Five days ago I hit the ground
running and didn’t stop until today.
Now I lie in bed on the morning of my sixth day in Mongolia, luxuriating
in my comfortable bed at the Sunshine Hotel and kind of wishing I could just
stay here as long as I want.
But, Cap has other ideas—as well
as errands to run in the heart of the city.
He also wants to show me around downtown Ulaanbaatar.
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| Old and New: Sneakers and traditional up-turned boots, worn by a young woman and an older woman. |
I drag myself out of bed, shower,
and dress for the occasion—nothing fancy, just comfortable clothes for walking
around. This IS Mongolia, and casual is
the norm.
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| Breakfast delivered to my room by My Butler (my affectionate term for any of the Sunshine Hotel staff who delivers it). |
The first adventure is riding the
bus a mile or two down the main drag, Peace Avenue. As usual, the traffic is intense as drivers
jockey for position. It’s best, if you
aren’t a resident or a contender, to just close your eyes or look off to the
side.
Just listen
to the music of the traffic in the city
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty
How can you lose?
The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
So go
downtown
Things will be great when you're downtown
No finer place for sure, downtown
Everything's waiting for you
—Downtown,
Petula Clark
Downtown, you would think you
were in any large city. Modern buildings
sit adjacent to historic ones, and a central square called Chinggis Khan Square
also displays a statue of Damdin Suhkbaatar, Mongolia’s equivalent of George
Washington, for his role in the 1921 revolution.
The name “Ulaanbaater” is a “gift”
from the Soviets who ruled/heavily influenced this country since 1919. Actually, the name might be a gift to all of us because the Mongolian name was NiÄslel Khüree. Mongolia's relationship with Russia is a long one. During the 13th century, the
Mongols invaded much of Russia, killing a significant portion of the
population. Then China decided it
wanted Mongolia, and so it went.
Mongolia has a long history of relations and trade with both Russia and
China.
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| The square. |
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| The statue of Damdin Suhkbaatar, the George Washington of Mongolia. |
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When Mongolia declared its
independence from the Manchu dynasty of China in 1919, its freedom was
fleeting. China didn’t take too kindly
to the idea and invaded in 1923. They
were rebuffed in large part by the new Bolshevik Russia, which supported the
new socialist Mongolian People’s Republic, and Russian troops were stationed in
Mongolia on a permanent basis until the Soviet Union broke apart in 1989.
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Those 70 years of communism
resulted in Mongolia being isolated from the world, weakening and deteriorating. Operating under the tenet attributed to Karl
Marx that “religion is the opiate of the masses,” Josef Stalin’s Soviet
communists began purging Mongolia of its leaders, including party and
government members, the military, patriots, nationalists, the wealthy,
intellectuals, and Buddhist clergy.
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As Cap and I walk across the
square, I am approached by a man selling hand-made cards. The simple, clean art appeals to me, and Cap intervenes
to bargain the man down to six cards for 20,000 tugs, or $10. When Cap asks about envelopes, the man leads
us to the adjacent post office (one of Cap’s favorite places) and helps
translate.
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| A bookseller unpacking his volumes. |
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| These two in traditional dress were sitting outside the post office. After I took their photo, the man at left held out his hand. I shook it; he wanted money. |
Cap and I have lunch at a KFC
(for fun and the coleslaw) and share a slice of Black Forest cake at the
impressive Blue Sky hotel right across from Chinggis Khan square.
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| KFC original dark and coleslaw. |
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| The amazing Blue Sky hotel |
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| Lobby |
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| In the lobby |
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| Sitting/eating area off the coffee shop. |
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| A painting in the lobby that I love love love! |
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| Detail in the painting. |
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| Women's restroom. |
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| Some of the flags flying outside the hotel. |
He takes me into the impressive
State Department story, a modern, chic, and has everything from foodstuffs to
fur coats.
It would fit right into any
large city in the U.S. or elsewhere.
I
get busted taking photos (not allowed), so take a look at Cap’s story with
multiple stealth photos taken over several visits:
http://babakaps.net/?p=16199
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| Two Cinnabons in this store. |
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| Mongolia's musical instrument: the morin khuur or horsehead fiddle |
This is what Wikipedia says about the horse head fiddle:
The full Classical Mongolian name for the morin khuur is morin toloγai tai quγur, á ®á £á ·á ¢á ¨
á ²á £á ¯á £á á á ¢ á ²á á ¢
á ¬á £á á £á ·, (which in modern Khalkh cyrillic is Морин толгойтой хуур) meaning fiddle with a horse's head. Usually it is abbreviated as "Морин хуур", "á ®á £á ·á ¢á ¨
á ¬á £á á £á ·", Latin transcription "Morin huur". In western Mongolia it is known as ikil (Mongolian: икил—not to be confused with the similar Tuvan igil)—while in eastern Mongolia it is known as shoor (Mongolian: Шоор).[1]
With a population of less than a
million, some historians estimate anywhere between 22,000 and up to 100,000
Mongolians were executed during the Soviet era, particularly Buddhist monks. Since the downfall of the Soviet Union in
1989, mass graves have been exhumed in several places, with civilians and
Buddhist monks all executed with a single bullet to the head.
But Mongolians kept their dream
alive and they are now heading pell-mell into the 21st century, while
keeping close relations and a wary eye on both Russia and China. It
has not been an easy road, with voters fluctuating between communist leaders
and democratic leaders.
On a crowded bus ride back to the
Sunshine Hotel, a young woman immediately offers me her seat. This happens often in this country, whose
people are among the most outgoing and friendly of any I’ve found in the world.
This evening we walk a block up
Peace Avenue to a Korean restaurant and Patti and I have our first (but not
last) opportunity to try the bacon potato salad.
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| My plate. Green salad, bacon potato salad, and meat with veggies and rice. |
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The bacon potato salad.
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| The green salad. |
Some of items on the menu we could have chosen, but didn't:
Mongolia's current prime minister, Democratic
party leader Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, has been widely praised by western leaders
for his efforts against corruption and efforts for the environment, but other
than a multi-party, prime minister and parliament plan, I’ll be darned if I can
tell you what form of government the country has.
It is now declared nuclear-free
country and efforts are underway to have it recognized as a neutral state,
probably as a way to deter Russia and Chinese from getting any not-so-funny ideas.
Tomorrow, Cap and Patti are going
on a two-day tour with Yusef of Terelj National Park, the 13th
Century complex, and the Chinngis Khan statue.
It will be Patti’s first opportunity to sleep in a ger.
And I will have two days on my
own to get into trouble.
More photos from downtown Ulaanbaatar
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| The opera house across from Chinnngis Khan square. |
So, I finish my tea and we load up in the van for the
final leg of our trip. In a few hours,
we will be back in Ulaanbaatar. Cap will
have time to make his 2 P.M. meeting, which has speeded up our itinerary.
