The Neighbourhood and some Temples

The mountain, as seen from the apartment.

Mongolia, so far, has been one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. Since I arrived I've had a little bit of an opportunity to explore with some of the staff that has been here for a little while. On Saturday, I had planned to go out and get a cell phone. About 20 min. before I was going to go, Dan and Terry asked me if I wanted to go for a hike up the mountain that leads to Bogd Khaan National Park. The initial climb was much more difficult than I expected, but fear not, I made it to the top. From there, we walked along the ridge for about an hour or so. As we walked along the ridge, we got a great view of the President's mansion (yes, he lives in my neighbourhood), and stopp to contributed to an ovoo (pronounced o-vo). This is best described as a sacred site marked by a pile of rocks. We added a rock each, and a prayer stick, before making the mandatory 3 clock-wise navigations to make a wish.

Our ovoo

Terry and Dan, with UB in the background

After we wandered for a bit, we found ourselves suddenly at the top of the hill overlooking an exquisite forested valley, complete with rocky outcroppings, and golden eagles flying overhead. After a handful of perfect photo-ops, Terry surprised us with some tuna, bread, cheese, some dried figs and apricots he brought from Istanbul, and a nice bottle of Port. We found a nice little grassy patch at one of the peaks with an amazing view. After our wonderful lunch, and pleasant conversation, we decided to make the trip back down the mountain to go home. We passed through a ger camp that had a 2-humped camel, and down the main road. As we passed the neighbourhood bar (we call it Hotel), we stopped in for a couple drinks and some food. The waitress was very helpful. We each drank a few Altan Gobis, and asked her to pick some food for us. I'm not sure what it was, but it was delicious. It had beef, noodles, peppers and some kind of sauce. I have found the ladies at Hotel have been great about teaching us Mongolian, and we have been trying to teach them a little English. After a couple hours, we decided we wanted more company, so Dan called his wife, Tina, as well as Cat and Maureen. At this point I had only met each for a maximum of 3 minutes. They came down, we had some more, headed back home, and decided to drink on the roof.

At Hotel, Maureen, Cat,
Me, Dan.

The next day, we went on a walking tour of some of the local Monasteries and Temples. The first set contained the house in which the 13th Dalai Lama was born, and where the current one (the 14th) stayed last year on his visit. We also saw a 60 foot statue of a standing Buddha, which is one of the largest in the world, although it was a replica because the original had been removed by Stalin during his purges in the 1930s. We then walked through the back allies of Ulaanbaatar, bought some incense, and decided to document as many stray dogs as possible this year. We stopped at Korean style Chinese restaurant (??) run entirely by Mongolians. The soup was the spiciest thing I have ever eaten. Somehow, Maureen got more seafood in her vegetarian soup than I got in my seafood soup. The octopus was delicious. We walked through downtown, past Ulaanbaatar Square, and on to the most disturbing temple of all. This one was dedicated to showing you how you will be torn apart and burn in hell if you do not give your faith to Buddha. If that sounds kinda creepy/scary, you should have seen this place. The 2500 tugrug entry was worth it, because I'm sure the memories will haunt me for years.

Some other pics for your enjoyment.

In Mongolia, it's always "safety first"

Chinngis Khaan on his throne in Ulaanbaatar Square

Makes the Hollywood sign look like nothing.

I love my neighbourhood