A Cool Night for a Beer

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="320" caption="Dave and Oyuna at the Ice Bar"][/caption]

Saturday night in Ulaanbaatar. I had just returned from Nukht, about 20 minutes drive out of town, where the bank had held a planning session. About 7:30 I found myself with nothing much to do except watch TV and watch the washing dry so thought I would head over to Dave's Place for a bite to eat and a pint of "X". I hadn't been there for a while so thought it would be good to catch up on a few things  - like what had been happening for the last three months.

So, enter Thomo, from a -36 degree evening outside. I had walked to the pub and heaven's it was cold. Entered, undid coat and Dave says "we are just going out, come with us". Thomo does up coat again and we headed out into the cold again to the other side of the Railway line and a party around an Ice Bar. The party was hosted by some of the guys from Ivanhoe Mines. There were two half gers ((small sized gers)) there, as well as a number of 44 gallon drums burning wood. Food was inside.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="320" caption="Thomo after his stupidly walking home - the red is real as is the ice!"][/caption]

Naturally we stood outside, fully rugged up, drinking beer and freezing (but all being too tough to be the first to go back inside). Remember, it is -36 degrees celsius. The beer was kept chilled in a large insulated container with ice in it -- the ice and the container designed to keep the beer chilled for drinking, but to prevent it freezing. No insulated beer can holders (stubby holders) needed here.

'twas a good party though, great food (which I believe was made by Joel of the UB Deli), top music and a great time. The photo above is Dave and Oyuna from Dave's place standing by the Ice Bar. I could not take it any clearer on the phone camera as my hands were shaking too much from the cold.

When Your Snot Freezes

I've been away for a couple of weeks. Had a small medical problem that needed checking in Hong Kong - more on Hong Kong later.
Winter has settled into to Mongolia now - last night it was -25 and whilst the apartment is toasty warm (actually, I am lucky, I am in a new apartment so can control, somewhat, the heat coming from the central heating), outside it is, well, a little chilly.

I had experienced cold weather before, living for three years in Norway ("morn, morn, ikke sant?") and the Norwegians have a very sage saying, "there is no such thing as bad weather, simply bad clothing". They use this as justification for being out and about in any weather. Many of you can recall the pictures on television of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer a few years ago and the image that flashed around the world of a number of Norwegians, sat together in the snow with a fire, drinking coffee and picnicing in the sunshine whilst the temperature was -20.

I have sat outside in -20 temperatures in the sunshine with Norwegians drinking beer. However, I can feel that winter here is going to be a little different. Today, something that has never happened to me before happened to me. I walked outside on my way to do the shopping and ....

My snot froze in my nose.

A most unusual experience. I've had my breath freeze in my beard before (that happens around -12) but never have I had the snot in my nose freeze. Sort of makes the nose feel rather funny.

Of course, walking back from the supermarket and the delicatessen my shopping also froze in my shopping bags.

And this is only early December. Last January the temperature range here for one day was -37 to -30 ... hmm, wonder what freezes at -37 - everything else on you is well frozen by then.

Thomo Travels Again

There are no blog updates due for a couple of days as Thomo is currently travelling. Actually, sitting in Hong Kong at the moment.

Updates to the blog will resume in a few days time. In the meantime, think of Thomo getting fatter again on the wonderful foods available in Hong Kong.

Ulaanbaatar Then And Now - Part 4

Scott Notes in 2000: Well I am slowly getting used to living the apartment. Even the score between cold water & hot water in the morning is now even so things are improving in that respect. However as you are probably aware it is now in the middle of summer here and there is a lot of activity around Ulanbaatar building outside bars in preparation for the major Mongolian annual festival called Nadaam.  

Thomo Notes in 2005: Even more so in 2005. If a restaurant/bar did not have an outside eating area it pretty much could be guaranteed to be fairly empty in the summer. Summer was great. The endless blue sky and the miles of fenceless steppe are there all the time, but in summer it is special. So easy to love this country.

Scott Notes in 2000: So much so that the building next to my apartment which housed a small supermarket (sorry getting used to Mongolia - a small corner grocery shop) has built an outside bar to its entrance. Of course Mongolians like a drink or two, especially the vodka which is actually quite good  & cheap, and so I now have to put up with the noise of 1970's music and rowdy drunken Mongolians drinking there until all hours of the morning.

Thomo Notes in 2005: Er, yes, well, some things change and some things remain the same :-)  Actually, vodka seems to be a big problem here, in the same fashion as it is in other Central Asian Republics. It is not unusual to see guys passed out from it in the middle of the day. As Tseye has said before to me (actually, it was after the night I was passed out from vodka over consumption), "nothing good ever follows Vodka!"

Scott Notes in 2000: As if that is not enough the empty space between my apartment building & the small grocery store & outside bar has in the past week be turned into a car repair site. It was last Sunday night when approximately 1am in the morning I was awoken with the sound of metal being dragged across the ground & dropped. For the next 5 hours there was constant loud noise as two guys pulled, dragged, spot welded metal to secure what was before an open area. At the same time they were using a vehicle to light the area where they were working, and every so often, would rev up the engine for about 15 minutes or so, presumably to keep the battery alive. So I didn't have that much sleep that night. The next night however I found out that they had installed an outside security light which just happens to shine right into my bedroom window - just what I need - free night time light! Apparently there are no noise pollution laws here so I am now constantly subject the noise of car repair work being carried out to all hours of the night. It is enough to turn one to turn to drink - which I would not do as you would appreciate.

Thomo Notes in 2005: Hmm, perhaps a little exageration there ... Scotty has been known to imbibe the odd wee dram from time to time. :-)  In one respect he is correct, there is lots of noise around Ulaanbaatar. Next to my apartment another apartment building is being built. It was not unusual when the concrete pours were occuring, or even later, for work to continue on the building until midnight or so.   Mind, as the weather gets colder, so the work finishes earlier.

Scott Notes in 2000: The other morning, when the hot water was working, there was a knock at the front door. A Mongolian was there speaking to me in Mongolian, as most Mongolians do. And when I indicated I did not speak Mongolian he became slightly agitated, gesturing wildly with his hands. Eventually l realised he wanted to come into the apartment and  so I let him in, thinking he was there to do a job or something.. He went straight to the bathroom, and continuing his wild gestures, finally got the message across to me that the shower water was leaking through to his apartment below. I am now worried that if water can easily pass through from 1 floor to another than what about the roof! As I am located on the top floor of the apartment building - guess I will find out shortly as the rain season has just started.

Thomo Notes in 2005: Always the fear - the knock on the door in a foreign country. You don't speak the language so how do you communicate?

More from Scott later.

Ulaanbaatar Then and Now - Part 3

Scott Notes in 2000: Due to the length of my stay in UB the client was kind enough to show me some apartments that I might consider moving into. The first few were in so much disrepair that I was resigned to stay in the Hotel for the remainder of my time here.  However they eventually showed me one that I agreed to as it was more spacious than the hotel room, and was certainly a lot cleaner than the others I had seen. So I moved on Saturday.

Thomo Notes in 2005: There are many apartment buildings in many of the districts of Ulaanbaatar now. Some are old, having been build back in the Communist times, others are newer. In fact, the apartment I live in is on the 11th floor of a building and has been up for about 18 months now. Out my windows I can see many more apartment buildings being built. Ulaanbaatar still also has a large ger district, where the traditional homes (gers) are built. These are not connected to water and such - water having to be carried in from a water station. They do, however, provide a living area for those unable to afford a newer apartment.

Scott Notes in 2000: The apartment has a bedroom, a lounge, small kitchen, bathroom & toilet and costs AUD 650 per month. Today (Sunday) I am wondering if I made the right decision. The lounge is next to useless as the TV does not have cable. The bedroom is large and has plenty of space and a TV with cable. So I have set up my working area in the bedroom. The kitchen is OK, the stove hotplates & Fridge work. However the cupboards, cookware & utensil leave a lot to be desired. But at least I can now cook something and have a cold drink. The hot water isn't working at the moment, found out late yesterday that the apartment block's hot water system is under repair at the moment & should be fixed within next few days - great! Just hope it doesn't break down when it starts to get cold. The electrical wiring is suspect as I have already had a few light jolts when turning a switch on/off.

Thomo Notes in 2005: No Hot Water? See A Shower, my Kingdom for a Shower in my blog. Ulaanbaatar has the largest Central Heating System in the world, with pretty much all the hot water used in Ulaanbaatar coming from central boilers that service many, many buildings. These boilers provide the hot water for both showering and washing as well as for central heating. An apartment can be rented in Ulaanbaatar for from US $200 a month to $2000 a month, depending on the quality that is needed. My two bedroom apartment, with furniture, in a building with a lift (two actually) that is left running 24x7, with security, costs US $750 per month  and the landlady pays every bill for the apartment except telephone usage. Electrical wiring still leaves a little to be desired in UB, with a combination of old electrical implementations along with power surges and blackouts causing some more problems. There is no standard power point plug in Mongolia with US, European and Australian (Chinese) plugs common. Powerboards that take all plug types are therefore common.

