Glamping In Mongolia: A unique experience at the Tuul Riverside Lodge
Nov 28, 2024 11:56AM ● By Story and Photography By Lisa Ballard
Glamping is the combination of the words glamorous and camping. It
implies an outdoorsy experience with luxurious amenities. It’s camping
because you sleep in portable shelter, but it’s far from roughing it.
Ironically, the reason for my trip to Mongolia was the antithesis of
glamping. When I wasn’t slogging over a 12,000-foot pass, I slept on the
ground in a backpacking tent while trekking in the remote Altai
Mountains. However, after nine dusty days in the backcountry, I wasn’t
about to turn down the chance to sleep in a traditional ger (yurt) with
untraditional ensuite bathrooms at the peaceful Tuul Riverside Lodge.
The Tuul Riverside Lodge is not a hotel the way we think of it. It’s a
cluster of a dozen gers on a grassy, windswept hillside about 50 miles
east of Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. The outfitter that put
together the trek suggested going there, though I really didn’t know the
details besides a bed in a ger and a private bathroom. “Sounds more
interesting than a hotel room in the city,” I said to my trekking
buddies Bill and Liz, who agreed.
Boat ride on the Tuul River
Staying at the Tuul Riverside Lodge was glamping Mongolia-style. The camp sits above the Tuul River, also called the Tula River and the Hatan Tuul. This 550-mile-long waterway carves an immense “U” through central Mongolia. It begins northeast of Ulaanbaatar, flows south and then west through the capital, then bends north, eventually crossing the Russian border.
To get to the lodge, Bill, Liz, and I, along with our trekking guide
Amraa, got out of a van in the small village of Gachuurt beside the
river and loaded our duffels onto what looked like an inflatable fan
boat. The boat itself resembled an oversized raft similar to the kind
used for running whitewater. Instead of paddles and current, a massive
fan on the stern, reminiscent of the fan boats in the Florida
Everglades, propelled the watercraft up the broad, shallow river.
The boat driver and Amraa sat in the middle of the raft behind a
windshield. Bill, Liz, and I settled onto a bench in the bow in front of
them. The day was warm, in the 80s, but the driver offered us blankets
and sound-silencing ear muffs. Despite the heat, we bundled up. Moments
later, we were skimming over the river at high speed. What a thrill to
feel the wind as we watched the fields and trees fly by along the
riverbanks, and the occasional crane spread its wings!
Several miles later, the raft slowed and turned up a tributary, which
narrowed into a swampy backwater. We got off the raft at the base of a
long, stone staircase. A metal arch beckoned us at the top. We could see
no farther except for the expansive sky above the arch. It was a
stairway to a heavenly place.
The Gers
At the top of the stairs, a Mongolian 20-something welcomed us with a glass of wine. We followed him across a meadow to the largest of the gers, which served as the camp’s dining room. A spread of delicate homemade cookies, charcuterie, crackers, candies, and other nibbles was laid out to be eaten at our leisure, along with a variety of hot and cold drinks. We were grateful for the snacks and awed by the old-world grace of the ger.
The exterior of a ger is also canvas, and the floor is wood, but there
are significant differences between gers and wall tents. For starters,
gers are round, not rectangular. A wooden lattice rather than a metal
frame supports the walls. Dozens of poles reach from the top of the
lattice to the center of the roof, which has an opening for a stove pipe
to poke through. The roof is also supported by two tall center poles.
Wall tents have no insulation, but gers do, made from layers of felt.
What’s more, the door of a wall tent is canvas and zips shut. Gers have a
sturdy wooden door, often ornately carved or painted and always facing
south.
Gers are designed to be portable yet withstand a winter blizzard or
summer sandstorm. Thirty percent of Mongolians are nomadic herders. They
live in gers and move every three to six months in response to seasonal
weather or whenever there’s no grass left for their goats, sheep, and
yaks to graze. Gers are still common in population centers, too. For
example, 60 percent of Ulaanbaatar is zoned “ger district.” While
trekking, we were invited into a couple of gers, which were tidy but
showed the wear of daily life on the steppe. There was no running water,
and a privy or a hole in the ground surrounded by a low rock wall
served as a bathroom.
By contrast, the gers of the Tuul Riverside Lodge were spotless and
crisp. In the main dining ger, elaborately carved wooden panels and
other objects of Mongolian art caught the eye. The sleeping gers were
comfortably appointed in either subdued Mongolian or colorful Kazakh
décor (western Mongolia is ethnically Kazakh). They had electrical
outlets and a second, hobbit-sized door leading to a full-sized private
bathroom. Slippers with curled up toes, a white bath towel, and a hat
with a bug net were poised for use on each bed. Bug net?
Archery Practice
Shortly after checking in, Amraa invited Bill, Liz, and me to try archery. “Wear your bug net,” he warned. We dutifully donned them. Then, as an extra precaution, we coated ourselves with deet, which made the mosquitos somewhat tolerable as we waded through the grass to the archery range with our bows and arrows.
Rather than a round bulls-eye, a cowhide stretched across a square log
frame served as the target. It was tough to hit the hide due to the
tension of the bow. Most of our arrows either fell short or went long,
but it was good for a laugh between shots and swats at mosquitos.
Mongolian Barbeque
After archery, we walked to the only solid structure on the property, a
picturesque stone hut which served as a meeting spot and game room.
Drinks, apps, and the chef awaited us outside the hut. The chef and the
20-something tended a woodstove, which was extremely hot and full of
river rocks in the spaces between the burning logs.
“Now you will see how to make traditional Mongolian barbecue,” said
Amraa, motioning for us to gather closer to the woodstove. There was no
spicy red sauce involved. Instead, the chef poured boiling water from a
thermos into the bottom of a large metal pot. Next, he placed chunks of
mutton into the pot while the 20-something plucked hot rocks from the
woodstove and placed them around the meat. Then the chef packed chunks
of cabbage, carrots, and other root vegetables on top. When the pot was
completely stuffed, the chef secured the lid. It reminded me of a
pressure cooker but instead of electricity, the river rocks provided the
heat.
An hour later, in the dining ger, the chef carefully opened up the pot
and dished out its contents onto serving platters. In the culinary
tradition of Mongolia, they say the flavor of the barbecue is greatly
influenced by the river rocks. Top gourmets say they can taste the
difference between rocks from one place and another. To me, it was
simply a smorgasbord of tender meat and tasty vegetables, and yet
another unique experience at the Tuul Riverside Lodge.
Insider Info
Getting there: Fly to Ulaanbaatar (UBN), then have a driver take you to the Tuul River
for the fan-raft ride to the lodge. Driving yourself is not recommended
because road signs are in Cyrillic and only a few roads are paved and
mapped outside of the capital.
Money Credit cards are accepted in Ulaanbaatar and at the Tuul
Riverside Lodge. Otherwise expect to pay cash. Only change what you
need. The Mongolian tugrik is not legally tender on Western
international exchanges.
Time zone Ulaanbaatar and the Tuul Riverside Lodge are 12 hours ahead of Eastern time. When it’s 9am here, it’s 9pm there.
Food If it isn’t cooked or peeled, don’t eat it.
Electricity The wall sockets are either type C or E, similar to most
European countries. The standard voltage is 220V at a frequency of 50Hz.
North Americans should bring a converter if you want to charge your
electronic devices.
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