Colin's Mongolian Adventure

Retirement

2009-06-13T15:35:00.002+12:00

It is now time to officially Colin's Mongolian Adventure. If you care to follow my adventures further, you can find my Indonesian experiences at colindonesia.wordpress.com where I will share my views and experiences of living on the outskirts of Jakarta as well as my adventures throughout the country.

Thank you to everyone who found the time to check out my experiences in Mongolia.

Bayarteh and Sain Yavaraa.

Bayarteh, Mongolia

2009-06-12T13:59:00.002+12:00

There is one thing to be said about the late spring/early summer in Mongolia.... it'll make you fall in love with the country all over again. With only a week left before I leave this land for good, I find myself rather reminiscent and nostalgic about my time here. There have been some crazy adventures and slowly over the past two years, the completely absurd has become commonplace and often not even noteworthy.

Here's a brief glimpse of the past two years of Mongolia:

Elk Attack

Yes, you read that right. My first real experience with Mongolia came slightly more than a month into living here. Two friends of mine and I decided to go on an overnight hike to go to an old monastery that has ancient rock-paintings at the sight. A few hours into our hike, we ended up being confronted by four young elk - one buck, three does. At first they seemed curious, they just wandered away. When we followed them into the clearing, they changed their minds about us being harmless and chased us around for the next few hours. We eventually escaped the wrath of these beasts and found ourselves in some random ger (felt tent) camp, which was not even close to where we planned to go, where they fed us, gave us a bed to sleep us and provided plenty of beverage.

Gobi Desert

This one is particularly strong for me as I visited the Gobi (which is the Mongolian word for desert) on two separate occasions. The first time through was probably a bit more exciting because I had no idea what I should expect. There are so many unforgettable experiences from the Gobi. The glowing red cliffs at the break of dawn while standing in the middle of the Flaming Cliffs; Climbing the tallest sand dunes in the world - twice; riding a camel along the bottom of the dunes for about 3 hours longer than my rear-end appreciated; crashing in a family's ger for the night without warning and sharing vodka shots all night with the fathers; realizing that we bring more on a on-week trip through the Gobi than the people who live there own; drawing water from a well to give water to the flocks and herds of cows, goats and camels that would visit without a herder; being crammed into an old Russian Turgon with seven other people for as much as 8 hours a day every day for an entire week; going on not one, but two road trips where we didn't see anything that resembled a road.

Off-road Biking to Terelj

Terelj is a fairly large national park located about 70 km east of Ulaanbaatar. For March Break a small group of us decided to rent bikes to ride out there and back. Of course, I hadn't been on a bicycle since I was in high school and we didn't even remotely follow any roads. I got bitten by a rather ferocious dog chasing me, lost the nut on my back wheel and crashed with surprising grace. We rode about 170 km is 3 days and pushed myself to do something I didn't think I was capable of or even interested in.

The Rainy Season

The "Rainy Season" in Mongolia isn't really a season at all. It's about 2 weeks of continuous rain. Unfortunately, this is primarily a desert country and the city had no water drainage infrastructure to speak of. For 2 weeks, the city, check that, the country floods. Last year alone, over twenty families perished as their gers slid down the side of a muddy hill. Five people in the countryside were killed by rain (newspaper's words, not mine). On the positive side, a country that can look very brown, grey and uninviting for a large portion of the year quickly becomes green and full of life.

Eagle Festival

Once in a while it is worth braving the -40 degree temperatures in the winter to experience something unique. Last year, the Mongolian Eagle festival was moved from the West of the country to Terelj. Here we got to watch very large hunting eagles strut their respective hunting talents. One of the events involves a man releasing a live fox for some eagles to hunt. This was a little disturbing until we realized that the foxes were, in most cases, smarter than the eagles and more often than not got away.