However, one positive thing is that the infrastructure is improving, slowly by slowly.

Scott Notes in 2000: The phone number is 555555 (country & area code is 9761) however if you wish to call me do so between the hours 9am to 10am or around 8:30 pm. I cannot give an office number as I am actually working at three different sites and, like everything else in UB, telephones are a scarce resource & expensive. An advisor to one of the Banks here told me that she came across a country branch manager who actually locked the telephone in the safe.

Thomo Notes in 2005: Indeed, there are no public phones in Mongolia either. There are small single phone operators. Since Scott has been here the phone system has improved. There are now two mobile phone operators and even Mongolia Telecom has been making some small improvement. Country code is still 976 and Ulaanbaatar phone numbers are prefixed with a 11 these days. There are also satellite phones connecting the remoter regions with Ulaanbaatar but the transmission delay whilst passing to and from the satellite is a little frustrating. A third mobile phone operator will commence business later this year.

Scott Notes in 2000: So far I have not had much time to look around UB or the surrounding country, something that I intend to do when I get a chance. However I shall only be able to do so on Sundays as it is a 6 day, 8:30 to 6 working day week. I did go to the supermarket yesterday to stock up the pantry & fridge in the apartment. Although the cost of living is suppose to be cheap here, the cost of supermarket goods are not. For example 1 small packet of Kellogs Just Right cost AUD 6.50. At the same time there is not very much variety of items to choose from. At least I could buy some cans of Heineken at a reasonable price.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="A shop front in Erlian with its sign in 4 written scripts - old Mongolian, English, Chinese and Cyrillic"][/caption]

Thomo Notes in 2005: I have had lots of time to look around after six months here and that including all of the summer. Almost every weekend I went to the countryside with my favourite Mongolian family. I had to travel as well with work so I have visited 9 Aimags (provinces or states) of the country so far. Look in the Photo Section of this blog under the Mongolian Landscapes folder for some pictures. As far as supermarkets go, there are many "corner stores" in and around the apartments. They tend to be called supermarkets, along with the larger ones elsewhere. There are a couple in town that stock western produce as well so this position has changed over the years.

Scott Notes in 2000: That's all from now from your man in Outer Mongolia.

Thomo Notes in 2005: And for those unaware, there is an Outer and an Inner Mongolia. Outer Mongolia is, indeed, Mongolia, where I am sitting at the moment. Inner Mongolia, where the native population is ethnically Mongolian, is in China and is one of those special regions the Chinese have a fondness for. I have visited Erlian in that region. One thing I can say positively for that region is that is maintains to some extent, the use of the old Mongolian script. Mongolia itself uses a Cyrillic script. See the picture at right of a shop sign from Erlian.

Talking about Ulaanbaatar Then and Now - Part 2

I'm from Australia where one of our national dishes is lamb. I also seem to recall, either in a blog or an email mentioning that I had only seen Mongolians eating mutton and that was because they were patient enough to wait for the animal to grow up and provide more meat.

Scott also mentioned the smell of mutton as well as the waiter's not asking how he'd like his steak cooked, something I had noted too. See the trackback here for a read of that entry: Ulaanbaatar Then and Now - Part 2

Ok, in true friendly fashion, my friend Alimaa, currently resident in the US but Mongolian never-the-less, has spent the time to explain a little more about Mongolian life, as well as setting the record straight on the matter of lamb and red (under- or un-cooked) meat.

I shall now (rarely) shut up and let Alimaa do the talking.

Alimaa: As to the waiters never asking the question -- how would you like your steak cooked? -- It does not cross any Mongolian's mind that a human being could be indulging in raw meat or red meat or in any degree uncooked meat.  Here in the States, I have tried and tasted the medium or rare cooked steaks, which is tender and all. But even after all these years I still have hard time bringing myself to eating steak or burgers with any trace of redness in them. Rareness is a health hazard, if you ask me, with all the mad cow disease concerns going around. Also, eating raw or rare meats is considered seriously "barbaric" by Mongolians. I am getting a little excited here, I rarely do so or get defensive for that matter about any issues, about this subject :")  We, Mongolians, may love lamb and beef occasionally goats and camels, but we never eat them raw and cooked less than thoroughly. (Back in days, if you are a well to do family you never ate game, it is for the poor.)  

Also, you may have noticed, we Mongols do not eat baby animals. However much meat loving we may be, but we do not eat baby animals. That is "barbaric" and not humane to us.  Another thing is since we eat so much meats, the way we kill the animals is a centuries old method that is the most painless to the animals and the fastest way to kill them. We Mongolians do not let any animal's blood drip or show while they are being "prepared". The tradition is that the women and the girls are not allowed to watch or be near anywhere where an animal is being killed.  

As I was growing up we were not allowed to use the word kill towards animals being killed. It is euphemism. but I was raised to respect (not love, but respect) the animals that gave us food and all the other things to us.  In the nomadic culture there is a lot of respect for the animals and the nature. It is such a harmonic way of life and life that emulates eternity. The whole universal philosophy or the meaning of life and the nature and the wild life and the circle of life that exists in the nomadic lifestyle gets lost in the modern or the western way of life. There is that simplicity and yet profound deep meaning to life when one lives the nomadic life. It is a life full of hard work, but a happy life.  Life in which one can appreciate the most important things and the simplest things in life.....  

The western materialistic, individualistic, and "achievement/success" driven life  is the antithesis to the nomadic way of life.  The western life - the life of so-called "progress", technology, "achievement", "good health", "quality life" ..... The nomadic way of life, sure it is not sustainable in today's world, but tonight I feel like I can rebut any assertions about the life of nomads from any negative light ....  

Cable. Who cares about cable?  Apparently millions and millions of people do. But I would like not to, unfortunately even nomads are starting to care more and more about cable.  I do not carry cable in my house.  All my friends and my children's friends and their parents raise their eyebrows when they find that out about our house....  I wish I could give my kids the joy of day's hard work and the joy of "rest in bed" at the end of the long day's work all exhausted and yet so fulfilled and happy. How do you learn to live in harmony with oneself and with nature in this "crazy" society that we live in now? My answer is get a taste of nomadic way of life, get a little sip of it.  It is so beautiful .... and unfortunately its ways of life and ways of thinking, attitude, and all seems like, fast disappearing.  

It bothers me when westerners go to Mongolia and get stuck on the superficial and meaningless everyday comforts of their daily existence.  Yes, it is a developing country, it was a closed country and satellite to Russia for long seventy years! BUT: When you step into Mongolia you are stepping into a gem: the people, the real country folks, the nomads, their hearts, spirits, traditions, way of life, the rolling hills, the horses, camels, goats, sheep, yaks, the brooks and streams, the winds, the eternal blue sky, the milky white clouds, the clear starry nights, the stars so bright and so close that one gets fooled into trying to reach out and catch them, the air so fresh, the cool night breeze  .......  

The point is to open your minds and bodies and experience it. There is so much wisdom to be learned from living a nomadic life.  An outsider might just see kids in ragged clothes running around run-down or dirty looking ghers, and may get disgusted by little kids what seems like peeing everywhere. But you know what, they are the kids of nature, they are part of the nature. They are happy running like that, they have happy childhood, and they are healthy running like that and they have so much imagination and just joy of living life that is part of this earth and living the most free-est life in movement and in spirit one can imagine. My parents' generation (and mine to some extent)  they do not have any allergies/asthmas because they ate such pure and clean foods and led such healthy and active lives breathing air that may seem dusty to some but clean and free of pollutants, pesticides, chemicals and etc. (Though could not say the same about today's Ulaanbaatar I hear :-( )  

Sometimes, I wonder how do I relay these feelings and experiences that I, my parents, and my ancestors have had growing up the way we all did, to my children who are growing up in this completely different world that they are being raised in.....  But then what I, my parents and my ancestors have had may not exist there anymore... Sounds like I am turning  a bit idealistic and contemplative, and way overdue for my next visit to Mongolia's countryside (not the city!)  :-)   But then you realize what you love most or appreciate most when you do not have it anymore. Luckily for you, I am guessing, you get to get reunited with that special person :-)  and for me I could go and visit the place I love the most when a chance presents itself.

Thomo speaking again:  A lot of what Alimaa says I can agree with. I guess I would take exception on the cable, however, as Scott (as indeed me initially) came here on business trips. In Ulanbaatar at night after work it is impossible to experience a nomadic lifestyle, so in cases, conveniences like cable are important as they help prevent an overriding boredom settling in.

And yes, Alimaa, as I look out my window I can see the pollution settling on UB - a winter ill in particular.

More Scott and Thomo's Comparisons soon - and a further chance for Alimaa to comment.

