Location: West of Ulaanbaatar by 6 hours
Community Fee: $318 USD for 6 days/ 5 nights
Additional In-Country Travel Expenses
Rural bus: $10 USD
Rural mini-bus to first ger and pickup (4-6 persons): $40 USD
Rural small car to first ger and pickup (2-3 persons): $40 USD
Booking & travel orientation w/ handbook: $25 USD
For thousands of years Mongols have practiced the art of felt making. The felt is the most important contribution has been to provide simple and effective insulation to the traditional Ger. This goes around and over the wooden frame as large rolled felt pieces and the whole is then usually covered with a fitted white cotton cover. These felt pieces are made approximately 2cm thick. While in summer one layer is enough for the tent, it is more common to use 2-3 layers as temperatures drop to minus 40 degrees C in winter. Felt is a very simple process but requires skill, hard work and team work to complete. On this special program you will have an opportunity to learn the traditional techniques for felt making with nomads. Mongols prefer to make felt in July. During your home stay at nomad family, you will participate in their daily routines and experience of nomadic real culture.
Day One - Visiting nomad family and Learn preparing the wooden sticks: From UB to herder Battogtoh, your journey will take 280 km.You will be there around 2 pm.You will be welcomed with lunch. After lunch, you will learn preparing the wooden sticks with nomad family. In the evening, you will have dinner with family.
Day 2 to 3 - Learn beating wools with the wooden sticks: After breakfast, you will start learning. After the wool has been sheared from the animal it is laid out on a large sheet and beaten with sticks to soften the strands and help mesh the wool together. The beating is usually done by the women of the community and requires a sunny day to get the work done. It will be beaten for several hours and a small amount of water will be sprinkled over the whole to help the binding process. In the afternoon you will be welcomed a lunch. After lunch, you will continue beating fleece wool and long hair with local women. In the evening, have dinner with the family.
Day 4 to 5 - Learn making a felt: After breakfast, you will start to make a felt with a family and their neighbors. The mother felt is rolled out onto the field. This is an old felt used as a base for the new felt. The beaten wool is now placed on the mother felt in such a way as to have the fibers relatively parallel. The best wool is laid out first and denotes the right side of the new felt. After the layers are laid out warm water is spread out over the wool in small drops. A large pole is then placed across one end of the new felt. Both the new wool and the mother felt are then rolled up tightly around the pole. Wet hides are wrapped around the felt and then a strong rope binds the roll together. Loops are attached to each end of the pole. Ropes are then attached to these loops and tied to horses or camels which then pull the roll across the steppe. Once the felt is firmly bound together, it will be unrolled and left to dry out. According to custom a host of family will praise to the new felt and blessing it last longer and he will welcome all people for welcoming dinner.
Day 6 - Departure: After breakfast you can help a hostess to embroider a pattern on dried felt. Once dried, felt holds its shape very well and - being a tight weave - is relatively shower proof. In the afternoon you will welcomed a farewell lunch. Then our car will pick you up. It will take you to Rashaant village. You will get on a bus to UB city at about 4-5pm.
Included services:
Visiting nomadic families
All nomadic breakfast, lunch and dinner which are stated on itinerary
Home stay at all families’ extra Ger
Sightseeing
Felt making activities as stated on itinerary
All materials to make felt
Boiled water on route
Reservation services for two ways bus tickets between UB and Rashaant village
Local jeep arrangement service by facilitator
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