How the Nomads in Mongolia Inspired Me

6 min read

As a self-described nomadic traveller, imagine my excitement when I was about to meet the real nomads in Central Asia.

I have always been fascinated by nomads. Why do they live without a permanent home? How do they survive moving around from place to place?

After backpacking numerous cities in China, I finally made my way from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia. Arriving in Ulaanbaatar in the thick of winter was exciting. The streets were covered in snow and temperatures went down to minus zero. We visited a few attractions like the Sukhbaatar Square, Chinggis Khan National Museum and watched a traditional cultural performance at a theatre.

But really, how could I leave Mongolia without visiting the nomads?

Fortunately, I managed to get in touch with a local host family who lives in a ger (a traditional Mongolian house) not too far away from central Ulaanbaatar. My 2 days of stay there was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life, giving me a glimpse of how nomads live.

In this article, I share about how the nomads have inspired me in 3 ways.

1) Resourcefulness

The first thing that inspired me was how resourceful the nomads are. And it makes sense why they had to develop that resourcefulness.

The main reason why nomads move from place to place is for survival. Living in a region where the harsh climate or terrain makes it impossible to farm, they depend on their livestock for food. This means they have to follow their animals around to places where they can eat grass and drink water.

Having to move around constantly has a huge influence on their way of life, which can firstly be observed in the kind of housing they live in. The ger (also called a yurt) is a round tent that can be set up or torn down in less than a day. In winter, they add layers of sheep wool as insulation on the walls.

The interior of the ger has an efficient layout. Except the toilets which are shared outside, their bedroom, living room and kitchen are all in one circle. The right side of the ger is reserved for the hosts while the left side is for guests. For privacy's sake, my hosts Bee and Soy kindly made a makeshift curtain for me at night.

Besides the economical use of space, they do not have a lot of belongings as it would not be practical to carry along those. For example, they use personal copper bowls and cutlery. So if a guest were to visit, they are expected to bring their own utensils.

Fun fact: It is a custom to lick your copper bowl clean. Apparently, it is good for your health (and removes the need for washing hehe). It was a little awkward when I tried it at first but Bee kept encouraging me to follow his example. Definitely one of the most interesting customs I have learned.

I like how they make use of what they have. For example, the wooden structure of the ger doubles up in function as hooks. Also there is very minimal wastage of resources. Water runs out of a dispenser. Animal dung is dried and used to light stove fires! (Except when it is too cold, then they would use coals)

Another influence on their way of life is in the food that they eat. Their diet consists mainly of meat and dairy which comes from their livestock.

Food like rice, vegetables and fruits (except a certain berry called seabuckthorn which is known as their “king of fruits”) have to be imported from other countries. I did not eat any of those.

Again, they make use of what they have. I never knew that so many different forms of food can be made out of milk. I do not remember all of the foods’ names but there were some that resembled milk candy and yoghurt.

2) Mindfulness of Energy

Another thing that inspired me was how mindful they are of energy.

This makes sense considering how they have to conserve their energy for long distances of travelling and surviving harsh winters.

The most important meal of the day is breakfast, followed by lunch and dinner. They make sure they eat enough for breakfast to have energy for working throughout the day.

Another part of their mindfulness also comes from the fact that traditional Mongolian culture is quite spiritual in nature.

I was told that braiding your hair is a way to “lock in” energy and prevent energy leakage. The last time I braided my hair was when I was part of girl guides in secondary school, haha.

What I find beautiful about this mindfulness of energy is how it inevitably leads to a heightened awareness that all things are fundamentally connected. We are connected to the land, the sky, mountains, rivers and animals.

Sadly, much of this sense of connection is lost in modern life. If we could restore it, I doubt that we would be destroying the natural environment as we are doing now.

During my stay there, I was lucky enough to enjoy Mongolian singing by Bee and his neighbour who came to visit. Mongolian songs focus on nature, nomadic life, horses, and national history (especially Genghis Khan, who is highly revered). It is meant to connect the singer to the vast steppes and spiritual world. I have not heard anything like Mongolian singing, which produces deep and high-pitched sounds at the same time.

They also believe that there are specific energy centers in a ger, namely the middle (where the stovefire is) and the back (where the ancestor altar is). My host Soy believes that her ancestors communicate with her in her dreams.

When it was time for me to leave, we did a ceremony where we knelt in front of the altar to ask for blessings for my travels ahead. The nomads do this every time before they set out for a long journey.

3) Cooperation on a Small Scale

My impression of nomads was that they are free to roam wherever and do whatever on their own. It turns out that they do cooperate with one another on a small scale.

What I was inspired by was how they cooperate with one another while maintaining a high level of freedom and self-reliance at the same time.

This is because a nomadic family cannot possibly do everything by themselves. When they move to a specific area, they join a community and cooperate with a few other families. For example, one of their neighbours lets my hosts' cows graze on their land. We also helped a family out when they were collecting water.

In the past, bartering used to be common too. Bartering removes the need for money as a medium of exchange. For example, you could trade sheep wool for a wooden cabinet.

When the seasons change, they may move again to search for better pastures and allow the land to regenerate. Families come and go, but the community in an area stays the same.

As the saying goes, “No man is an island”. I guess that complete self-reliance is a myth and we humans have to cooperate with each other in some way. Yet, it is still possible to live in a way as freely and intuitively as the nomads do.

I started wondering how this model can be applied to breaking free from the modern-day economy which produces the misery that many people feel, mainly of wage slavery and alienating work.

Communities are essential to the equation. In popular slang, they are called tribes. These days, we are not limited to finding our tribes offline but online too. So far, I have experimented with bartering during my travels via WWOOF and found it to be promising. (It works best on a small scale though)

Conclusion

This 2-day homestay experience with the nomads in Mongolia might just be the most memorable one in my entire journey.

The lives of Mongolian nomads inspire me in numerous ways. Unfortunately, I heard that these traditions are at risk of being lost as more young people move out to the city for education and work. (Like Bee and Soy’s children have)

I hope that they will preserve these traditions because it would truly be a shame if it were lost.

And hopefully someday again, I will return during summer!