The Mongolian black market

A visit to the largest, and cheapest, market in Ulaan-Bataar. A sensory overload; see for yourself…

A ring-a-ring of roses

Shamanism was popular in Mongolia before the advent of Buddhism, yet it is still practiced today. We visited a shaman shrine and had to walk around it three times in a clockwise direction and throw stones on the pile; this was for good luck.

Temple in the mountains

Another day, another temple. This one involved quite a hike in the National Park, really this was a hike; well it was up hill and took over an hour (this constitutes a hike in Wendy world!). However, the trek was intersected by Buddhist sayings, statues and other pretty things to take your mind off the incline.

The walk was worth the while and the temple really decorative; this time we had to take our shoes off. Mind, I was relieved to descent, take five and soak up the scenery. And here are the pix…

En route…

At the top…

Shoes off…

The end 🙂

The Mongolian Wendy House

Central to nomadic life is the Gir (or Yurt), a circular tent which they can easily erect and dismantle for life on the road (or desert). Apparently, once your skills are honed you can put one up in just three hours. Luckily, our Gir was already built which is just as well as I struggle with a tent.

I did not know what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised how homely and spacious they were. The one we stayed in was also quite decorative, I’m not sure whether this was because we were in a tourist camp or whether it’s their take on interior design; the latter I hope.

Oko had arranged for us to visit a 70 year old local lady who lived, with one of her sons, not too far from our camp. We arrived there to see her return with her cows, ready to be milked.

There are some courtesies of Mongolian life that visitors should adhere to. The first is, on entering someone’s home you walk and sit in the left hand side of the house. If you are a family friend you can sit on the right. Secondly, it is extremely rude to decline anything that is offered. I’m glad we were told this as the lady had prepared a veritable banquet for us all.

Life as a nomad is all about routine; tending to their cattle, milking their cattle, making food from the milk and so the circle continues. The making of food is a daily task and most of the delicacies derive from milk. The feast prepared was accompanied by salty, milky tea and we spent an hour chewing the fat (or rather cheese!) with our host.

Back to camp, and hooray, another happy birthday. We celebrated Fred’s special day with fizz and chocolate cake. Divine.

Mongolian National Park

Our next bus trip took us to the Mongolian National Park, where we were going to spend the next two nights. After a stop off at a super market to stock up on munchies and beers, we left the outskirts of the city and headed east into the countryside.

En route, not only did we try some fermented camel milk, which tasted like sour cream, we also stopped off to meet Mr Eagle; boy was he heavy.

Gandan monastery

Let the history lesson commence… Gandanlegchenling (aka Gandan; the ‘great place of the great joy’) Monastery moved to its current location in Ulaan-Bataar in 1835. However, those darn ‘communists’ headed east and by 1938 they has desecrated over 900 monasteries in Mongolia and killed lots more monks. At this site, five buildings remained, which they used as accommodation for Russian officials, oh and horse sheds; only the best for the red army’s horses!

Following a petition in 1944, the monastery reopened, however under the strict control of the socialist government. Fast forward to 1990, the democratic revolution and the resurrection of religion; Buddhism flourish once again as too the beginning of an ambitious restoration project to the site.

Mongolian Buddhism differs from traditional forms of Buddhism in so far as the monks can marry, can have their own possessions and, if the needs arises, you can touch them! So,it was no great shakes to see a monk with a mobile phone in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

I am not au fait with Buddhism and luckily we had Anne and Fred on hand to keep us on the straight and narrow.

Surrounding many of the temples were ‘praying circles’, cylindrical metal drums. You had complete the circle (some had 50+ drums) spinning each one with your right hand only. On completion not only would it bring you good luck, but you also got to make a wish; win, win!

We entered one temple to watch the monks, with their scriptures, praying and chanting. On leaving a religious building you should walk out backwards, so not too turn your back on their religion – a respect thing. And also, on entering and leaving you had to step over the door lentle; I’m not sure whether this was a respect or good luck thing, either way I did as I was advised. I’m not sure whether their is a difference between monastery’s and temples, but here we could leave our shoes on. I’m hoping by the time I end my trip my knowledge of different religions will be much more advanced.

