THE LONELY PLANET TRAVEL GUIDE Mr. Richmond had made a Ger to Ger site visit in mid-July and has written a wonderful article about Ger to Ger in the next Trans-Siberian guide book.
	NATIONAL GEOGRPAHIC RESEARCHER AND TRAVEL WRITER Dr. Rohrbach, scientist, researcher, and international travel author for National Geographic (Frederking, German Editor & Thaler) had made the Ger to Ger expedition and wrote about her experience in her interationally famous travel book

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Hello, I’ve been in Mongolia for about 2 months. I did one all-inclusive trip where our guide organized everything (tents, food, car, paying petrol etc); we basically could enjoy ourselves and be astonished by the beauty of Mongolia.

My second trip was with driver and translator only. My friend and I organized the food, cooked, paid directly for petrol etc; both of these trips were beautiful travels/journeys.

My third trip was from “Ger-to-Ger” tour and that was a very intense experience.

“Ger-to-Ger” is such a different way of traveling through Mongolia; on horseback, feet or yak-cart we passed trough breathtaking valleys and amazing bloom fields. We just saw the scenery closer because we were outside - not in a vehicle - and moving slowly. Guided from a family-member it didn't feel like being guided, it more felt like being accompanied by a local herder who kindly showed us the way. To be almost alone out there in the middle of Mongolian’s steppes, to have a look around seeing nothing but amazing nature, put me into a state of feeling unbelievably free. (the hike from the ovoo to ger #3 by ourselves was an unforgettable moment, great)

Unforgettable also was our being together with the families. To be inside a ger enjoying the very kind and warm welcome of the nomads, drinking milk tea and trying to have a conversation without translator makes a ger-stay a much more intense experience. Like this we had to speak directly to our hosts and not through another person. The fascinating discovery is that conversation always works, it doesn't matter on what subject: getting hot water, family-relations, travel safety, playing games, helping to milk the animals, how they produce airag-wodka, how hard their life is, how far away the children have to go to school, the problems nomads have when someone gets seriously ill...these things and more we were able to learn. All without guide and only a paper full of Mongolian words, of course conversation like this takes a lot of time and there are also misunderstandings but that is also an interesting, funny part of it.

These people - all of them we met - were so extremely kind, helpful, interested and with a good sense of humor. They always made sure that we had enough to drink and eat, were concerned that we're not too cold at night, made sure that dogs didn't got to close to us...we always felt very well protected at any time. They also love to watch what and how we were doing things; they are open to learn, they enjoy trying to communicate with us, and some also were very interested in improving their English. We had a lot of fun helping out in the kitchen, milking and with playing cards or some Mongolian games.

Sometimes when we were tired from all the riding and conversations and we just wanted to have a rest, little time for ourselves to get a break, the families were really quick in understanding that and let us be.

Even if I’m enjoying now sleeping in a bed, having a nice hot shower and eat some vegetables and no dairy products in any form, I’m more than glad and thankful to have had this experience as it is a great cultural exchange. We really could get a good authentic look into nomadic life of this area of Mongolia.

Thanks a lot to “Ger-to-Ger”

Stephanie radecke
Switzerland

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Hey, This trip was definitely the best thing I did while I was in Mongolia!  The scenery was amazing, but the experience with the families was priceless.  The highlight of my trip was the day we travelled from ger 3 to ger 4.  I was pretty saddle sore and had lagged behind the others.  I finally got up the strength to catch up and ended up sailing across the vast grassy valley past the others and right to the ger!  It was exhilarating!  When I arrived I was tired as well as hot because it was a bright sunny day so I decided to sit down in the shade next to the ger.  The mother of the ''house'' rushed out and layed a blanket down in the shade for me, and a few moments later a pillow.  I laid there and was almost immediately sound asleep.  I woke up from my nap about an hour later to discover that it had clouded over and was much cooler with a slight wind, and that someone had thoughtfully covered me with a del. 

Despite it being chilly I took a bath in the river and washed some clothes.  That evening after we'd eaten the kids brought out a long leather rope and started a pretty lively session of jumping rope.  We all joined in and played while the parents sat beside the gers and watched and laughed.  We jumped rope, taught them the limbo - which the smaller kids loved of course, and I taught them another game with a rope that i had learned in russia.  In all we played for several hours having a blast the whole time.  This particular ger had more boys than girls and Michele got attacked by the little guys and involved in a huge wrestling match.  It was a great evening.

Anyway, that was my favorite day, which I will NEVER forget!  By the way, I’m in southwest china now, and after about a month in this country I can firmly say that i like Mongolia better.  In fact, i think that I’ll probably never return to china, but I'd love to come back to Mongolia and do a Ger to Ger tour in the west!  I'll keep an eye on the website to see when one is available!

Talk to you later, and good luck!

Barbara
Alaska, USA