When you are out on the steppe and come across a nomad’s home, don’t be rude – stop in and say hello. They will just stop what they are doing and make you tea, offer cookies and milk curds, sit down with you and talk. They will make you a full meal if you don’t stop them. You will get salty milk tea, which is made with tea from Georgia and lots of milk, probably Camel milk. They will share photos and tell stories. You will offer some candy which they will tuck in a corner of the ger. The lady of the house may be out of sight attending to the cooking and serving. The man of the house may kneel down and offer for you to smell his snuff bottle, which you will receive with an outstretched right arm, your elbow supported by your left hand. You will politely smell the snuff and hand it back to him. You will admire his gold trimmed orange robe which keeps him warm from the desert winds, and say “bai a la,” thank you, before you leave, stooping under the low door frame and carefully steeping over the threshold to avoid bad luck.
I savor the description of your experience, allowing me to reflect on lives so different from ours here in Palo Alto.
Enjoy that salty, camel milk tea!!