Domestic Goddess Travels: Picnic Lunch

What a lovely day for a picnic. Paige and I joined our friends Jilly and Ian for a picnic in the Mongolian countryside. Ben was on site this weekend so it was nice to get out of the apartment and take in more of the countryside.

We set out about 9am and headed to a spot where Jilly and Ian had found on a previous drive. I was looking forward to seeing a part of the river which winds through the countryside. The drive took us about an hour to reach the river and across we went "Captain Ian" in the drivers seat. Paige calls Ian "Mr Pirate" as he pretends to talk like a pirate and she loves it. There where a number of cows, horses, sheep and goats roaming around the countryside. We passed a number of gers along the way, families had moved to the location for summer time. We kept on driving and was lucky enough to come across some men breaking in a horse. It was so interesting to watch. Mongolia is all about horseman.

Pictures: Series of pictures of horseman breaking in a horse

The horses are their life and to see them in action was just amazing. The horses roam the fields until the men need them so sometimes the horses don't like having a saddle on their backs.

Picture: Ian, Jilly & Paige at the picnic spot

We found a great place by the river and set up our picnic. It was a bit chilly so we decided to start a fire. Paige helped collect some fire wood. It was great to be in the fresh air and having a change of scenery, it was just what the doctor ordered.

Picture: Jilly and Paige saying hello to one of the cows

We could see some gers in the distance and a sheep herder on the hills. Its hard to explain the beauty of the landscape. Its kind of like a person who has a mixture of a good and bad soul.

Picture: Mountain View

Picture: The river

While we sat and ate a horse man rode past out of the trees, it was kind of like something you would see in the movies. I ran to grab my camera to try and get some shots. We all waved and watched him ride over to the gers in the distance.

Picture: Horseman riding across the field

After lunch we went for a shot walk to explore and on return to where we had parked we noticed two horseman riding our way. "Their heading over here to see if we want to hire the horses for a ride" Ian said. Both Jilly and I said no we didn't think so but sure enough Ian was right. It amazes me when I see the horseman riding it is such a traditional thing to see them do. They tied their horses to the trees and we greeted them with hand shakes. They sat near the fire and we gave them drinks and biscuits. At this same time an eagle was flying above us so Ian was throwing biscuits to it. The men where making sounds to see if the eagle would come to us but we where not that lucky.

Picture: Horseman riding over to our picnic spot

Picture: Ian holding biscuit for eagle

Picture: Horseman's waving us over from his ger in the distance

After trying to talk to the men in broken English they headed off back to their ger in the distance. We decided to take another drive and as we past the men's ger they waved us over to meet their family. Wow I thought being invited in to a families ger on the hills of Mongolia. As we entered the ger we meant one of the men's wife and two children. They were all so friendly, we where offered tea in the round bowl cups and was asked to sit. Even though we couldn't speak Mongolian and they not English it didn't matter. We where shown photographs and we showed them some photos we had taken on our digital cameras. I helped show the young girl how to take a photograph on my camera. The family was so welcoming and I saw a true part of Mongolian hospitably, it really warmed my heart. It was such a lovely day that both Paige and I enjoyed so much.