Food

Mongolian cuisine is not wonderfully well known around the world. Right now most of you are thinking of Mongolian Grill, aren't you. There is basically nothing Mongolian about Mongolian Grill. Mongolian food involves a great deal of meat. This meat is usually supplemented by fat and noodles. Virtually every Mongolian meal consists of these same ingredients in one way or another. There is one exception - dumplings. Mongolians love their dumplings. I can live without the buuz (pronounced boze) - a small doughy shell with goat or mutton in the middle - and the bansh - a larger version of the buuz. The huushuur (ho-shoor), however, is magnificent. For my birthday this year, I told my students not to bring me presents. Instead, bringing my huushuur was more than welcome. I ended up with roughly 200 of them. They resemble a Jamaican patty, but the crust is a little more doughy, and the filling is simply beef and onion, but the seasoning is unbelievable. I still maintain that good huushuur would make the best after-bar snack ever. Since arriving in Mongolia, I have tasted the milk of five (yes, five) different types of animals. I didn't like any of them. Especially when they were fermented. For those of you wondering, they are cow, goat, horse (both fermented and not), camel (also tried it fermented) and yak. If there is one thing I miss about Canada, it's the milk.

While I can't convey every great memory, or the amazing people I've met while here, I'll leave you with this: If the opportunity ever arises to visit Mongolia, seize it. It is a beautiful and magnificent country that is still largely untouched but modern life. That being said, think twice before choosing to live her for an extended period. It is not a country for the feint-of-heart. It can be trying and difficult at times. Without question though, I will forget the hardships of this country and remember the beauty and adventure it brought to my life.

Mongolia, bayarlalaa, bayarteh. (Thank you and good-bye)

Ups and Downs

2009-05-10T23:14:00.002+12:00

With only 6 weeks left, I had my first real robbery experience. It seems everyone ends up having at least one, whether it be a simple pick-pocket or an aggravated assault. While I got to experience the worst of Mongolia, in some ways I also got to experience the best on the same night.

It began on Friday night around midnight. I was leaving the bar to go home, but there wasn't a car to be seen, so I walked to the main road. Still, no cars. I walked along the road in the direction I was going waiting for a car to come by. While I was walking, I got a phone call from a friend. I stayed on the phone as I walked several blocks still looking for a car. Along the way, some guy comes up to me and starts talking to me in Mongolian, rather angrily and unnecessarily close to me. This continued for a couple of blocks while I was still trying to talk to my friend. Finally the guy seemed to get the hint and went away... or so I thought.

All of a sudden he came running up on me, delivering a blow to the right side of my head, breaking my thick-framed glasses. and knocking me down. I quickly realized that he had grabbed my phone during the attack (although knocked the battery and back-plate off). Knowing my friend must be freaking out and unable to call me back, I got up and ran at top speed after the guy. I caught him on a cross street, and tackled him, delivering a few right-handed blows to his face. He practically begged me to take my phone back. I'm not proud that I hit a man, but I feel justified in what I did.

After retrieving by phone, I had to go back and search blindly for my glasses (which I didn't know were broken yet) and the missing parts of my phone. It turns out an older man had watched the attack and gathered up my belongings - less the lens from the right side of my glasses - for me and brought them over. He also indicated that he thought I did a good thing by chasing after my attacker. I then thanked him and called my friend back who was now frantically looking for me. As I was trying to establish where to meet, my phone went dead again. I had mentioned another restaurant/bar I was near, but wasn't sure if she was going to meet me there or further down the road. The other problem is that I managed to hit my knee pretty hard on the ground during the attack, so walking was now excruciating. I met some other guys standing outside of the bar and they let me try putting my SIM card in their phone to call my friend, although their number was saved to my phone, not the card. They then began walking with me to try to find my friend. When the walking became too hard, they got me in a taxi to check the place I knew my friend had been. Eventually I got home, plugged in my phone and called back explaining what happened.

So, while a really crappy thing happened, which is what most people would remember from an experience like this, it is the two separate random acts of kindness that will stand out in my memory.

Being Kept in the Dark

2009-04-22T16:54:00.004+12:00

One of the the bigger drawbacks to living in a developing country, and Mongolia in particular, is the sporadic and sometimes even frequent loss of electricity. Now, we have all experienced power failures at one point or another. There is one small difference between a power shortage in Canada and one in Mongolia. In Canada, power outages occur because of inclement weather or because of a problem with a transformer, power line, or payment ability. In any of these cases, power problems are often predictable and cleared up quickly. Here, power outages happen regularly at unpredictable times and for unknown lengths of time. Worst of all, there is rarely any warning and they tend to happen to happen at some of the least convenient times, like around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, when I'm trying to do work and haven't quite gotten around to preparing for dinner.

