Nomadic Mongolian "Gers"

I just watched "Babies," (2010) a film about the first year of development in the lives of four babies living in diverse regions of the world: Japan, Mongolia, the United States, and Namibia.

Aside from falling in love with every one of the babies (okay, maybe just Bayar from Mongolia and Ponijao from Namibia), I also fell in love with the circular housing structure called the ger, or yurt, built by the nomads of the Mongolian steppes (article here).

Built to withstand the elements of the windy steppes, and with the ability to be completely taken down in one hour, these buildings are the essence of practicality and efficiency.  I love circular structures with a central heating source, mainly because all of the areas of the structure can be reached equally by the heat source, and so no energy is wasted (see tipi).  The fire is also used for cooking.  It makes Western housing with all of our separate rooms, air conditioning systems, heating systems, stoves, hot plates, space heaters, etc. look a little excessive, hey?

But what initially drew me to the ger were the beautiful rugs and hangings that were used to decorate the interior of the space (for a taste of my obsession with indigenous patterns, see my posts from April 16 and January 24).  They are full of pattern and rich colour, complemented by what looks like a fairly old wooden bed.

This may be the beginning of scads of research on Mongolian folk art and textiles.  For now, though, here are the pretty pictures (sorry about the resolution: they're movie stills).

p.s. For something extra awesome, did you know that you can go sleep in a Mongolian yurt in the countryside of Wales?