People
Karim, Uranus So, Rieke & Sandra, Diane, Vio & Kenny, Kan, Will
I stayed in the UB guesthouse in Ulan Bator and it was where I met most of the people. It was like a secret underground club where you found you are not the only person who have quit your job and travel the world. Many of them are experienced travelers either going to Russia or China by trains. You are at odds here if you travel by planes.
The other night I was moved to another apartment from the main one as the guesthouse was full. It felt like home now with my warm hearted roommate Diane. And the other people I have shared a good time with made my stay in Mongolia wonderful.
I admired a lot the Mongolian people and their animals for they are so strong and tough, but never rude. They don't care so much about money and are good with animals and nature. It seems we have a different definition of "harsh" as nothing is difficult for them. Plus Mongolian men on horses are simply too cool.
For Mongolians in the city it is another story. They are much influenced by Korean culture. Boys and girls dress so fashionable that you can't connect them with the word tough found in Mongolian nomads. Though I did not have negative experience but most say Ulan Bator is not safe especially at night.
For animals, camels and horses are so patient like they don't care. And the way the cows and camels look at us foreigners like chewing gum saying "what's up dude?" are so adorable.
Food
Needless to say, Mongolians are famous for their mutton. They eat a lot of meat. Mutton, camel meat and sometimes beef. You cannot find chickens and pigs in a nomad family.
Since water is precious they drink mostly milk from horses, goats and cows. The famous alcoholic drink called airag 馬奶酒 is produced by fermented horse milk which is very sour. But not as strong as the Chinese baijiu I guess. Later a mongolian told me it is just 5-6 degrees and they usually can drink 1-2 litres, men and women.
Another common treat from nomad families is the goat cheese. Also very sour. We had a hard time swallowing the whole piece (which is just small piece to them) and one of our group felt sick from the cheese lol
The following days we paid extra caution when we were served cheese or dairy products from the nomads. Fortunately what we had later were not sour and tasted nice.
Still, UlanBator is a different world. You can find all kinds of vegetables (even beetroot which I had never seen), chicken and pork there.
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