A Day in Ulaanbaatar

Up this morning.  We were anticipating Khosoo to be here at 1:00, so I slept in and just spent the morning sitting around and resting.  My companion went out for a walk.  I anticipated that we'd see everything on our walking tour.  In retrospect, I wish I had gone with her, but I was feeling some twinges in my foot and was trying to prevent a flare while traveling, so an extra couple of pills (as allowed by my neurologist) and a morning of rest was in order.

Khosoo arrived early, so off we went.  Apparently there was a miscommunication.  He thought we were driving and we thought we were walking.  We had to move his car from where it was improperly parked, so we rode with him for about an hour before we found long-term parking by the post office, our first stop and about two blocks from our hotel.  While he was parking. my companion and I got out and headed to the post office.  Surely we could manage that.  We have postcards to mail! So we headed into the first door of the building that said post office. 

It looked pretty empty inside, not at all like a functioning post office, but we followed people who seemed to know where they were going.  We went upstairs and were confronted by a locked door, so what did we do?  We waited until somebody came out and we went in the door while it was opened.  We found ourselves in a room with a pool table and some other things that indicated it was a break room.  Deciding we were probably in an employee area, we tried to get out, but the door was locked that way, too!  We had to wait until somebody came in so we could, again, take advantage of the opened door.  I finally decided to ask somebody.  I typed my question out in the translation app and asked, and she (thankfully) answered in very good English.  She took us back outside and to the big window area with a ramp and door on the right side just to the right of us.  This looked more like it!

She led us over to the number generator, and we got number 26.  They were on number 9!  Thankfully, Khosoo got there about that time.  After just a few minutes, he talked to a lady at one of the windows, and she agreed to stop what she was doing and sell us some stamps.  I still had the postcards from South Korea, where the post office was closed and I couldn't get stamps, so I got four stamps.  They are so unique, I almost got four more just for me to keep!  But, I decided the lady had been so nice, I wouldn't bother her again.

I just put them on my postcards and dropped them in the international mail box.  Pretty ornate, huh?

As we left the post office, Khosoo started to get the car.  Our next stop was Chinggis Square.  He said it was maybe 1/2 km, so we chose to walk.  It was really just a couple of blocks, counting crossing streets.  Google Maps says it was about 400 meters.  There was a market going on and a band playing, so we boogied along and looked at the things for sale.  I got some shots of the government offices, but nothing really spoke to us in the market stalls.

I love how there are modern buildings right beside traditional, older buildings in Ulaanbaatar.

There's a big statue of Chinggis Khan in the center of this Capital building.

We stopped to see the Peace Bell on the way out.  It has a lot of graffiti on it.

Have I indicated to you just how bad traffic is in Ulaanbaatar?  We wanted to go to the State Department Store, where we were told we could find souvenirs and stuff.  Khosoo said it was about a km, which was about right, and we walked.  We passed the post office and stopped in several souvenir shops, but nothing really spoke to us.  Turns out that the State Department Store is just another mall with stores like Michael Kors and lots of cashmere product stores and kitchen wares, and you get the drift.  We finally were able to communicate to somebody what we were actually looking for, and they sent us to the top floor in the very back.  We got that information just before we gave up.

The souvenir part had everything, souvenirs, saddles, T-shirts, even wedding clothes with Kazakh displays.

 

Khosoo said he would get the car, but the theater was only about 1.5 km, so we continued to walk.  He was concerned about my inability to walk (he helped me multiple times in the snow leopard camp), and I explained to him that on flat, even ground, I'm good.  It's my balance that makes me unable to walk on uneven ground without taking extra care, and uphill causes me to lose my breath quickly, so he stopped worrying about me, and we walked.  When he got us settled into seats in the theater for the show, Khosoo went back to get the car.  He took the bus back to the post office parking lot and drove back.  He got back with just a few acts before the end.

The show was amazing.  It was called "The Legend of Nomads" and went through a lot of cultural and historical items through music, interpretive dance, and other things.  I got lots of photos and videos.  If you're ever in Ulaanbaatar, I highly suggest seeing this show.  The narrative between acts was in English, so tourists could understand the significance of everything.