Typically, these power outages last anywhere from three minutes (just long enough to frustrate you) to three days (just long enough to make you very poor), with an average of maybe 4 hours. Of course this doesn't apply to everyone here. Those who live in the heart of Ulaanbaatar rarely suffer this plight. Those of us who live on the outskirts agonize through the possibility of it happening at any time on any day. There is, of course a forgotten third group: those who live in towns outside of Ulaanbaatar. Unfortunately for these poor souls, their electricity is provided by Russia... but only for select periods of time. It is not uncommon for the whole town to have their power turned off for the night at 10 o'clock or earlier.

I must say, the latter group has one advantage over the rest of us - no indoor plumbing. How is this an advantage? (And I'm certain you asked). Now, to be frank, I don't fully understand Soviet engineering, but somehow they seem to have made every utility system completely dependent on the power plants. As a result, when the electricity goes out (and I'm still not convinced that it isn't some guy just randomly pushing buttons), I also lose the internet, water (except for the one flush left behind in the toilet - choose carefully), and in the middle of the frigidly cold winter, heat. This makes for a very dull and poorly lit night and on occasion, a rather cold one too. Suddenly, having a wood or coal burning stove in a felt tent with an outhouse somewhere nearby can seem very desirable. Especially when the power outage lasts more than a few hours.

The inconveniences really depend on the time of the outage too. An early morning outage means that an electric alarm clock won't work, so it is no longer a viable option. I now rely on a combination of a battery powered clock, my cell phone and a watch that is slowly gaining time. And have you ever tried to get ready for work with absolutely no running water? Trust me, not an easy task... although you're ready much more quickly. A shortage anywhere from eight o'clock in the morning to four o'clock in the afternoon means I have to try teaching with no electronic resources and no lights. As I mentioned, the water stops working, so this causes some interesting... problems in the washrooms. The other option is to lose power in the evening (not that we really have an option in the matter). This is particularly fun because i mean that the loss of power actually costs me money. Since I can't cook with my electric stove, nor is there any water available (and most meals require water in one way or another) and we don't have a barbecue on the premises, I (and everyone else) now has to order food for delivery. There is the other choice to go into town where they have power, but bear in mind that it gets dark here just before four o'clock in the winter, and walking in the dark and cold at that time is rarely an attractive option.

I like to believe that this hardship is forced upon me in the spirit of environmentalism. I know this isn't likely because few people here even consider putting their garbage in anything that resembles a receptacle designed for such a purpose. Still I kid myself. I mean, with the frequency of power outages and the areas they affect, they must be saving millions (of tugrug, not dollars). As one of my many affluent neighbours commented to me some time ago, "You can spend [an absurd amount of money] on a home and that doesn't even guarantee that you'll have electricity." Maybe not, but it makes me appreciate the little amenities in life a little more.

Free Agency

2009-04-15T02:18:00.003+12:00

This column will strike a chord with sports fans more than others.

As a sports fan myself, one thing I've always struggled with is the concept of free-agency. It doesn't seem so long ago that when a professional athlete signed on with a team, that was the place he would remain until they no longer had a use for him. In recent years we have seen many a player change teams for reasons we assume to be money.

As a non-athlete, I seem to be in a fairly unique situation where I have the opportunity to experience free agency. As an international teacher, I sign contracts for anywhere from 1-3 years at a time. As my contract comes up, I, like many professional athletes, feel the need to look into my options. This isn't to say that I'm giving up on where I am at the time. I recently signed a contract to work in Indonesia for two years. I was both ecstatic and gutted to have signed that contract. Gutted because I love Mongolia. It's people, culture and way of life still fascinate me. Leaving would inevitably result in cutting short this opening chapter into my life abroad. With that in mind, I am ecstatic because it is a new adventure. A place I don't know yet and will have the amazing opportunity to experience something new. With those things being a trade-off, I had to look at the other factors. There are a few that really tipped the balance toward moving to Indonesia. This opportunity will give me the chance to reunite and work with one of my best friends again. That is a factor that is amongst the most important. (didn't Scott Niedermayer sign on with the Ducks for basically that same reason?) Beyond that there are many perks, like getting to own a moped, and drive it year-round. The money is better, and I have better health coverage--something I actually have to worry about, both because I don't have a universal health-care system and because I tend to take risks that could leave me seriously injured. A last, but not least, rather than a single-bedroom apartment, I will be given my own two-bedroom house--perfect for parking my eventual fleet of mopeds and motorbikes.

