Mongolian Engagement - Living in a Ger

I thought whilst I wait for these photos to load on to Facebook I`d update you all on our engagement which we didnt have time to blog about before.

Well it was amazing! We drove out to Terelj National Park in the morning with our guide, our guesthouse owners daughter, and three English kids who had just finished teaching in China and were doing an exciting Trans-Mongolian/Russian/European adveture home.

It was a beautiful clear day and we stopped off at some sights along the way. First was a pole decorated in blue material and other bits of coloured cloth (blue cloth represents `blue sky` which I believe is a shamanistic thing, although there was lots of blue in the Buddhist temples too), it was on top of a huge pile of stones and we had to walk round three times whilst throwing more stones onto the pile for safe travels and peace. We then climbed up 100 monks rock, which is a cave through a tiny crack in a huge big rock which alledgedly hid 100 monks during the Russian occupation when Buddhism was banned. It felt quite dangerous to climb up, but it was fun anyhow!
The we visited turtle rock which we climbed up into. At the top there was another cave and in that another very small crack which didnt look big enough even for a skinny child to climb through. Our guide insisted that she`d led rugby players through it so I had a go (no one else did and I felt brave like Indiana Jones!), I managed it aftre helping a small Mongolian child scramble back through the other way. The view from the other side was incredible and well worth it. I stayed there a while taking pictures and chatting to our guide. When I went back through I realised it was harder to get back up, but there waiting for me was the little boy I had helped through, he gestured that he wanted to help me up (instead of Liam who was also waiting there), so he did! He practically lifted me up, it was incredibly sweet of him, he must have only been about 6 (although Mongolian kids are teeny weeny).
The we went up to the temple which was so incredibly picturesque, and was across a very Dr Jones-esque rope bridge over a ravine that only 4 people were allowed on at a time. It was gorgeous and wasnt as garish and scarey as some of the other monsateries in Mongolia.

We then drove to our ger through the wilderness. We ended up sharing with the three English kids (I think this was the plan of our host in the first place), but it was fine, they only stayed one night anyhow and we were staying two. The Ger was set on a hillside overlooking the river Terelj and some woodland. There were horses and yaks wandering about and it all felt very Mongolian. Our ger was dressed up inside like a dolls house with pretty painted furnture and wall hangings. We had a traditional outdoor pit toilet, but after the pit toilets in our guesthouse and the awful toilets of the Trans-Siberian, we were fine with that!
We explored the surrounding countryside and washed in the river, it was very peaceful and lovely. Before dinner (our mutton-based food was cooked by a Mongolian family who lived on the next door ger), we were wandeing along a pebble beach by the river when we heard drumming. We went to explore and peeped through a fence surrounding some more gers. We saw some dancing going on and a lady beckoned for us to come in. We went in and it turned out to be a large group of Korean holiday makers who were performing traditional Korean dancing and Tae-Kwon-Do. It was bizarre and lovely and after ending with a song about how much they loved Mongolia including the waving of Mongolian and Korean flags and a banner saying `we love Mongolia`, they all surrounded us and shook our hands and said `god bless you`, it was lovely!

We ended the night with some beer and Mutton and star gazing.

The next day we went out horse riding. I didnt like it at all! The Mongolian saddles are really uncomfortable and the horses jump about, but the scenery was fantastic and I was appauled the we forgot to bring our camera because we saw some amazing things! There were so many beautiful herds of horses and little gers scattered around and we rode though shady little glades and through rivers. We then stopped and went to visit a Mongilan family. There was a mum and dad and a little baby and a small boy and girl. They offered us bowls of airag (fermented milk - very Mongilian, but tasted exactly like bile), creamy fresh yoghurt, which the children showed us to eat with spoon fulls of sugar and a sweet milky pudding which was nice. The family were very nice and ther house was beautiful with the traditional brightly coloured furniture and a small family shrine with pictures and candles and ornaments. It was lovely to see how simply people live. Then we rode back through a big big river.

Later on the other English people left and after a little wander around the village and some stone skimming competitions we went back to our ger to find that some Mongolian holiday makers had moved in next door. They came and sat on the steps to our ger and a very intoxicated girl with her baby brother befriended us and chatted to us in Mongolian for a bit.

When the sun started to set we walked up to the back of our ger which was on a hill, so we were attempting to catch the sun from the top. The hill turned out to be full of meadow and alpine flowers and we saw many strange and wonderful birds flying about and singing their evening choruses.

The hill was steeper than we thought and we kept stoppiong off out of breath and in wonderment at the amazing views around us and the changing light. We stopped off at a little outcrop of rocks and as I sat down to take a breather thats when Liam proposed! Of course I said yes and my ring is beautiful and I was so happy I cried! We walked back to our ger hand in hand and sat by the fire (ireally cold at nights in Mongolia even though its boiling in the day), and toasted our engagement with some Mongolian vodka!

It was such a happy and wonderful day that we will remember it forever.
xxx