Monthly Archives: August 2013

Mongolian food and drink

I was going to put this post into chapters like I did with the Baltics food post, but when I thought about it I realised that the meat section would be very long and the other sections would be pretty sparse…

Mongolians are very suspicious of vegetables and so most meals will consist of meat and some form of carbohydrate (noodles, potato, rice, dough, etc.). Some of the most common quick meals are the dumplings. Buuz are steamed meat dumplings (very similar to the ones that we ate in Ulan Ude with Nadya) and Khuushuur are the same ingredients, but flatter and deep-fried. In cafes these are usually priced individually and so you just order however many you want to eat (we found somewhere between 4 and 6 to be about right).

Plate of Buuz and a side shot of Khuushuur on the bus

On one of our first days in Ulaanbaatar we wanted to try some local food and managed to find a small cafe that seemed to fit the bill. The menu was only in Mongolian and even worse it was hand written so we couldn’t even try to say some of the things as written Cyrillic is not easy to decode! In the end we took pot luck and walked over to the board and pointed out a random line to our waiter. It worked out pretty well – Andrew got a fried meat and potato hash, and I got something a little bit similar but with pieces of omelette stirred through and a large steamed bread roll on the side.

The daunting hand written menu

We’ve already written a little about the Mongolian barbecued goat that we ate on our Gobi trip. On our 8 day trip to eastern Mongolia our driver stopped at a local ‘restaurant’ (it seemed to just be the family’s front room where they fed people if anyone turned up). There was no choice, you could have boiled mutton with potato and vegetables and that was it. We agreed and the lady of the house got the fire going and cooked the meal in a large pot over it. About 30 minutes later it was ready. Unfortunately for this post, we were too shy to take a photo of it with the family watching us, but we each got a huge piece of meat on the bone (maybe half a leg), a single potato, half a carrot and a piece of swede, along with a bowl of the cooking broth – Mongolian proportions! We were then issued with an incredibly sharp 6 inch long knife to cut the meat off the bone (but no fork so plate to mouth was done with our fingers). It was definitely a memorable meal and amazingly cost just £3 each.

Mongolian meals

Another strong feature of Mongolian cuisine is dairy. We were quite excited when we first heard this as we love cheese, but Mongolian cheese is a bit different to what we’re used to… It’s sour and very hard and a bit of an acquired taste. One day, suffering cheese withdrawal symptoms, we bought a tiny Brie from the supermarket for an extortionate amount (about £5) – our guesthouse owner thought we were crazy! Mongolian yoghurt is good though. One of the families that we stayed with gave us some fresh goat yoghurt to drink. It was delicious, and still warm!

You know you’re in the middle of nowhere when there’s no choice of tea or coffee, it’s just tea and no one asks ‘milk and sugar?’ you get what the locals drink… In much of Russia that’s black tea with lots of sugar, but in Mongolia it’s very milky and salty (yes really) – someone might have waved a tea bag past it at some point, but not so that you’d notice… Actually it’s not bad when you know what to expect and we got quite a taste for it.

Mongolians also get creative with their dairy products by making them into alcohol. The most common is fermented mare’s milk called ‘airag’. This is sold all over the countryside on the roadside and can have a very low alcoholic content up to about 10%. We tried airag a couple of times and it was OK, a bit like fizzy yoghurt, although I suspect that if you drank a lot of it you would feel very poorly the next day. We heard tales of vodka made from milk too but we didn’t get chance to try it so we’ll have to leave that to our imaginations!

Milky drinks: Mongolian tea and Airag for sale at Ulaanbaatar Naadam horse races

Ni hao!

8 Replies

For the last 4 hours of our journey from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing, the air conditioning in our carriage was broken. This wouldn’t usually be a big problem, but northern China in August is insanely hot and humid, so that we were practically melting by the time the train pulled into the station. Were it not for the great company of our cabin mates, Renaud and Nathalie, we would not have arrived in such good cheer.

In the ‘Chinese sauna’ of a train compartment with Renaud and Nathalie

We started our visit in style with a visit to a local restaurant hosted by our Chinese friends from the Gobi tour in Mongolia, Isaac and Rebecca. Khun, another friend from the group, was also in Beijing and joined us too. So what did we eat for our first meal in Beijing? Peking duck of course! And very good it was too.

Peking duck carved at the table

Getting ready to tuck in (left to right): Khun, Andrew, Julie, Isaac, Rebecca

We’ve had a fantastic day of exploring today and we’re really excited about all the sights, culture and food that are lined up for the coming weeks.

Getting a Chinese Visa in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

31 Replies

We’d read a number of tales from other travellers about their difficulties getting a Chinese Tourist visa while on the road, and that made us a little apprehensive, especially because Julie’s parents are due to meet us in Beijing!

