Journey Into Nomadic Lifestyle-II

Nomad House in Mongolia (mousely.com/encyclopedia/Yurt/)

The nomads there probably allow themselves to be guided by the words addressed by Genghis Khan to his sons at the end of his life. He said then that “With Heaven’s aid I have conquered for you a huge empire. But my life was too short to achieve the conquest of the world. That task is left for you.” Mongolia with its pristine landscapes gets to be the legacy of this majestic leader and certainly nomads get to fill these landscapes with their unquestionable charm, a charm easily spotted in the eyes of anyone wishing to embrace their style of life or pretending to be a nomad himself.

Because much like the site http://www.happenchance.net/ chooses to present things, the characteristics of a nomadic lifestyle get to be the following ones: “Low expenses. A willingness to move anywhere. Affinity for air mattresses. The ability to fit your possessions into a suitcase, a backpack, the back of a truck, the back of a garage. A high-mileage vehicle. An aversion to mortgages and debt. A nomadic lifestyle is whatever you want it to be, whatever works for you”, yet “the key trait” gets to be the following one: “Knowing you won’t be in one place forever.”

A trip to Mongolia, a country tuck away between Russia and China, is envisaged by many as an adventure. It may be because to many Mongolia gets to be “the country of Genghis Khan” and certainly the country of nomadic people “herding their animals across the vast hillsides, of camels caravans crossing the Gobi Desert.”

To many Mongolian nomads the nomadic lifestyle happens to be deeply rooted within themselves. Their life goes in between herding their animals, wandering in search for newer and newer pastures, their life in their round-shaped tent getting to survive the next winter and thriving in the summer. Riding their horses, a whole myriad of them, is an activity that certainly gets to be included among their favorite activities. Discovering the Mongolian lands in the saddle of a horse may be one of the options one has while there. Yet, one should not forget the “master riding” part, mainly because the concurrence coming from the locals proves to be tough. You’d probably stop smiling or start laughing when being told that “Mongolia gets to be a country where people are said to be taught to ride before walking”.

The relationship of the nomads inhabiting Mongolian lands with animals gets to be a special one too. This idea however is strengthened by the name assigned by many to them, namely that of “Five-animal people”. No wonder this gets to be their nickname since their entire life gets to be placed under the rule of the animals usually herded by them. And the list of these animals includes camels, cattle, goats, sheep and horses. Always In search for greener pastures their life is made up of an almost unending roaming across the vast steppe, with short moments of rest though.

However being a nomad in Mongolia certainly implies being sensitive to the need of animals and just to be able to do this the year must be divided in four…meaning four times of packing things and settle one’s rear back in the saddle to just fix the roaming part. Yet, this gets to be the nomadic style of life, a style deeply rooted in the being of all those people choosing to change places in what to others may seem like a really short time.

I guess if you end up adhering to this nomadic lifestyle or you feel like you really, really like the nomads living in Mongolia or on any other continent you may as well end up making use of Mark Twain’s words, as he was the one who once said: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones that you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”…if only this means being introduced to the nomadic experience.

And as nomads too laugh, as an ending bonus I am going to make use of the words of a person celebrated today…no one else but Charlie and Chaplin… He was the one who said once that “The most wasted day in life, is, the day, in which, we have not laughed.” Hope you did get the chance to laugh today!

11