About MARIS KURME

Maris Kurme is a young art historian working in the field of tourism. She's been leading groups around Europe for several years, following the footsteps and experience of her mother and grandmother before her. She is mainly working in the field of outbound tourism, taking tourists to different parts of Europe -such as France, Greece and the UK, and across many exotic countries . Here she narrates her experience after having visited MONGOLIA

In between two huge countries - Russia and China - there is a land that is always over looked but has lots to offer and is known as Mongolia. Like its neighbouring nations, Mongolia too is a very big country with a small number of inhabitants and is usually considered to be a wild and dangerous place and its people blood-thirsty and ignorant like in the times of Gengish Khan. But the reality can be shockingly surprising. Mongolia has about the same number of inhabitants as Latvia, but considering the size of this country and its steppes and mountains it is possible to travel for weeks without seeing other people. The only big centre and city is the capital, Ulaanbaatar.

Ulaanbaatar is actually a rather unusual city. As Mongolians traditionally live in a felt ger that is standing on a wooden frame, building stone houses is still in it nascent stage in the country. In the olden days the more stable buildings were Buddhist monasteries. Mongolians actually had a huge number of them. In the whole country of just 2,7 million people there were more than 700 monasteries that were closed and destroyed by Stalin's order. Besides the monasteries and religious life, everything else took place in gers. Before the Soviet time, Ulaanbaatar was also just a ger congregation. Russians made it look more like a city - they built apartment blocks and cultural buildings - using the same typical projects as everywhere else. They also paved and created the city's central square - dedicated to national hero Sukhbaatar. By the way, this was the guy who invited Russians to Mongolia and who was therefore largely responsible for making Mongolia the first communist satellite country. However, this is what has given Ulaanbaatar its face - and it is a standard face of any Soviet city.

So - there aren't exactly many original architectural sights in Ulaanbaatar. The centre of town is so small that from every point there you can see the surrounding wild mountains and steppe. And after a short walk you'll be out of the “house“ area and arrive at the more exotic ger districts. Ulaanbaatar is still a „Felt town“ as it was called in the old days. Even nowadays they raise their gers wherever they like. Firstly they set up the furniture, because it is too big to fit in through the door later. Then they put around it the door and wall frame, then roof frame and the “smoke window“ and eventually a felt and cover cloth is put over it. Around their home they quickly raise a wooden fence and usually a couple of huge and very friendly patting-hungry dogs will watch it all.

As they do it wherever they like, very fast and they move rather often, then you can forget a home address. A home address does not exist in Mongolia - not even in the capital. If you think you are going to need to get letters and post, then the only option is to rent a mailbox in the post office. Or use „poste restante“. But as for nomads in the countryside - their post system is really like it used to be in the Gengish Khan times. They hear that some passerby is going to the city, so they give him some letters and maybe some package to forward… Sometimes it reaches the destination, sometimes it does not.

The real Mongolia does show itself only outside of Ulaanbaatar. In the countryside and wild nature. Mongolians are not city people - even the capital's inhabitants consider themselves as nomads who, for some reason (such as schooling for their children), are forced to live in a bigger community for a while. It is only recently the first city-people's generation is about to form, consisting of young people who were born there and who are used to that kind of life. Older people naturally find it sad, because more educated youngsters know the ways of the World and want more than the simple, hard and traditional Mongolian style of life. It will definitely give rise to worries of losing Mongolian heritage and followers of this centuries old lifestyle. However, these changes are still quite recent...

A real Mongolian is and will always be a nomad who lives far from the civilisation - in the endless steppe or forested mountains. They never stay too long in one place - at least four times a year they pack all their belongings and move on. Firstly because they need to offer their animals better, more variable and season-suitable food and secondly not to harm the Mother Nature by exploiting it too much in one place. Their biggest wealth is their herd and they grow very many different animals. Sheep, whose meat is the main food in whole Mongolia; goats, whose wool they use to produce the purest and softest cashmere in the World; horses, who look small and hungry, but who are actually very fast and tough; camels, whose wool they use to knit the warmest clothes of; cows, whose meat is the second most loved after lambs, etc. There is also a small tribe called Tsaatan - the Reindeer people. They still raise reindeers in the Northern part of the country and they practise the old shamanism religion that is mostly non-existent in most places. Oh, and a few experienced people also raise young eagles - they work and train with them and at the age of 2 they will decide whether the powerful bird will become a lucrative hunting tool, or proves to be untalented and is sent back to nature.

