Most Mongolians still wear traditional dress and live in ger camps. The gers are large tents made from canvas and felt with a collapsible wooden frame.
Horses, sheep and yaks enable the Mongolian to survive. Mares' milk is fermented to produce Airag a very mild alcoholic tipple. Drunk everywhere, and offered wherever you go, it is an acquired taste for the visitor. Yak wool helps to clothe the people and a creamy yoghurt and cheese is made from yak milk.
Mid summer countryside, meadows of flowers, flowing rivers, lakes and wide valleys were everywhere. Traveling by horseback, both people and roads were a rarity but the days were warm and long and the scenery spectacular.
During a 4 day exploration on horseback, I stopped at a remote ger camp to shelter from a rain shower. The kids seemed to greatly enjoy visitors and having their photo taken.
A Buddhist country, Mongolia still has some monasteries that managed to survive the Stalinist purges. Mbirds (above left) was taken at Gandan Chiid the largest monastery complex in the capital, Ulaan Bataar. The others were taken at a monastery near Tsetserleg in the central west of the country.
