Travels into No-Man's Land

JM - Our week-long spring break has come to an end. We had some interesting travels, most of which is really, really difficult to explain in words. So, this blog posting will mostly be photos from our experience. We travelled to Choir (like a state capital city), Shivee Gobi (which is a town in Gobi Sumber aimag (aimags are like states)), Munhhaan ( a town in Sukhbaatar aimag) and Baruun-Urt (the state capital city of Sukhbaatar aimag). All of these places were way off the beaten path. We left Wednesday morning, and drove for 4 hours to reach the first place. It was mostly paved road. The second day however, as we travelled to the next town, we took no road. It was a six hour drive following a path through the flat, open nothingness. We stopped 4 or 5 times at a random ger to ask directions. It was a very bumpy ride! In those 6 hours we saw only 3 other vehicles, all trucks of some sort. All our traffic troubles came only from random mud puddles, losing the track we were following, and slowing to a stop to let horses, cows, sheep and goats pass in front of us. Our trip back yesterday was a nine hour drive, the first half without any road, the second half with a paved highway that in a few places just ended, and then started up again a few km down the road. And now for the photos.

This is one of the men clayton interviewed for MercyCorps. We are sitting inside his ger. You can see on the sofa next to him a small bottle with some fabric. That is his snuff bottle, something that all mongolian men have. When people come to your house, it is a whole ritual of presenting your snuff bottle to them -- there is a certain way to present it, a certain way to receive it and inspect it and return it. Its pretty cool, but the snuff (tobacco powder) is pretty potent.

Above is a photo to show you the bowl of freshly cooked goat's meat that was shared with us. You can see some knives that we were given to cut ourselves off a chunk of super fatty meat. It was pretty good, if you got some without much fat, which wasn't easy.

here's a picture of a typical mongolian horse. they are small but stocky and hardy. We saw countless horses like this one grazing in the endless pastures.

This is the home of one of the people we interviewed. This is their "winter camp" which they will leave soon to move around for the spring and summer with their herds. You can see clayt in his red coat.

This cow was snacking on garbage in the middle of one of the "cities" we visited. In with the rubbish was a cow skull with horns, which this cow was using to scratch his face.

The sign at the top of this building says "delguur" which means "store." Not many people know that the swastika was used by lots of people long long before hitler, and is related to ancient buddhism practices.

This little girl was at one of the gers we visited. I just thought she was cute standing there in her purple sequined boots chilling with her puppy. She's at the entrance to the ger, which I wailed hy head against, as I always forget to duck to go in.

A view of one of the "cities" we visited. Can you imagine living here? Most of the cities had no roads, just a lot of open space and you drove where you needed to go.

Here is Clayt standing by our "road" to the countryside. Our translator said we were lucky, as this was one of the better roads available. Would you be concerned if your driver went off the paved path and followed this route instead? Better yet, later that day we got to drive an hour and a half of it in the DARK.

This guy was awesome. He was one of the people clayt interviewed. He is wearing the traditional del (the blue coat/robe) and the boots made of felt. Not really pretty, but super thick and super warm. You can see on the sofa in the corner there is an empty bottle of vodka. He was a generous host, and as we talked, he continuously poured shot after shot (in a rice bowl) for everyone, until the bottle was empty.

A big gold bust of lenin i saw in a tailoring shop we were visiting. Not sure what that's all about.

We got to see a horse race on our last day in Sukhbaatar. I was trying to take a photo of the finish line, but this guy thought I was taking his photo. I guess I was.

Here is one of the early finishers of the horse race. Mostly the racers are children, 5 years old and up. The race was for 25 kilometers. Can you imagine putting your 5 year old on horse for a 25km race?

Here are some camels we saw on the ride home! We had stopped for a bathroom break. Out in the endless open, with no tree or rock in sight to hide behind, I did not partake in the roadside bathroom breaks.

Here's another little cutie hanging around one of the farms we were visiting.

