Sun. 8/4 Mongolia Day 1
Everything seems so familiar! It’s nice! I feel like I still know my way around the city. This morning I walked around for a bit and then stopped by the Zanzabar Fine Arts Museum.
In the afternoon, I met up with one of my good friends from Bayankhongor, Pagma. Pagma is the daughter of one of the English teachers I worked with during my time there. We are around the same age and quickly became close friends. It was really nice to see her again. We met up with her brother and had some lunch then walked around the city some more. During our wanderings through Sukhbaatar Square, we came across a makeshift museum set up and dedicated to T. Bataar – a nearly complete Tarbosaurus (similar to Tyrannosaurus) dinosaur skeleton that was excavated from the Gobi desert in Mongolia, illegally smuggled to America, attempted to be sold at an auction, but then seized by the Mongolian government through a court battle. The skeleton was just recovered and returned to Mongolia this past May. Check out this article for more info: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/06/arts/design/dinosaur-skeleton-to-be-returned-to-mongolians.html
In Mongolia it is illegal to export fossils, resources from the soil, or cultural artifacts because these things are considered to be national property. It was kind of cool! I’m not sure how anyone managed to smuggle a dinosaur skeleton out of the country in the first place though… : )
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| Sukhbaatar Square |
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| The T. Bataar makeshift museum |
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| A replica of the fossil skeleton found |
Mon. 8/5 Mongolia Day 2
So the weather here is actually much cooler than I was expecting. I was expecting a hot, dry Mongolian summer. Today it rained most of the day and the temperature did not go above the low 60s. Depite the rain and the pooled and muddy sidewalks and streets it thus created around the city, this weather has been a bit of a relief from Korea's stiffling humidity.
During my time in the Peace Corps here in Mongolia, I would really only make it up to the city a few times a year - once for a doctor's checkup, at least once for a Peace Corps training or meeting, and at least once for accessing the airport for international travel. So since I am only here for a few days and will not make it out to the countryside, I have decided to peruse some of the tourist attractions that Ulaanbaatar has to offer, like the museums yesterday. And this morning I walked down to Gandan Monastery. It is the largest monastery in the city. Buddhism is still the majority religion in Mongolia, with a small percentage of Christians and Muslims. But a large chunk of the population does not identify with any religion.
The highlight of this monastery for me was all of the pigeons : ) There are little old ladies posted up at all of the entrances selling bird feed for the monastery-goers to give to the pigeons.
After the monastery, I met up with one of my former students for coffee. Her name is Badma and I taught her as a 10th and 11th grade student back in 2006-2008. In Mongolia, high school only goes up to 11th grade and then the students go to university. Badma is now finished with university with a degree in philosophy, has a one year old daughter, and will be getting married next year! It makes me feel a little old haha! : ) It was nice to catch up with her. She invited me to her home on Wednesday to meet her family.
After meeting with Badma, I caught up with Pagma again. She and her brother invited me to their home for dinner. They made huushuur! Huushuur is a traditional Mongolian food that is about the same size and shape as a hot pocket and is usually filled with diced sheep's meat (and sometimes small bits of onion) then fried until golden brown. Yum!
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| Huushuur! |
Tues. 8/6 Mongolia Day 3
This morning I embraced my next tourist activity - the National Museum of Mongolia. Unfortunately I have no pictures from inside the museum because I would have had to pay an extra $10 for that...
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| Gers set up outside of the museum |
So a ger is the traditional tent for Mongolian nomads. You may be familiar with the word yurt - it is referring to the same thing, but Mongolians use the word ger. (I think yurt may be Russian.) Anyways, I actaully lived in a ger during my two years in the Peace Corps. It was a wonderfully challenging and amazing experience. Since these gers are set up for educational and viewing purposes, they are missing the stoves and stove pipes. Normally you will see a stove pipe sticking out of the top of a ger. The stoves are essential for cooking and keeping a fire going during the brutally cold winters of Mongolia to heat the gers. In the area where I lived, Bayankhongor, I had wood and coal available to me during the winter months to make my fires. In other parts of the country, dried animal dung is more common. I had electricity in my ger, my very own outhouse, and water was delivered by horse cart every other day. You just had to make sure to listen for the cart coming down the road and go stand outside with your water jugs. Pure luxury! ; )
After the museum, I met up with Pagma again and we went to another museum! This time it was the Winter Palace Museum of Bogd Khan, the last emperor of Mongolia (1911-1924) before the Mongolian Revolutionary government (followers of Russian Communists) established the Mongolian People's Republic.
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| Me and Pagma! |
After the museum, Pagma and I grabbed some lunch. Tsuivan! Another traditional Mongolian food. It is noodles made from flour with some bits of meat (sheep's meat of course) and vegetables mixed in. I forgot to take a picture of it myself, so here is one courtesy of Google:
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| Tsuivan |
Later that evening I headed out with some other travellers who are also staying at the guesthouse for some drinks. Almost all of the travellers that I meet in the guesthouse are on months-long travels all over the world. Sometimes up to a year! Most of these travellers come from various European countries. It always amazes me to hear about all of their interesting travel adventures.
Wed. 8/7 Mongolia Day 4
This morning I wandered around and did some shopping before meeting up with another one of my former students for lunch. This student's name is Duulga and I taught him as an 8th and 9th grade student. He was one of my best students! He will be entering his final year of university this September and is studying international relations. This summer he is working as a tour guide for one of the other guesthouses in Ulaanbaatar. He has been busy taking various groups of tourists on tours around the Gobi desert. I am lucky to have caught him in between tours. He says that he enjoys his job as a tour guide - it is a great way for him to keep up with his English. In the future he wants to establish his own tour company. I was promised a free tour if I ever make it back to Mongolia. : )
In the evening I headed over to Badma's home for dinner. She lives very close to the monastery I visited on Monday. I had the chance to meet her husband, baby, and brother. They made me buuz! Buuz are another traditional Mongolian food, similar to dumplings, stuffed with sheep's meat and then steamed. Again I forgot to take a picture, so here is another one from Google:
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| Buuz |
Thurs. 8/8 Mongolia Day 5
Today is my last day here in Mongolia. It has been a fun and relaxing visit catching up with old friends. Pagma and I met for a farewell lunch. We parted with hugs and promises to see each other again some day. Unfortunately I was not feeling well in the afternoon (which made me a little nervous considering the long journey home that lay ahead of me) so I just took it easy in the guesthouse for the remainder of the day. I feel a little better now... I am all packed and ready to go and will be leaving for the airport shortly. I have a flight into Seoul that leaves around midnight. Then from Seoul my flight leaves around 10:30am back home to Dulles. : )
I realize how lucky I am to have been able to have these wonderful experiences this summer. I could not have done it without all of the support from school and from home. Thank you to all who believed in me and supported me along the way. While this summer's adventures may be coming to a close, I know that there are many more life adventures waiting for me to experience! : )