As with professional athletes, some people are displeased with a decision to leave. For an athlete, the worst comes from the fans. Inevitably any player who chooses to leave one team for another becomes hated by the fans of his former team. For me, things aren't quite so bad. My "fans" are the 22 seven and eight-year-olds in my class, and to a lesser degree the other students I have come to know well in the school. Instead of receiving boos and verbal jabs from my fans and the media, I have to receive daily pleas and petitions for me to change my mind and stay.

What I'm trying to say is, I'm not leaving because I want out. I'm leaving because I see a better opportunity somewhere else. Don't feel bad professional athletes. I, as an average guy, understand why you choose free agency. And I get it, someday, signing back home just might be the thing I want the most. I wouldn't mind one of those multi-million dollar contracts though.

The Gobi, Second Time Around

2009-03-22T14:09:00.013+11:00

I suppose this is a little overdue, as this trip happened back in October.

For our fall break, Jeff, Jen, Jonny, Megan, Gurgit and I took a tour of the Gobi. The first half was to be a similar experience as what I had the previous year, however, this year would find us turning west instead of east. Rather than a play-by-play of each day, I'll give you a "snapshot" view.

Just starting out, Jeff is drooling with anticipation.

Typically, the first thing to do is get gas. The blown tire on the bottom of the truck was a bit of a bad omen. We had our share of problems with the vehicle this year, including a near-accident in the first few minutes of the trip.

We stopped for a little hike and some lunch in the protection of this mountain. Our guide, Inga, told us it was bad luck to day the name of the mountain while in sight of it. It clearly made her nervous, so we didn't push.

Our first ger stay of the trip, featuring a 7 year old girl that was giddy playing cards with Jen and drawing pictures of each of us.

Because it was so cold, our van wouldn't start in the morning. Dawaa (the same driver as I had the year before) lit a fire under the van to warm it up. To keep from freaking out, we lent the family a hand in rounding up their goats for milking. I ventured in and grabbed them by the horns to line them up, while Jen and Megan tried their hands at the actual milking.

A hare hiding in the dirt. Megan and I were standing just 5 feet away and didn't notice him at all. Dawaa had to point it out to us.

Dawaa asked us all to get out so we could take pictures of him driving by.

We got up nice and early to see the Flaming Cliffs at sunrise. We were greeted by the silhouettes of a few camels. Jeff and I trekked about a kilometer over the the cliffs proper for the photo op of a lifetime.

The sun breaking the horizon.

We weren't disappointed.

Stopping for lunch in the middle of nowhere. It was warm enough to take the coats off for a little while.

Wildlife watching. Dawaa spotted a fox on the side of the mountain, so we stopped for some pictures. We saw a couple of foxes, some vultures, and a ton of tiny little gopher-like animals.

Picking our way down through the gorge at Yolin-Am.

We stopped to fill our giant canteens with the water from the stream. The stream doubled as a road. You have to ignore the fact that we just along this stream for about an hour before we decided to collect some of the water.

Most tours detour around these mountains. We went through them. This pass is barely wider than the Turgon. Jeff, Jonny and I got out to tape and photograph the van travelling through the gorge. It must have been funny watching the three of us running around to film the very van we'd been riding around in for hours and hours each day.

After surviving the very serious terrain in the mountains, the flat, open plains broke the van. I don't know a lot about cars, but as I understand it, the bracket holding the leaf-plates (suspension) snapped, so we couldn't drive anywhere without risking serious damage.

Looks safe doesn't it?

We had to keep warm somehow during our 2 hour wait while Dawaa magically fixed the van.

Possibly the happiest looking camel in the world.

Climbing the tallest sand dunes in the world. Jonny just charged up the 300 metre high dunes.

Snow on the dunes. Inga said she couldn't remember that ever happening before.

I mastered the sand dunes again.

We lost our radiator cap (van problem number 4 if you're keeping track), so we needed to get water to refill the radiator. Some camels came by for a drink, so Jen obliged while Dawaa (again magically) fixed the van.

Ovoos, they're everywhere.

At Kharkhorin, the ancient capital of Mongolia. This is inside the monastery. Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman visited this in their adventure mini-series "Long Way Round".