This couple were very nice herders that we visited on our first day. They had lots of cute little lambs and baby goats, and they let them out of the pen to visit with us. One that was only a few days old put itself right between my feet and proceeded to nibble on my jeans. Clayton said when they opened the pen I gave a squeal of delight and he thought I was going to die from being overwhelmed by so much cuteness. I don't remember the squeal.

A last shot of the goofy looking camels giving us the eye as they passed. It was really awesome to be out in the middle of nowhere, no cars, no roads, no people, no buildings -- just us, the earth, and some wary camels.

Thank you!

We have been in mongolia now for 3 and a half months. We just wanted to post a quick note to say thank you to all our friends and family members that have been so supportive of us. Your phone calls, emails, letters and packages are priceless to us! It makes us feel great to know that we have so many people that care about us, and support us and the work we are trying to do here. We know life is about choices, and it was ours to take this path. We feel lucky to have family members and friends that are cheering us on even though its a path not many would take. So, thanks for all the love!

Hillary President Don't.

JM - That is what our cab driver said today. He also said, "Osama Bin Laden... Boom!" in reference to a chinese hotel being built that he apparently hates. He was jovial and spoke a little english, and then tried to talk to us with a mix of crazy gestures, hungarian, russian and mongolian.

We got the package from my mom today, so a big thanks to her for that. She also sent hers express mail, and it got here in less than 12 days. No word yet on the whereabouts of Char's big shipment of goodies, or the x-mas card from jo and dan. We think they'll arrive eventually, as our friend just finally received a book from the states that was sent back in November.

School is going well and we have spring break next week. This term has been a real adventure for us, and we wish our break would be longer, but I think everyone thinks that way. We will do some travelling over the break, so we'll post a blog after then.

Saturday we had parent teacher conferences. They went well in general. The father of 2 of our students invited us to their house for dinner on Sunday. He said he would call between one and two, and then he come pick us up. They showed up at 12:30, without a phone call. This is how it goes in Mongolia. So, we went to their house, to see how real mongolians live. In our opinion, they were not living the typical mongolian lifestyle. Their apartment building was gated and had a guard. They lived on the 6th floor, but their aparment was the size of a house, and even had 2 floors. 3 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, an office, dining room, kitchen, huge living room, patio and play room (with a full sized piano). They also had a maid. It was a beautiful place, and we had homemade chicken soup with rice, salad, steak, scotch, merlot, coca-cola, buuz (traditional mongolian dumplings), dried fruits, candies cookies and cakes. They had the fine china out with the extra forks and everything. Maybe for some of our friends at home this doesn't seem like a big deal. But, compared to how most of the people here are living, its very very exorbident. While we ate and chatted, the maid washed the dishes. Some of them clanked in the sink, and both the mother and father spoke to her harshly in mongolian, then carried on with the conversation. They are really nice people and their kids are sweet. It was our first time riding in a Lexus SUV, with tv screens on the backs of the seats and cordless headphones. So it was an eye-opening experience for us, to see what life is like at home for some of our students. Bedrooms bigger than ours and several flatscreen computers and tvs, a maid to heat up soup and serve it to you whenever you like...

Here is a photo of clayt and amrah playing a game of some sort of poker.


And here are some things that are on our bathroom doors to indicate what you should do where. We have tried without success to remove them. I think they've been painted over. It looks real classy.

Bus Accident

CM -- Yesterday it snowed. This comes after a day that hit 45 F (incredibly warm for Mongolia at this time of year). The snow and warm weather created a lot of water, which, when the temperatures dropped again, turned into beautiful ice. The roads aren’t taken care of very well here. There are no plows or salt trucks. People are employed to sweep the roads off with giant straw brooms. Ice is removed by pounding it with large steel bars, then shoveling it on the curb. Needless to say, this doesn’t happen very quickly.

