It’s a bit difficult to put into words all that Mongolia is and all that you can see there. I can’t say that I went without expectations because mine were high, especially for the landscapes, but I can say that they were surpassed with a bang!
While travelers often think of horses, vast steppes, and starry skies, the real highlight is discovering the resilience and rich history of its people. Despite harsh climate conditions and limited resources, Mongolians have thrived for centuries with immense vigour!
Mongolia is not a hidden gem, but it is certainly underestimated. A country very little mentioned in our reality and with a historical, cultural and geological wealth out of this world.
TASTE OF TRADITION
I usually leave this topic for last, but this time it comes to the front!
As mentioned above, Mongolia’s cuisine, heavily influenced by the lack of agriculture, centers around meat and milk.
The most common dishes like Buuz, Khuushuur (a personal favorite!), Tsuivan, and Goulash are hearty and served generously whether you’re dining in a restaurant or inside a traditional ger.
Milk is used to make Airag (fermented mare’s milk, slightly alcoholic and used in celebrations and sometimes served when visiting a nomadic family), Aaruul (a hard cheese), Tarag (various yoghurts), Suutei Tsai (an energizing and rich milk tea), and Mongolian Vodka (Arkhi).
The ability to manage such few resources to a table full of delicious delicacies is to experience the knowledge of nomads and their life circumstances.
It’s mesmerising!
LANDSCAPE, GEOLOGY AND CLIMATE
Okay, let’s start with a warning: be prepared for breathtaking landscapes! And the combination of these three topics is what makes Mongolia as great as it is, both for better and for worse.
The steppes make up the largest percentage of the landscape in all of Mongolia, followed by desert, mountains, forests and lakes. A good bit of all Mongolia is influenced by the great Himalayan formation, which although still some distance away, has impacted and continues to impact all of these themes. The climate is extreme, the air is dry and clearly the temperature changes are causing increased concern from year to year.
Without neglecting all these important points, however, the geology of this country is extremely interesting!
Nature here is sometimes a mystery, randomly constructing unique and diverse landscapes where you can find colourful and very interesting rocks and minerals! Cave formations, rocky peaks, deserts and dunes hundreds of kilometres long, in short, a whole menu of landscapes at our disposal. I can assure you that being a geologist on this trip makes perfect sense, and those who are not will want to be!
IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE
In addition to all these reasons that make Mongolia the awesome country that it is, I think there are a handful of other reasons why the experience here is so easily immersive.
The lack of roads and public transport (apart from buses in the capital), means that we have direct and intimate contact with both our drivers and the locals as they are the connection between our destinations and the nomadic families. We spend a lot of time in their company, long car/jeep rides (in certain areas there is only access by horse) and most of the time they don’t even speak English.
And now you’re thinking how do we communicate? That’s the easy part: gestures and loose words of both English and Mongolian! What is sometimes difficult is getting to your destination because of the weather or ground conditions, not suggesting a coffee at the nearest petrol station or discussing whether Messi or Ronaldo is the best in the world!
Apart from the language barrier adventure, a 10/10 is not enough to describe how good and necessary it is to spend a few days with a nomadic family and experience a little of their reality.
There’s no running water, no waste management, no bathroom, the energy available is from batteries charged with solar panels, and all resources are only used when necessary. We eat what’s available and what we’re given, and I guarantee you’ll have the best stay of your lives. I for sure did!
It’s an eye-opener and definitely a reality check as an experience that has a lot to teach us!
Don’t even get me started on the food, because I don’t think I’ve ever been so well fed in my life!
NOMADIC PEOPLE AND THEIR HISTORY
You know about Genghis Khan, right? Marco Polo and all that, but do you really know the history of Mongolia and its empire?
As a Portuguese, I recognise that the Mongolian subject in our day-to-day lives is practically non-existent. Perhaps a small mention at school, but clearly the focus is not on the Mongol empire.
To visit Mongolia is to unconsciously travel in the footsteps of a great empire and years and years of its culture and customs.
The amount of national heritage at our disposal is ridiculous. It’s easy to stumble across an ancient castle belonging to a relative of the great Genghis Khan (or what little remains of it), or accidentally step on the ruins of an ancient temple, perhaps even find areas with some of the best preserved rupestrian paintings in existence, and even revolutionary discoveries from the dinosaur era. A wonderland of surprises, I must say!
There are some very interesting museums about all these discoveries that illustrate this country so well throughout all these decades full of history and curiosities!
Like everything else, it’s amusing to see how a country can change so much but its culture remains so strong. Clearly the greatest ‘time capsule’ are the nomadic families and living with them is the most cultural and intimate experience you can have. For centuries it was a country that underwent significant economic, social and political transformations, but the ties with the nomadic culture remained and remains strong to this day.
In a nutshell, Mongolia is a series of influences and consequences that, for better or worse, make up a spectacular and unique country. A little trip back in time and a dose of humbleness that shows us that it’s not Humanity that’s in charge here, but rather Mother Nature.
With a full belly and a full heart, I wouldn’t think twice about setting foot on Mongolian soil again. It’s an adventure I’ll always welcome with open arms!
