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Gobi desert - 1993
Gobi desert - 1993
Jacek Pałkiewicz2006-06-17 16:28:50
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off horseback for days at a time. In such conditions food is the same thing as nourishment since there is no time to prepare it. The Mongols became used to eating basic foodstuffs: milk and dried meat and to drinking tea, for water only takes a moment to boil. Since I am describing the Mongols' eating habits, I must mention kumiss, the national drink, which is very popular, especially in summer. Guests are received into Mongol homes with a cup of this brew. It used to be offered to their gods, but nowadays it serves to refresh thirsty lorry drivers and as something to be sprinkled on winning race horses. Kumiss is horse milk fermented in leather skins. It has a very bitter taste which is very refreshing: it is often known as "white beer", although it is stronger, reaching as much as 14 degrees of alcohol. In Mongolia kumiss is also considered a health drink. There are several resorts where one can take a kumiss "cure". Certainly, it is rich in elements essential to good health. The Mongols very little fruit or vegetables and have a poor and monotonous diet, yet they seem to be full of health. In my opinion this contradiction is explained by their national drink. There are even those who say that it helps virility.
The Gobi desert is Mongolia's greatest attraction for me. It is the strangest desert in the world and it occupies all of the south-east part of the country.
The word Gobi means rocky-bottomed hollow, covered with sand. I was saying that it is a strange place: it is a vast steppe where animals roam among the stones looking for odd clumps of grass. In its western reaches, there are also large expanses of compact, semi-lunar dunes.
The Gobi is synonymous with the nomadic way of life. Its people move with their flocks and herds according to the dictates of the climate or season.
These people have a philosophy of life all of their own. They regard civilization with disdain: "the steppe is a house, the city is a prison",
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See photographs from:
Mongolia Gallery
