Mongolian musings....

Originally I planned to write all my fascinating observations about Mongolia on this blog, but alas alack my intentions remained as intentions. However, I have captured a few thoughts and experiences from this great country in writing, and thought maybe I should post them now (better late than never).

These are just my thoughts and experiences so don’t take it as hard facts. I don’t claim to be an expert in Mongolian culture and language. I’m sure I’ve misunderstood things…..and it can be difficult to get a straight answer about things – for example: bags on the ground – people in mongolia never put their bags on the ground and if you put your bag on the ground they will suck in their breath sharply and pick your bag up and put in on your chair or on the table. When I first got here I asked many people what this was about – the answers varied - some people have told me its bad luck, some have said its because it means you don’t value something if its on the ground, someone said that they didn’t really know what it meant they just did it out of habit and one woman looked at me with great surprise at my question and said ‘you don’t put your bag on the ground because it will get dirty!’ - so I have no idea what the real reason is. (NOTE: i suppose a mongolian in australia would be equally confused if they asked why we don't open umbrellas inside)

Here are my first impressions of Mongolia:




Ulaan Baatar in wintertime...

(October, 2005) I’ve arrived and settled safe and sound in Ulaan Bataar, Mongolia (here on referred to as “UB”). I’ve fallen behind in my writing due to nasty flu and chest infection which has bubbled me in a haziness of which I have only just emerged from.

And here I find myself living on the eighth floor of a soviet style concrete building peering out over a hotch potch city landscape of similar style apartment buildings, crazy streets – and out to the mountains that encircle Ulaan Bataar – and it is all topped by a vast vast blue sky, the likes of which I have never seen before.

Our apartment block is quite similar to all the other apartment blocks in the city. While the outside of the building looks like something from a sci-fi movie in a post nuclear world – barren, grey, crumbling, daunting – and the building entrances and stairways are dingy and decaying – and the front doors are bunker-like metal slabs – inside they are warm, cosy and inviting. Our building is 10 storeys high with an exterior of grey mouldy concrete. The building seems very sturdy with walls about 80cm thick – including all internal walls. We have central heating which is very very warm – we mostly wear light clothes inside (tee shirts etc). We have double windows and doors – including the front door which looks like the entrance to a secure bank vault. The security is pretty hard core.

We even have security people at the front door – a couple of cheery older women who sit in a little room with glass walls watching television or playing cards. They smile nicely as we walk in the building and spend a lot of time trying to secure a long narrow carpet to the slippery tiles in the foyer using masking tape. It seems to be a never-ending battle. Getting to the eighth floor involves a slightly nerve racking venture of entering a claustrophobic and rickety lift that groans and clicks with alarming regularity but gets the you to where you need to go.

The space between our building and the next there is a run down playground in a sparse gravelly park. It looks like it was built in the early 1970’s and has never been taken care of and just gradually run down. The swing squeaks so much it could wake you from the eighth floor even with your double windows closed! There is an Alsatian that lives in the apartment below us. It sometimes comes out onto the crumbling balcony and barks ferociously at any dog it can spot 7 floors below.
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Our apartment is quite spacious and large. From one side of the apartment the view is straight out to the mountains which surround UB. We get the most spectacular sunsets! My room is on the other side of the apartment which overlooks the city and power plant (off in the distance) and beyond that is the mountains. It’s a pretty sensational view - with so much happening that I can view from window. My windows also open out into a little balcony, but I haven’t spent much time out there yet as it has been too cold and the balcony has a bit of a crumbly-sloping-cement quality to it – which is not great when you are on the eighth floor!!



The weather has been kind so far. October is usually an average of zero degrees, but so far we have had many days of around 10 degrees and even up to 14 degrees . Mind you, when its that temperature you still get wind which is ffffrrrrrrrrreeeeezing – and we have also had a few very cold days of minus temperatures – even a snow flurry. The weather is bearable though because the sky is invariably clear and blue and huge. Interestingly, as with the arrival of the wet season back home in the tropics – everyone here is laying out their predictions of when the weather will take a dive and the snow will arrive. People are predicting by next week which is a bit shocking! I’m still getting used to these above average temperatures! I’ve had to purchase some new winter clothes – including a down jacket. But apparently clothing steps up a notch or two when the snow arrives. This morning there was snow sprinkled on the mountains. Eek!

Mongolia is quite extraordinary in that when the Soviets left Mongolia in 1990 it was done without any violence at all. They just packed up and left and Mongolians stepped in to fill the gap. It is now a country with a real buzz – UB is going ahead economically in leaps and bounds. However, people tell me that corruption is rife in the government. The majority of people in UB (and the rest of the country) live in gers. Gers are the traditional housing – like a yurt (which is Russian) – a round felt tent. Here in UB there are vast areas nicknamed the ‘ger-burbs’ which have grimy gers set up with wooden fences around them. From what I’ve seen its usually a large house block size – or bigger – but with one tiny little ger inside the fence – no plants, no grass, no nothing. It looks strange. There are so many people living on the edge of poverty. People living on tiny amounts of money in desperately poor conditions. Even people that were wealthy people of the land one generation ago.

The city is a real mix of opposites. There are many highly fashionable women who wear mega inch stilletoe boots with dangerously pointy tips that would certainly be able to gouge an eye or two if needed. Then on the other hand there are also many people (say one in 10) who are wearing the traditional dress which is a dell.

Dell is a three quarter length coat which has long arms and buttons up off to one side, much like a chinese jacket. In the winter they are lined with wool or sheepskin. They are usually made for you by your grandmother. Mostly the people wearing these seem to be older people and teeny children. The men wear duller brown or grey or even deep green felt type dells – with leather belts around the waist and long floppy sleeves – with calf length leather or felt boots – some with the tips curled up. The women (and some men) wear incredibly brightly coloured silk dells of magenta, aquamarine, emerald, orange – with equally colourful contrasting sashes of lime green, gold, fuschia….Buddhist monks wear maroon or bright goldy yellow dells.

The world of UB that we live in is affluent. I am feeling spoilt for the luxuries after living in Katherine for a couple of years! As it turns out its cheaper for us to eat out than to buy groceries and eat at home. I’m not quite sure how that works, but I am getting used to it. As fancy as it sounds, getting to eat out every night, I would actually prefer to eat at home, - the price difference is major. Groceries are equivalent prices to home – eating out costs range from $2 if you eat Mongolian to $8 for a fancy steak dinner. Mostly our dinner bill is about $5 (including beer) and we are pretty spoilt for choice (especially compared to Katherine!) So far we have sampled Korean, Chinese, thai, café style food, german, French bakeries and Italian. I have only eaten monoglian half a dozen times. Eating Mongolian is quite an intense experience, that I am still easing into. Its mostly tasty and hearty food – mutton dumplings, mutton soup, deep fried mutton stuffed pastries, mutton and noodles. The difficulty in eating it is that it is rich in fat, stodgy if you like – and there is nothing to break up the stodge. The mutton soup I’ve had has literally been a clear fatty broth with huge chunks of mutton – and the mutton is at least 50% fat, if not more. People lap it up with chunks of steamed dumpling-like bread or deep fried bread – and they suck the bones clean.. The other thing I’ve tried is the milky salty tea that people drink so enthusiastically – its called ‘tsoo-tei tsay’. Its extremely weak tea, quite salty and basically like warm salty watery milk. People love this drink. I find it kind of contrary to what i would normally enjoy, but somehow its an appealling drink. i feel repulsed while i;m drinking it but also compelled to keep drinking. strange...I haven’t been exposed to the airag yet – which is the fermented mare’s milk. I am happy to wait for the experience…..