to the middle of nowhere

On the third day, we travelled out of the small town to visit a herder family. There were no road signs (or road!), no shops, no people, except for the one family that we’re visiting. i have absolutely no idea how the driver knew his way around.

Be careful of where you step on

Vast grassland, gorgeous view... and it reminded me of Brokeback Mountain.

Ceiling of a ger.

Exterior of a ger is usually very plain and they looked almost identical. But inside, each

family will customised the wall with colourful printed fabrics and decorations.

i’ve always thought all sheep looked alike... who knows there are so many different breeds,

and all so cute!

Spotted another herd of sheep from afar.

Then they started charging towards us and i panicked...

... luckily they made a turn just before reaching us.

And very orderly, they moved into their designated spot. i was impressed, very impressed.

meh~ meh~

By the end of the visit, we had also tried our hands on cutting homemade cheese curds,

shearing and milking sheep.

Zuunbayan-Ulaan, Mongolia

of blue skies, woolly clouds and rainbow smiles

The title basically sums up the awesome morning spent on this good model street.

Sky was blue with soft fluffy clouds that i’ve only seen in children illustration books so far.

Happy faces that melted our hearts.

A curious neighbour

Love these cute little windows (or doors) along the fence that connect all the neighbours
to this street.

Uvurkhangai, Mongolia

mongolian hospitality

A typical hospitality tray of homemade cheese curds and yogurt.

These are specially prepared to welcome guests.

Preparation of cheese curds and yogurt in the ger.

Dried animal dungs are used as fuel (above pic).

We got to try our hands at cutting curds using a piece of string.

The curds are then left to sun for 3 days before consumption.

A table full of tradition warmness from another family visit.

Variations of hospitality trays/bowls.

Zuunbayan-Ulaan (pic 1 to 8), Arvaykheer (pic 9 & 10) and Ulaanbaatar (pic 11), Mongolia

that’s all i can think of

i really do.

Title taken and modified from Yoshitomo Nara’s drawing “Oh! My God! I miss you.”

the most awesome colour ever

i’ve never love blue this much.

Uvurkhangai, Mongolia

as we travelled

7 days in Mongolia

...plus shameless self-promotion of this notebook that has been around for at least 2 months. So much things has been going on recently that i totally forgotten to mention it here... if you’re interested in purchasing this notebook, it’s available at Manicurious in Singapore or here :)

Have a great Monday!

almost desert

My Mongolia experience started on an 8-hr coach ride from its capital Ulaanbaatar to Uvurkhangai, the province where World Vision Area Development Program is. Much of its scenery along the way consisted of grassland with herds of sheep, horses and scattered ger. But this particular spot looked almost like desert, if you were to ignore the scattered grassland in the faraway background.

At first, the camels looked kind of mysterious from afar, especially when against the light.

But after a while, the lack-of-shower smell took over.

A baby camel!

i quite like the mood of this shot even though it turned out blurry

The camel boys

Super soft sand, all over and in my shoes. But who cares?

Smelly but still adorable :)

On the way from Ulaanbaatar to Uvurkhangai, Mongolia

back

i’m back from my trip and (hopefully) back to blogging. Soon.

So what’s everyone up to now? i’ve got lots to catch up.

Zuunbayan-Ulaan, Mongolia