfortable experience. The rushed Mongolian lesson included in the orientation might leave you unable to say more than two words. You will be presented with vast amounts of unfamiliar food, you will bathe in a cold river when you can no longer stand yourself, your body will hurt all over after seven hours in a Mongolian saddle and your guide will laugh at your painful bowlegged walk even as he tries to be sympathetic.
Sometimes the most uncomfortable thing is the feeling of gratitude you have for your hosts, who slip mugs of salty milk tea into your hands, teach you to play games with sheep ankle bones and graciously offer you a bowl of cut-up mutton and a fork, while the rest of the family cracks the bones open for the marrow inside. You offer small gifts from Korea, but you are unable to even come close to repaying these people for their warm generosity.
Nomadic families share their daily activities as well as their homes, and riding with the people who practically invented horsemanship is an unparalleled experience. Mongolians grow up riding from the age of three, race horses at age seven and think nothing of spending entire days on horseback. Many young men enjoy singing long folk songs while riding and prefer to travel at a dead gallop. Racing across smooth stretches of green steppe under the breathlessly blue sky is perhaps the quintessential Mongolian experience.
Certainly, traveling in an undeveloped country requires visitors to have open, flexible and respectful minds. Culture shock comes when you see a severed horse head lying next to an ovoo, a ceremonial cairn. It comes when your host performs a shamanistic ritual to cure your upset stomach. These moments are infused with wonder and beauty, like the awe you feel when you step out of the ger in the middle of the night and look up at the Milky Way, or when an eagle flies so close overhead that you can count its wing feathers. In many ways, Mongolia is the last undisturbed gem of Asia. It is a stunningly beautiful country whose people take fierce pride in their history and traditional ways of life.