Mongolian herds are rather small in general - & thus it is possible to take care of them all. The land is free, so they don't have to pay for the food and living space; however there is just enough work one family can do. Those who own big herds, must pay a tiny symbolic tax for the use of grassland though. But this is really not much. However, it may be interesting to know that a family owning 55 sheep and 20 horses, is already considered a big farmer. Normally a family doesn't own more than 15-20 sheep and 7-8 horses. And just to give you an idea - a good lamb would cost around 20 dollars and a cow more or less 200 dollars in Mongolia.

The romantic-looking nomad way of life is by no means easy. Naturally they don't have electricity and other comforts. They have to carry their drinking water from some river or even a puddle - wherever you can find water from. The entire family (that can be quite big) usually lives together in a quite small ger, therefore there is no privacy. And a toilet exists only in tourist camps. A normal Mongolian (man or a woman) does his or her business calmly and happily in the middle of an empty steppe, smiling into the faces of the others. There is no choice as the closest tree or a rock is usually kilometers away. Washing ceremony takes place in the mornings and consists of tea kettle, where they pour some water in their hands. Then they splash it on their faces in a hurry and get back to the ger. The Mongolian climate is very harsh, which makes the life there very tough and dangerous. -50 degrees Centigrade is no rarity during winter. Even in the last days of May a ger has a thick layer of icy-snowy frost on it in the morning and the water turns into frozen ice at night. Considering that a ger has an open part of the roof, this means people have to take turns at night to heat the oven in winter. In contrast, their short summer is really hot, because the Sun is very intense in these heights where the country is situated.

All this means, that nomads can never really be sure about the well-being of their main wealth - the animals. A long draught is always possible. Or in the beginning of winter the first snow may melt and then freeze again - and this means animals are not able to get their food from under the ice layer (Normally in winter, they also find their food from under the snow. They get extra food only in the end of winter). In such occasions help is nowhere to be found, especially in the most remote places. All the animals die and this is the biggest disaster for a nomad ever. As surprising as it may seem, some Europeans have also left all their comfortable lives in the West and gone to live a life of a nomad in Mongolia. Bert, from Netherlands, has been living for several years with his Mongol wife and two small sons in the area of Terelj natural reserve. He's raising animals and from time to time he occupies himself with tourism that is starting in the region. He says there are several other Europeans in the area, however he's supposed to be the only one who lives year round in a ger like a true nomad and who is willing to do all the work and chores himself. And his sons will be complete Mongols already, without any trace of European character. His older son is studying in an elementary school in Mongolian language. The younger son, Temujin (Gengis Khan's boyhood name) is just 5 and living like a true and wild nature's child with endless energy and strength. And this is very beautiful to see.

Little by little Mongolians discovered their own country and values as well. Considering that their first map ever was drawn in 1924 it is no wonder they don't yet know what they own and how they could impact the rest of the world with what they have. Nowadays they are discovering quite remarkable storages of minerals and metals - most notably gold and copper. Also everybody has come to agree that Mongolian cashmere is the best and of the highest quality in the whole world. There are countless animals and plants and birds living in Mongolia, mostly extinct in other parts of the globe. And most of the findings of dinosaur relics in the World are from the Gobi desert and sold out to museums. Their music is complex and they use unique instruments that are in the World Heritage list. And even their gers are unique. In France and Switzerland it is becoming a trend to buy a real ger from Mongolia. It is inexpensive and you don't have to pay a big monthly rent.

The ger is warm and comfortable and in a modern, westernized ger you can have everything added. If you put it up close to some friend's house and make a deal of sharing a shower and a toilet, it is the best way to live in a European country where a land or an apartment rent costs a fortune. So - Mongolia is starting to show the World its worth. But still there is so much to discover over there - for Mongols themselves and for the foreigners. However, in my opinion that's the most fantastic thing about it. That there is still one place in the world that isn't dependent on computers, traffic lights and cell phones, but on rain, frost and the Sun. And this is the real quality of Mongolia.

