R&R in Ulaan Baator
A good place to recover, and share stories with other travellers and legions of Peace Corp volunteers, in town for their Christmas break. Yes, after feeling for the last couple of weeks that we were the only foreigners in Siberia, we've suddenly stumbled upon millions of others, and its actually been really nice to share stories, beer and food.
Mongolia is recovering its buddist roots these days, and the monasteries are full of little lamas spinnng prayer wheels and learning Tibetan. It is so nice to be back among buddist temples which seem to have a very peaceful feel about them. Sometimes beside the road you'll see a pile of rocks with bright blue cloth strips tied to them - we spent a couple of days in the countryside and our driver would circle them in a clockwise direction where possible, and toot his horn as he drove past.
Outside the main centre of Ulan Bator is a huge market which promises to have everything you could want to buy. We took a trip out there with Ziv, an Israli guy who's heading out west for an adventure, to see what we could find.
The streets are icy here, and the market was no different. Between the rows of stalls full of boots, jackets, hats, goat skins, ger furniture etc the ice was well smoothed by hundreds of people skating on their shoes from one stall to the next. Some people skate, other people wrestle.
We hunted around looking at what was available, resisted the urge to buy rip offs of big brand western shoes (the upside-down Goretex lable on a pair of hiking boots gave the game away). We found some thick thermals to supplement our supply in case the weather became less clemant than it has been. Sophie found some cheap Chinese-made cold weather boots which are more grippy on ice and warmer around the ankles.
After a couple of hours of this we were glad to find the food hall which had small cafes which were well heated. We were given some tea which is amazing stuff and feels like it instantly warms through to your bones. It doesn't taste at all of tea, but is a hot watery milk drink, flavoured with salt. This description does not do it justice, but trust me, it's the business.
Not having experienced any local dishes, we were advised by various locals at nearby tables about what was good. Meat stew was very good. As with the people, the cuisine has been gradually changing as we've travelled through eastern Europe, Russia and now here. The dumplings which in Poland are called piroghi, are called pelmeni in Russia, and something like 'boat' here, and we will also see in China as something else. Isn't that weird?
Lunch over, we wandered through the food stalls, guided by Ziv who has visited Mongolia before, and has stayed with many nomad families. He showed us the hard cheese which tastes like dried yoghurt, and a thick fermented yoghurt drink which (like the tea) tastes better than it sounds. The milk may come from cows, horses, camels or goats.
Curious to find out more about Mongolian life, we decided to spend a few days in the countryside...
Mongolia is recovering its buddist roots these days, and the monasteries are full of little lamas spinnng prayer wheels and learning Tibetan. It is so nice to be back among buddist temples which seem to have a very peaceful feel about them. Sometimes beside the road you'll see a pile of rocks with bright blue cloth strips tied to them - we spent a couple of days in the countryside and our driver would circle them in a clockwise direction where possible, and toot his horn as he drove past.
Outside the main centre of Ulan Bator is a huge market which promises to have everything you could want to buy. We took a trip out there with Ziv, an Israli guy who's heading out west for an adventure, to see what we could find.
The streets are icy here, and the market was no different. Between the rows of stalls full of boots, jackets, hats, goat skins, ger furniture etc the ice was well smoothed by hundreds of people skating on their shoes from one stall to the next. Some people skate, other people wrestle.
We hunted around looking at what was available, resisted the urge to buy rip offs of big brand western shoes (the upside-down Goretex lable on a pair of hiking boots gave the game away). We found some thick thermals to supplement our supply in case the weather became less clemant than it has been. Sophie found some cheap Chinese-made cold weather boots which are more grippy on ice and warmer around the ankles.
After a couple of hours of this we were glad to find the food hall which had small cafes which were well heated. We were given some tea which is amazing stuff and feels like it instantly warms through to your bones. It doesn't taste at all of tea, but is a hot watery milk drink, flavoured with salt. This description does not do it justice, but trust me, it's the business.
Not having experienced any local dishes, we were advised by various locals at nearby tables about what was good. Meat stew was very good. As with the people, the cuisine has been gradually changing as we've travelled through eastern Europe, Russia and now here. The dumplings which in Poland are called piroghi, are called pelmeni in Russia, and something like 'boat' here, and we will also see in China as something else. Isn't that weird?
Lunch over, we wandered through the food stalls, guided by Ziv who has visited Mongolia before, and has stayed with many nomad families. He showed us the hard cheese which tastes like dried yoghurt, and a thick fermented yoghurt drink which (like the tea) tastes better than it sounds. The milk may come from cows, horses, camels or goats.
Curious to find out more about Mongolian life, we decided to spend a few days in the countryside...
posted by Wednesdays at 9:10 PM
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