Categotry Archives: Travel
13 Pretty Pix of Mongolia
1. Sunrise over Khovsgol Lake. I could swear I was looking North, but that was definitely sunrise, so I guess it’s to the East.
Archery
Archery is one of the stronger sporting traditions in Mongolia, along with wrestling, and horseback riding. There are arrowheads laying around on/in the ground in Mongolia at about the same rate as in Montana – not something you’re going to stumble across all the time, but not a big surprise when you find one. There were a number of metal ones in the museums. The archers of Chengus Kahn are said to be one of the main reasons for his […]
Grocery Shopping in Mongolia
I don’t normally travel with tour groups. If I can, I generally car-camp. I’ll stop off at restaurants that look interesting, but generally I hit grocery stores along the way and fix my own food. Since this tour provided food for most of the trip, I really didn’t expect to stop in at any grocery stores at all. To my surprise, we hit several.
The Reception
They’d done this twice already and knew the drill. Disembark, collect the luggage, find the drivers, and go to the hotel. Tiring, but simple. When they reached the ground, it was to find a wall of soldiers with a brass band waiting in the wings. After a moment of confusion, the Minister of the Military’s reception committee stepped to the side. Wrong plane. The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story in exactly 55 words. […]
13 Animals
Ok, enough with the goats. Time to show you what else I saw in Mongolia. 1.The “Reindeer Family” brought a family of reindeer for us to see. Well, a female and her offspring and a male, anyway. They didn’t bring more than that because reindeer don’t do well in such warm weather. It was up into the 70s.
13 Pictures of Goats in Mongolia
Goats have not traditionally been a favored animal for nomadic Mongolians. They do too much damage to the roots of plants. However in recent years the lure of high pay for cashmere has lead to a steady increase in goat herds. Now they are all over Mongolia. Although we were fed more beef, we saw far more goats. 1. Sometimes quite close.
Scarves and Prayers
I mentioned earlier that Mongolians use scarves in their religious beliefs. Specifically, they wrap scarves around sacred objects. In the picture to the right you can see them wrapped around a pole placed in a pile of rock. This is an ovoo. It’s a common practice in the shamanic traditions of Mongolia to place piles of rock – sometimes with a stick or pole, but not always – in places where a deity is believed to live. For instance, there […]
13 Things I Ate in Mongolia
There is a saying in Mongolia: “Breakfast is for yourself, lunch is for friends and family, and supper is for enemies.” The idea is that you eat the most at the beginning of the day and the least at the end. Things have changed. They still make an entire meal of breakfast, but we had some three course suppers too. Between meals we were treated to many home made foods. Here is some of what I ate: 1. yogurt 2. […]
Cell Phones in Mongolia
When I first started getting ready to go to Mongolia, I went to Google Maps and gave the place a long, hard look. Mountains. Fields. A few towns and Ulaan Baatar. That was about it. Knowing how much trouble I’ve had with international calls, I assumed there wasn’t a big enough market when people were spread out so much so I didn’t even take my cell phone with me. I mean, we’re talking about a total population of 2.8 million […]
Modern Mongolia
It’s in the air. Not a crackling, but the tinny song of Sim’s over the cell phones of shepherds. No lights, but a satellite dish. Do they even know what an Xbox is? In twenty years will they be like China? Will they have six lanes of highway and an airport you can drive under? Will they be recognizable? “My country is devolving quickly,” says the guide, and I can’t decide if he means it that way or not. The […]
13 Facts about Gers
You’re probably looking at the picture and thinking “That’s a yurt”. That or maybe “what is that thing?” It’s the typical home of a Mongolian nomad. Also the typical home of a lot of people who aren’t so nomadic anymore. More about that in a minute. 1. Calling it a “yurt” is insulting to Mongolians. It’s like your saying the years of Russian oppression are more valid than their own heritage. Mongolians have good reason to be sensitive about this. […]
Gandan Monastery
Photos 1,2,and 7 from my Thursday 13 last week were taken at the Gandan Monastery in Ulaanbaatar. In case you missed it, Ulaanbaatar (pronounced like lawn bought-er) is the national capital of Mongolia. I know of at least two Buddhist monasteries there. We visited one.
