On Tour!

Back in October of last year, I worked as a trip guide on a short tour for Eternal Landscapes. The travellers stayed at my home and we also visited the Orkhon Valley and Khogno Khan Nature Reserve. I worked for Jess at Eternal Landscapes and really enjoyed the tour. It's a way of making a little extra money for my family and also sharing my homeland with others. I love to cook and I also spent time teaching Mongolian recipes.

This is me together with the Russian Furgon 4x4. It is a great vehicle! This photo was taken by one of my October travellers.

 My ger guesthouse provides my main living. However, because most visitors come during July for the Naadam Festival, spring and autumn can be very quiet here. If this spring and autumn are quiet then I will work again as a trip guide for Jess. Our October travellers said that:

'Gaya was excellent. She was very bubbly and made us very comfortable. We exchanged many recipes. I think we fell in love with Mongolia because of Gaya.'

This is me together with one of my October travellers and Sandag, a very good friend and an Eternal Landscapes driver. We are next to the Orkhon River

If you are short on time, you can always visit me directly from Ulaan Baatar. Once here in Kharkhorin I can arrange for you to visit locations outside of my town. I would not be able to join you on a trip but would organise it between my great friends - such as my friends Battumur and Jargal who are herders within the Orkhon Valley.

This is one of my guest gers taken by my traveller in October. I think this is a great photo of my home!

If you like the sound of visiting Kharkhorin, my ger guesthouse is open to all travellers. Please just get in touch - I am happy to help and would love to welcome you to my home.

Thank you for spending time on my blog. I will be back soon.

Saikhan Amraarai, Gaya

Made in Mongolia

Winter in Mongolia is a very quiet time of year for tourists. Although I keep three gers open for travellers, we do not receive that many people. I like to keep busy, so during the winter months, my mum and I make souvenirs for our small handicrafts shop.

Hand made and home made - our small souvenir shop!

My grandmother taught my mum when she was a child  how to make  traditional items  such as the Mongolian deel  and  my mum still enjoys making products by hand. Traditionally in Mongolia, deels have always been made by hand by the females of the family.

This is a recent photo of me together with my grandmother - Dolgorjav.She is 80  years old and lives in Erdenet, one of Mongolia's other cities outside of UB. 

If you like the sound of learning how to make some traditional Mongolian souvenirs, my ger guesthouse is open to all travellers. Please just get in touch - I am happy to help and would love to welcome you to Kharkhorin and to teach you.

Thank you for spending time on my blog. I will be back soon.

Saikhan Amraarai, Gaya

Cooking with Gaya!

Although it is deep winter here in Mongolia, there are still travellers who visit my country - mainly they come on the Trans-Mongolian train. I have just had Yvette and Alison to stay, two students from Australia who are studying in Shanghai. They came to Kharkhorin on December 22nd and I tried tomake sure they had the warmth of Christmas.

My guesthouse in the snow

I very much enjoy cooking and love to teach my guests how to cook Mongolian food. One of the easiest dishes I teach is Mongolian buuz or dumplings. Here in Mongolia we mainly eat them filled with mutton but I like to teach how to make vegetarian dumplings as well.

Some made by me, some by my guests. Can you guess which is which?

You can try making them at home. They are very delicious - especially with some chilli sauce or some Korean kimchi.

First, thinly cut or mince cabbage,carrots.red and green peppers and potatoes (if you're making them with meat then the meat has to be in very very small pieces). You can add any vegetables that you like but this is what I can easily buy in Kharkhorin.

Add few some onions and you can also add some steamed rice.

Then flavour them with some salt and other appetizer. After that mix well. The cabbage will emit some soup when some salt is added so it is unnecessary to add any water.

Try and slice the vegetables as thinly as you can

Mix flour and water together until you get a dough and then cover your dough to relax for 20 minutes. After that roll your dough then cut it off into pieces all the same size. Roll out the dough nto mini circles - this is where you will put your prepared vegetables or meat. After that.  nip the edge of your rolled out dough.

This bit can be a little difficult!

At last steam your buuz for 20 minutes on a medium heat. You can make a lot of dumplings as they an be saved in the freezer!

If you like the sound of learning how to make Mongolian food, my ger guesthouse is open to all travellers. Please just get in touch - I am happy to help and would love to welcome you to Kharkhorin and to teach you.

Thank you for spending time on my blog. I will be back soon.

Saikhan Amraarai, Gaya