The welcome ger

Gan had informed us with great enthusiasm of the costume parade to be held on the main square at 10 a.m Although we failed to wake until gone 10, to a rainy day, we decided to head off anyway and try to see what we could see. As we approached the square we saw many uniformed men and women heading the other way. By the time we got there the event was over. It had, in any case, not been the display of traditional costume we had expected but rather, a military parade. We were told by a kind young lady, who we found out later worked for Tourist Information that the costume display was to be at 2. The rain was by now beginning to come down more heavily, so we headed back to the hostel.
Between Suhkbataar Square and our hostel stands the State Department Store, a six-story building catering to tourists and the Mongolian middle class. Next to this, during the summer months is The Welcome Ger. For those not in the know, a ger is the name by which the Mongolians know a yurt. If you don't know what a yurt is then who are you and what are you doing reading my blog? This ger is around 9 or 10 metres in diameter and beautifully ornate. It is of fairly recent construction and had , we were told, taken four years to make. This is even longer than it took us to build our large yurt, though this was considerably more detailed in its finish. I guess however that it was not the craftsman's first attempt. The ger is presently owned by the city's Tourist Information department and staffed by enthusiastic students with good English. Damp as we were we tarried a good while here in the dry and decided to try some Mongolian tea. It turns out that they take their team with milk, a lot of milk. Mainly it's hot milk, with a little browning, and salt. This was the first of many "not sure if this is nice or nasty" moments in our culinary experiences.
We returned to the hostel soaked to the skin and with our only shoes sodden. The enthusiasm for the costume parade that afternoon was low but by 3 the rain had stopped and with the promise of some Wellingtons for Lila we set out again. We got to the square to see that nothing was doing but found out that there was to be another parade, followed by a concert that evening. We returned to the Welcome Ger to ask where we might find a cheap pair of wellies. We strolled around the indoor market and bought some boots and just as we were heading back popped into an interesting looking shop. Here we found many lovely handmade items and bought a few things, including the lovely suede waistcoat that you can see Lila modelling in the photo, but not the fox fur hat.
We had tarried too long however and by the time we got to the square again we saw a bunch of horsemen galloping off and the bandsmen marching towards their busses. By the time we had got up to the remains of the parade we were treated to the amusing sight of the bandsmen being dismissed, breaking ranks and running towards their busses, giggling and pushing like school kids in order to get the best seats. We went off again at this point to find something to eat before the concert. On our return we found an almost deserted square and some French tourists who informed us that the concert had been postponed until the following evening. It had been a funny day.Read more