There was regular singing

The horsehead fiddle is the most culturally significant instrument in the country.  There are a few legends about how it came about, but it is a symbol of peace and happiness and can be found in many places.  It's fretless with four strings and a square soundbox.  This guy played it so well.  The part where he showcased his talents, I was too busy with my jaw dropped to get a good video of it, but you can get the sound from this one.

There was throat singing

And the contortionist was really amazing

They had great costumes.  I don't know how they danced in some of these!

The flautist showcased his awesome breath support.  If you've ever played a wind instrument (and even if you haven't), you can appreciate this!

After the show, Khosoo started driving us back to the hotel.  It was about 2.5 km from the theater.  It took us over an hour, and it was getting dark, so he eventually parked so we could walk the rest of the way.  We should have walked all the way.  Have I mentioned how bad the traffic is in Ulaanbaatar?  I've been a lot of places, but this is, hands down, the worst traffic I've been in when it's not rush hour!  At least the ice sculptures hadn't melted all the way yet!  This was just on the sidewalk.

After we got back to the hotel, we went to the KFC to get some food for dinner and the train and the Nice to CU store for drinks and got all packed up.  Confirmed the early morning taxi to the train station, and got packed up for the train to Beijing.

Going to See a Giant Man on a Giant Horse

Today is the day to see Chinggis Khaan.  English translation for those who must translate names is Gengis Khan.  This is the guy who famously united the Mongolian tribes and conquered the Chinese, becoming the Father of Mongolia.  (Very abbreviated history lesson)  We slept in because the drive from our lodging to the statue isn't very far, and when we got close, our driver pulled over so I could take a picture of the entrance.

Kind of a nice shot of the complex from there, too.

It's a pretty imposing statue on top of a 3-story building that houses a museum, some shops, and a cafe.  The statue itself stands 40 meters (130 ft) tall and is made of stainless steel.  It is erected at the site where legend says Chinggis found the golden whip.  Legend has it that before he was known as Chinggis Khan and was just lowly little ol' Temujin, his wife was kidnapped by a rival tribe.  While he was riding to a different tribal leader to ask for help rescuing his wife, he stopped at this location and found a golden whip.  Finding a whip was a sign of fortune and great leadership, and the one he found was golden, so...  Legend has it that finding this golden whip was an omen that was used to help him unite the tribes to fight off the Chinese, Russians, and others to develop the largest contiguous land empire in all of history, approximately 9 million square miles (23-24 million sq km).  From what I can tell, the original golden whip no longer exists and there are no historical accounts that factually back this up, but it is clearly part of the oral history of the time.  You can see the golden whip in his right hand, resting under his knee.

When we entered the complex, before even entering the building, you could see the people who were on the statue, walking around his horse's head.

After climbing the steps to the building, we entered to see the largest traditional Mongolian boot.  It is an inflatable, but it's also huge.

Then, we went to the museum and saw lots of things.  Coins and dishes from Chinggis Khan's time and battle clothing,

and formal wear

and weapons

Finally, we took the elevator up to the top and a short flight of steps up to Chenggis Khan's crotch, which is how you exit onto the horse's neck.  You can see the golden whip on the left (Khan's right) and his sword holstered on the right (Khan's left), and I'm right between his legs at the bottom of the stairs.

For 250 tons of brushed steel, it has a surprising amount of detail!

This is the statue from the grounds on the side that he is facing, and the statue faces the Onon River, where he was born, which also is an easterly direction, so he is also facing the rising sun.

We drove by Turtle Rock on the way to lunch at the Resort World Terelj Hotel.  I guess the girl at the sales talk in Pigeon Forge was right when she said they had a hotel in Mongolia.  But I was also right, it wasn't where I needed it to be to see snow leopards!

I also thought it was very interesting how the Mongolians raise their power poles.  Look closely.  They just lashed the existing posts (darker) to new posts (lighter) that were put in the ground!  Talk about ingenuity! 

