Got milk?

In every ger we visit, we are welcomed with milk products.

Once seated inside, we begin with bowls of milk tea.  Cow milk tea, yak milk tea, horse milk tea, reindeer milk tea.  Whatever the family herds, they seem to find a way to milk.

Today we visited a camel-herding family, . . .

and you guessed it!  

We were welcomed with camel milk tea











and some very sour (unsweetened) camel milk yogurt,













along with sugared pieces of crispy flat bread.



And I got to milk a camel!

After I spent some time photographing our hostess milking the camel, she noticed my interest and invited me to try.  To milk the camel, especially if you're as short as our hostess, you stand one-legged with the bucket balanced on your elevated knee.

Now that I am a more experienced exotic-animal dairymaid, it was easier to get a stream going into the bucket right away.

Next, it was my turn for a camel ride through the sandy dunes.  Camel Time!  Notice that these are Bactrian camels with two humps (versus the one-humped Dromedary).  The ride is a little easier because the rider is nestled between the two humps, but it’s a tad unsteady hanging onto the front hump as the camel lurches forward to get her legs under her to stand.  

We rode out into some beautiful dunes with Chris joking about my camel’s “droopy humps.”  They were much more flexible than I expected.  Keenan pointed out that it is a little like having a joy stick-operated camel. 

At one point a young boy came up behind us and shouted something, and my camel began to run.  Our camel herder host quickly put a stop to that, but it was a breathless moment or two as I held onto that hump for dear life.  

Not only are the camels used for milk and transportation, but as temperatures rise, the camel's shaggy wool sheds in clumps.  In the summertime, it is pulled out in handfuls and used for a variety of purposes.

Our hostess demonstrated how to make rope, pulling the wool to “card” it as you might sheep’s wool and then twisting two pieces at the same time as twisting them together.  































She made it look effortless, but my attempts were decidedly clumsy.  





We also watched her use the fibers to make a thick, sturdy felt.  She began by laying out the fur in strips—first horizontal and then a layer with strips in a vertical direction.  

 She then placed a thin piece of fabric over the wool and wet it and added soap, scrubbing and scrubbing  

 and then rolling it and wringing it out. 

It produced a very nice layer of felt—much bigger pieces of which are stitched together to make the walls and roof of a ger.

How did you celebrate the Fourth of July?

Students, I am eagerly awaiting your guesses about this mystery country Fluffy and I are visiting.  Read the posts, put the clues together, and make a claim (based on evidence). 

Reindeer games

No, we did not visit Santa, but we did take a one-and-a-half hour boat ride across the lake (the largest lake in the country by volume, it holds about 70% of the country's fresh water)

to visit a nomadic reindeer-herding family who traditionally lives in a tipi almost identical to that of the Native Americans of our Great Plains!  

This time the milk tea that welcomed us was made with reindeer milk.  

The reindeer eat lichen, and there are only about 50 families (~500 people) who still herd reindeer.  To support this vanishing culture, the government now financially subsidizes each adult and child who continues to live this particular nomadic lifestyle.  As we talked with the family, it developed that they had only relocated to this particular "summer spot" for tourism reasons, and they had only brought three reindeer because the climate is too warm in the summer at our elevation of 5000 feet and all wrong for the reindeer which typically live at 9000 feet.  

The mother reindeer was panting in the heat, and the area was thick with flies, covering the poor reindeer.  I don't like to see animals suffering outside their natural habitat, but it is fascinating how similar this group of people is to some of our Native Americans. 

Yakety yak

We met a yak-herding family today,

and I got to milk a yak!

Students, I'm still eagerly awaiting your guesses!  Put the clues together, and make a hypothesis about where in the world we are.

In the belly

of the beast

Boodog is a traditional dish in this country in which a goat is cooked by placing hot rocks inside the stomach of the animal.  This cooks the meat from the inside while a flame is used on the outside to burn off the fur.  This cooking process must be done very carefully as the carcass is sealed closed and steam can build up pressure inside the goat, possibly resulting in an explosion!  If done properly, a stew of tender meat and juices is cooked inside the goat.  The greasy hot stones are removed and passed from person.  It is said that holding the hot stones and rubbing them between the palms is good for the health.

Tonight, rather than risk a goat explosion, we enjoyed khorkhog, a lamb dish that is prepared by placing alternating layers of hot rocks, chunks of meat, and vegetables and seasonings inside a metal container (typically a metal milk container).

Tongs are used to remove hot rocks from the wood fire in the stove to create a rock layer over the meat.

A layer of onions, salt, pepper, and bay leaves is added to season the meat.

Tongs are used to add another layer of heated stones.

Another layer of meat is added.

 Enough water is added to fill the container with steam, and the container is closed.

The hot rocks and steam cook the lamb until tender.  Ideally, the container is not re-opened during cooking.  Instead, an experienced cook pays attention to the sounds and smells in order to know when the meat is done.

Lamb.  It's what's for dinner.

 Traditionally, the meat is eaten with one's hands, along with this flat "bed bread."

Home

is where the ger is

Do you see Fluffy in this photo?

This is our last night in this beautiful spot.  It is far more green and lush than I ever expected, with big, towering hunks of granite.

Fluffy and I have spent the last two chilly nights sleeping in a ger (rhymes with mare), heated by a wood-fired iron stove with a chimney through a hole in the round roof.  My ger smells faintly like a wet sweater, as it rained the night before we arrived, and the insulation layer stretched over the exterior of the lattices is felted wool. 

Let's take a peek inside.

Pretty fancy for a tent, right?

Gers are the perfect home for nomadic herders.  Within a half hour, a family of four is able to completely disassemble it and pack their entire household for travel to the next spot.  In the market, an average ger can be purchased for $600-$700.

This evening, we were tasked with working together to build our own ger from the ground up!  When we arrived at the assigned spot, we were confronted with a pile of poles, lattice, and wool, ready for us to build.

While some people stood around and scratched their heads,

Fluffy and I got in on the action.
The roof ring or "crown" and its support posts are connected and placed in the ground

while the lattice walls are stretched around the perimeter and attached to each side of the door.  It is the number of lattice walls linked together that determines the size of the ger.

Next poles are inserted into the holes along the outside edge of the crown

and positioned so that the other end of each pole rests in the elbow where two pieces of lattice cross.

Now the skeleton structure is ready for an insulating layer of wool felt to be pulled around the sides

and tied over the top.  This is what keeps the heat in on those very cold winter nights!

Next, a canvas cover is pulled over the structure.

It took us about 45 minutes, which is not a good time according to our guide.  I must confess, we had some expert help or our ger might still be in pieces on the ground.

After building a ger, we needed more appropriate clothes.