20 July - Camping out with the nomads at the bank of Selenge River

20^th July, Wednesday

The nesting loon on the shore of
Lake Khuvsgul

We were back in Amra’s car today.  Hooray.  We had some time after breakfast and because we did not wake up early this morning, we went for a short walk along the shore to take pictures of  the loon we had spotted the evening before.  It was nesting in the long grass along the small peninsula in front of the ger camp.  We had spotted one of them swimming in the lake earlier.  They were a pair.  The longer lens worked so much better.

We went to Amrah’s car with all our bags.  Lee was riding with us today.  We had not pulled out of the driveway when Amra stopped and turned around as he had forgotten his sunglasses which he had left on the window sill of their room.  He had this special set of military aviation sun glasses which were exceptionally clear even when it was foggy and pouring down rain.  He had shown it to us before.  One of the attendants went to get it for him.  The other vehicles waited for him to take his position in the convoy.

As we started the trip, he played some nice slow Mongolian tunes on the radio and we said that was nice.  He said that many like those would result in him falling asleep.  We asked him about his time in Russia.  He then told us that he was in military school in Russia.  This was when he really opened up and told us who he really was.  Our little brother was more complicated than he appeared.  He was very private.  We were really impressed and honoured that he trusted us and was comfortable enough to let us know who he is.

The demoiselle crane family we passed enroute

Our first rest break was back at the town of Murun where we would shopped for supplies for the Mongolian BBQ that evening.  Tem went to get some vegetables, condiments and snacks for that evening, and other supplies for breakfast the next morning.  We got another bottle of KBac since they all appeared to like it, and some chips for nibbling. 

Dr, Roy and we went for a walk around the top two floors above the supermarket and Dr found a miniature horsehair fiddle for a souveneir.  Lee bought some postcards. 

At 12pm, we set off again, but headed out of town which surprised us a little since it was time for lunch.  Before too long, we pulled over where the scenery was rather pretty and Amra announced that it was time for lunch.  There was no restaurant anywhere at this stop. Hmmm …. That was a surprise ….  Apparently, they had gotten khuushuurs at Murun.   Everyone had 5, three meat and two vegetable filled.  The Mongolians on the other hand had all 5 meat filled.  It was the same thing that Amrah’s grandfather had gotten for him the other afternoon when we were at mid point.  There were also some salted cabbage and carrots salad to share.  We had a great picnic lunch, sitting on two of those kid crawling mats.  The drivers used them as multi-purpose mats, including for crawling under their vehicles.  The view was awesome as we munched on our lunch.

The vista for picnic lunch

After lunch, we would then start on our journey again, this time towards where we would be camping out.  Around an hour later, we pulled off the main highway into an unsealed road that went through a tiny town where Gana went into the shop to buy something.  We had no idea what he went to get.  After that stop, we drove towards our final destination next to the Selenga River.  The Selenga River is where all the rivers in Mongolia flow into.  And it flows into Lake Baikal. 

We learn a lot about Amra and his family during the drive today.  It was a very interesting story and it explained his depth of maturity.  As we approached the bank of the river, we saw a huge flock of demoiselle cranes.  What beautiful creatures.

Our campsite

Arriving at the bank of the Selenga River, we crossed it to a nice camp spot.  We took out all the equipment for camping.  Each of us had a camp chair.  Most of the tents were to share. There were two single tents which went to Lee and Brian.  We picked our spots.  Roy and we chose a spot near the river bank under a tree.  We pitched the very easy to pitch tent.  It pitched itself out of its bag.  We only had to anchor it to the ground.  We were issued with self inflating mattress and sleeping bag which we put into our tent.  We decided that we would keep our camera equipment in the vehicle for the night in case it rained and the tent leaked.

Our view

The camp area was unbelievably pretty.  There were some tall trees away from the bank. Under one of these were a herd of horses.  There were also some horses rolling in the sady banks of the river attempting to keep the flies off them.  We saw herons, little ringed plover, kites and an assortment of birds.  As soon as we had set up camp, we went bird watching with our camera.  Others sat and relaxed in front of their tents.  Later, we would go and collect firewood to cook that night's dinner.  We were basically on a tiny island in the middle of the Selenga river.  Nice and safe idea for camping.

Me infront of our tent

The drivers had decided that they were cooking dinner that evening.  It was a traditional Mongolian dish.  An entire sheep cut and cooked in a container with washed river rocks that had been preheated in the fire.  Only condiment added would be salt.  The vegetables would go on top of the meat.  Our nomadic family live across the river from us.  They had slaughtered the sheep for us.  Good thing or else that task would have fallen on Amra, being the youngest in the group.  We asked to see the animal being prepared.

