Back
Mongolia &
the Magic Number 3
On our journey across Siberia to China we took a break from the train to explore Mongolia and hopped off in its capital, Ulaanbaatar. After stepping off the long train from Moscow we headed to our hostel which was, on first impressions, very basic and situated at the bottom of a communist era apartment block. Within seconds of stepping inside our bags were whisked off our weary shoulders and we were served tea, coffee, fruits, cakes, bread and biscuits by the warmest people with huge smiles. I felt a jolt of guilt for my initial judgement and disappointment and I couldn’t help but relax into the welcoming atmosphere.
On our last evening before heading in to the countryside our host was telling us about the significance of the number ‘3’ in Mongolia. That it signifies community, togetherness, safety, support and protection. One person cannot survive alone in their traditional lifestyles and even two people is not enough. It is so engrained in Mongolians that they will never give one or two gifts but always at least three. This immediately made sense from what we had seen in our short time in Ulaanbaatar, where people were ready to help without hesitation or expectation of thanks or praise. Even the hostel had a constant flow of friends and family calling in to help with jobs, share food or just have a chat and we were included in this straight away (despite any language barriers!). There is no ego involved as it is completely the norm to do what we may consider above and beyond for someone. A small but lovely example was a stranger paying for our bus tickets without any hesitation as we didn’t have the correct travel card to pay. By the time our conversation with our hostel host had ended the takeaway pizza that Tom and I had ordered had been shared with everyone and their food shared with us (although I politely declined the alcoholic fermented horse milk on this occasion!).
We explored the Kharkhoran and Orkhan Valley, staying with nomadic families, and everything our hostel host had explained made even more sense outside of Ulaanbaatar. The land is extremely challenging terrain to live in. There is little water, the winters are incredibly cold and summers hot. The land is not very fertile so they rely on their herds of camel, goats, cows and sheep to survive. Families live together in very close proximities with no personal space in their traditional Gers (a yurt like tent) but we were given a comfortable place to sleep and they shared their mealtimes and homemade produce with us. People have to support one another for survival and the way in which they prioritise community and generosity over the individual was clearly visible to us.
I have particularly enjoyed the books Tribe by Junger Sebastian and Lost Connections by Johann Hari which discuss the benefits of maintaining communities. They closely correlate mental health with strong communities and support networks.
Our time in Mongolia has displayed the importance of connection and simple kindness. As Mongolia develops and more and more young people move towards modern city lifestyles I have no doubt that these are qualities they will have to work to hold onto. However, they are an inspiration in how to live in a kinder society which values real human contact and I would encourage people to visit this beautiful nation. If the sense of community isn’t enough to win you over alone just take a look at the infinite blue skies…