After visiting the busy Chinese Embassy in Ulaanbaatar and picking up the 4-page application form, the attached 2-page supplementary form, and noting the supporting documentation required, we felt a little better, but knew it would still be more involved than extending our Mongolian visas.

Andrew’s Chinese Visa

The Chinese visa application is straightforward, but there are a few more additional requirements. I’ll list the information we provided with our applications, and where we got it, as our applications were accepted without question and 30-day tourist (L) visas granted.

What you need

Invitation letter – more on this below
Mongolian Resident permission card – for non-Mongolians like us, we took this to mean a photocopy of our Mongolian Visa, which we included with our application
Hotel booking in China – we understand you need a minimum of 3 nights accommodation booked in your arrival city
Round ticket – more on this below
Economic assurance – we didn’t provide this, and it wasn’t asked for when we applied
~~Proof of Kinship (if visiting family members)~~ – didn’t apply to us
Visa application form (and 2-page supplementary form)

Invitation letter

We asked in a number of travel agents and flight booking shops (of which there are many) in Ulaanbaatar, but none of them could help us arrange an invitation letter from an individual or company in China, until we found Tatiana of Legend Tours, located near Sukhbaatar Square on Seoul Street.

Not only did she arrange 3 nights accommodation in Beijing and the accompanying and all-important Invitation Letter, but she also organised our Ulaanbaatar to Beijing train tickets. The Traveler Inn Hua Qiao hotel is a little more expensive than what we have been used to thus far, but it looks nice and seems to be in a great location in Beijing.

Round ticket

Essentially, China is looking for confirmation of your entry and exit dates. Even if you intend to get the train to Beijing, but don’t yet have your ticket, all of the (many) flight booking / travel agencies in Ulaanbaatar will print out and stamp a flight reservation for you – at no charge.

As we had the inbound train ticket, we asked an AirMarket branch near our guesthouse to provide details of an outbound flight from Beijing to Bangkok, 30 days after our train ticket said we’d arrive in China. The staff were very efficient (you’ll need your passport), and spoke enough English to help us.

If you don’t have a train ticket from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing, then you could submit flight reservations instead and buy your train ticket once you have your Chinese visa.

Application and Supplementary form

The application form looks daunting at first, but it’s mostly tick-boxes. We left sections we didn’t have answers for blank, or crossed through sections that we were certain didn’t apply.

There is a section that asks where you’ll be staying in China, and there are spaces for 4 addresses. We used the details of our Beijing hotel first, then we used booking.com, the Lonely Planet and google searches to find addresses and telephone numbers for the remaining 3 spaces, which worked out nicely according to our loosely planned itinerary. I don’t think you need to fill in 4 addresses.

We did not contact the other hotels, nor did we make online reservations.

The 2-page Supplementary form is attached to the Application form, and asks for additional information because you aren’t applying from your home country.

We crossed through the first 3 quarters of the form, filling in the last section with the details of our Mongolian visa.

At the Chinese Embassy

Their working hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and they were closed for the entire week of the Mongolian Naadam festival in Ulaanbaatar (11th to 13th of July in 2013). Visa applications are taken in the morning from 9am to 12pm, and collections are done in the afternoon from 4pm to 5pm.

Application

The queue was long, but moved steadily. We handed our applications and supporting documentation in together, and the very friendly and helpful gentleman asked only which service we’d like (i.e. how fast do we want them to process our applications). We opted for the standard 1-week, which meant collection on the same day the following week.

There are faster services available if you’re in a hurry, but naturally these cost extra.

In return for our application we got a receipt and a slip of paper with the service we’d asked for. We then took this to the bank opposite the Chinese Embassy (through a door that looks like it might be for staff only!), and queued longer to pay our visa fee than we did to hand in our applications! Prices are in USD, but we paid in MNT.

Collection

The queue was a little bit smaller for collections, and the friendly girl was very efficient! After handing her our receipt and proof of payment from the bank, she put her hand on our passports and applications almost immediately – despite the fact we’d actually left it almost two weeks because we’d been on a tour of the Gobi desert.

In summary, it was straightforward with a little help from Tatiana.

Staying with a nomadic family

4 Replies

On our recent trip to the Gobi Desert we were lucky enough to stay with nomadic families on most of the nights. This meant that we not only got to have a nosy inside a lived-in ger but we were able to see something of how the nomadic Mongolians live as well as learn some of the etiquette (there seem to be a LOT of rules for what you should and shouldn’t do).

The ger

The ger itself is an incredibly well evolved dwelling. It consists of lattice walls in several pieces (a standard size ger is a ‘five-wall’), two central columns supporting a circular roof centrepiece, and wooden radial poles which slat into the circle and are tied onto the top of the walls. The whole structure is covered in thick felt and a waterproof canvas. It might also have more decorative fabric curtains covering the inner walls. The door is always wooden and usually painted orange with colourful decorations, as are the wooden parts of the roof and its supports.