OK, now I’ve set the scene. After volunteering yesterday, I got on the bus to meet Jessica and some friends for dinner. As we passed the Wrestling Palace, the bus began to skid (just before a red light). It skidded right into the car in front of us. The bus driver got out. Everyone on the bus stood up to look, but the doors didn’t open, so everyone stayed on the bus. The driver came back, got something from the driver pod (the driver has his own miniature room built around him on the bus), then tried to run away. Someone grabbed him, but lost their grip. He ran off the bus, leaving us on a bus that had been in an accident without any driver. This was shocking to me, but no one else seemed too concerned. Another person (hopefully employed by the bus company) immediately sat down in the driver’s seat, and drove us away, making all the normal stops as if nothing had happened!

Maybe I missed something somewhere, but that’s how I saw it. Quite interesting, especially considering a Mongolian policeman was sitting in the seat next to me. He never moved. Our friend Amrah said that is normal. Since the policeman was not a TRAFFIC policeman, he really wouldn’t do anything. I have to say, it was convenient, though. I didn’t lose a lot of time, and it gave me something to ponder for the rest of the ride…

Coming Soon to ESPN!

JM -- How do you think this rates as a sport -- above or below those woodsman competitions when they balance on logs and the likes? This is what our TV options were the other night -- watching this, Transformer re-runs, Korean Soap Operas or MTv's "Pimp my Ride" dubbed over in Russian.

Please enlighten us if you know anything about this sport where it appears that you box with your knee while hopping on one foot.

Wouldn't you be a Vegetarian?

This is why we don't eat much meat here.

Exciting News - Clayton is now a published author!!! Here is a link to an article he wrote for Mercy Corp's Website! His supervisors were pleased with what he wrote, and changed almost nothing in his content! Check it out and send a congrats his way! Tsagaan Sar Market article

So, here are some various photos that we wanted to show you all. By the way, a big thanks to Kenny and family for the package of goodies that arrived today. For those of you keeping track - it was sent by air mail and they were told it would arrive in 4 to 6 days, and it arrived in 13. It was also under 8 lbs. and we're told that the heavier it is, the longer it will take.

Last week was english week at school. As 2 of the three English teachers, we were involved in the planning and performing for all of the activities. Below you can see a giant word search I created (took me 3 hours), and 2 photos from the "Knowlege Bowl Competition" which Clayt wrote all of the questions for and was also the MC for the event. It was a big success, and just today the school director called us into his office to give us "achievement certificates" in appreciation of our hard work in making English Week something fun for the kids. We are so awesome. We rock Mongolia.



Here is a closeup of the wood we were given to heat our Ger. We loved how there were still door hinges attached and nails sticking out all over the place.

Here is a giant statue of Chinngis Khan being built out in the middle of nowhere. The only ones around besides us when we took this picture were three scrappy dogs, one which excitedly jumped up on all of us one at a time.

And, here is an exciting find from terelj - a jaw bone (?) with some teeth. We didn't take a photo because it is so rare to see this, we took the photo becuase we see this sort of thing a lot.

A Trip to Terelj

Over the weekend, Jessica and I went to the town of Terelj in Gorki-Terelj National Park. The park is convenient, as it is only about 80 km from Ulaanbaatar. We hiked (got sore), rode horses (got sore), stayed in a ger, visited a family in there Ger while they received guests for the Tsagaan Sar holiday, and rode a crowded bus back to the city (I mean mosh pit-crowded). But rather than bore you with the tedious details, I want to take you on a journey through tedious pictures…


When we arrived in Terelj, we looked for a ger camp. Although the season is rather cold, we decided we would like to stay in the traditional Mongolian accommodations. Ours, short of really roughing it, sat behind a hotel. In the picture above, Jessica is taking a nap on the surprisingly comfortable ger beds. They sit up a bit high so as to keep you layer of heat that sits toward the top of the ger. We put our perishable goods on the floor near the wall and some of them froze…


Here is where the smoke exits the ger and the light enters. It is also the center of the radial network of poles that hold up the angled roof, covered with felt and canvass.


