ger

yesterday afternoon saw us tearing up the dirt and speeding through different landscapes. the familiar mongolian grasslands gave way to a section where we might as well have been in the alps singing 'the hills are alive,' complete with snow-peaked mountains. then woodland and tall spartan pine trees laid out in regiments as far as the eye can see.

we stopped for a while at a chasm, a huge rift where the earth had opened up to let a river through. climbing down into it we discovered a huge section of slowly thawing ice right underneath the overhanging rock face, our first real clue of how cold it can actually get here. we're still lucky enough to be having clear sunny days the whole time.

our final change of scenery saw us picking our way through a volcanic moonscape. lime green grassland littered with thousands of black igneous rocks, spewed out from a volcano 120 years before. not very long ago we thought.


i have woken in another ger, this time overlooking the great white lake. an enormous flat mirror of water surrounded by those rolling mountains that have never left us.

gers are the traditional mongolian dwelling place. about 50% of mongols still live in them and 25% are still truly nomadic. you will often see a blue (always blue) truck and trailer piled high with a family's possessions and the tell-tale ger centrepiece balanced precariously on top. even on top of that you'll regularly see the family and their dog clinging onto ropes as the truck cab is full up. like a mini carnival trundling slowly over the land.

a ger is a big round heavy felt tent, usually about 4 metres diameter with a low conical roof supported by intricately carved and vividly painted struts. don't call them a 'yer' thats turkish and it's wrong. in the middle will be some sort of metal stove providing all the heat and cooking facilities, with a smoke stack that shoots straight up out of a hole in the roof centre-piece. there is a low door always pointing north, that you always bang your head on when you use it.

a nomadic mongolian family will usually have one ger for themselves, where they eat sleep and watch solar-powered satellite telly.. and one ger for guests which will hold 4-6 beds and a small dining table. they will set the fire and bring you hot food in the evening, then do the same at dawn. a night like that costs about £2. it's brilliant.