Mongolia is well known for its yurts. However, they aren’t yurts at all! In Mongolia, these traditional tents are called gers. We found our Mongolian ger stay through Airbnb. This stay did not just include a place to sleep, but also an all-inclusive breakfast, dinner, traditional Mongolian games, and traditional Mongolian clothing. Our Mongolian ger was located about twenty minutes from the center of Ulaanbaatar. The city center is mostly modern high-density developments, but Mongolia is a unique country because claiming a plot of land is free, therefore the outskirts of the city are full of ger plots claimed by nomads who chose to settle permanently.
Traditional Mongolian Ger Stay
When we checked into our Airbnb our host made traditional Mongolian dumplings and gave us milk tea. Mongolian Milk tea is made of tea leaves, milk, water, and salt. If you are used to having Taiwanese milk tea it’s a completely different taste. I think it tastes like a savory broth but that could just be me, haha! They also had their gear set up for the Lunar New Year with roasted pork, fermented goat cheese, candy, and snacks for guests.
The hosts are very friendly and welcoming. We had a good chat about cultural customs, the current holiday, travel plans, and general small talk. The food was very good and we were grateful to eat with them. After dinner, we were full and needed a good night’s sleep for our tour the next day.
The outside neighborhoods of Ulaanbaatar are all claimed plots with Mongolian ger. The locals call it “ger city”, sometimes derogatory.
After our tour, we arrived at our Airbnb and our host made a perfect veggie soup. He came into our ger and taught us traditional Mongolian games which are made out of sheep knuckle bones. Mongolians are so resourceful, It’s amazing! We had a great night playing games with our host learning more about Mongolian culture and having great small talk.
The next morning was our check-out day since we had a flight to catch. We hung around the Airbnb and tried on traditional Mongolian clothing hand-sewn by their mother. The Airbnb experience is one of the best we’ve ever had, the hosts were so kind and it was the best way to have an authentic experience. It was a 180 from our experience in Ulaanbaatar. But this is not our only experience with traditional Mongolian culture. We also took a tour to explore a completely different aspect of Mongolian life.
Semi-Gobi Guided Tour
If there’s another thing Mongolia is known for, it’s wide sweeping steppes and the Gobi desert. It is possible to visit the Gobi desert, however it is a multi-day journey there and back and is quite challenging. Instead, many people choose to visit the so-called “Semi Gobi”, a smaller patch of the desert a modest six hours from UB, which is what we chose to do.
We booked another tour from Get Your Guide which was a Semi Gobi Desert tour through Wanderlust Sojourner Tour (no affiliation). Remember when you book tours you don’t know which tour guide you will get. As you will see, this can change the course of your trip and how pleasant your experience is.
Driving to the Semi-Gobi
Our guide was able to pick us up near our ger, and we started the long journey to the Semi-Gobi. After two hours driving southwest out of UB, we made our first stop. This is called an Ovoo. They are traditionally ancient border markers of Mongolians. Our guide explained that they began to be used as religious sites of worship, specifically by Mongolian Shamans. According to the guide, Shamanism and folk religion are still very prevalent in Mongolia, roughly equal to Buddhist practice.
These Ovoos are dotted all over the landscape, usually on mountains. If you squint hard enough at the closest mountaintop, you’re sure to see an Ovoo. For many, it is important to visit them during the main holidays and leave an offering, or circle them for travel safety. When we were visiting, we noticed many people honked at the Ovoo for good luck as well. It was fascinating to see but it was very cold so we were excited to warm up in the car.
Semi-Gobi Mongolian Ger Experience
Our next destination was the edge of the Gobi which was an additional three hours. We went to visit a nomadic family and let me tell you, this took some serious off-roading. They were truly in the middle of nowhere. These are true nomads, so our guide had to call them multiple times to track down where they were camped as he drove his little sedan through the multiple feet of snow. As we neared there were some wandering animals on the snow-covered sand, so Michael had to capture this photographic moment.
