We Like it 'Rough'—New Travel Show Debuts Tonight on PBS

Two 23-year-old filmmakers recently made a documentary about life in Mongolia, to be broadcast on PBS this very evening at 10. Host and producer Keith Ochwat explains how the locals like George W. Bush, can’t get enough of roaming and just love a bowl of fermented horse milk.

How did the idea of Roughing It: Mongolia originate? The project was basically a two man project. I was the host/producer and my partner (Christopher Rufo) was director/producer. We’re old friends, we love to travel and we graduated from college in June and we thought “before we hit the real world let’s do something exciting.” So we had this idea of doing a travelogue. We did a lot of research on travel shows before we left and we found that a lot focused on Europe. What we thought [was] a lot of stories were being told over and over again. So what Chris and I wanted to do was to go to a place that hadn’t had its story told over and over again to the general American public.

We first thought of doing the Trans-Siberian Railroad but we figured being on a train for a couple of months is probably not the best way to attract a lot of viewers. But then we had that area in mind and we thought 'we don’t know much about Mongolia. That sounds like an interesting place.' So we just went with it.

So what does fermented horse’s milk taste like? What do you imagine fermented horse’s milk tastes like? It tastes like shit. It’s an acquired taste. The first time I had it, actually I was shocked. It tasted like a very sour yogurt. But to be completely honest, it grew on me. The problem is that, though I love to travel to exotic places, I have a weak stomach (laughs). So for every other bowl I had, I was another hour on the toilet seat.

What surprised you most about the country and people? I’m a big history buff so when I have the opportunity to sit down and read a book I love to read about history.  Before we left, I wanted to brush up on my Genghis Khan and so I read a couple of books on him and really was fascinated by the unique style of living they had 800 years ago when he founded the country.

What was shocking when we got there, is how similar the visions that I had from [the books’] descriptions were to what I was witnessing. I mean literally half the country is still nomadic; half the country still practices a lifestyle that’s been practiced for thousands of years; half the country still lives in these gers (sheepskin tents) and on top of it all, it’s the coldest country on the planet.

What was the most challenging thing about living as a nomad? We were there in September and October, so it was fall and there was still some green on the ground but it was cold. It was so cold. I’ve been to New York and the East Coast but it was just freezing! We spent some time with reindeer herders in Siberia – those are true, true nomads. They live out in the middle of nowhere and just herd the reindeer. These people spend their entire day looking for food. I mean, your life is survival centric basically: staying warm, eating and that’s a big challenge. We spent three days with these guys and their daily routine could not be more diametrically opposed from ours. It’s shockingly different.

Does Mongolia want to promote tourism? I think so. When we came to Mongolia, the Mongolians that we talked to actually liked George W. Bush. And we were like “that’s the first time I’ve heard that in a while. Why?” And they said he was the first American president to visit Mongolia.

Mongolia was actually part of the Soviet Union until 1990 and was virtually closed off to the Western world. But now you don’t need a visa to go to Mongolia. You can hop on a plane and fly to Ulaanbaatar. When Chris and I visited, we were able to get a face to face sit down with the Mongolian president, Nambaryn Enkhbayar. He sat with us for about an hour and told us about Mongolia and why it’s a beautiful and proud place. And we found that Mongolians in general were very hospitable, genuinely nice people.

I think that Mongolia would appreciate more Americans to share their rich traditions with; not to mention, it is a very poor country. The U.S. sends a lot of aid to the nation and their biggest industry is coal and copper mining which is obviously not good for the environment. I think that a thriving tourism industry would let them lay off that. And when we were there, there were quite a few advertisements for adventure travel because it’s so rough in Mongolia. It attracts a certain type of tourist: a more adventure tourist who wants to get in a four-wheel drive and things like that.

You also encountered the country’s traditional throat singing. What does that sound like? (laughs) It’s 2 am here on the West Coast and I don’t want to wake all my neighbors up with my howling! But essentially what’s amazing about throat singing – it dates back to the Genghis Khan times as well – is that it’s singing with multiple tones at the same time. There are a lot of good throat singers; they actually go to throat singing university. It sounds kind of like a grunt with a (makes deep chanting sound) but at the same time there’s this melody that’s a high pitched sound going over it. You can watch me pathetically attempt on the show—it’s quite entertaining at my cost.