What is a Mongolian Ger?

The ger, or yurt as it is commonly called, is one of the two basic forms of portable housing that have been used by the nomads of Tibet, Mongolia and China since the time of Marco Polo. It remains today as the primary form of portable housing in Mongolia and Tibet.

The ger of the 13th Century nomad was a circular structure measuring twelve to fifteen feet in diameter. Its walls were a five foot tall latticework, called a khana, made of willow branches that were lashed together with yak or horsehair twine. Willow poles were lashed to the top of the wall section and were brought together at the top to form a conical shaped roof. A single upright pole supported the peak of the roof. Gers were covered with several panels of felt made of either goat or camel hair. The gers of wealthier nomads were much larger, and were coated with lime or white clay mixed with powdered bone, again white being a symbol of status. Those who were not as wealthy painted decorations around the smoke hole of their natural brown-black tents. The panels were then secured to the framework of the ger with ropes. The doorway, which always faced south, was covered with a flap of felt, which was either painted or appliquéd with multi-colored designs of animals, birds and trees.

A Mongolian ger was always entered facing in, and exited by backing out; the wooden threshold was always stepped over, rather than on. The floor of the ger was covered with felts, skins and rugs, which were laid over a bed of dried grasses. A hearth or cooking area occupied the centre. An opening in the centre of the roof, where the poles met, served as a smoke hole and a source of light.

The right side of the ger was reserved for women and the equipment they needed to keep their household running. Glazed earthenware water jugs, wooden pails of milk, baskets of cheeses and strings of dried curd hung on the khana. A cutting board, butterbox, dishrags and dishes, knives, cookpots and spoons were also stored in this area. A low folding table, carved with religious symbols occupied the north side of the ger, which served Buddhist Mongolians as an altar. The altar marked the division between the women's side of the ger, and the men's side on the left. Goat horns were embedded into the khana, from which meat was hung to cure. Leather bottles filled with kumiss- a beverage made from fermented mare's milk, weapons and other masculine items also hung from the khana on the men's side of the ger.

On the left side, near the altar, was the master's bed. To the left of the bed was a small square chest, which held clothing ornaments. Mongolian encampments, or ordos of the thirteenth century were set up with families forming a circle open to the south, within a protective circle of wagons. If a khan, or tribal chieftain, had more than one wife, each wife had her own ger, and those who attended her often had their own gers and carts as well. The khatun, or chief wife of the khan, set up her ger at the west end of the camp; all other nomads of the ordos set up after the khatun according to their rank. Each ger was one stone's throw from the next, and one half a stone's throw from the nearest wall or wagon. Winter encampments in Mongolia were sometimes set up with groups of gers between two stone buildings.

When it was time to move, it was the women's job to pack up the ger. The khana was collapsible, and a small ger could be dismantled in less than an hour. Each component of the ger had an appliqued felt bag to pack it in, as did most of the household objects. The packing bags, food and blankets were strapped to the backs of packhorses and camels. Large equipment like pots and churns were strapped on to the top of these packed piles.

Answers to KNOW KARLOVY VARY(September 2006) Contest

1. The three towns which form part of the Spa Triangle in West Bohemia include Mariánské Lazne, Frantiskovy Lázne and Karlovy Vary
2. The English name of Karlovy Vary is Carlsbad
3. The three famous products of Karlovy Vary are waffles, porecelain and Moser glass
4. The thirteenth spring in Karlovy Vary is Becherovka
5. Karlovy Vary is also famous for the Film festival in the beginning of July

We thank our readers for the overwhelming response as always and the three lucky winners for the Know KARLOVY VARY Contest are....
1. Angelina Thomas from Santacruz (W)
2. Alex Pereira from Mira Road
3. Amreen Qureshi from Kurla (E)

Congratulations!
So keep participating and winning and also know about new exciting destinations around the world.

Valuable inputs from Subhash Motwani, Director-COMPACT TRAVELS who qualified as a Czech Repubic Specialist during his visit to Czech Republic earlier this year.