A Night in a Mongolian Ger
Post date: 13-Nov-2009 12:06:16
Many people in Mongolia who live in the inner city or are farmers live in Gers. A Ger is a round tent that is heated with a coal stove. They often have a few beds in them and a sink. Typically, the left side of the Ger is where women sleep and the men sleep on the right. Everyone sleeps with their feet pointing towards the door. The tents are quite nice with lino and hard wood floors instead of the dirt floor that I was expecting. They are decorated orange after the sun. In the winter, 2-3 more layers are added to the outside of the Ger for warmth. The Ger lodge that we stayed at was an hour outside of Ulaanbaatar and was in a rather remote area surrounded by mountains and flat land.
It was nice and warm inside our Ger but -10 outside with the wind chill. It made for a chilly 10 minute walk to the out house which was a squat toilet outhouse. I am now an expert at using a squat toilet but still appreciate a western toilet. The rectangle that was the hole is big enough to fall down, which is a possibility when the power goes out while you're using the toilet (as happened to me-the electricity not the falling in the toliet. Good thing I had my flashlight). I had the company of 2 dogs who accompanied me to the out house and one that kept trying to sleep in our Ger. I was a sucker and let him come in to warm up.
We played archery which was quite a challenge for me. It's a great workout for your arm muscles though. Naki also taught us a game called Shagai (Ankle Bone). The pieces for the game are made of sheep ankle bones. The bones are the dice and the pieces that you play with. You line up the pieces with the camel side of the bone facing up and you move our camel bone in a race depending on what you roll. If you roll 1 camel, 1 horse, 1 goat, and 1 sheep you get to move 4 spaces. If you roll 1-4 camels then you get to move that many spaces. I won but because I won, Colin got to pick some animals for me to act out just like in charades.
We had a great sleep but the burning wood and coal made it difficult for me to breathe with my allergies. However, the fresh country air was a nice relief on our lungs compared to the city air. We of course made friends with all the animals that live at the Ger Lodge.
We enjoyed a traditional supper of tea, mutton dumplings which were quite juicy and sweet, salad and sugar cookies for dessert. We ate in a separate dining and cooking Ger. However, traditionally all the cooking and eating would be done in the same one room Ger. It was a great experience but I don't think we'd do it again.
You can view our other 82 Ger camp pictures here: