Monnnnnnnnnnnngolia!!!!

The Ger...and the morning herd of cows strolling by

Chuseok (pronounced Chew-sock)...or the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving, is an important holiday for Korean families. Most take the time to visit families and give gifts. For us teachers, however, its 3 additional days off work which happened to be a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. This really meant 5 days in which I could go to Mongolia with Cass and Stacey.

Why Mongolia you ask?

Why the hell not! I say. I mean seriously when else am I going to go to Monnnnngolia, the land of the Nomads. A large percentage of the 2.5 million inhabitants (less people in the entire country than there are in Daegu!!!) live nomadic or semi-nomadic lives, herding their cattle and sharing a ger with their family. There really is a lot to be said about people who endure the hardships of depending on nature for their survival.

While in Korea you can find Kimchi and rice in just about any Korean home, in Mongolia there is always something that comes from milk. Cheese, butter, cream, yogurt...ummm fermented mare's milk...yeah that's right fermented mare's milk. Apparently its a popular thing in Mongolia. We visited a Mongolian family and the nice woman offered it to us. In our travel guide it said that it is rude to refuse and that you should at least taste it. So being the adventurous travelers we are, taste it we did...and it definitely was as awful as it sounds. I mean really...when has sour horse's milk ever tasted good...YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We arrived in Ulaanbaatar (UB) and were meeting at the airport by someone from our hostel. The little man drove us to the hostel and they set us up with a place to sleep. The next day, bright eyed and bushy tailed we set off to explore UB in the crisp morning air (oh it was soooo nice to leave the hot, humid korean air even if it was only for 5 days). We visited a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, the largest in Mongolia I believe. It never ceases to amaze me that I am in Asia, where the people not only look and act different, but religion is different and the architecture is different and what people value are different. And yet, this completely different way of life is also OK and who are we the western giants to judge, or choose how people should think or how they should act.

Monastery

After a day in UB we headed off to the country with a family run tour guide called Stepperiders. They offer customized horse trips in the Mongolian steppes. We had originally planned to do a 3 day horse trek including camping, but after some consideration, taking into account our lack of experience on horseback and the fact that it was COLDDD!!!! we decided that day trips and ger sleeping was more our style. Needless to say we enjoyed the ger and the horses. The food was delicious (soups and stews like grandma would make...un caldito rico con papas y carnita, solo faltaron las tortillas!!!).

Mongolian Landscape (the steppes)

Mongolia being one of the least densely populated countries in the world offered an escape from busy Korea. It was a nice break into the countryside, with its beautiful landscapes and amazing people. The people in Mongolia look Asian but their culture and way of thinking is very western/European. I would guess from the huge Russian influence. Needless to say this mix of cultures made for a GREAT!!!! holiday.

Brrrr!!! It's COLD in Mongolia

Oh wait, can't forget the detour to Beijing, China. Yeah that's right, I also went to China!!!! OK, so by China I mean the airport in Beijing, but we did spend 13 hrs there and I did go outside to say I had actually been to China...hahaha. The story is, our flight got delayed, we had to get to work, we re-routed to China then to Daegu. Mongolia offers veryyyyy limited options for flights and we took what we could get. In retrospect it was part of the adventure, but at the time we were slightly stressed. I made it to work on time, since I don't work until 4 pm but Stacey and Cass weren't so lucky. However being 6 hrs late for work beats our other option which was staying until Saturday, which was the next available flight...YIKES!!!!

Look Mom! I'm in China!!!

Overall, great trip. I would go back in a second. I'm sure I'll be saying that a lot!! Pictures to come in as soon as they have all been compiled. But check out facebook for a sneak peak. Until next time...Bayarjlaa (umm I think that means thank you in MONNNGOLIANNNNN!!! and that's all I remember, hahahaha!).