Last thoughts about Mongolia

Greetings from the Seoul / Inchon airport in South Korea! Early start to today with a pickup from the hotel at 6:30 to head to the airport. I think my brain was still asleep though. Managed to leave my coat at the security check-point, and didn’t even notice for 30 to 45 minutes. Luckily, I figured it out before I boarded the flight! By that time, I had already gone through the customs exit process, and had to convince the customs and security authorities to let me back through to get it. That was quite amusing as I speak 2 words of Mongolian (hello and thank you), and they had 10 words of English, which is 5 times better than my Mongolian. It worked out though, and my coat was still there, so all is well. On the way to Mongolia, my travelling companions laughed at me a bit for bringing a gym bag just to put my coat in so that I wouldn’t leave it somewhere. Figured I’d remember a bag, and sure enough I was right! Except my coat wasn’t in it yet this morning….

In the Mongolian airport, no signs or announcements are made in English. That made figuring out the boarding process a bit difficult, as they actually have more than one gate, but none with number or letter markings. Our plane to Seoul, and a plane to Moscow were leaving at the same time. A few of us non-Mongolian speaking folks tried to board at the wrong time, but luckily, they look at our boarding passes very closely, so I am typing this from Seoul, and not from Moscow now.

A few last interesting things about Mongolia.
· The country was occupied by the Soviet Union for 50 or 60 years, and their influence is very obvious in the writing style, style of buildings, and even the sound of the language. Original Mongolian writing looks more like Arabic in it’s flow, except it flows from the top of the page to the bottom in columns (from left to right), instead of in rows from right to left. Now it uses Cyrillic characters, and we’re told that some Mongolians can no longer write or read the old script. The buildings are also very square, and you don’t see many with the more oriental flair, like is everywhere in Korea, Japan, and I imagine China. I thought the language would sound more like Chinese, or one of the other Asian languages, but it sounds very Russian. Children learn Russian in school, along with Mongolian, and English is becoming more common in some areas.
· Another interesting result from being part of the Soviet Union is the number of women in administrative and management positions. I don’t understand all the reasons for this, but we’re told that due to the communist economic system, women and men made the same salaries for the same jobs. Men tended to work in factories and outdoors. Women worked in administrative and management positions in businesses. As a result, focus on education for girls was greater than for boys. Today, more girls go to school than boys in the country, and women hold more jobs. In our office, about 80% of the staff is female. This may be the only country in the world where advocacy for education for boys is required more than for girls!

I’m sure there are dozens more things I could share. We saw so many things, and learned much about the people, culture, and history of the country, in addition to all the work stuff we learned. Mongolia is a very interesting place. The people are incredibly friendly and welcoming. The countryside is beautiful, and probably is even more so in the summer time when everything is green. The history is very interesting as well. Yet it is also a harsh place. People live in incredibly harsh conditions and have limited access to work, health care, and in some places education. The herding families must send their children to live in dormitories in the nearest city or to live with relatives so that they can attend school. Health care is limited in the main city, and even more so in rural locations. The environment itself is harsh. Incredibly cold, dry winters, with temperatures as low as –50F or below. Summers in some rural areas where we’re told that it can get as high as 120F. Blowing drifting snow in winter, and blowing sand and dust in summer. All that said, people here love their country, and want to improve the industrial base, education, health care, etc. And they welcome outsiders and love to show them their way of life.
Now it’s off to Melbourne, Australia for several days of meetings. More in a few days!

Last day in Mongolia

It’s my last full day in Mongolia! It’s been a great trip, but will be good to go somewhere warm. Today we went sight-seeing again. First, lunch at a small hostel called the Oasis. The owners have set up a few gers and built a small guest house that caters to people coming to Mongolia for biking, hiking, fishing, and other outdoor excursions. There were people there, even now when it is so cold.

