After arriving in Ulaanbaatar we headed to the ger camp in Gorkhi Terelj National Park about 70 km outside of Ulaanbaatar. The area surrounding the capitol city is verdant rolling hills that is partially forested as is our camp with horses and cattle everywhere. No fences. The ger dates back 600 BCE and is still occupied by 61% of city dwellers and 90% of rural people in Mongolia. They can be broken down for travel in 30 minutes and have a central stove (they dropped off wood and coal for our warmth but we didn’t need it). The ger tourist camps replace hotels of which there are none that I have seen outside of large cities.
We met some nomads who live on this government owned land and have about 30 cattle, moving their ger twice a year. I think Mongolia must be like Wisconsin or Ireland because of their of dairy. They drink mare’s milk, eat dried curd and have the very best butter on biscuits with their milk tea (2/3 tea 1/3 milk). Yogurt too! They are meat eaters though (beef, horse, and mutton mostly).
We ended up at the Chinggis Khaan (Genghis Khan) (1162-1227) Monument after a morning of short hikes. Out of nowhere rises his statue of gleaming stainless steel in the middle of rolling grassland as if he is invading this land. His place as ruler of the largest empire before the British empire was accomplished through brilliant military tactics and brutality. One the inventions that allowed his armies to conquer distant lands was the stirrup. With his mounted cavalry able to stand up in the saddle and fire both when advancing and retreating, he was unstoppable. He married at age 16 but had many wives and concubines. A study in 2003 found that up to 16 million men, half a percent of the world’s male population, were genetic descendants of Genghis Khan (Chinngis Khaan).