We went to the Aryabal Meditation Temple with 108 stairs meant to symbolize an elephant's trunk.  Looking at the path and those steps made me question some of my life's choices, the choice to go to the Tibetan style temple being the most recent.  After all of the things we had done this trip, I just didn't think I could make those steps.  I would have been happy to let them go up while I waited, but they stayed down, too.  I would love to see a Tibetan style monastery, but why do they all have to be so hard to get into?

There are multiple paintings on the cliff walls above the monastery.  They symbolize different dieties.

We decided to make it a short day and just use the rest of the time to get packed for the trip back to Ulaanbaatar.  On the way back to the lodge, we saw this Cinerous vulture.  You know what I say about a bad picture being better than no picture at all.

We got up the next morning and had breakfast and headed out.  We were the last guests at the lodge, so we gave the chef a ride to town, too.  It's a great lodge.  We stayed inside the building, but they also had a ger camp

and these pods that were like tiny homes, but not really so tiny

This ruddy shelduck came out to bid us a fond farewell after the last workers at the lodge sent us off with a milk blessing before locking up behind us and heading out themselves.

Just outside of Ulaanbaatar, we had to change cars because the city has pollution control measures that include only allowing cars to drive on certain days based on their tag numbers, and our driver had the car with tags that couldn't drive.  As we got into Ulaanbaatar, we saw that there are lots of statuary, and you know how much I like statuary.  There was also lots of pollution, so I had to clean these up a lot to take the haze out of them.

We did stop for yarn.  Ariuna was awesome finding us a place we could purchase yarn instead of finished products.  And timing was right so I was able to Facebook call Chrissy so she could pick her yarn.  It was surprisingly cheap.  I got her 4 skeins: 2 cashmere, 1 yak, and 1 camel for the equivalent of about $25 total.  I might have gotten her more if I had more room in my suitcase!  Then, Ariuna got us deposited in our hotel room for the rest of our stay in Mongolia.  It was a nice place.  Since this would be the last time we saw her, I gave her the other pair of hand warmers for the snow leopard camp, and hugs.  It's been a great time with her, both at the snow leopard camp and in Terelj.  Tomorrow will be exploring Ulaanbaatar with Khos.

A Yak of a Good Time!

We got up early and headed out of Khomen Tal National Park by 7-ish.  We had a plane to catch.  I did keep The Baby out of the camera bag in hopes of getting some good Saiga antelope shots.  We got a few herds, but my shots were pathetic. This is as cleaned up as I could get them.  

The males have bluish necks and appear to change color in the distance when they move.  They have these big, long, faces, too, that look sad (according to pictures I've seen from better photographers than me).  I had to try to steady The Baby on my own because I packed up the tripod.  Not the best call.  These antelope are difficult to shoot.  If you get close enough to see them, they move.  They're skittish little beasts.  And when they move, they have some serious speed!  That, coupled with my tremor, made my video a little difficult to watch, but I'm gonna give it to you anyway.

This is running and I have not sped it up at all.

They walk very fast, too!  I haven't sped this one up, either.

After the failures with the Saiga, I was happy to take some good shots of the sand grouse that moved much slower, but move they did!

It didn't take long before we hit the paved road, and I packed up The Baby.  I kept the Lumix out because you never know when you're going to need a shot out the window of a moving vehicle, and I did take a few of those, too!

Mongolians like to put up dinosaur statues, too!

These are offerings to the gods and concerns/wishes.  The local shaman will maintain these spots, periodically removing the attachments and doing what they need to do to keep them sanctified.

People driving a small-ish herd of cattle and goats down the road.  This was not the entire herd, just the rear guard.

After a very nice family-style, delicious lunch in a restaurant, Bina took us to the airport in Altai and bade us farewell.  He has some business he must attend to before heading back to Ulaanbaatar, so Ariuna met us at the airport and took care of us from there.  Our plane was a bit late, but she had everything under control.  She and the new driver picked us up from the airport and took us to Terelj National Park, where we drove far down a dirt/mud (concept of a) road to the Chenggis-13 Resort on Chenggis Mountain.  This hotel is reputed to be located at the place where Chenggis Khan spent many winters.  To tell the truth, I was really excited to be housed inside with a bathroom just down the hall.  A ger is nice for a while, but it gets old after a bit.