Relaxing by the bank of the Selenga

Tem got us all together and Amra and Ganso drove us back across the river.  We would take this opportunity to visit the nomadic family as well.  We brought with us our gifts for them.  Outside their ger, the drivers were in the process of burning the hair off the sheep with hand held blow torches.  The rest of the nomadic family were preparing the innards of the animal for cooking.  Nothing is wasted.  Everything, including, the blood is consumed. To some it may appear squearmish but to us, it reminded us of our days growing up in Borneo where our mom did the same to prepare innards for meals.

Both the man and woman nomad were born on Friday so their names had Friday in Mongolian in it. They have a 5 year old daughter and a 7 month old baby girl.  The little one was content to stay in my arms for as long as her family would let her.  She was really easy going.  Someone said that we would have to give it back, not realising that we had always played with babies that way.  Lee was too afraid to hold something so small.  Roy and Jule played with the 5 year old who will be attending school and staying with her grandma in the village the coming school year.  Grandma was there too as were another male relative.  The men were helping with the preparation of the sheep.

We visited, and had some curds but yogurt was not yet ready so we did not bother with tea.  We gave them our beleg (presents) and the little girl loved  the plasticine immediately.  Roy would later say that she loved birds as she was modelling them.

Little nomad girl with her grandma in their ger

After the fur had been removed, the drivers and Tem were busy cutting the meat into chucks and putting these into a basin.  We took these back to our side of the river bank.  The head we left for the nomads.  To save Amra an extra trip, we told Tem that we would ride with him on the top rack of Amra’s car.  We climbed on top.  As there was still a seat short, Jule did the same.  As we pulled off, Amra had Roy come out of the car to take our camera off us.  Does he not trust that we would not jump after our camera?  Later when we quizzed him on this, he asked what we were going to do if that camera fell and was destroyed.  Good point. We rode across the river with Amra trying not to rock the car at all.  He did that maneuver really well.  We rode like Chinggis Khan’s generals back to our camp site.

Dinner cooking

Back at the camp site, we washed potatoes and scrap carrots.  In the meantime, the drivers had already started to layer meat and stone inside the metal canister they had borrowed from the nomads.  It was a camp pressure cooker in progress.  The vegetables were the last bits to go in on top.  Then the wooden plug to the mouth of the canister was secured with wires.  The entire container was then placed on hot stone legs in the fire. Ganzo and Amra watched the fire and the pot, while the rest of us went about doing our things.  More firewood were also collected in preparation for the campfire for the night.

After 45 minutes, they lifted the canister off the fire and popped open the cover.  The aroma that rose from the pot would make even the most fussy eater hungry.  First the vegetables were taken out so that the vegetarians can eat these with confidence.  Then the meat came out.  The stones were tossed back into the fire.  We all picked up a plate each and helped ourselves to the food.  We loved ribs so we took a few of these.  It was absolutely delicious.

Our delicious dinner

When we were eating dinner, Amra came to tell us that we should save the bones so that we can take photo of the eagle swooping for bones later.  The soup in the canister was very rich if a little oily.  We ate and ate until we could eat no more.  Tem then came over to offer us each a compulsory after dinner shot of vodka.  It was to ensure all the richness we had just ingested was properly digested he quipped.  We were also warned not to drink anything cold for a while so that the fats did not solidify in us.  We were offered the communal cup (the typical Mongolian way) or a personal cup.  We chose the communal cup.  

We had a second shot when Amra came around a second time.  Tem then said that we needed to do the 3rd one as everything came in three.  We ended up with three small shots of vodka that evening.  Sweet snacks followed while everyone sat chatting.  We found out then that Ganso was addicted to anything sweet.  His face just lit up like that of a child when sugary treats appeared.

Gana, Ganso and Amra then started a game of volleyball.  Feeling the weight of our dinner, Ulia, Roy and we decided to join and we played for a while, all the time keeping an eye on the hawk.  The hawk approached and we left to try to bait it with bones.  Amra tried  to help by throwing the bones to them to attract them over.  The hawk waited till the light was not good enough for photography then it swooped to pick up the bones we had scattered.  Our bigger crowd was also a little noisier.

Campfire

As the sun sets, the group dispersed.  Some to their tents.  Some went to bath in the river and then returned.  As others left, Dr and my travelling companions becane chatting buddies.  Firewood continued to be added to the fire as all who were left tended it.  As is customary, the conversation got deeper and more real towards the end of the evening.  A lot of our mysterious observations were explained as the facts were revealed.  As we sat chatting, we could see the occasional headlights of cars passing through the village.  At some point, Amra brought out some distilled yogurt alcohol to share.  We have never heard of this but the locals produced these for their own consumption.  We took a sip but to us, it is an acquired taste ... a stronger version of the fermented mare's milk.

Conversation were also about dreams and opinions.  It was encouraging to hear these young Mongolian's concern for the environment.  We left shortly after Dr to go to bed.  The usual 4 were left talking late into the night and early into the morning.  Entering our tent, we found Roy fast asleep and he had laid out everything nicely for us in the tent.  My travelling companion has a really nice partner.