Mongolian Public Telephones

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="A girl uses a public phone outside my office"][/caption]

Mongolian Currency (MNT - Mongolia - Tugriks) has two decimal places. However, due to it devaluing over the years, it no longer has any cents (decimal) equivalents. The smallest denomination in circulation is 10 tugriks and that is a note (it is also worth less than 1 cent US currency) . There are no coins in use.   The lack of coins raises some interesting problems, such has how do you have a coin-operated laundry, public telephones and the like without coins? How do you start a football match - toss a note? I have seen the same thing in Cambodia where coins were not in use. There, there was a big market for telephone cards. Here, in true Mongolian fashion, an alternative solution is in use.   Throughout Ulaanbaatar there are many folks standing with a wireless phone. These attach to a (I believe) CDMA network and these operators provide the public with access to the telephone system. See the image below. You give the operator 200 tugrik and you get to talk on the phone. There are also calling cards available in Ulaanbaatar, especially for overseas calling, but nothing beats a public telephone, especially when the temperature falls.

Ulaanbaatar Then and Now - Part 2

Scott Notes in 2000: When I 1^st arrived at UB I checked into the UB Hotel, supposedly the “best” hotel in UB. From all accounts in talking with different people, both local & expatriates, it is the best! However it would be lucky to get a 2 star rating. I had a double room which consisted of a bathroom & a bedroom (tariff AUD 140).  After checking in I went to my room to unpack & then have a shower before meeting the client for dinner. Having finished my unpacking, which was easy as there wasn’t much cupboard or drawer space to unpack to, and hardly any hangers in the wardrobe, I went to have a shave & shower. Turning on the water taps I was horrified to see dark murky water coming through. Standing there in a daze wondering what the hell had I let myself into the water eventually cleared however no hot water, not even after 5 minutes. I subsequently learnt that you have to let the water run for almost 10 to 15 minutes before any hot water will start to come through. The bath & shower taps are as per Europe where you have to pull a plug up to allow the water to come through the shower head. When I first pulled it up it came off, so after fixing it, it came up but then slipped halfway down again so that you only had a small amount of water coming through the shower head.  The cable TV only had 7 channels,  3 of which were in English, CNN, BBC & ESPStar sports.  Apparently there is a 4^th English channel that shows movies etc but it wasn’t tuned in on the Hotel set. The rooms do not have any air conditioning, and as a consequence my room was very stuffy & hot, and remained that way, as I couldn’t open the double glazed windows.

Thomo Notes in 2005: I have to mention that I also stayed in a hotel, at the time, reportedly the best in Ulaanbaatar (and not the UB Hotel). It also suffered from water pressure, especially when switching between bath and shower. The cable TV was much better now with many channels. There are, I think, two basic cable supply companies in Mongolia, Sansar and Supervision. Between them they carry the usual suspects, CNN, BBC World, Star TV, Star Movies, ESPN, Star Sports, MTV, ABC Asia Pacific, lots of Russian, NHK, Arirang etc etc. They are split between the two companies and there are probably 20 or so channels on each network, with a few of them common to both networks. I am now in an apartment and access to these channels is cheap, in the order of $4.00 per month.

Airconditioning is still a rarity here as in summer, whilst the temperature may reach 30 or so, the humidity is really low. Opening the window tends to work and at nighttime the temperature falls to a pleasant level. Eating outside in the sunshine is almost mandatory over the short summer and any restaurant that wants to maintain clientele in the summer must have an outside eating area.

Scott Notes in 2000: The hotel didn’t have a regular hotel bar. There was a small one but I never saw it open for business. It did have a nightclub bar which opened at 9pm, however when I checked it out late one night for a nightcap it was totally empty. The hotel restaurant, in fact all of the “western” styled restaurants I have been to so far, lack any menu variety, the food is low quality and often lacks taste. In a lot of cases the stench of cooked mutton hangs in the air. I now know & appreciate how Rose feels with regards to the smell of lamb. Went to the up-market El Torado Steakhouse the other night and ordered the fillet steak (AUD 18). The waiter didn’t ask anyone how they might want their steaks cooked.  It was served cooked well & truly through, with a large serving of mayonnaise on top, the steak was stringy & tough, tasted like horse meat and had obviously been well marinated, the taste of which was not particularly appealing. I ended up only eating half of it. The side vegetables were minimal and almost inedible. Fortunately the beer was cold. The local brewery makes quite a good draught beer called Chingis. A ½ liter will cost approx. AUD 3.50.

Thomo Notes in 2005: Well, beer is certainly cheaper now, a 1/2 litre of Chinggish costing about AUD $2.50 from most places. And there is certainly no shortage of places to eat and drink with many pubs, restaurants and clubs all over town. There are some that have been here for a long time such as Millies, the UB Deli and such, whilst others have only been open for a year or two - Dave's Place, Budweiser Pub and so on. As for the steak being tough and tasting like horsemeat, well, horsemeat has a different flavour. I've not tried the El Torado but in one respect, some things do not change. I have never been asked how I wanted my steak cooked - it is just ordered and delivered.

Ulaanbaatar has become a much more interesting place to eat over the years. There are now many Chinese restaurants, Korean restaurants, a couple of French, German, English/Irish style as well as Russian, Ukrainian and Thai. There are traditional Mongolian restaurants as well as modern fusion Mongolian (the three Nomad's restaurants in particular). Whilst Khuurshuur and Buuz can become a little boring when travelling through the countryside, in Ulaanbaatar in particular, there is so much eating variety now that it is difficult to get bored with food here.

Ulaanbaatar Then and Now - Part 1

Scott in 2000 Notes: Well life in UlaanBataar (UB) Outer Mongolia is certainly different to what I am used to in Australia or for that matter what I have experienced through all of my travels. It is definitely 3^rd world in just about every respect. The closest I have come to experiencing a similar lifestyle & living environment would have been when I was in Saudi Arabia & Kuwait in the Middle East - however at least in the Middle East there were 5 star hotels etc.  One thing though, at least in UB one can openly buy & enjoy a beer or two whereas in the Middle East you couldn't.

Thomo Notes: Scott arrived in Ulaanbaatar in the Summer and it was a warm summer. In the past five years though there has been a lot of development in Ulaanbaatar, new buildings, new roads, other infrastructure improvement so that whilst Mongolia is still a developing country, it is a developing country moving forward - perhaps not fast enough for some but in the right direction at least. And yes Scott, beer is still freely available here.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="The Circus from my Apartment in Ulaanbaatar"][/caption]

As for five-star hotels, Shangri-la Hotels are building a hotel in Ulaanbaatar in partnership with MCS, a local firm.

Scott in 2000 Notes: The buildings in UB reminds me very much of the country cities in Russia during the mid seventies. The only difference being that they are even more run down. It would appear that very little has been spent on infrastructure maintenance since the Russians left 10 years ago as the country itself is broke. This is also reflected in the state of the roads, the vehicles used and the energy supply. For example the roads are in a terrible state, so much so that vehicles cannot travel faster than 30 km/h due to the large cracks & pot holes. Mind you, in 99% of cases it would be very dangerous driving any of the vehicles here faster than 30kmh due to their age & condition. In Australia most would have been banned from the roads years ago as death bombs. The energy supply here is apparently improving but is still subject to frequent breakdowns. Most buildings are only 3 floors high at most & very few of them have lifts. None of the residential apartments have lifts and the stairwells do not have lights. Given that the stairs themselves are uneven and in some cases broken, one has to be careful when coming home & climbing stairs in the dark.

Thomo Notes: Yep, many of the roads are still as bad as described, whilst others are a lot better, the South Road next to the railway line for example is in pretty good condition. Road crews get around more frequently now and fix many of the problems. There is a fair mix as well of old vehicles, vehicles that are sort of falling apart and new vehicles. I must admit that Ulaanbaatar is one city where I would suggest a 4WD vehicle is necessary in town.Mind you, I have seen cars driving around with one nut missing from each wheel, as well as seeing a number of cars and trucks that have lost their wheel. And there are a lot of breakdowns. Also it is rare to see a car with a full fuel tank. Most are driven on quarter full or less. I guess this prevents loss of petrol if stolen at night when the car is parked. My favourite Mongolian family had the wing mirrors stolen from their car the other evening (and it was not even the depth of night, rather about 8:00 or so). I mean, who bothers to steal wing mirrors? Cracked windscreens are seen a lot as well, although I cannot make out if that is the result of stones or just extremely cold weather. As far as energy supply goes, it is getting better. There were a few blackouts around the office in the summer although these appear to have gone in the autumn and power has been very stable around Ulaanbaatar at least over recent weeks. As for the buildings, yes, there are a lot of 3 to 5 storey old Russian style apartment buildings around with uneven stairs and floors. There is now a lot of new buidling going on with many newer apartment buildings being built. These have elevators, security and are very modern - and they are also earthquake resistant, I believe to Richter 8.0 ... but I will happily be corrected on that point. I live on the 11th floor and the elevator here runs 24x7. And if Asiel is reading this, yes, [in best Russian accent] "soviet apartment is like soviet woman ... big, strong, ugly ... but not Russian woman!" :-)

It's a Scone

Walking around the supermarket here in UB the other day and I chanced upon a counter called "Fresh Bake". Found a second one here tonight at the Sky Shopping Centre Supermarket. Apart from baking there at the supermarket a really nice baguette, they also bake some other interesting items.   It is a scone! A fruit scone here in Ulaanbaatar (see the picture if you don't believe me). So we have lamingtons at a fast food joint, and scones in the supermarket (er, the Americans call "scones" "biscuits", and "biscuits" "cookies" :-) ).   And Joel, if you are reading this, they also do a beef pie and a pastry (which really should be spelled "pastie"). Oh, and a Chelsea Bun.   Thomo's figure will get more and more fulsome at this rate.