After six hours of travel, we arrived at the nomadic family home. We learned from our guide that it takes about two hours to set up each ger. This one even had a satellite with television, internet, cell signal, and solar panels for limited power. It was so cool to see such a different way of life. We had to greet them in a traditional way where the younger person puts their wrists underneath the elder person and you embrace.
Traditional Food in Mongolian Ger
During the Lunar New Year, you are also expected to bring a small gift or a small amount of money. The family were some of the kindest people we have ever met. We got to experience traditional food such as dumplings, a coleslaw-like salad, lamb, and more. During the holiday a lot of alcohol is consumed, our guide suggested each family goes through 10+ bottles of vodka. We tried wine, traditional vodka made from fermented horse milk, and vodka. Michael learned the hard way that in Mongolia if you finish your drink, you will immediately get your alcohol refilled. He ended up getting 5 shots of vodka because he felt obligated to drink it.
We stayed in the Mongolian Ger for about an hour. During that time, several families and friends came and went and shared in the Lunar New Year celebration. It was a great opportunity for us to experience a new culture authentically.
Camel Riding
After finishing the amazing food, our host went out to find his camels so we could experience riding a camel. After riding a camel the day before, I felt like an expert getting on. Lol just kidding! But hey, it was much easier the second time. After an hour of visiting, we had to leave because we had our six-hour drive back to the city and our tour guide had another tour later that night.
The ride back was awful. The traffic is so bad during the holidays. A lot of the cars in Mongolia are Priuses, and according to our guide Mongolians are all new drivers, so they drive their cars like they ride horses, so traffic is backed up for hours on end. The whole time stuck in traffic, we wished we were still riding the camels so we could squeeze between the cars.
Tour Troubles
After our amazing experience with our first tour to the Chinggis Khaan Statue, we had mixed feelings about this one. Because of the holiday, our guide let us know that some things might be closed during the experience. However, we felt the extent of this was not fully communicated to us. We expected sandboarding, wildlife viewing, hiking, and free time according to the Get Your Guide listing. None of that happened, so it felt like we drove 6 hours into the desert for very little reason, and we didn’t see why we couldn’t have a similar traditional Mongolian ger visit much closer to the city, even though we really loved our time with the family.
Additionally, our tour guide booked an overnight tour that started right when we were scheduled to get back to the city. Because of the traffic, our guide was many hours late to pick up his next guest which visibly stressed him out. We were grateful he dropped us off at our ger, but we expect it was not great scheduling on his company’s part. We recommend you book this tour with caution, knowing it might be limited in the winter. Regardless of who you book to visit the Semi Gobi, we recommend communicating clearly with the guide before you visit to make sure you’re able to do everything you want to do.
Winter Mongolia Tips
We were more than satisfied with our trip overall, but we recommend that if you visit Mongolia in the winter read these tips:
- Buy great innerwear. Before we left, we stopped at Uniqlo to get their Heattech innerwear, which is popular in Korea. It did great, but you need a few great layers to keep warm in the harsh winter. We got lucky with a “warm” weekend with highs of 10°F, but in winter it can get below -30°F.
- Bring stomach medicine. We gladly ate all the food offered to us, but be aware that Mongolian food is very fermented and milk-based. During the winter, food is left out due to the cold, but this can be challenging for an unprepared stomach. Take this warning seriously!
- Booking a tour is essential, and must be done early. We went in the middle of winter which has low tourism, however, tourism is now a major part of the Mongolian economy. Both of our guides expressed that summer tourism is insanely busy, and many tourists are left without a guide because there aren’t enough to meet demand. Because of the sparse nature of the country, there is a high chance that you will need to book a tour to have any sort of experience. Even if you’re like us and don’t usually do travel tours, we highly recommend it for Mongolia.
- Bring cleansing wipes. It’s hard to imagine, but a huge portion of Mongolia is still nomadic! Because of this, unless you stay in the center of Ulaanbaatar, you might not have modern plumbing or a shower, so plan accordingly.