Mongolia has been awesome so far. Staying in a ger with a Mongolian family is the best thing ever. They have four children, but the eldest son is studying in the countryside, so only the three girls stay at home with their parents; they go to school during the day and come back in the evening. Since it is nearing summer time in Mongolia, the sun does not set until around 10pm. The weather is cool, around 4-9 deg and at night in the ger it can be quite cold because we sleep on the floor inside sleeping bags, but somehow the cold manages to permeate through the tent.

During our stay with the family, we learnt so much about their nomadic and traditional lifestyles. We collected the cow dung to dry them on the fence which is then used as biofuel. We also brought the cows to graze at the nearby hills and even milked them in the morning. The family does not drink the milk directly because they said that the milk would cause more stomach problems. Instead the milk is boiled and fermented to make yoghurt and cheese. Everything is so organic here as we even made our own dumplings from wholemeal flour and freshly plucked vegetables. The family recycles the water from the tap and uses the leftover as compost to offer it to the cows and dog as food.

Although there is no toilet and shower inside the ger, we don’t mind walking outside to use the toilet because it is an experience. The toilet is is just a wooden house with a hole into the ground for you to poop and pee in it. As for the shower, we have to walk slightly further and use a public bath, something like the Japanese kind just that there are private cubicles. We stayed three nights with this family and really appreciated their welcoming mentality to host foreigners and educate them about Mongolian culture. In return, we shared much about Singaporean culture and even cooked a Singaporean meal of stir fried noodles and bak kut teh for them. The bak kut teh was too peppery for them as they are not used to eating spicy food.