Mongolia

July 18-August 21, 2003

As our train slowed into the main station of Ulaan Baatar (UB), the capital of Mongolia, we were rewarded with sunrise views of our first gers, traditional Mongolian houses (explained in greater detail later).

We had an offer to stay with some friends of a friend for our time in UB, and quickly took a cab to their apartment, and arrived there at a zesty 6 in the morning. Not knowing what to do- should we wait outside for a while or just ring up his place- we decided to risk it and ring his apartment. Luckily for us, Scott, along with his wife Jamie and their 3 sons- Sebastian (6), Max (4), and Aiden (18 months)- were fine with the early wake-up call and welcomed us into their home like we were old friends, when in reality we had never seen each other before.

This encounter typifies their unlimited kindness, as while we were in Mongolia, they were practically running a hostel. By our count, they housed 7 different people (including us) during a 5-week period, 6 of whom they had never met before. Using their lovely apartment/house/hostel as a base, we set out to explore Mongolia.

On our first day, we just spent the day wandering around the city, constantly remarking how great we thought it was. Everything seemed so wonderfully different to us- distinct from both the West and from Russia, where we had just come from. There were people on the sidewalks with scales, where, apparently, for a small sum of money you could find out your weight. Even more ubiquitous were the satellite phones that were seemingly on almost every block- picture a 'pay phone' but it is a cordless phone being operated by someone who you pay for dialling the number you’re calling. The pool tables on the sidewalks also added a nice touch.

We returned to the house in the early afternoon to relax a bit, and lucky we did- all of a sudden, it began to rain. And then it began to pour, and then it got even worse. Meteorological words do not do justice to how hard it was raining, complete with thunder, lightening and hail the size of golf balls.

Welcome to Mongolia!!!

Though the storm certainly was amazing, it turned out to also be deadly for 26 Mongolians. These 26 people were killed by the raging currents of the flash floods, while many others’ homes (gers) were swept away as well.

The following day, Scott and his oldest son, Sebastian, took us out to Terelj National Park for the night. Though we were only about 1 hour east of the city, you truly got the feeling that you were in the middle of nowhere. After driving for only 20 minutes the cityscape fell away and the population became sparse. It was astounding to us that in such a short distance from the biggest city in Mongolia you could have total nature- no buildings, no people, no animals, just lush green rolling steppe stretching the very limits of the horizon, with maybe a thin plume of smoke way off in the distance coming up from the ger of a nomadic herder family.

Our two days in Terelj were truly spectacular for a number of reasons. First off, it was just downright beautiful. The rains had left the verdant hills covered with multi-coloured wildflowers, providing a nice contrast to the greens of the landscape and the blues of the sky. Literally, we could go on and on ad nauseum about how beautiful the Mongolian countryside was. It was so amazingly vast and, especially to someone who pictured it to be a barren wasteland of sorts, vivrent. In a word, it looked like Montana.

Second, it was our first introduction to gers, most commonly referred to by the Russian word yurt, in most parts of the world. Gers are essentially a circular felt tent, held in place by 88 wooden poles and a wooden fence-like contraption that makes up the sides. These pieces are held together by not a single screw or nail but instead by leather. This makes it easier to put up or take down a ger as well as material efficient- something that lends itself quite nicely to the nomadic lifestyle lived by their inhabitants. A typical ger is about the size of a large family room in most houses back home, in which an entire family (sometimes up to 9 people) live, sleep, eat, etc. The bathroom/outhouse is never connected to the ger but rather situated some 100 yards away. At the top of the ger, there is a circular opening about the size of a car tire, through which the stovepipe goes, depositing its smoke outside. In times of rain, the hole can be covered, leaving just enough space for the stovepipe to deposit the smoke. And while it was certainly warm during the day, at night it could get quite cold, but nestled comfortably in our ger with a fire going in the stove, it was nice and toasty.

Fortunate for us we learned a few ground rules about gers from Scott and others before we actually entered a Mongolian family’s ger. Rules and etiquette that you should know before entering a ger. Never knock on a ger door; instead announce your arrival by yelling “Are the dogs tied up?” When entering never step on the base of the doorframe, step over it otherwise you bring bad luck into the ger with you. In the ger men sit on the left-side of the ger while women sit on the right side and when you’re sleeping your feet should always point towards the door so if an intruder enters you can see him more easily and your head isn’t so vulnerable. If you wore a hat when you entered don’t take it off once you’re inside; if you did the hosts would think you want to spend the night. Never lean against the supporting pole that’s in the middle of the ger. And if you want to present a gift to the family a blue prayer scarf is always appreciated and believed to keep the family safe and healthy.

We spent the next week in Ulaan Baatar exploring the city and its monasteries, of which there are many. During the time of the Mongol Empire (mid 13^th century to late 16^th century), the Mongols conquered a very isolated country, a land with even harsher terrain than Mongolia and which practised a distinct form of Buddhism- that is, distinct from Theravada Buddhism which was the dominate religion in Southeast Asia, and still is to this day. This country was Tibet and its unique religion of Tibetan Buddhism appealed so much to the ruler of the Mongolian Empire that he made it the official religion of the entire Mongol kingdom, which stretched from Russia in the north to modern day Cambodia in the south, from Vietnam and China in the east to as far away as Iraq and Armenia in the west. To this day Mongolia is the only country in the world outside of Tibet to adhere to Tibetan Buddhism.

