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.