We got up the next morning and headed to the yak herders.  I'm not sure how they get back and forth during the summer, but this winter has been much wetter here than on the western steppe in the Margaz Mountains, with lots of snow blanketing the frozen water, holding in the chill even though the air felt warmer here to me.  My companion kept track of the temperature, but I forgot what she said every day, so I can't tell you if my feeling was accurate.  The river here was still frozen solid and snow covered, though.  They even do sleigh rides if you want them.

We stopped for a squirrel who wanted to get his good side on the pictures!  Check out those fuzzy ears!  His tale was fuzzy, too!

We got to the herders' home and met Amarah and his wife, Bangalore.  They were lovely people.  They have this home for spring, but live in a ger during other seasons.  They have 60 yaks and 40 cows and use and/or sell all parts of them.  They comb the baby yaks for the first three years, gathering the ultra soft fur that comes off from combing for wool.  They also sell yak milk, yak butter, yellow oil, and Aaruul candies (made from the milk curds).  We tried them all.  The milk is acceptable, but I'm not a fan of milk of pretty much any kind.  The butter was delicious.  Probably the best butter I've ever tasted.  The yellow oil is a runoff from the milk as it's heated for the butter and Aaruul and was used as oil in making the noodles we had for lunch.  Bangalore has many presses for the Aaruul and sells them at various places.  A full set can go for as much as the equivalent of $100.  She gave us a cake and a side piece as a gift as we left.  Knowing the traditions, Ariuna made sure we had gifts to give them when we arrived.  These are absolutely beautiful.  I cannot deal with the taste, though.  But keep in mind that I'm not a fan of a lot of dairy products, especially yogurts or curds.  

One corner of their home

Molds for the Aaruul

Stacked Aaruul.  This grouping can sell for the equivalent of $100.  The picture is taken from somewhere on the internet, not mine.

Showing us how the expensive grouping is stacked

This is how she just pulls that delicious butter off the top of the milk

Soon after this demonstration and tasting, Amarah and a neighbor came driving the yaks to the enclosure by the house.

 

This is a brand new baby who is too small to go out in the pastures with Mom.

He's quite happy that Mom's back!

We didn't actually ride because they are at winter weight, but Amarah rode a bit and we sat on a couple.

And we got to play with the baby!

We went back in for lunch, where Amarah helped Bangalore make the noodles for the Tsuivan, a traditional meal of yak meat and noodles.  It was delicious, but I couldn't eat nearly as much as Bangalore put on my plate!  

Yak meat is good, at least the way Bangalore cooked it.  I don't think Bruce would appreciate me using the knife this way, even with my kevlar glove on (even though it's how it's supposed to be done - I'm just not coordinated enough)!  Bangalore has mad skills!

After lunch, we went horseback riding.  Amarah had brought two horses up saddled.  The Mongolian saddle is very different from anything I had ridden on before.  It is a combination of a western and forward seat saddle.  It has a forward pitched seat, like a jump saddle, but a high pommel like a western saddle.  The skirts are also longer and thicker than either a western or jump saddle.  You have to use your legs right because the saddle won't let you pivot on your knee.  It took a lot of getting used to.  Because of the snow and ice, we only walked, so I can't tell you anything about the gaits of the Mongolian horse, but the walk was fairly smooth after I got used to the saddle.

Buural (the tan) and Khul (the blanketed), our horses, all saddled up and waiting for us.

Amarah on Khul and me on Buural

Ariunaon Khul and me on Buural

Finally, the day was turning to dusk, and Amarah and Bangalore had to settle the animals for the night (we had already sent the yaks back to pasture, but the horses had to be cared for), and we had a drive back to our lodge, so we said fairwell after taking selfies with all of us.  Bangalore gave us each pieces of Aaruul to take with us.

It was an amazing day, and I have now ridden horses in Asia.  That makes, in order, North America, Europe, South America, and Asia.  I need to return to Australia and Africa and make sure I ride horses in each of those.  There are no horses in Antarctica, so I don't think I can ride on all seven continents.