When I left on vacation three weeks ago, I had little grasp of what Mongolia had to offer beyond stunning scenery and vast skyscapes. On my return, I can now say that while my visual expectations were met, it is the local culture that really sets Mongolia apart from the West.
Sitting at the heart of a vast country the size of Europe, the capital city of Ulaanbaatar seems intent on reinventing itself along Western lines. The strong Russian influence of years gone by is fast disappearing in a welter of construction, signs written in English, and baseball caps. But drive one hour south and all such traces of “progress” are missing. Green steppes stretch to the horizon, fading to brown as we drive on into the Gobi. The tarmac has been replaced by braided dirt tracks that stretch to the horizon. Vultures and kites sit by the tracks, panting with the heat, too torpid to fly off when the jeep approaches.
This is the home of Mongolia’s nomads. Surrounded by goats, camels and horses, their white felt tents, or gers, dot the landscape. Every few weeks during the summer months a family will pack up their ger and their belongings and move on to find new forage for their animals. But don’t think that this nomadic lifestyle means that they are cut off from the outside world. Solar cells power TVs, radios, and DVD players, and mobile phone coverage is reaching out into the desert.
In this relatively harsh environment, hospitality is a must. Complete strangers stopping at a ger – even wealthy Westerners – will be invited in to share food with no thought of recompense. During the day this might consist of airag (fermented camel or horse milk) and dried cheese. In the Western mountains, yak yogurt and butter is added to the menu. If it is meal-time then family and visitors will sit around a low table to eat broth soup made with dried meat and containing noodles or rice.
Helping others in need is commonplace in Mongolia. Need to send a new head gasket from Ulaanbaatar to your cousin in Ölgii (a five-day trip by road)? Go to the airport and ask someone to take it for you. Mongolians will still happily help to transport spare parts, important documents and even small children from one place to another for complete strangers.
So when I look back on this trip, I suspect that it is the nomads and their unique culture that I will remember best. Memories of sand dunes 300 meters high, herds of camels, yaks, glaciers and snow-covered peaks may blend with those of other remote and scenic places I have visited, but the memory of eating dinner with a Kazak family in their ger in the Western Altai mountains (where the conversation needed to be translated from Kazak to Mongolian to English and back) will remain far more distinct.
And now it is time to get back to work. The next post will be on a topic far more germane to brands, media and market research. But what should that topic be? It could be the new ad format adopted by YouTube, or the implications of paying people to have their cars wrapped in adverts. Or maybe you have a better topic in mind. Please let me know.
Tags: Millward Brown, Nigel Hollis, Mongolia, vacation, nomads
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