Jeff & I heated some water on our stove, and got to half-shower. We only really wet our hair, but it was so refreshing, and we even felt clean.

We were entertained in our ger with some traditional Mongolian music.

Tarmac. Glorious tarmac.

Chinngis Khaan believed that turtles were the greatest animal in the world because the could survive equally on land and in the water. There are four that protect Kharkhorin.

Penis Rock. Mongolians swear that it's natural. I have a hard time (no pun intended) believing that.

On the "road"

Keeping Up With the Times

2009-03-16T17:16:00.003+11:00

This past weekend something remarkable happened. I went bowling. What's remarkable about this? Well, this is Mongolia's first bowling alley. Yes, the Mongolians have finally cracked the technology to allow its people to bowl (I think our nuclear secrets are pretty safe for now). It made me start thinking about the development of this peculiar city in which I live.

Mongolia has had three district periods of development that really capture the image of the country. The first of these periods was centuries ago, long before the time of Chinngis Khaan - that's Chinngis, not Ghengis. Mongolians are traditionally nomadic people, in fact, somewhere between thirty and forty percent of the country is still nomadic. The nomads live, almost without exception, in large felt tents called gers (often called yurts elsewhere). A ger is a circular tent with a wooden structure. The remarkable thing about these gers is that most people who live here in Ulaanbaatar still live in them. Anywhere else in the world these would be considered "slums", but here you find plenty of them mixed in with apartment complexes that sell the units for more than half a million American dollars. Outside of the city, it is far from rare to find solar chargers attached to banks of batteries to provide power. Even more stunning is the fact that at least half of these rural gers have a satellite dish. Living in a tent is not a curse, it's a practical matter, since these people pack up and move every three or four months. Keep in mind, they can take apart or build their house in a matter of a couple of hours, rather than in weeks or even months.

Skipping ahead a few hundred years, Mongolian construction was heavily influenced by the presence of the Soviet Union. In the early 1950s a massive amount of construction, where the first permanent buildings started to be erected. For the first time in Mongolian history, people were beginning to live in dwellings with multiple rooms. Unfortunately for Ulaanbaatar and some of the smaller cities (the second largest city only has a current population of 90 000) these are amongst the least attractive buildings ever built. They are also everywhere. Another drawback was the population explosion that this construction caused, particularly here in Ulaanbaatar, where the population has increased from 25 000 in the early twentieth century to over a million people today (to be clear, that means that over one-third of the population lives in this city). In addition to the horrible hideous apartment complexes, the city is also blighted by sets of asbestos-covered pipes that carry the hot water to all of the permanent structures. Of course the Soviets were unconcerned with appearance, so these pipes are all above ground, and actually create very imposing and bizarre looking overpasses over roads. They also make very odd U-shaped detours around any slight bump in the ground.

Finally, the country - which really means UB - is currently in it's biggest period of development. The only problem is that it doesn't appear that the city actually wanted to develop as there has been no preparations made whatsoever. Those who have facilitated the growth (private enterprises) never really took the dynamics of the people into account either. In my district, which is one of the wealthier ones in the city, there are currently 23 new apartment buildings under construction. Each of the resulting 200-plus new apartments will be sold for at least a quarter of a million dollars. The problem here is that this country doesn't have enough wealthy families to purchase these apartments. Cars have been imported from Japan (and yes, they are set up for driving on the left side of the road) and South Korea at an alarming rate, however; the only new road that is being built (in the entire country) is a 40 km stretch of road that leads and I kid you not, out into the middle of the desert.

I love that this country holds on to its traditional ways, but also that it embraces new ideas. I just find it odd that they seemingly reject the associated necessities that support the world they would like to believe Ulaanbaatar is. Imagine living somewhere that every person owns at least one cell phone when the entire country has never even had more that 200 000 land lines in its history. It's such a lovely mish-mash of the years 1208, 1954 and 2009.

Homesick

2009-02-11T12:14:00.004+11:00

One of the obvious difficulties about living so far away from home is that life somehow carries on without you. Hard to fathom, I know. For me, this isn't generally a problem. I actually have to make quite an effort to remember to call home to talk. It's not that I don't love Sarnia or my family, I'm just usually wrapped up in my life here that I forget to remember the good things about being home. I've always taken for granted that when I want to return (say... once a year) I will get to come home and enjoy it for a few weeks.