Next, off to Bogd Khan’s Winter Palace. Bogd Khan was the emperor of Mongolia and spiritual leader of Mongolia’s Tibetan Buddhism from 1911 until 1924. The architecture of the palace reminded me a little of Japanese and Korean architecture, but not quite so ornate. Inside the various outbuildings were examples of Mongolian art including sculpting, painting, weaving, and other fabric work. Couldn’t take any pictures of the inside because they charged to be allowed to use a camera, and I was too cheap to pay what they were asking. I did get some pictures from outside the fence, and I’ll try to post those later.

Next we went to the Zaisan Memorial. This monument sits on top of a high hill on the outskirts of the city. It was built by Russia as a memorial to Russian soldiers that were killed in Mongolia fighting the Chinese during WWII. To reach the memorial, you have to climb some fairly steep stairs from the lot to the top. The climb doesn’t look that hard at first, but as you get closer to the top, your reminded that the city of UB sits about 4300ft above sea level, and your climbing several hundred feet up! Inside are paintings showing the friendship between Russia and Mongolia (from the Russian perspective). You also have a beautiful view of all of UB and the surrounding mountains. Today was a beautiful clear day. The temperature dropped last night, and the wind and snow picked up through the morning. When the snow stopped, the sun came out, and the wind had blown all the smoke away (smoke from the ger fires). What a beautiful place!

Just down the road from the monument, past the President’s palace, is the UB Ski Park. They have three runs on manufactured snow. I think our local skiers would laugh at the “black run”, but it is very popular here. We saw many families at the sight, which was surprising because people here don’t make much money, even in the city. We asked about cost, and for a middle class family, it is affordable. A family of 4 can rent skis and boots, get lift passes (a quad lift, amazingly enough), and have a meal in the restaurant for under $80USD. They also have a great sledding area, complete with a lift back to the top of the sledding hill. I thought sledding for a while would be fun, but I couldn’t convince my hosts that we should do that. Then I found out they do not rent sleds.

So, back in the car, and our host decides we should see what it is like to go off-roading in Mongolia. Now keep in mind, there is about 6 inches of snow, and much deeper drifts. He heads off, and finds a track that someone has been on before. We drive up a very big hill (more like a mountain) following this track, and end up at the Mongolian Astronomical and Geothermal Institute. We couldn’t go into any of the buildings, but it’s amazing what you can find in the mountains while off-roading.
We managed to get back down the mountain on the ice and snow, and then time to go back to the hotel to finish packing and get ready to fly out to Australia tomorrow. In my next post, I’ll share a few other observations of Mongolia (food, driving, people, etc.). Thanks for travelling with me!

Amusing observations

Spent today in the office, so not much to tell about our day. Instead, I’ll share some other observations about Mongolia.

First important bit of info – pizza toppings – clearly something everyone needs to know about before travelling somewhere. They’re a little different here. Today we had pizza with mushrooms, peppers, pickles, and corn. Our other choice was pizza with lamb, bacon, peppers, and pickles, or chicken and artichokes (we think). Takes a bit of work to enjoy this, at least for me, but apparently locals enjoy these combinations.

Second important fact – telephone poles – Due to the harsh weather, wooden telephone / electricity poles rot when they are mounted in the ground. To prevent this, they have built concrete pads with a concrete pole that extends upward about six feet. The wooden pole is then banded to the concrete pole, with the base of the wood pole being about 2 feet above the ground. The wires are then strung to the wood pole, just like in the US. It works, but it does look a little funny as you’re driving to see mile after mile of concrete poles with wooden poles strapped to them.