As most people know the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists is the Dalai Lama. However, even this commonplace term has its roots in the Tibetan-Mongolia relationship. The term ‘dalai’ is in fact a Mongolian word meaning ‘ocean,’ while ‘lama’ is a Tibetan word signifying ‘teacher’ or ‘guru.’ Put together, it is commonly translated as ‘ocean of wisdom,’ a title that was bestowed upon the 3^rd Reincarnation of the Buddha of Compassion by the great Khan of the Mongol Empire.

Tibetans are often referred to as nothing if not religious. The same could be said of the Mongolians. As a testament to this 700 monasteries were constructed all across Mongolia, despite the fact that the country has one of the most inhospitable environments anywhere on earth. However, the Soviet Union Communist armies destroyed all but three monasteries in Mongolia during the Stalinist Purges of the 1930s. Some of them have been rebuilt so we spent much of our first week in UB visiting these monasteries, some of which are among the most important in the entire country.

Apart from visiting monasteries, we spent our time wandering around the city, participating in Hash Hikes (typically a bunch of ex-pats and a few locals who run or walk as a group to reach a feast and pints in the end), hanging out with the Weinhold family (Scott and Jamie have 3 adorable boys) and eating some really great food. A little know fact about Ulaan Baatar is that it has some great restaurants- Indian, Thai, Chinese, Italian, American, and even a pizza delivery service. And while that may seem strange to most of you reading this, to anyone who has ever eaten Mongolian food it is perfectly reasonable. (FYI- there is no such thing as “Mongolian BBQ” in Mongolia. Some western invention we assume.)

Mongolians traditionally eat only dairy during the summer- yoghurt, milk, cheese, and airag (an alcohol made from fermented mare’s milk)- and meat during the winter. They are nomadic people, so farming is not a part of their lives. In fact, they resent farming, as it ties a person to a particular spot for a considerable amount of time. Needless to say there are very few, if any, fruits and vegetables in their daily diet, which partly explains the numerous health problems of the general population. Perhaps most telling of all, the Mongolian word for vegetable literally means ‘edible grass.’

Much of our diet there, particularly when we were in the countryside, consisted of rice, soup (only served piping hot), and mutton, which to us meant sheep. However, in a nomadic herder culture, a young animal is too valuable to eat, so mutton in Mongolia means old sheep, or worse, old goat. It was pretty tough meat, and very fatty. To wash it all down there was the choice of salty tea (usually yak butter tea) or overly sweet milk tea. Neither are as bad as they sound, but it did take some getting used to.

So, posed with this peculiar culinary taste, many ex-pats (a person living in a country other than their own) realized that if they opened up a restaurant serving up their country’s food, they could do quite well. So, while we were in Ulaan Baatar, we had traditional Indian food prepared by an Indian, huevos rancheros cooked by a Cuban, and Thai cooked by, well, Singaporeans, but it’s close enough. There were also French, German and Scandinavian bakeries serving up fresh bread and pastries. All in all we found Ulaan Baatar not such a bad place to live. That is, of course, if you can handle the negative forty degree winters- UB is the coldest capital in the world.

After our week exploring UB, we headed off into the countryside about 100 miles north of the capital, to volunteer at an 8-day leadership/ropes course camp for 16 “at-risk” teens from UB. This turned out to be one of our best experiences of our trip. The camp is ran by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), a non-profit non-governmental organization (NGO) aimed at helping developing countries solve problems on the local and grassroots level. There were 3 camp leaders, one of whom spoke English fluently, one cook (named Magic, always a good sign) and one local handyman. Other than that, there was no one else around, as the camp was nestled in an extremely private and remote spot in the countryside. Our role was to help out with the kids as much as possible, but to also observe how the camp was run and offer our suggestions.

Throughout the 8 days we suggested ways in which improvements could be made, however, over all both of us were blown away by how well the camp was run and how cool it would have been to do something like that and in such a beautiful location when we were 13 years old. The camp combined critical thinking obstacles, confidence building challenges, and trust building exercises; and at the end of the day all were supplemented by personal reflection and journal writing time as well as goal setting sessions. The activities were a combination of physical activities- such as getting the whole group over a 15 foot wall, repelling down a cliff face 50 feet, or walking a tightrope 30 feet off the ground- and mental challenges to teach and encourage these kids to set goals for themselves in hopes to keep them in school and away from drugs and alcohol.

About 3 days into the camp, we had to ask one of the camp counsellors ‘um, what exactly are these kids at-risk for,’ because they seemed so well behaved, polite and responsible. We never saw any fighting, they were great listeners, and they were all very respectful of us and the counsellors; one girl even volunteered to help in the kitchen just because she wanted to. The answer was that they are at risk of dropping out of school due to the absence of goals, and turning to alcohol, which is nationwide problem. The idea was to counteract these ideas by instilling self-confidence and trust in themselves.

The first 4 days passed quite quickly, and the kids were really interested in us, which was great, because this was a great opportunity for us to learn about typical Mongolians and their culture. For the 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th day, the whole group, us included, went hiking into the hills just north of camp. This gave us tons of time to mess around with the kids and get to know them a bit better- or at least learn the Mongolian words for ‘log,’ ‘hole,’ ‘flower,’ and ‘walking stick.’

By the time we got back to camp, there was only one day left, and while I don’t want to say we were excited to leave, the ideas of a shower and a meal that didn’t involve mutton were quite enticing.

We sadly said our goodbyes and headed back to UB for a few days before going right back out into the remote yet beautiful steppe again to explore the Gobi Desert and its 33 ecosystems for 8 days.

Man, did that shower feel good.