OK! Our one day pit-stop in Mongolia's capital Ulaan-Bataar has proven to be quite the adventure. With nomadic Yurts providing a strange backdrop for new glass towers, mixed with soviet era building blocks and hints of Chinese architecture, we could see that Ulaan-Bataar now fully independent of Russia and China was a concentrated population of nomadic entrepreneurs.
With our initial goal of meeting with wine shop 'Xanadu Fine Wines' as unexpectedly changing due to our persistent inability to find the correct Marco Polo Square (If it wasn't 'Chengis' Khan, then just about everything else seemed to be named Marco Polo...), we happened to run into a few other wine shops on the way. On our Marco-polo-esk journey (MP traveled over 40 years throughout Asia and beyond) hoofing it to find the sought after square, we managed to run into a few other stories. Our favorite, the reply of 'UB Wine' shop's attendant while we were inquiring as to her favorite wine...: "Martini." Alright, perhaps she didn't understand well our question, but it could also be saying something for the wine culture of Mongolia... We might add as well that the second wine shop we came across didn't seem to trust us at all and was quite hesitant to tell us anything about the wine industry and what kind of people they sell too. Perhaps we were Russian spies?
Reflecting on a Wine shop in Mongolia, top wine: Martini?
Wine shops aside, our next biggest goal was relatively simpler: to try the three most famous drink specialties of the country. Seabuckthorn berry wine, fermented horse milk, and fermented camel milk.
Our quick-dry towel as the on-the-road backdrop: Top Monglian Drinks! (Or at least the most interesting ones, because let's face it, plain old beer seems most popular everywhere)
Here are the tasting notes:
Fermented Horse Milk:
Opened: WOW, that's the fermentation smell that reminds us of home, or at least a beer-brewer's garage in end stages of his (or her) craft.
Pleasant odor fades as fast as you bring your glass to your mouth. Replaced by what we assume rancid goat's milk smells like.
OK, now it's for the brave to actually ingest it, especially if you've already recently had food poisoning and didn't really appreciate that. Taste: Perhaps best described as a combination of apple-cider and sour milk. More milk than cider, and only if you hold your breath. Failing to do so re-introduces the horse you forgot made what you were drinking...
Fermented Camel Milk:
Initial inspection: Less bubbles. Camel still very present. Tastier than its cousin but we need more time to acclimate before considering it a 5-oclock usual.
Seabuckthorn berry wine:
Ok, things are just getting worse... Apparently there are nice vitamins in it and oils which are healthy (as we learned while visiting the natural history museum!)... Well that said, there's not much left that's good to mention. Pretty much tastes like a mediocre desert wine far past its prime. (At least, that's the one we had, but apparently there are many other varieties and types, just like any wine might offer...)
Join us for our next blogs, as we give you three wineries of China before discussing Hong Kong, and we are soon to update you on our medical mission and visit to the Simmano School in Laos which is our current location!
Popularity rising, we have come across what seems to be what WoWiTo fans must have left somewhere in a Mongolian National Park.