The ger we stayed in on the first night of the Gobi trip (note the solar panel to the left of the picture)

Heating is provided by a centrally located stove with a chimney through the circular part of the roof. For families living in the treeless desert, fuel is provided by their animals’ dung. Traditionally, the right hand side of the ger (as you come through the door) is the woman’s domain – the kitchen area is here. Men stay on the left side and nowadays this is where the TV is usually found – electricity is provided by a solar panel that charges a car battery. At the back of the ger, opposite the door, is the most honoured place and this is where you will find the family’s altar – the vast majority of Mongolians are Buddhists.

Interior of a ger (clockwise from top left): Centrally located stove, central roof piece, wooden supports lashed together, brightly painted furniture

There is a square of fabric covering the centre of the roof which can be opened during the day to let in light and allow the air to circulate and closed on a night to keep in the warmth, or if it’s raining. It fits neatly around the chimney.

Andrew closing the roof

You’ll have noticed there’s been no mention of bathroom facilities so far… let’s just say that the toilets are pretty basic but do usually have an amazing view!

Ger camp toilet shack

Mongolian people have been nomadic for centuries and this means that the ger has to be dismantled and reconstructed fairly regularly. Our tour guide Ogii told us that 4 people can put up a ger in just 2 hours.

Rules for visitors

As I mentioned, there’s quite a bit of etiquette involved in visiting a ger and for a surprising number of them getting something wrong means ‘I want to kill you’ (according to Ogii at least). Here are just a few of the rules we learnt:

You can enter a ger without knocking but you should call out “Nokhoi Khorio” which literally translates as “Hold the dogs”
You should step through the door right leg first (and if you stand on the threshold it means you want to kill them)
The host will usually offer tea and snacks when you arrive, and you should touch the snack bowl before taking something from it
In the ger it is fine to sit on a bed, a stool or the floor, but if sitting on the floor you should not squat as this is how dogs sit
If you drink alcohol, or take a meal with the family, you should make sure to leave a little in the bowl or on the plate to show that you’ve had enough
Traditionally when Mongolian men greet each other they will exchange snuff bottles and take a little of the other’s snuff. Snuff bottles are exchanged with the right hand, and the bottle top should be a little open
When leaving the ger, make sure not to carry your rucksack on your back as this means that you did not enjoy your stay and don’t want to come back!

The nomadic way of life

Nomadic Mongolians are livestock herders. They will have a mixed flock of sheep and goats, some horses and maybe a herd of cows or camels (or even yaks in the hillier regions). Each day the animals are sent out to graze. There are no fences in Mongolia so they just go where they like but they seem to stay together so are pretty easy to round up on a night. Traditionally this is done on horseback but we saw quite a few guys on motorbikes as well. The animals are kept close to the ger at night and the lambs and kids might be put in a pen to keep them safe. The family’s dogs are responsible for keeping wolves at bay.

Herding the modern way

On the second night of our Gobi trip we were able to help (or more likely hinder…) the family round up the sheep and goats – they weren’t far away so we were on foot. We also saw the very efficient milking system that the woman of the family used. First all the goats to be milked were put in a pen, caught one-by-one, lined up and their necks tied together. She could then milk each goat in turn without missing any, or any wandering off. We also got a chance to try our hand at milking – it’s quite a skill and not as easy as the locals make it look!

Milking the goats (clockwise from top left): Julie helping to catch the goats, Andrew making friends with a kid, goats in a line, milking in progress

In summertime the family must work hard to ensure that all of the necessary work is done while the weather is good. But Ogii told us that in the very cold winter, after the animals have been moved to a more sheltered spot, they have some time to relax in the ger.

The Silencing of the Goat

3 Replies

The nomadic Mongolian diet consists almost exclusively of the animals they herd, and the dairy products they make from their animals’ milk.

While on the 9 day tour of the Gobi desert, we were offered the chance to see how these remote people kill and prepare a goat for food and materials. Our group clubbed together and bought an (unlucky) male goat which was then slaughtered, skinned, butchered, and cooked for us by our host family.

“Hi there, I’m not really that tasty..”

We weren’t sure how we’d feel watching an animal being killed, as neither of us had seen it first-hand before. We were relieved to witness an apparently very quick death of the goat, with no bloodshed, and we weren’t immediately compelled to become vegetarian either.

Here’s a short video of the whole process which is mostly still shots, but does include footage of the killing itself which I mention in case you’d rather not see it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x46iPUVuUTY]

two year trip

Andrew and Julie's Travelling Adventures