This year a little wrench or two got thrown into the mix. First off, I wasn't home for the birth of my first nephew. I was too busy enjoying a two-week vacation in Europe. (Did I just call my newborn nephew a wrench?) I tried to make up for it by mailing him his first ever piece of mail. So now he's got a postcard of Barcelona, mailed from London. This was all fine and dandy as my plan was to come home and spend as much time with him as I could.

I was handling that just fine, but now I'm missing out on attending my little sister's wedding. We all knew I wouldn't be able to make it back for a February wedding - I mean, how do you fit a wedding in when you do a tour of the Gobi desert, spend Christmas vacation travelling through England, Paris and Barcelona, and have booked a trip to Boracay in the Philippines? We've made the necessary arrangements to have me participate in the festivities. They acquired a mannequin, I filmed a speech, I booked a sick day (homesick has the word "sick" in it, so it counts), and the video link is... well... a work in progress. As I write this, the wedding is in its final preparatory stages, but will (knock on wood) be a resounding success by the time you are reading it.

This brings me to a randomly and loosely connected point. What is Family Day? I only know of this "holiday" because my sister choose it for her wedding day. I have only been gone from Canada for the past 18 months and already the country doesn't even celebrate the same holidays. Seriously though, what is Family Day? As I am a man of no country - Revenue Canada has declared me an emigrant, however; I have not immigrated to any other country - I get left out of the loop a little bit. What traditional celebrations take place? Are there online contests to create Family Day traditions? Seriously!! I have no idea what this holiday is all about (or why they had to choose a day so close to Valentine's Day).

To return to my original train of thought, I miss home. I miss my family, I miss my friends and I miss having snow when it gets cold. It wouldn't be so bad if I could spend time at home this summer, but since I'm moving on from Mongolia in June, I'll be starting a new job just 13 days after this one ends, and I have to travel travel to Canada and all the way to Indonesia in that time. Wait a second, why am I complaining? I'm moving to Indonesia.

My friends and family should be coming to visit me.

Staying Warm

2009-01-25T23:57:00.002+11:00

I cannot begin to explain how insanely cold it has been in Mongolia for the past week or so. As I write this, the temperature is -26, which is not the low for the day. We managed to get to a high of -21 today. There have been numerous occasions recently where it was below -30... and that's before factoring in the wind chill.

Sadly, the problem with such cold temperatures is that we don't get any snow. We have a grand total of about 1 inch of snow, and that is the accumulation of every snowfall since our first of the year in early October. It just seems so unfair that we get all the cold, but none of the good stuff that comes with cold, namely, snow.

How to Support Your National Economy

2008-12-13T14:32:00.009+11:00

I kid you not, every word of this is true.

A couple of weeks ago, a rather large group of us went off to celebrate a colleague's upcoming birthday. We spent days preparing and somehow kept it secret. We departed at 9:00 with a full bus and travelled about 50 km to destination.

Finally, we arrived for one of the most highly anticipated moments in my life. We all sat around waiting eagerly when we heard the thunderous motor start up and the creaking metal hull of a 1980s T-54 Soviet tank came out from behind the rather easily penetrable wall. That's right, a tank. We we not here to just look at this tank, no, we were here to DRIVE this tank.

How does one drive a tank? First you need to have a friend. This friend needs to be close, personal friends with a minister of defense. This minister of defense should ideally be in a developing country. This developing country should have little money for national defence. You should have about $200 of disposable cash. And finally, you need to know how to drive a stick shift.

I, of course, do NOT know how to drive a stick shift. Yes, my dad gave me one lesson a couple of years ago, but I really did not know what I was doing. Also, tanks don't have steering wheels. They have two levers. one for turning right and one for turning left. As I was faking knowing how to drive a stick shift, I quickly realized that I only have two hands, but three levers to manoeuvre. As I got in, I was told that it needs a good amount of gas for it not to stall. Keeping this in mind, I hammered the gas as I lifted off the clutch (and I didn't even stall it). The result of this? I managed to do a peelout in a tank. To put this in perspective, tanks are specifically designed to not have this happen. Their treads are designed for maximum traction, and we were on a dirt road. One other thing to keep in mind, tanks don't have windscreens. You watch where you are going by peering through a single one-by-four inch periscope. Talk about blind spots.

