Mongolia, "Where Polar Opposites Collide"

First, I must thank Dan for providing me with this turn of phrase.

Many people have asked me what Mongolia is like. If you haven't figured it out yet, it's a world of juxtaposition. No matter what I speak of, this is always the case. For example, there are classy-looking hotels, yet no road to them. Only in a country such as this, could such an establishment exist. There are examples of this everywhere you look. This country has the lowest population density of any nation in the entire world, yet, people have absolutely no sense of personal space. I mean this. It is not uncommon to have someone sit on your lap on the bus. If there is 40 square feet of open space, the only other person in it WILL be touching you. This country is in such a furious rush to develop, that the little details seem to get over looked, like when putting paving stones in a parking lot, the foundation is made of sand, so any vehicle heavier than a bicycle pushes the stones around, causing ripples. The prevailing attitude seems to be "if it's there now, that's where it was supposed to be in the first place.

There is one striking similarity to Canada in the identity of Mongolians. Where Canadians form their national identity around not being American, the Mongolians have a pretty intense hatred of everything Chinese... except when it's more convenient. It is commonplace for construction companies to employ Chinese workers. They can be paid less, and will work all hours of the day (not so wonderful for those who live next door). Also, more than half of the investment in Mongolia comes from China. This means China technically has the controlling share of Mongolia.

Visually speaking, the surronding scenery is magnificent (and I've only seen a fraction of it). This is presented in stark contrast to a recent influx of Western-style sky-rises, yet none of which are actually completed yet. There is a handful of ancient Mongolian architecture, primarily seen in the monasteries that survived to communist regime. The communists are responsible for everything else. From the run-down, Eastern-European style apartment blocks that line the streets, to the hot water pipes that run throughout the city. When the Soviets pulled out, they took everything possible. If that means they could only take one section of a fence, that means they took the one section of fence. There are pieces of fence missing all over the city, mind you, this is a fence that separates an area of absolutely nothing from another, yet somehow separate, area of nothing. Unlike Canada, where fences actually designate the boundaries of a piece of property, here, they just exist, and sometimes, just end. Many of the newer structures are painted in extremely bright colours, like the school, for example, which is a very bright yellow, white, blue, and some sort of rust colour around the foundation.

To summarize, everything in Mongolia can accurately be explained by merely adding the words "Crazy Mongolian" at the beginning of the name. (E.g. Crazy Mongolian bus drivers; Crazy Mongolian jungle birds; Crazy Mongolian construction workers; and Crazy Mongolian liver diseases.)

This is truly the best I can explain the country. The only way to get a realistic idea of how insanely weird this country is, is to visit it yourself, which I recommend for everyone. As Dan has said on a few occassions, "This is country numer 27 for me, and it's the weirdest one yet."