Mongolia, Five Years On

Well, more specifically, Ulaanbaatar. Back in 2000, a friend of mine, Scott, was assigned to work in Ulaanbaatar for a few months. During that time he sent a number of "postcards" back to his friends and family who were located in different places (at that time, for example, I was living in England and working in Cyprus - others of Scott's family and friends were in Australia, Hong Kong, Central Europe and so on). Scott sent me a copy of his "postcards" the other day and as I was reading them I was thinking "no, that is not the same now that has changed" and so on. It also had me thinking though that as I read his words, I was remembering some of the same issues and problems I first had when I arrived here.

It occurred to me then that I could publish what Scott had written here, and then comment on the changes since then (good or bad). Some of Scott's comments come from the perspective of someone from the 1st World working in a developing country and should also be read remembering that he was writing to friends at the time.

So, tomorrow I will start with the comparison of Ulaanbaatar, then (2000) and now (2005).

Talking about An Egg, an Egg, my Kingdom for an Egg

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="360" caption="The egg bar at Woolworth's in Belconnen"][/caption]

Yesterday I went shopping at the supermarkets, having returned to Mongolia earlier in the week. There were eggs. Sweet lovely eggs. I write this update on Sunday morning with a belly full of fried eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and tea. Ah, sweet bliss.

As it had been so long since I saw eggs, when I was back in Australia I took the opportunity to photograph the egg shelf at a Woolworth's Supermarket in Canberra ... that is the attached photo.

And now, it is time for a walk ... er, to walk off the eggs, bacon and sausage :-|

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An Egg, an Egg, my Kingdom for an Egg
Seems that eggs have become as scarce as hen's teeth around here (well, I could not resist that one). A great percentage of Mongolia's eggs are imported. Yep, you guessed it. Imported from those countries constantly eliminating their chicken populations due to Avian Flu. The result is that bacon and eggs for Sunday morning breakfast here has become a bacon buttee only :-(

Thomo Returns

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="The Opera House at night"][/caption]

He's back. I arrived back into Mongolia a couple of nights ago and have been settling back in. I must admit, it is nice to travel back to Australia from time to time, catch up with old friends and acquaintances, take a beer by the harbour (see the picture of the coathanger and the Opera House - the Opera House was where we had the beer).

Dad was not too well when I got back so all my well laid plans were interrupted slightly. A couple of more late nights here and the weekend and I will have caught up on that though and most importantly, Dad is on the mend. This is good, of course, as it augurs well for my future and y'all may have to put up with me waxing lyrical for another 30 years or so - Dad is an 80 year old (almost) who emails me most weeks - I guess my target is 80 and using the then equivalent of MSN and SMS.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="400" caption="The Coathanger - the Sydney Harbour Bridge from the Opera House"][/caption]

As I type this I am just watching the sun set over the west of Ulaanbaatar. Such a pretty red. Mind you, it reminds me of how fast the seasons change here as the sun has dipped behind the mountain at 17:43 and at 07:00 this morning the sun had not risen - a long dark winter coming I guess. More notes from Mongolia will follow. I just thought I should let you all know that I am back and that you can therefore sleep easily again.

Oh, and hello to all the folks reading this in Macksville, NSW, Australia, where Mum and Dad live. Not a big town but I believe my blog has a number of avid readers there.

Thomo on Tour

Thomo is currently taking a holiday back in Australia. Posts from Mongolia will resume in about two weeks time. In the meantime, have a look back through the archives and remember summer in Mongolia. You can also check on cheeseburgers at http://cheeseburger.coldie.net/

Talking about Hello, World!

Alex is a Mongolian who has been studying, and then recently working in the US. Apparently I inspired him to be creative and start blogging. Cool! I am actually out of Mongolia at the moment, enjoying some down time in Australia --- but the blog entries about Mongolia will resume after a short hiatus. In the meantime, keep and eye on Alex's Blog.

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Hello, World!
I've thought about starting my own blog for the past several months. Well, today is the day. Several bloggers have inspired me to start blogging, especially Ian from Thomo's Hole.

I welcome your comments for my future postings. Please try to be civilized on your comments, I reserve the rights to remove any offending comments without warning.

Morning Beer

I'm on the move --- but only for a short while. Two weeks vacation time so it is back to Australia to visit the family there, catch up on some Aussie food and air and generally try and relax a bit before heading back to Mongolia for the next period of my contract. I should note that my flight left at 6:45 am this morning. My Mongolian family, Puujee, Buyant, Munkhbat and Tseye decided that they would drive me to the airport, picking me up at 4:00 am. I should mention two things at this point. The first is that the airport, Buyant Ukhaa, is slightly outside the town, so technically it is in the countryside. The second thing is that when we go to the countryside, Puujee likes to share a beer or two on the drive (Munkhbat is driving so this is no problem). Every time we empty a bottle of beer, the empty bottle is worth 60 tugrugs. We try a generate a fair amount of income this way.

So, picture this. My alarm rings at 3:00 am. I get up, shower, clean teeth, do the last minute bag packing and have a cup of tea. The doorbell rings at 4:00 am, in walks the family. We chat for about 10 minutes then slip downstairs to the car and start driving out of town. Some Mongolian is muttered. Tseye leans over into the back of the car and retrieves two bottles of beer. These are opened and one given to Puujee, the other to me. It is explained to me that as the airport is outside of town, then we are technically having a country drive. We always drink beer on our country drives. Then there is a lot of laughter.

The bottles are clanked together and the word "mendee" is uttered (Tseye told me how to spell that). Some beer is sipped.

I really feel very warm and loving to my Mongolian family. Their sense of humour and good fun (as well as their sense of what is right and wrong) has always made me feel like a member of the group from the time I first met them. Mind you, beer before breakfast was, well, actually, truth be known, it wasn't too bad. If Kevan McAllister reads this, remember that flight to Bahrain Kev?

Mendee!

Rude Men

Not everything is good here. There are some downsides as well. A week or so ago Tseye and I were visiting her brother, Munkhbat, in hospital. He had just had a nose operation and we had brought him dinner from one of the restaurants around town (restaurant food being a much better alternative to hospital food - amd that is pretty much the truth anywhere in the world).We were standing in the reception area on the way out looking at some Mongolian newspapers. I pointed to a picture from the movie that had just won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. At this point an bloke around 40 or so comes over, snatches the paper from Tseye and commences to abuse her in Mongolian for being connected to a foreigner.

It was not like the guy had tried to find out the connection - was she my translator, for example, was I an old family friend or such? He just assumed that because I was western I was therefore rich and that was therefore the reason for her being there.

After a couple of threatening gestures with the newspaper, he raised his hand in Tseye's direction. At this point I should note that he had almost totally ignored me, concentrating on being a real tough guy and abusing Tseye. So, as he rasied his hand, I stepped in front of Tseye, grabbed it and then looked into his eyes. He backed off fairly quickly after that.

We remained inside for another 10 minutes or so and then left. This is the second time I have seen this. The first time was whilst I was in the Mongolian consulate in Erlian, where a drunken Mongolian man of about 50 in age abused Nara from the Bank's legal department for being married to a foreigner (she was, of course, there in a work capacity assisting in the straightening out of my visa). The gist of the argument always runs the same way and usually contains the question "what's wrong with Mongolian men?" The answer to that is self evident sometimes. Most are good. These guys though, are ratbags.

I wonder if they abuse Mongolian men who have western women as company?

Mongolian Women’s Fund (MONES)

I don't often provide direct support for NGOs and such in any of Thomo's sites, however, I particularly like the aims of this organisation and what they have achieved to date. Mongolian women in particular do it hard - and you may see another blog entry from me later about some of the reasons. Read on then about MONES and if you wish to contact them, there is an email link at the end of this blog entry.The Mongolian Women’s Fund (MONES) is a Mongolian non-profit, non-governmental organization established in 2000. MONES is the first national grant-making organization and is dedicated to mobilizing resources and providing financial support to Mongolian women’s advancement and progress. MONES is a member of several international networks such as Grant Makers Without Borders and the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID).

Program areas MONES supports are:

1. increasing the household income of women from vulnerable groups


2. fighting all kinds of violence against women and girls


3. supporting marginalized groups of women and girls.

We have supported 110 projects in the past 5 years. Our grantees range from experienced and well-known women’s NGOs such as the National Center Against Violence and the Gender Centre for Sustainable Development, to small branches of women’s NGOs in remote rural areas, such as the Women’s Council of Khar Khorin Soum, Uvurhangai Aimag, and the Rural Women’s Development Foundation of Tumurbulag Soum, Huvsgul Aimag. Almost half of the grants went to rural women’s groups.