Third key input – Rest Areas when travelling – or maybe I should say lack of rest areas. For those of you who dislike TMI, please skip to the next point. Our trip earlier this week was just under 5 hours. Along the way, we needed to make a pit stop. While there are gas stations in the middle of nowhere (got to wonder how they picked some of these spots, as there is nothing else around), there are no indoor toilets. We stopped in front of one of these stations, and were directed to a small shack about 200 meters behind the station. So off we go across the snowy field (about 6 or so inches deep, deeper in the drifts). The shack has only three sides, but luckily the open side is not facing the roadway. It’s poorly constructed, with large gaps between the boards. Inside, there are two boards balanced across an open pit. You can guess what’s in the pit. So, if you’re female, the only way to manage this, is to move inside of the three sided shack, put one foot on each board balanced over the open pit, drop the pants and hope everything comes out quick enough that you don’t get frostbite on your backside. As you’re trying to hurry, you wonder what happens if you drop the toilet paper into the pit, or your gloves, or scarf. Or, what if one of the herders decides to wander on the hillside overlooking the shack at this time. Do you wave? You wonder about the freezing point of bodily fluids (Mythbusters?). After all, it’s about –10F, plus the windchill. You have to admit this is pretty funny, even if it’s too much information.

And the last entertaining point of the day – the ski resort. Just outside of Ulaan Baatar, there is a ski resort. We were told that it actually has to make snow as there isn’t enough naturally here for skiing. Worse yet, they sometimes have trouble making the snow because it is too cold. I find that amusing too!
Thanks for letting me share my trip with you. Only 3 more full days in Mongolia, and then off to Australia! More tomorrow.

Field Trip

So much to tell about the last two days! We travelled to a town about 5 hours east of here. As soon as you get about 15 minutes outside of town, you realize just how remote most of Mongolia is. Mile after mile of road, with no visible buildings, people, or animals. It’s a beautiful country in winter, and must be even more beautiful in summer when everything is green, instead of covered in snow. Along the way, you occasionally see a structure, or grazing animals (cattle, sheep, camels), and only a few other cars on the road. We did see two gentlemen on motorbikes, and decided they were the two bravest people in Mongolia. Temperature is about 0F, and there is still ice and snow on the roads!

When we reached the town, we were greeted at the entrance sign. It is a sign of welcome to greet people with milk tea at the entrance to your city. The team was waiting for us, and we all hopped out of the van, had our greeting by a person in full Mongolian dress, drank our sip of milk tea, and then returned to the van to continue into the town. After working in the office for a bit, we toured two schools. The students are all very well behaved, and very excited to meet visitors. The first school was for students 1st to 8th grade, and the second was a high school. Schools here are brightly colored and have a reasonable amount of resources for learning. Students learned all the normal subjects, and for the older students, classes in Russian, English, and German were available.

The arts are also very important here. Mongolians are very proud of their music, dance and art, and these things are taught in the schools. In both schools, students put on a presentation of what they learned. They played instruments, danced, and sang. They are all incredibly talented! One student played the traditional instrument called a matouqin or morinkohr (played with a bow on two strings). He did a wonderful job, and when he was finished, our hosts told us he is deaf. This instrument is not easy to play in tune, yet every pitch was exactly right! In each activity, whether dancing, singing or playing instruments, the music always reflects the importance of the horse in Mongolian life. From the music or dance, you get a mental picture of the Mongolians riding their horses across the open landscape. Each piece is performed in full, colorful dress as well. Students at both schools are incredibly talented!

Monday night, we stayed in a small hotel in town. Mostly cold water, no shower, but a nice bed and heat, so all was well. I do have to say that washing your face with cold water in Mongolia is a bit different than washing your face with cold water in Africa. That water here is REALLY cold!

Today we spent more time doing our office work and checks, and then we visited a herding family just outside the village. This is the family of one of our local co-workers. They live in a ger, with additional wooden structures to house their lifestock to try to protect them from the elements. This year is so cold and snowy that country-wide nearly 60% of the livestock have died. For this family alone, their herd has gone from 90 cows to 40 cows this winter. They are hoping they don’t lose any more. The weather is absolutely devastating to these people.

The herders move three times per year to allow their livestock to graze in different areas. They leave the animal structures behind, but pack up the ger and haul it to the next location. We’re told it takes about one hour to tear one down, and another hour to set it back up in its new location. The ger and household goods used to be transported by horse drawn cart, but now they are frequently transported by car or by car and trailer.

