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Gobi desert - 1993
Gobi desert - 1993
Jacek Pałkiewicz2006-06-17 16:28:50
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passed down my spine at the thought of what would happen to anyone who got lost in these territories. There were no road signs, but tyre tracks criss-crossed each other everywhere, skirting hills, following dried-up water courses and indicating the easiest way through the gorges. In places the tracks were parallel and ran together, like a makeshift road, for some tens of kilometers. Only a few times in my travels through the world's deserts had I seen such awe-inspiring wastes. From any rise in the ground there was a view, in the limpid air, of at least 30 kilometers. It was a landscape which could be both magnificent or sad, curious or dull, fascinating or upsetting, depending on the man who was looking at it.
Before sunset we stopped at a wooden hut which served as a place of lodging for travellers. Behind there was an encampment of gers, from where a number of curious children came running. My "guardian angel" proposed that for dinner we should have ... a dish of tea. "Su-utaj-ciaj" he repeated. I shall talk about this "dish" for the rest of my life, even if it is not the most gripping of stories. The cook-waitress-manager put a cake of black sea into a pan of boiling water. Just when it seemed that the tea was fit to drink, the real preparations started. The woman added salt, coarsely ground barley flour, cream and the scum of boiled milk. To round everything off, she added a knob of butter prior to serving us.
I have had to get used to many strange tastes in my travels around the world, but I am bound to say that this tea stuck in my throat somewhat. During this "banquet" they told me that foreigners had come to the settlement before but they had often refused this dish, not realizing that it was really good to eat. When the locals themselves eat it, they imaginatively add sheep marrow, dried meat and lard-filled pancakes. There is no point in wondering at the Mongols' tastes. They have always been nomads. Often they used not be off
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See photographs from:
Mongolia Gallery