MONES supports various activities within its program areas that contribute to promoting women’s advancement and progress. At grassroots level we support community development, and enable women from vulnerable groups to generate a sustainable income through development of basic skills such as felt-making, handcrafting, baking, producing dairy products, and through providing help in obtaining start-up materials and equipment. MONES also provides assistance to awareness raising activities that help women to understand their rights. At institutional level our support goes to building organizational capacity through training, technical support and administrative costs. At policy level MONES supports research work, publications and conferences, as well as broad-ranged awareness work to promote women’s issues in society.

MONES also focuses on developing and increasing awareness of philanthropy and promoting volunteerism among the public. One of MONES’ major goals is to strengthen the charity mind-set of the public, to direct public philanthropy to the civil society sector and to increase social responsibility. To achieve these aims we organize training, conferences, and public awareness campaigns.

Our donors are Mongolian individuals; previous grantee groups; Government; non-governmental and private sector organizations; foreign individuals and organizations; and public and family foundations. MONES organizes a wide range of fundraising activities to increase its funding capacity.

MONES is an expanding organization, and each year its grant-making and organizational capacity increases. Since its beginnings five years ago MONES has become well recognized and respected in Mongolia as a credible and reliable foundation committed to women’s rights and issues. MONES will continue to seek to bring about change in women’s lives across Mongolia and to contribute to strengthening civil society through supporting and working with women at all levels.

To contact MONES, send an email to mones@magicnet.mn and tell them "Thomo sent you" :-)

Old Cars and Autumn Days

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The Citroën Traction Avant outside the apartment building"][/caption]

I believe that the delightful car is an old German car. It looks like it is straight from a 30s or 40s movie, a black car with doors that open the opposite way to cars today. It could have been in a scene from the movie Casablanca maybe. But there is was, parked outside the apartment building today.I was strolling out to buy some music, have a strawberry milkshake with a slice of rare cheesecake and generally just stretch the legs in the autumn sunshine. It was, after all, a pleasant 19 degrees today. So, as I strolled out of the building this beautiful old machine was sitting there. It had driven in. I shall see if I can get some more pictures later as well as find out exactly what it is - but I have never seen one like this in Australia.

Update Note: Jim, a friend from the US, sent me an email today (30 September 2005) letting me know that one of his friends thought he identified the car as a Citroën Traction Avant, although he was not sure of the year.

Which City Am I In Again?

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The back end of an Ulaanbaatar bus"][/caption]

I was travelling into the Business District of Ulaanbaatar in an unofficial taxi the other day when we pulled up behind a bus. As you can see in the picture attached to this, my immediate thought was "where the heck am I?"

There are a great number of second hand buses purchased from Korea and shipped to Mongolia for use in Ulaanbaatar. This is one of them. Many of the buses bear their original liveries as well as their original signage. In this case I am following a Seoul bus, route 211, stopping Sinwol 7-dong, Yeongdeunpo Market, Hannam-dong and finally Sangwangsimni (basically from one side of Seoul and the Han River to the other.

And lest you think that is is a photo taken in Seoul, the billboard to the right of the bus is definitely in Mongolian. :-)

We All Like Snooker

Indeed, the Monglians enjoy a nice game of snooker or pool. Trouble is that renting a building to put the tables in is an expensive business, so much so that the players would be priced out of their games. The result is that over the residential areas of Ulaanbaatar, Snooker tables can be seen out on the street with the locals happily playing away. A plastic sheet provides protection against the elements when the table is not in use.

I have seen the snooker tables out and about since I first arrived here in April (gee, that's over five months ago now) but I cannot say whether they remain out over winter. I will update this blog entry in December with that information.

An Egg, an Egg, my Kingdom for an Egg

Seems that eggs have become as scarce as hen's teeth around here (well, I could not resist that one). A great percentage of Mongolia's eggs are imported. Yep, you guessed it. Imported from those countries constantly eliminating their chicken populations due to Avian Flu. The result is that bacon and eggs for Sunday morning breakfast here has become a bacon buttee only. :-(

Bye Bye Summer/Autumn

It snowed in Ulaanbaatar today. Temperature was around 0 celsius with wind chill of -7. Sigh - winter can only be days away. :-(

Working in an Art Gallery

I work at Khan Bank in Ulaanbaatar. Khan Bank is a big supporter of modern art in Mongolia. As such, the office is like an art gallery. It is really quite pleasant walking up to the office and walking past various works of art. Indeed, it provides a good break sometimes, standing and looking at a painting. Have a look at the Khan Bank website for some more information and pictures.

Talking about Best Cheeseburger in Ulaanbaatar

Since I wrote the blog shown as the track back for this, a number of people in Ulaanbaatar (or those who have visited Ulaanbaatar) have come back to me and said, "Yes, but what about the cheeseburgers at [insert favourite restaurant name here]"? I never realised that cheeseburgers created more interest around the world then say the Mongolian style of cooking with hot river stones.OK, I am a fair-minded kind of guy and my ever-faithful translator and aide confidante, Baggy (Baagi) likes a challenge so the result is, after much discussion around lunch today, the two of us will survey ALL the cheeseburgers we can find in Ulaanbaatar and will rate them accordingly. We do this for two reasons:

1. As a public service to those who may visit Ulaanbaatar and wonder where to get the best cheeseburger


2. Because whilst we like the restaurant critic from the UB Post (Hi Mark), he assesses restaurants. We want more granularity so are going for a single dish (and thus at the stroke of a pen ruling out all the Korean, Indian and Chinese Restaurants in town


3. We, both of us, have our more fulsome figure to think of and will therefore be happy to sacrifice for the betterment of visitors to Ulaanbaatar

And yes, I can't count.

We will publish the results of our survey on an ongoing basis to a separate web page (I am sure that Jeffro, Number One Son and family technical genius can give me a sub-domain to http://cheeseburger.coldie.net/) to record the results of our survey.

Baggy and I, at great personal expense, will attempt at least one cheeseburger a week and try to have the results published each weekend. We see this as a wonderful winter project. There will be a two to three week hiatus to this in October whilst I return to Australia to visit family, but folks, for the winter, it is cheeseburger "game on".

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Best Cheeseburger in Ulaanbaatar
Being a gentleman of, shall we say, more fulsome figure, eating seems to have been a prominent part of my life. Travelling a lot has meant many meals in hotels. Business has resulted in even more restaurant meals. After a while, though, what Thomo really craves is simple food, the sort of stuff you'd cook at home. Be that a humble chicken sandwich or just a bowl of soup and fresh bread. Travelling can get tiring food-wise after a time. By the time you've got to your third Duck l'Orange or Pheasant Under Glass it is all starting to taste the same.

• California - A US style restaurant and bar on Seoul Street. The cheeseburgers here have a combination of quality (good meet, cheese and supplementary items) as well as quantity (recommendation is to start eating the cheeseburger first then come back to the chips).


• Dave's Place - Where the beer is, of course, X-cellent. Dave does a quite reasonable cheeseburger too.


• Millies - Smaller that California's (and also a little cheaper too for that matter), Millies' cheeseburgers are a good lunch from time to time.

Mongolia does not have any McDonald's, Burger Kings or the like, so there is no problem defining a good cheeseburger here.

Border Post - or Thomo Gets Arrested

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="The Secret History of the Mongols ... er, rather the secret photo of the border area taken from inside the car - you can just swee the church in the middle of the windscreen"][/caption]

In Altanbulag soum in Selenge Aimag, up on the border between Mongolia and Russia, is the Sukhbaatar Museum. It is not a large museum but is significant as this part of Mongolia is where Sukhbaatar fought and defeated Chinese forces back in the 1920s, during the war that won Mongolia its independence. Just on the other side of the border is the Russian town of Kyakhta and between there and Altanbulag is a border crossing. The Mongolian government has also set aside an area here as a free trade zone to try and improve and expedite trade with Russia.

Kyakhta and Altanbulag are also significant as the location of talks in 1915 between the Russian, Chinese and Mongolian governments resulting is a treaty giving Mongolia a degree of Autonomy. This lasted until 1919 when the Chinese revoked the agreement which in turn led to the Chinese invasion of Mongolia and the later struggles for independence by the Mongolians.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Thomo in Mongolia away from the border crossing. You can see the church over my right shoulder"][/caption]

We went there.

In Kyakhta there is a beautiful old Russian Orthodox Cathedral which is now used as a customs post. Indeed, in the area between the Mongolian and Russian border points is a Khan Bank branch, used by the traders and what have you. Of course, I am the Chief Information Officer of the Bank. I mention this so that when I say, "I took a photo across the border of the church" you will understand that I do this out of a love of old buildings. There were many other people around (Mongolians and the odd Russian) some taking photos as well.