There are many customs for entering a ger. You always enter with your right foot first, then move clockwise into the ger (it’s a circular structure). You can sit on the left or right, but not at the head where the most senior member of the family sits. The stove sits in the middle of the ger. They burn many things in the stove as fuel. Today’s fuel was cow dung. I figured it would smell, but there was no odor inside the ger.

Our hosts were a woman from the office, her son and father, and her mother. Her mom was 88 years old. Mom had 12 children, all of whom are professionals. She says she has over 40 grandchildren, and doesn’t know how many great-grandchildren. The language barrier kept us from asking too many questions, but I can only imagine the stories she could tell!

For lunch we had steamed dumplings with meat (unsure what kind, but was probably either beef or horse), sour yogurt, curdled and dried milkfat, hard lard (incredibly hard), and some type of noodle dish, all washed down with milk tea. The milk-based items are made in the fall, and then kept and used all winter. They said the yogurt was made in August, and then is served until spring. I guess in such low temperatures, nothing spoils, so we ate it. For our western palates, we had to add some sugar to the yogurt, as it was a bit sour. After you finish your bowl of yogurt, it is customary to lick the inside of the bowl to clean it. I thought of all the kids at home that try this and get yelled at for bad manners. I finally found a place where it is good manners to literally lick your bowl clean!

More to share on our short field trip tomorrow!

Sunday in Mongolia

Today is Sunday. We had a relaxing morning at the hotel, and then our hosts picked us up for an afternoon out. For lunch, we went to an Indian / Mexican restaurant. Never thought I’d have enchiladas in Mongolia! Then off to the cashmere factory. We weren’t able to see the factory, but did visit the store outside. They use cashmere for everything – dresses, skirts, coats, sweaters, gloves, scarves, hats. The quality varies a bit, but I would imagine a scarf they sell here for about $20 USD would be well over $150 in the US. It is made of goat or camel hair. I wish I could see the manufacturing process. I would imagine it is very interesting!

At the end of the day, we went to church. Our hosts go to a multi-national church, so the service is in English. We worshiped with people from Mongolia, China, Korea, Japan, US, England, Australia, Ethiopia, Niger, Nigeria, Nepal, Cambodia, Philippines, and I’m sure other nations as well. Imagine all those accents in one place singing worship music! What a wonderful sound! The band was very good too. Female drummer AND bass player in the band! Then back to the hotel for a quiet evening.

A few other observations about Mongolia. Did I mention it’s cold here? Not as cold as I thought here in the city, but still daytime highs only in the 0 to 10F range. When the sun comes out, it probably gets up as high as 20F. The wind can be quite strong, making it feel a bit colder. There isn’t actually much snow here. I pictured feet of snow, but at least near the city, it’s more like inches, and we’re told that this is a lot of snow. It is simply too dry here to snow much.

The city is surrounded on three sides by mountains. When you go out from the city and get into the mountain area, you find that there are also very interesting rock formations where it looks like someone just dumped a huge pile of rocks in the middle of a field. Apparently, millions of years ago, this area was under water, so the rock formations probably have something to do with that. When we drove to the statue yesterday, we also went through a very sandy area – in the mountains. Seems odd, but if the area were originally under water, I guess it makes sense.

In the city, even though it is so cold, you can hear birds in the morning. Can you imagine how strong that bird must be? The animals here all have very long fur, even the horses and cows. For the people, heat is piped in from the central power plant. On the outskirts of the city, these pipes are above ground. At some point, they are buried, and heat is brought to the businesses and apartments. If you are an individual, it appears you are on your own to burn whatever you can find. Most try to bring in coal (low grade) or wood, but they’ll also burn tires, or anything else that they find. That can make the air here a bit hard to breathe sometimes.
Tomorrow, we’re going about 400km east of the city. We were told to dress warm and at one point were asked if we have sleeping bags. I’m hoping that’s not a bad sign, as we did not bring them. I’m sure they’ll outfit us with something if we really need them. No post for the next day or so, as we were told not to expect much in the way of service. So, I have my coat, my long underwear, and my bottle of water, and off we go!