The site is swarming with pesky pigeons, with many local folks on hand to sell you seeds to feed the the birds – not sure if it was ‘tuppence a bag’ 😉 In fact, there were lots of sellers onsite touting their wares. From paintings, to charms, bracelets and coins; all was available for a price. Diana found me a coin; a Karl Marx coin. Yep, i come to Mongolia and buy Russian artefacts; regardless, I was pretty chuffed.

Randomly we came across a pair of gold feet. However, it was soon explained that these feet once belonged to a Buddhist statue which the Russian’s had mutilated; off with your head, body and legs so it seems. The master plan is to recreate the statue, on completion it hopes to be higher than the Statue of Liberty.

There was info and drawings about how they are hoping to restore the site across the next 10 years; but it all seemed a bit Hollywood to me. I think restoration is one thing, but recreating another. Yet, as an up and coming country they seem to have decided to go down the tourist route, do they have another option? Again, I wondered what Ulaan-Bataar will become in 10 years time.

Hello there Mongolia

We arrived in Ulaan-Bataar, hooray, at about 6.45 am and were welcomed by the cold; it was baltic! We were also greeted by our local guide Oko (I’m not exactly sure how you spell it in Mongolian, but you pronounce it okey, (as in ‘okey dokey’). On the way to the bank (yeh, the banks open 24/7!) we found out that Mongolia’s population is only 3million and about 60% of the population live in the capital; Ulaan-Baatar. It is ethically diverse, housing 20 different cultural groups.

Oko, one of 8 siblings, was born in the countryside and brought up in the nomadic way of life until her parents moved to the city. Following her parents retirement (they were both professionals, I think doctor / univ tutor) they decided to return to their heritage three years ago and spend their retirement looking after 2000 sheep and goats, 50 horses and 75 cows. I found it interesting that they choose this, but there again I’m not Mongolian and couldn’t think if anything worse, but I suppose in our culture it happens too (or why would we have a ‘place in the country’ tv show); albeit without as many animals!

I digress, as you know life on the train was slow and smelly; we were all so looking forward to taking a shower, so off to the hotel we trooped. The hotel was quite plush, we were allocated our rooms and decided to get cleaned up before breakfast. That was until the power went off… Eeek, well these things happen 😉 despite having to shower in the dark and being unable to dry our hair, we were cleansed and ready for our city centre tour.

The centre of Ulaan-Bataar is quite small, although the city is extensive, so a visit to the main square (it began to snow at this point and no one was estactic about leaving the bus; I know not very hardcore – we were really not prepared for snow!) was followed by a hike (in the loosest sense of the term) to the war memorial where we were able to take in the cityscape. It was only from here you could digest how large the city was and the vast number of construction projects that were underway. Given its seasonality, construction only takes place a few months of the year, so progress is very slow. However, you get an inclination of how, in 15-20 years, this city is going to transform drastically. Modern Mongolia, I wonder how that’s going to look?

Out of the cold and into the Cashmere Factory, one of Mongolia’s biggest exports. We had a mini tour and then time for shopping. As hard as I tried, and I tried very hard, I was unable to purchase anything; grandma goodies.

That evening we had the treat of visiting a traditional show which was just spectacular; musicians, dancers, singers and even a contortionist thrown in for good luck; the traditional costumes were stunning, the instruments so very different and the singing (once you had modified your eardrums) moved the soul.

Then off to celebrate Di’s birthday at a Mongolian BBQ. We all went there expecting slabs of meat ready to throw on the coals; what we were greeted with was slightly different. You could choose your veggies, meat and sauce and take them to a tepanyaki style hot plate and five minutes later, voila, a tasty treat. Following a delightful 2004 bottle of Italian red and a birthday cake, homeward bound; an early night before our Gir adventures begin 🙂