Thomo was detained by an over-zealous member of the Customs department. As I was a "third-country national", therefore I may have been a spy or a terrorist and photographing there was plainly a breach of national security. Tseye then spoke with him and was also detained.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Memorial to Sukhbaatar in the Museum - secure Russian border behind"][/caption]

Needless to say, even after showing him identification indicating that I was an executive of a Bank, that I had every right to be there as one on my branches was "just over there", and after Puujee had spoken to him gently (Puujee is a very patient and gentle man), this guy was not going to let us go until his boss arrived. Eventually he was prevailed upon to let us go after deleting the offending photos from the digital cameras (I think the fact that someone mentioned to him that he had no authority to do what he was doing, that there was no legislation preventing us from doing what we were doing along with being told that most of the people working around him relied on Khan Bank salary loans each month also persuaded him to release us).

In any case, for your amusement, a photo of the border area, another of the cathedral and one of the hero Sukhbaatar (behind Sukhbaatar is the Russian border, by the way).

Seasonal Change

I noted it before when winter passed through into Spring, and then into Summer. These were overnight changes in Mongolia. Well, they seemed overnight at least. Here we are, sitting at the end of summer. Last weekend I wore shorts, this weekend I am wearing jeans and a flannelette shirt. Summer disappeared sometime in the last 15 days or so. Leaves will fall from trees soon (again, they will be there one day, gone the next).

Today is the 10th of September, it is overcast, very light rain from time to time. Temperature at night now is about 3 or 4 degrees Celsius. Daytime temperature between 10 and 18 Celsius. In 5 days time the central heating goes back on in Ulaanbaatar.

Hmm, grey days, short days, long nights and cold cold cold to come. I am looking forward to this first winter in Mongolia. I have some books on order and hopefully they will arrive this week as well as some more hobby stuff so I should be fine on the weekends and in the evenings. Then, if course, there is the internet -- when surfing international sites it is slightly faster than snail mail - but just slightly.

Another Water Spot of Chinggis'

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Baggy adds some stones and a prayer to the ovoo at the Chinggis Monument in Dadal"][/caption]

I did not mention it earlier but when we were doing our four Aimag, 2,500 kilometre, 4 1/2 day off road jaunt around the Khan Bank branches earlier this year, one of the places we stopped at was in Khentii Aimag and it was the soum of Dadal. Dadal is famous for being the area that Chinggis Khaan was supposed to have been born in. It is a really beautiful area full of trees, mountains, valleys and fresh mountain streams.Near the soum of Dadal is a spring that issues forth from the side of a hill. The water from this spring is clear and cold and really quite refreshing. The spring is famous in the area for being the spring that Chinggis drank at. Local legend has it that the water now has a curative effect, being particularly good for your stomach. I must admit to having felt worse for wear before drinking the water and feeling a lot better later that day.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Baggy gets me some water from the stream that appears from the mountain at this point"][/caption]

I must also report that Baggy, my ever faithful translator and aide confidante, found the opposite to be the case, and his condition deteriorated during the day. Mind you, Baggy always maintains that whatever bad happens to me happens to him two days later.

Confluence of the Selenge and Orkhon Rivers

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="The Selenge and Orkhon rivers join in northern Mongolia"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="A view of the joined river, on the edge of Russia with a local train passing through"][/caption]

Selenge murun and Orkhon gol (the Selenge and Orkhon rivers).The rivers join up a few kilometres from the border then flow into Russia, into Siberia. The countryside around this area is quite superb - mountains, rolling hills, forests and open areas all combine to form a spectacular piece of countryside.

We were fortunate to be able to get so close to the border, thank you for organising that Puujee.

Chinggis Khaan's Water Spot and Camp

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="The monument to Chinggis - the blue scarves are a Buddhist sign of good fortune and general blessing"][/caption]

In Selenge Aimag, between Sukhbaatar and the soum Altanbulag is a monument to Chinggis Khaan. It is near a spring that issues from the ground. It was in this area that Chinggis along with 60,000 troops camped whilst he searched for his favourite wiife. She had apparently been kidnapped by a rival.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Whisting over the spring to generate ripples"][/caption]

The monument, along with most of the others through the country to Chinggis, is revered by the Mongolians. The spring nearby issues forth from the ground with clear, cool water. It is said that whistling over the spring causes the water to ripple on the surface. You can see Tseye trying this. As to whether the water rippled from the whistling or not, well, Tseye whistled, I watched but if you want to know, then travel to Selenge, visit the spring and whistle over the water and watch what happens.

Sukhbaatar Museum

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="The Sukhbaatar Museum, Altanbulag soum, Selenge aimag, Mongolia"][/caption]

In Altanbulag soum in Selenge Aimag, up on the border between Mongolia and Russia, is the Sukhbaatar Museum. It is not a large museum but is significant as this part of Mongolia is where Sukhbaatar fought and defeated Chinese forces back in the 1920s, during the war that won Mongolia its independence. Just on the other side of the border is the Russian town of Kyakhta and between there and Altanbulag is a border crossing. The Mongolian government has also set aside an area here as a free trade zone to try and improve and expidite trade with Russia. Kyakhta and Altanbulag are also significant as the location of talks in 1915 between the Russian, Chinese and Mongolian governments resulting is a treaty giving Mongolia a degree of Autonomy. This lasted until 1919 when the Chinese revoked the agreement which in turn led to the Chinese invasion of Mongolia and the later struggles for independence by the Mongolians.

So, back to the museum. It is a museum devoted to Sukhbaatar and the 1921 Independence War although it does contain other exhibits. The day my favourite Mongolian family took me there was the day the tour guide was on holiday so the young lady that sold the tickets escorted us around the museum and explained the exhibits.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Cannon makers mark and Thomo's Toes, Sukhbaatar Museum"][/caption]

The exhibits include a diorama of the area showing Sukhbaatar's struggles with the Chinese. There are some old weapons of the time, including a couple of wonderful old machine guns. Unfortunately I was not permitted to photograph inside the museum. Also on display are some uniforms worn by the Mongolian troops of the time as well as a number of paintings and the furniture from Sukhbaatar's office.

Upstairs is an heroic statue with Sukhbaatar and Lenin meeting. Also upstairs are some paleantological exhibits (old bones, including part of the front tooth of a Sabre-Toothed Cat (Sabre Tooth Tiger)), archeological finds from the area and some anthropological exhibits showing how Mongolians lived 100 years ago or so.

The museum is inexpensive to visit and worth the look. If you have made the effort to go to Selenge Aimag, Sukhbaatar Aimag Centre, then you may as well travel the few extra kilometres to the border and visit the museum.

Oh, the cannon picture included on this blog was the barrel from one of the cannons used during the 1921 War of Independence (and yes, they are Thomo's toes in the picture as well).

Lamingtons

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="The Mongolian Lamington"][/caption]

"Let's try the new fast food joint next to the State Department Store" Thomo said. "OK" came the reply.

Peak was the name of the establishment. Through the front door, turn left for the pub, turn right for the fast food. Thomo orders the cheeseburger (note, they do not rate on the top 3 list). Chicken nuggets is the the other order. We finished the food. On a scale of one to ten, about 2.

It was then we noticed the stand that contained various cream cakes and other sweets. Tucked away in there was something looking very familiar to a Lost Aussie.

"Let's try that one" Thomo says to his companion. It looks a little like a type of cake from Australia. We tried it. It was. Slightly heavier than a sponge cake inside but the same flavour never-the-less. Then there was the chocolate icing and a sprinkling of desiccated coconut on the outside. Yes folks, it was a lamington. Here, in Ulaanbaatar.

For those of you not familiar with the lamington, there is a recipe at http://www.aussie-info.com/identity/food/lamington.php along with a brief history. Lamingtons are part of Australian culture now and are used in Australia as simple cakes, served at government functions in Queensland where they are said to have been invented, used for fund raising (the Australian Lamington Drive) or just make a nice cake to have with a cuppa (cup of tea)! For those interested in the etymology of the word, then the Australian National University maintains a history of most Australian terms, see http://www.anu.edu.au/andc/ozwords/May_99/6._lamington.htm

Even better if you can, find a lamington, make a nice hot cup of tea and enjoy this piece of Australian culture. If you are in Ulaanbaatar, get one from Peak, next to the State Department Store - a picture is attached :-)

The Tale of the Four Mountains, Umnugobi Aimag

In Umnugobi Aimag, there are four mountains. King Mountain (Noyon uul), Queen Mountain (Khatan uul), Prince Mountain (Khuu uul) and a mountain named after the member of court that assists the King, his servant, and organises the King's domain. In Mongolian this person is known as the Tushmel and so that mountain is called Tushmel uul. Noyon uul is near Noyon Soum in that Aimag. One day, a long time ago, the mountains were close. Noyon uul and Khatan uul then argued and fought. They argued so hard that Noyon uul decided to move to the east whilst Khatan uul moved to the west. As part of this argument, Khatan uul, the Queen Mountain, kicked a rock mirror at Noyon uul, the King Mountain. Noyon uul kicked a table in his anger.

So now in Noyon Soum we find Khatan uul to the north west and Noyon uul to the south east. In front of Khatan uul is a mountain range that looks like a line of soldiers, protecting the queen. Khuu uul and I are behind Noyon uul, with the table rock between them and Noyon uul.