Two days in the countryside

On Friday, we had a good trip to visit families and schools just outside of Ulaan Bataar. The countryside is very open. Mountains, cattle, horses, sheep, and a few homes dotting the countryside. The towns are small, and a mixture of the traditional ger and brick, wood, and cement homes. The homes look well constructed, but have been poorly maintained. The family we visited lived in a ger. The woman lost her husband a few years ago to a mining accident, shortly before her second child was born. She makes about $1 per day, and barely survives on that income. Her story is apparently common, as mining is the top industry in the country (second is cashmere production). The mines are unsafe, and there are many accidents each year.

We weren’t able to take pictures inside this ger, but hopefully I’ll be able to visit another later in the visit. The ger is a circular construction of fabric, felt, and wood. They usually lay something like linoleum or wood on the floor, and decorate the walls with heavy, colorful fabric. A small stove sits in the middle of the ger, and it is used for heating and for cooking. There is a small table near the door entrance used to store dishes and cooking items, then a bed, a play or storage area, another bed, and then another storage area. Apparently, all gers are organized in about the same way. To get into the ger, there is a door that stands about 3 ½ feet high. You stoop way down, come in, and then you can stand upright.

After the family visit, we went to a school. The school is new to the town, and is using new learning styles, which are a bit more like western teaching styles. Most schools in Mongolia still use Russian teaching styles that are a bit less participative. In this school, the children were very engaged, and all seemed to love learning. The teachers are doing a great job, and the school has received recognition from many locations for the great job they are doing. These kids did not have a school at all until a few years ago. The town it is in, is very poor, and the kids had nowhere to go. Now the school gives them a place to learn and to grow. They say songs, and one even recited a short story they had learned in English. He was clearly proud of what he had learned. The story went like this: “I am a mouse. You are a cat. One, two, three, four. You can’t catch me cat!” Short but sweet. This is actually quite a hard set of sentences for the child, as it contains many sounds that are very hard for Mongolians to make. On the flip side, I can’t even say thank you right, as I can’t get my mouth to make some of the sounds that are a key part of their language!

Today, we had the day off, and our hosts took us to the countryside to see the Chinggis Khaan Statue Complex. This is about 60 minutes from the city, in the area where Ghengis Khan was born. The complex’s focal point is a 40 meter statue of Ghengis Khan riding a horse. It’s made of stainless steel and weighs about 250 tons. The base of the statue is an exhibit hall, but the complex is still very new, so there is not much to see in the museum portion. You then take an elevator, and then some very narrow stairs up into the statue, coming out at the horse’s neck. The head of the horse is actually an observation deck where you can view the surrounding countryside.

I would imagine this is a beautiful view on a clear day, but today was very cloudy. Just before we arrived at the site, it began to snow. The good news is, that when it’s snowing, it’s a bit warmer! By the time we got up to the observation deck, the clouds had descended, and you couldn’t see a lot.

We left the Chinggis Khan statue, and then went into one of the national parks for lunch. The national park has a series of family camps where people can stay year round. Amazingly, they had people staying in the one we went to for lunch. By this time, it was snowing pretty heavily, and becoming nearly a white out. Go the truck stuck on the way, but was able to push it out, and then help some other motorists who found themselves in the same predicament. Lunch was great, and we hoped the weather would clear a bit, but it was not to be. So we started back, thankful that other motorists before us had found the road, and we could follow their tire tracks through the snow. Eventually, we made it back to the “highway”, and started back to the city, stopping now and then to get the ice off the windshield wipers.
We had a great day today. Tomorrow, we’ll do a few more things in the city, but no more countryside excursions in the snow. One last thing – tried to post those videos of the cultural event, but I can’t seem to get that function to work. Just too slow! I’ll try again tomorrow and see what happens. More then!

