The steppe...    Mongolia, 20th of june 2005

Enormous, grand… the windy season doesn’t make it easy for us, but the beauty of the culture, of the people, of this country can only make us progress, always further, in our minds and on the road.  

Here and there, locals invite us for tea, to taste Mongolian yogurt and sour cream. Hospitality is a rule here, just like smiling.

The more we progress, the more we discover a world in which traditions seem to live forever, where education, the one from the steppe, is the heart of the nomadic way of life. Often, we sleep in yurts or next to it, sharing space and life, and these moments become magical instants, unforgettable. We ate sheep intestines, but liking it is a gastronomical challenge. Not sure we will succeed in it! 

We have left the paved road for a while now and sincerely, we are now literally mountain biking, but with all the extra weight on our bikes! It is not always easy with the wind blowing, sandstorms, endless cols, the heavy sun, but the people we meet, the things we learned, the cultural exchanges, is what truly satisfy us.  

We are now heading towards the Altai Mountains, where we will try to spend few days with a Mongol family.  One pedal push, two, and here we go again!!!

Mongol reality… 

Mongolia: the immensity of the steppe, hundreds of wild horses galloping with the wind, the nomad tradition of hospitality.  Beautiful images left in our minds, anchored in us. But how people of the steppe live everyday? What is their reality daily?  

Without a doubt, the Mongol nomad lives with and for his livestock. With our western eye, we first see freedom, a will to live day by day, following the seasons, listening to nature. But accordingly, living in harmony with nature is also living with its excess, and in this land, excess from Mother Nature is common.                     

Where are my goats? Are they all here? Do they have enough water and grass? Will the wolves come tonight? The nomad man, despite the impression of serenity he has on his horse, has to ask himself hundreds of questions everyday.  

Women, on the other hand, stay at the yurt. Early in the morning and late at night, they go to feed the herd in order to get the milk necessary to make a variety of food products: cheese, sour cream, fermented milk (koumiss), traditional yogurt, and the famous salted tea, served to everyone who travels the Mongol land. Along the day, these women will keep an eye on the house, prepare the meals, fix up the yurt, etc.