The mirror rock that the Queen Mountain threw was of a dark polished stone, When you looked on one side of it, you could see Khatan uul reflected in it. Look in the other side and you could see Noyon uul reflected in it. It was a beautiful rock.

In 1932 the Russians came into this area and shot the Mirror Rock. No one is quite sure why, other than it was perhaps because the rock was beautiful. The result of this vandalism was that now the rock is destroyed.

Noyon uul was so named as the rocks on the top of this mountain resemble the type of cap that the old rulers of Mongolia wore. Visitors can still travel to Noyon uul, Khatan uul, Khuu uul and Tushmel uul and see the remains of the mirror rock.

Umnugobi Aimag is the southern most Aimag in Mongolia and borders with China. It is fairly easy to reach from Ulaanbaatar.

Airag

Airag is fermented horse's milk. It is a favoured drink amongst Mongolians during the summer months. Whenever we drive out of town now we check the quality of the Airag at the local herder's ger.

Mind you, there is some custom involved in the drinking of Airag. The most interesting thing relates to the first drink of Airag of the season. Now, it should be noted that Airag is served in a large tumbler type glass or big bowl and it is usual to finish the whole glass in one go. So, you down a glass of Airag and wait. If after a period of time you feel like urinating (Number One's) then you are OK. If, however, it is Number Two's that strike and in a, shall we say, fairly wet manner, then you are not ready for drinking Airag this season.

I did Number One's.

Now, "how does it taste?" I hear you ask. Well, let me put it this way. You know how horses have a particularly, well, horsey smell, and how everything related to horses ends up smelling the same way? Airag is no different. It tastes of horse smell. Having said that, it is a fairly smooth drop (it is only fermented milk after all) and flows down really rather easily. After downing a glass of Airag you are left with a creamy taste in the mouth.

It is fun watching the family empty every container in the car so that they can collect some more Airag.

If you are travelling Mongolia, make sure you try the Airag ... but do remember to stop after the first drink to see whether you will be struck with Number One's or Number Two's :-)

Horse Poo

and cow poo, and yak poo. Living out on the Steppe, where there are no fences, are many horses, cows, yaks, sheep and goats. Now horses, cows and yaks in particular leave sizeable poos. Mongolia is generally a fairly dry country so these pads dry out very quickly and form a good source of fire fuel. When my favourite Mongolian family travels to the countryside and needs to make a fire to cook, fuel is collected. First thing collected is wood. The wood, however, must be laying on the ground to be used, otherwise it is left. Also collected is dried Poo. In the picture you can see Tseye, plastic bag in hand, collecting poo for the fire whilst the rest of us pitch tents (well, except Thomo who was taking the picture of course).

The poo works really well as a fuel, generating a lot of heat. A few twigs, some dried poo and a match and the fire is started. Add some river rocks in there, wait, then add the rocks to the pot along with meat, potatoes and carrots and hey presto, Khorkhog :-)

Cave of the Yellow Dog

We like the cinema here. It is run by a Korean company and the entry fee is 3,000 tugrigs each (about US $2.50). Toss another 2,000 tugrigs down for popcorn and drink and the movies become an inexpensive night out.We had seen "The Tale of the Weeping Camel" so Tseye decided that we should see the "Cave of the Yellow Dog". Byambasuren Davaa wrote the screenplay to this as well as directing the movie. It is set in the countryside of Mongolia and is based around a herder's family. The family is a real family, rather than actors, and they give a wonderful idea of what is like for a herder and his family.

The story is set around the family's eldest daughter. She comes back from school early in the summer (herder's children are generally boarded away at school during teaching time, coming back to the family during the school holidays). When looking after the family's flock of sheep and goats she finds a dog.

Her father is worried about the dog though as they do not know where the dog is from, just that the dog was found in a cave and is therefore more likely to have wolf exposure. The father worries about the dog bringing the family bad luck. Indeed, it seems this may be the case although in the end the dog proves his worth.

A recommended movie this, doubly so as it really does give a good idea of life in a herder's family in Mongolia. Note that the photo attached to this is not from the movie, but is a genuine herder's hut.

Mongolian Barbeque?? No, Khorkhog

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="The rocks, meat, potato and carrots are added to the pot"][/caption]

I have to admit, before coming to Mongolia I really had no idea of the style of cooking and food used in Mongolia. I mean, I had eaten Mongolian Lamb at the local Chinese Restaurant, I had eaten Shabu Shabu at other places and of course, I had heard of Mongolian barbeque, barbequing on hot rocks. Well, I have to say that generally the Mongolians are a patient people so will wait for lambs to grow up and become sheep (mutton), I have never seen anything resembling Shabu Shabu and the only barbeque I have seen in Mongolia is at BDs Mongolian Barbeque Restaurant which is, of course, an American chain. As a barbeque is an outside meal in Australia (and one cooked traditionally by men), I decided to recount the local equivalent. This is Khorkhog (pronounced like "horhog") and is where river stones are heated in a fire and then added to the cooking pot along with mutton meat, potatoes (OK, so this is only a 500 year old traditional Mongolian Meal as potatoes of course were not known in this part of the world until only a few hundred years ago) and carrots.

The food is layered with a little water, hot rocks and salt and built to the top of the pot. The pot itself ideally should be airtight (and yes, I am wondering how traditional an airtight pot can be). In the case of my favourite Mongolian Family, a pressure cooker is used. The handles of the cooker are wrapped in wet rags to protect them from the later flames and heat. So, place some rocks from the fire, then meat, potato, carrots and a little salt. Add some more rocks and repeat the food layer. Keep doing this until the pot is full. Put the top back on and then place the pot back in the fire. Leave for about 30 minutes to an hour (no real rush here).

When the stuff in the pot is cooked, remove from fire, open carefully and serve. The liquid is put into a cup and passed around as a sort of really rich soup. The meat, potatoes and carrots are just so tasty. Eat with some pickles and wash down with ones favourite libation. Heaven.

Best Cheeseburger in Ulaanbaatar

Being a gentleman of, shall we say, more fulsome figure, eating seems to have been a prominent part of my life. Travelling a lot has meant many meals in hotels. Business has resulted in even more restaurant meals. After a while, though, what Thomo really craves is simple food, the sort of stuff you'd cook at home. Be that a humble chicken sandwich or just a bowl of soup and fresh bread. Travelling can get tiring food-wise after a time. By the time you've got to your third Duck l'Orange or Pheasant Under Glass it is all starting to taste the same.

To counteract the Michelin Star Blues, I generally ensure that I try a cheeseburger in every country I travel to (along with the search for the perfect cappuccino of course). So far, the best I have encountered in Ulaanbaatar are at:

• California - A US style restaurant and bar on Seoul Street. The cheeseburgers here have a combination of quality (good meet, cheese and supplementary items) as well as quantity (recommendation is to start eating the cheeseburger first then come back to the chips).


• Dave's Place - Where the beer is, of course, X-cellent. Dave does a quite reasonable cheeseburger too.


• Millies - Smaller that California's (and also a little cheaper too for that matter), Millies' cheeseburgers are a good lunch from time to time.

Mongolia does not have any McDonald's, Burger Kings or the like, so there is no problem defining a good cheeseburger here.

When the Trucks Stop

Puujee (father of my favourite Mongolian family) noted to me that he thought the reason that the truck driver had attempted to cross the Tuul gol (Tuul River) there rather than using that rickety bridge was not for fear of the bridge falling, but rather a desire to get to the other side of the Tuul gol as quickly as possible to sit and drink vodka. So, as you can see, we have some heavy machinery to move the truck and at the same time, the foreman is there as well, supervising the process.

In the meantime, folks are still fishing from the bridge.

Tuul Gol Bridge

We had gone here once before. Unfortunately, the first time we came here, I did not have my digital camera with me. We were trying to decide where to go last Sunday and my favourite Mongolian family suggested coming back to here as I had mentioned wanting to photgraph the bridge. They also noted that as summer was rapidly departing, it would be better to do it now whilst the weather was still OK.

So, we went out there again and I managed to get stung by nettles (Khalgai) - as well as getting terribly drunk on vodka. Must suggest to famly that vodka is perhaps not the best drink for Thomo on picnics.

There is a picture of the bridge with this blog. Yes, it looks that dilapidated in real life. We have driven across the bridge twice and I have walked over it now - it is as rickety as it looks and the whole bridge shakes and wobbles when vehicles drive over it.

I will do a separate website, perhaps elsewhere in Thomo's Hole Proper, devoted to the bridges of Mongolia. Having seen a couple now I shall keep photographing them.

What's It To Feel Mongolian

I must admit, I have wondered when travelling in the countryside with my favourite Mongolian family, why the expressions on their faces change as soon as they reach the Ulaanbaatar city limits. I noticed the same thing with the guys who came on the whirlwhind four Aimag tour with me earlier this year. Also, every chance they get in the summer, the family is out to the countryside. I then received a lovely email or two from a Mongolian lady living in the US. She gave me permission to reprint the content of it here. It seems to sum up what it is to be a Mongolian and why Mongolians of all people seem to have the greatest difficulty living outside of Mongolia. Alimaa noted:

"Sain, sain bain uu?