And here is why it is so important that the smoke exits the ger. Your options for warmth are wood, obviously salvaged from old furniture (thus the paint and the hinge) and lumps of coal. We found that the wood creates a hot, yet short-lived fire, while the coal provided a cooler, yet much longer sustained heat, good for the nights.


Here, Jessica is enjoying the comforts of the modern world while standing in a palpable coal-induced fog. The door can really kill your head if you don’t bend low enough, ask Jessica – she knows from first-hand experience.


When we awoke the next day, we decided to go for a hike. We walked through the small town and up some hills/mountains (I guess it depends on how you define it). From above, we could see groups of traditional local homes.


The mountains and hills around the town were not only beautiful, but incredibly quite and devoid human presence. You easily lose sight of any sign of civilization, and when you stand still, you can only hear your own tiny movements. When I tried to go to sleep the first night, my ears seemed to be ringing with the sound of nothingness.


We sometimes came upon animals grazing. No one was around. I suppose people just go collect their animals later. We happened upon this horse grazing just outside of town.




The views from the hilltops were wonderful, as evidenced above. Unfortunately, our forms didn’t always accentuate the pictures we took. Above, you can see two of our best pictures. I made Jessica include the picture of her with her eyes closed, as the scenery behind her is spectacular. This is not the busy tourist season, so we didn’t see another human for about five hours of walking.


We saw an unnerving amount of bones and bone fragments on our hike. Here is one of my favorites. See how happy I am?


Jessica, on the other hand, was obsessed with the bark fragments we saw. The trees from which the bark fell must have been filled with termites or something, because the bark fragments had very interesting patterns carved into them.


from hill to hill (these are really big hills. maybe mountains), the landscape changed, sometimes subtly, sometimes drastically, as evidenced by Jessica’s perch above.


Something like five rivers run through Terelj, but they all freeze and/or dry up in the winter. This river appears to have done both. The river froze, then dried up underneath the ice, which eventually caved in. Our friend told us that the water in Terelj is clean enough to drink. We were skeptical until we looked at the ice. You could pick up a chunk and see right through it.


The next day, we took a horseback ride with a guide. Unfortunately, not being great riders, we weren’t able to take any pictures. In Terelj, horses are still the main means of local transportation. As we rode down a dry riverbed and out of town, people on horseback kept popping up everywhere. They were visible in the distance, then would disappear into the trees at a full gallop. Small children, old men, young people dressed in western fashions, everyone rides horses. And on this day, a holiday, everyone was very social, riding up beside our guide and shaking hands, talking for a minute, or helping us to get our lethargic horses moving, then they would ride off.

Our guide took us to visit a family in their ger. As it was a holiday, there were about 16 people inside. The ger had a diameter of maybe 16’. We were offered snuff (from a traditional snuff bottle – apparently kinda a big deal here) and tea, then vodka, candy, and buuz – the traditional steamed mutton dumpling that everyone eats on this holiday. In all, we were received warmly, and everyone appeared jovial and deferent to the elder of the household. We gave gifts to the oldest man there, and we were given gifts as well (I got socks, while Jessica got some sort of beauty product). Although I am sure that the family often receives foreigners during the tourist season, it was nice to visit on this holiday and see the family interact, including their many traditional habits (sitting around the ger according to age, accepting things from the elder with the right hand supported by the left hand, a greeting where arm position denotes elder relationships, etc). There was also a whole sheep skinned and cooked and then piled up in the middle of the small table. On top of the sheep carcass lay the tongue, apparently the most tasty part.