Cultural Event

We had a wonderful evening at our cultural event. Several local groups put on performances of local music and dance. The first groups demonstrated several different types of native singing styles. For our western ears, some of them are a bit hard to listen to, but I can’t imagine how I could get my voice to do that! One of them was the Mongolian style of throat singing. I need to do some reading on this, but it basically uses the throat to make two different pitches at once. The gentleman that did this performed about a three minute song using this technique. It’s a very unique sound. I’ll try to post a video of it another day. They also had a musical group playing local stringed instruments and horns. They were wonderful.

Next we had the children’s group perform. This group has apparently toured to other countries and won awards. They are all very good singers, and performed wonderfully. Their songs were more modern, and they sang in both Mongolian and English. One of their selections was a Christmas medley. Never thought here Santa Claus is Coming to Town, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and Jingle Bells in March in Mongolia! Tow of the boys sang solos as well, one of them an operatic piece. I doubt he was more than 10 or 12 years old, and has a huge voice for a kid so young!

The kids performed several pieces, along with the adult groups. They also had a contortionist perform. This is also a local art form. The way she could bend and contort her body made it hard to know what direction she was actually facing!

After the show, we went to a local Korean restaurant for dinner. Great food and good fellowship, getting to know all of our hosts better. The team here is made of people from all around the world. At our table, we had people from Mongolia, UK, Nepal, Nigeria, US, Australia, Cambodia, and China. Makes for very good conversation.
Next is our first trip to the countryside. Our understanding is that it is even colder there, so it’s time to pull out all the really warm things. I imagine we will have a very interesting day!

Day 1

First full day in Mongolia. Lots of work meetings today, and not much time to see anything but the office and the hotel. You do notice two things immediately here. First, while it is very cold, it is not as cold here as I expected, nor is there as much snow. Later this week and early next week, we will spend some time away from the capital city, and my understanding is it is much colder there. Here in the city, the temperature is probably in the high teens. While that’s cold, not nearly as bad as I thought. Second, you notice the haze in the air from smoke. The smoke is from the ger fires. A “ger” is the house the herders live in here. To stay warm, they burn anything they can find in the ger, and that creates an incredible smoking haze in the city.

It is a bit funny though the temperature in the buildings here. The heat is through radiator coils that are set at some central point. I think my hotel room is about 90 degrees. I’m hoping they can figure out how to turn it down, or the window is going to have to open!
Tomorrow, more office things, and then we are to attend a “cultural activity”. Will tell you about it then.

Departing for Mongolia

Greetings from 34,000 ft above the Pacific Ocean. We’re on the first leg of the long flight to Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia. I don’t normally blog about the start of the trip, but I met a fascinating lady on the journey to the airport, and thought I’d share.

On the journey here, I met Mary on the shuttle van. I’m not very good about striking up conversations, but Mary is. She asked about where I was going and what I did for work. She then said she was going to Washington DC to receive a medal. After a little prompting, she started telling us about how she was a WASP in World War II. WASP stands for Woman Airforce Service Pilot. The WASPs are receiving the Congressional Gold Medal (she thinks that’s what it’s called) on Wednesday this week. This is in recognition of this unit’s service during the war. The WASPs were disbanded near the end of the war, and most folks don’t know much about them.

She said before she joined up, she taught ground school to Army pilots. After she joined, she continued to train pilots, and she also ferried aircraft around the country to wherever the Army needed the planes. She told us stories of how pilots at the various bases would jump up onto the wing to help the pilot out, and recognize her from her ground school instruction days. She says she no longer remembers how many pilots she trained, but that there were many.
She’s 88 now, and still has her commercial pilot’s license. A few years ago, her daughter did the test for instrument flight rules, and she was allowed to fly with her as her backup pilot. She told stories of flying through the Grand Canyon with her husband and of the many countries in which she’d lived and visited. The trip to the airport flew by, and when we got there, the shuttle van driver insisted I take his picture with her, as it’s not everyday that he gets to meet a medal winner. What an amazing lady! The ceremony is Wednesday somewhere in the Capital area. She couldn’t remember exactly where, but was very excited that her children would be able to join her. I plan to check it out as soon as I can access the internet.