"I am glad that you are one of the foreigners who love Ulaanbaatar (UB). Though I have to admit that if I were not born and raised in UB I am not sure if I would love UB. But again UB today is not UB in a lot of senses the UB I know or the UB I grew up in. I can understand and identify lots better with people falling in love with the countryside of Mongolia. That fenceless land under the eternal blue sky that I can claim as all mine. And that is the feeling that I would never be able to replicate, alas.

"In summer of 1993, I remember at some point there were four us on a weekend hitch-hiking trip from Kharkhorin after visiting the ancient capital of the Mongolian mighty empire back to UB and it happened so that our little hike coincided with the election weekend, which meant that there were no cars going from or back to UB.

"We walked for two whole days and I remember there were sea of rolling hills all around us, not another human being in sight as far as one's eye could see and that is when I remember having that feeling of vastness, continutiy, and eternity and the feeling of owning this whole land all to myself. This land was granted, handed down to me from my fore and fore grandmothers and grandfathers. This land was mine, this sky was mine, those rolling hills were mine.

"Now that was freedom, freedom to own, freedom to love and freedom to go wherever our souls pleased to. And we had no tents, no sleeping bags, no food rations with us, we were just at the mercy of Mongol nomads' hospitality, that is if we ever happened to cross one. And of course we did, and of course we were fed well and put to sleep in some herders' warm ger.

"Now fastforward 12 years later, here I am writing an email message from my home in Northern Virginia at 2am in the morning to Mongolia!

"Speaking of Mongolia, I did visit Mongolia in the last 12 years. Three times to be exact. But you know how these visits go - short, restless, too many people in too little time, almost superficial, though. Never get to see and observe the real flow of life and struggles and beauty of the county life.

"The last time I visited UB and Mongolia was in 2001. I am hoping maybe next summer I could stay for a nice extended visit .... will have to see.

"Cheers,
"Alimaa"

And I think that about covers what it feels like to be a Mongolian in the countryside of Mongolia. Alimaa is also very articulate (as you can see) and I would hope that I can persuade to write some more, in English, about being a Mongolian abroad, or growing up in Ulaanbaatar. I will happily publish what she writes here.

Stinging Nettles

There I was, in shorts and thongs (flip flops for the English). Taking photographs of the bridge over the Tuul gol (Tuul River) outside of Ulaanbaatar when as chance would have it, I stepped through a small plant. Hmm, thinks Thomo, there is something hot and itchy on my left leg. I naturally then rubbed the left leg with the right leg. Damn, hot and itchy on both legs now. I photographed the plant, photographed the bridge and then came back to the car. I showed my favourite Mongolian Family the picture of the plant on the digital camera and they all laughed. Thomo had stumbled through a patch of stinging nettles. In Mongolian, these are called khalgai (thank you for that name Alimaa).

I can report, however, that standing in the cold, fast moving waters of the Tuul gol relieved the stinging feeling from my legs. Er, the beer helped as well ;-)

The Praying Man

Near Terelj National Park is a rock formation known as the Praying Man. When driving from Ulaanbaatar to Terelj, if you are lucky you can make out the rocks that form the Praying Man. However, it is travelling from Terelj back to Ulaanbaatar that the praying man is most visible.There are many rock formations across Mongolia that look like other things, this is one of them.

Terelj National Park (Protected Area)

There is a lovely area about 50 minutes drive or so from Ulaanbaatar. Taking the South Road and heading south out of town and then turning off to Terelj. Once you enter the areas you travel past some lovely terrain, a mix of rocks, mountains, hills, valleys and all manner of stuff. Some of the rock formations make quite visible objects (look out for these described later here).

What is really nice in this area (and indeed, in many other areas of Mongolia) is how much like Mongolia this area does NOT look like. I mean, ask 10 people what they think Mongolia looks like and they'll tell you "flat, desert, steppe, windy, no trees". It is not surprising that those images abound as those flat featureless areas have a mystery in and off themselves and as such, they are what captures the imagination of people outside Mongolia ... dreaming of Chinggis' Hordes, white flag to the fore, riding across the Steppe to conquer most of the known world.

The truth about Mongolia is somewhat different. Yes, there are those flat steppe areas. Yes. the Gobi is a desert. And yes, the steppe and the desert cover a large area of the country. There are, however, also mountains, lakes, trees and such spread across the country as well. Mongolia is generally, flat in the south, mountainous in the north.

My favourite Mongolian family knows I really like trees (see an earlier blog here about Dancing Trees and Pretty Girls - in the June 2005 archives) so they tend to take me to places that are tree filled. Terelj is one such area. There are tourist camps in the Terelj area so visitors can stay there a couple of days. There is also a Korean restaurant, lots of gers (many selling Airag), horses, some camels and yaks, pretty much most things people want to see when they come to Mongolia. There is also a lovely park area.

We stopped there, we had lunch (salami, cheese, bread and beer) and then we had dinner (mutton, potatoes, carrots, er, and beer). Look closely at the pictures. Does this look like the Mongolia you imagine? Come have a look at the country.

Poor Cappuccino Froth and Coffee Not Quite Hot

One thing that Thomo has continually searched the world for is the perfect cappuccino. I've travelled to around 50 countries and have tried a cappuccino in most of them - even in Cambodia. For the record, the best one so far, allowing for the temperature of the coffee and the thickness of the froth, was the Italian Restaurant on the Aker Brygge in Oslo, Norway. That coffee was absolutely magnificent. The fact that it was summer and there were loads of gorgeous Norwegian girls walking past as we drank it only served to heighten the experience. I digress however.

Ulaanbaatar has a number of foreign restaurants - French, Italian, Korean and so on. It also has a number of coffee shops (German, French, Italian and Korean) selling coffee and pastries. I have tried a "cap" in most of them and so far they have all come up short. The coffee component is lukewarm or the froth is thin. It just was never quite right.

I did start to wonder if the problem was the milk here. Some of the milk is local and the rest of it appears to be imported from Korea. Then it occurred to me. Baagi (Baggy), my translator and ever faithful aide confidente and I were talkiing whilst driving home. We were talking about the boiling point of water and how it gets lower the higher you get (go on, cast your mind back to high school physics).

Then it occurred to me - perhaps temperature is the problem. Ulaanbaatar is 1316 metres above sea level. That means that water boils here at 95 degrees celsius, not 100 as it does in say Sydney. Cappuccine requires steam passing through milk and steam occurs when water boils. In Ulaanbaatar, the steam is cooler than in low laying cities. Could this be the reason I could not find a good cappuccino in Ulaanbaatar? Perhaps.

In any case, I am glad to report that I have found the best cappuccino in Ulaanbaatar. It is at the newly opened Irish pub, the Grandkhaan. They have a coffee corner and the cappuccino there is really very good.

Entrance Charges for Foreigners

Yesterday we drove out to Terelj. Terelj is a protected area (I guess it is the equivalent of a National Park). There are Juulchin (tourist) camps and the usual horse and camel rides available. There is also some lovely quiet places, near the river and so on. As you approach Terelj, there is an entrance gate manned by government employees - at lease I guess that is who employs them. They collect an entrance fee for the park. The charge is 300 tugrig for a Mongolian or 3000 tugrig for a foreigner. This does, of course, annoy many foreigners, especially those that come from countries where we have been taught to protect the local environment and especially the environment within a National Park.

However, the twin charging scheme applies almost everywhere in Mongolia. At the Gandantegchinlen Khiid monastery with 25 meters high statue of Migjid Janraisig in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolians are let in for free but non Mongolians are charged $1.00. I believe that if you were a foreigner and are now a permanent resident in Mongolia, or citizen, you still have to pay the foreigner rate. That, I think, is a little unfair. I can accept the higher rate for bona fide foreign tourists and businessmen here temporarily over locals, if only because the minimum wage set by the government in Ulaanbaatar is currently $37 per month, whereas $37 is perhaps about the same amount a pair of tourists may have spent for dinner the last night. Charging locals 3,000 tugrigs would therefore be the equivalent of charging them a fair percentage of their monthly income.

Still, it is sometimes galling to have to pay the two fees, especially when it is my favourite Mongolian family taking me out. Yesterday we avoided the problem. As we approached the gate, I was asked to get something from the back of the vehicle. The fees were paid with the gatekeeper able to see the three Mongolians in the vehicle as well as my bottom. As we pulled off I was told to look forward so that the gatekeeper would not see me as we drove past.

Success, Thomo in for 300 tugrigs. Still, I guess the truly amazing part of this story is that Thomo must have a very Mongolian looking bottom ;-)

Fences

Fences are a reasonably new phenomenon in Mongolia. Most of the country is unfenced and the herders live a nomadic lifestyle. Even near the Aimag Centres and the Soums and Bags there are no fences. However, this changes when you get into the Soums, Aimag Centres and such, with fences now enclosing parcels of land that Mongolians now own. The rest of the country is still unowned (I guess this means that the government owns it) and people and animals roam as they will.

The Soums and Aimag Centres are becoming more like everywhere else in the world now with property fenced.