Finally, it was time to go. We waited by the side of the road, at the “bus stop.” Jessica is at the “bus stop” above. We were doubtful a bus would appear at 4pm as was promised. When the bus came from who knows where, it was already packed. We pushed in and proceeded to be packed tighter and tighter at each subsequent stop. We would occasionally stop on the side of the road in what seemed like the middle of nowhere to us (no buildings or gers to be seen) and there would be some more people wanting to pack onto the bus with us. We made it back to the city in just about 2 hours. The trip was over, but the ease with which we undertook it has inspired us to try and make more frequent weekend trips to the countryside. Why not? The long distance bus only costs about $1.50!

"Skiing" Field Trip

Here are some photos from the "ski" trip we went on with our students in grades 4 through 7. It was actually sledding on tobaggin like sleds made of metal. Here is a photo of clayt standing next to one of the Gers we rented. This is actual size, for clayt and the ger door.


A nice photo of clayt after we climbed up the mountain that was behind our sledding hill. It had a great view, fresh air, and a shaman rock pile.


Here we are, on top of the world, together.


Below is a photo of me in front of the shaman rock pile. To the left you see a couple of kids who climbed up and said hello. We said Hello back, but one of the Mongolian teachers with us said quite sternly "Don't talk to them!!! They just want to ask for money or some other things." Well, whats wrong with that? It sure was quite a hike to get up there, if they came all the way up for a little money, seems like they might need it more than us. Anyways, they never even said anything other than hello, and smiled and waved to us. Why do people have such disdain for those less fortunate?


Here is part of the view worth the climb.


And another part of the view.


This is a photo of Sheridan wearing the traditional Mongolian outfit, called a Del. We saw a guy snowboarding wearing one of these today, it looked pretty cool. Also, you can see that inside the Ger, its actually pretty spacious.



In all it was a fun trip and we're still nursing the bruises from sled collisions and whatnot. This coming weekend is the great big Mongolian New year holiday, and we're taking our first trip out to the countryside on our own. We'll put stories and photos of our 3 day adventure asap, if we survive. :)

Tsagaan Sar Market Days

Tsagaan Sar is the Mongolian Lunar New Year (more info about Tsagaan Sar) - it's kind of a big deal. Tsagaan Sar translates to "white moon." The mongolian culture lesson is over now.

So, I volunteer for MercyCorps Mongolia, and they organized a Tsagaan Sar Market in a famous marketplace in Ulaanbaatar (formerly called "The Black Market"). They produced radio and print advertisements, as well as banners hung around the city. The market was set up for their clients in various Aimags (kind of like districts) in Mongolia. These are herders, farmers, and others creating products in the countryside. MercyCorps helps link these people with training, business planning, and with obtaining credit to grow their businesses. MercyCorps also has a collateral fund to help the clients get larger loans. All and all it is quite interesting, and I'll talk more about this in a later post...

...But back to the market. I went on Friday to interview the organizers of the event, the vendors/clients (mostly selling meat, dairy, and textile products), and customers. The goal is to write a feature article for our website and, possibly, for other organizations that would like to use it.


This process of interviewing was new and interesting. I am not a journalist, as many of you know. But, as others of you know, NGO's don't have the biggest staffs or budgets to pay writers. So I am as good as it gets. I'll link the article later, if you are interested in specifics, but some highlights: one vendor was selling sheep "carcasses." His word, not mine. He had sold a lot of them. I guess they are a commodity. An old man customer complained about the prices, but still went to the vendors from the Aimag he was born in (Gobi Altai) and bought their products. Others sold Camel milk Airag, which is an alcoholic drink - basically fermented camel's milk. Not only did I drink some, but I was given a big jug to take home. Again, more on this later.

In the final analysis, the event was quite a success. The vendors appeared well on their way to selling all of their products, and had acheived some of the market linkages they had hoped would materialize. I have questioned the premise of helping these people become more "business-minded," but one of the directors put it to me in a very clear way. He said that if these people cannot make the lives they want in the countryside, they will just move to Ulaanbaatar, further crowding and polluting and dilluting the traditional ways of life. If they can make a good living in the country, they will stay there. In this era of the mega-city, this seems like progress.