While we were driving along this remote and secluded road, we of course encountered a passing car. I couldn't help but wonder what would be my first thoughts when I saw a rather large weapon driving toward me, clearly being piloted by people who were not even remotely qualified to operate it.

As if driving a tank wasn't enough, we felt it necessary to shoot multiple firearms. Now, I'm not a gun enthusiast, nor do I support gun violence, so let's just call this.... firearm entertainment. I opted out of the rapid-fire machine gun, but to be honest it did look like a lot of fun. I first chose to fire eight rounds from a 9mm Makarov Pistol at a distance of about 20 feet. The fake guy (read target) I was firing at, was not likely very impressed. My first round was awfully errant, and I was clearly not ready for that much recoil. Of my next six shots, I managed to hit his ear, and wing him in the shoulder. With one shot left, I really angered this fake guy. You know that little button on top of ball caps? If he was wearing one, I would have hit that, and not his head. This is also where a metal crossbar happened to be, so the bullet ricocheted half way back to me.

Next up, the AK47. Surprisingly, the handgun makes more noise. I got 30 rounds, and managed to not hit a single target (all of which were 200 to 500 feet away). After finishing my turn, I asked my good friend Jeff to take a picture of me. Not thinking that I had just finished firing this weapon, i allowed my hand to grab the barrel. Bad idea. Not that it's a huge surprise, but those barrels get hot. I mean burn-your-hand-instantly kind of hot.

Finally I got my chance at the one weapon I truly wanted to fire - the Dragonov Sniper Rifle. Not to brag, but I did hit 2 targets in my ten rounds. Once again my arch nemesis, recoil, got me again. This recoil was not like the pistol. This rifle kicks back about 4 inches, allowing it to hit me right in the eye.

To cap off our day, one of group decided to splurge and pay to fire an RPG. I learned that RPG stands for rocket powered grenade. And rocket powered it is. This thing has such a punch that there is a shockwave that is strong enough to knock people over that are standing 20 feet away!

What is clearly important to remember about this whole trip is that it was a humanitarian outing. We can't just let the Russians or the Chinese invade our Mongolian friends. So it is our duty to drive their tanks and shoot their guns to help fund their military.

Da da da da duh. Da da da da duuh.

Firing the Dragonov Rifle

The RPG

Going For A Ride

2008-10-21T20:40:00.003+12:00

I am quite proud of the fact that in my 27 years on this planet, the closest I have come to owning a car was when I rented one for 2 weeks this past summer. Unfortunately, lacking such a possession means that transportation can be a bit of an issue at times. Since my apartment is on the southern-most part of the city, getting into or out of town can be a bit of an adventure. Here, I shall break down most of the possible options.

Option 1: The Heel-Toe Express

This mode of transportation is possibly the most reliable. It is a much better option when walking from home to town, as the entire trip is downhill. Although, if returning home by walking, it is possible to enjoy a nice tall can of adult beverage along the way, as drinking in public is hardly discouraged. This mode of transportation has a few downfalls, however. It is usually the slowest way to get from one place to another, taking approximately one hour. If that weren't enough, there are more than a few of what you can call potholes, but I prefer the term craters (also, at least two holes in the sidewalk that crosses the bridge over the Tuul River). Finally, walking is really limited to the May-September range, as temperatures start to dip below freezing in October, and drop well below -35 in the winter.

Option 2: The Bus

The bus has one splendid advantage, it costs 400 Tugrug (about 37 cents) to ride. The ride is heated in the winter, and one doesn't have to walk. There are a few general drawbacks to the bus. Not the least of which is that you are so packed in, you begin to envy a canned sardine for the amount of space allotted to it. There are two types of bus rides in Ulaanbaatar. I dub the first of these "The Dead Mule". This ride takes so long it can actually be faster to walk.... seriously. the bus runs mostly on the power of gravity, which doesn't help very much when it takes frequent breaks for up to 5 min. to wait for every possible passenger, even though there's another bus just 150 meters behind. The second type of bus ride is known as the "Bat Out of Hell" ride. This driver has a death wish, passing every car on the road, and failing to even come to a complete stop at any of it's scheduled bus stops. I have twice been on a bus that had to detour to a gas station, and even once had to help push the bus to get there.

Of course, buses aren't nearly as well organized in Ulaanbaatar as, say, anywhere in North America. To begin with, there is no maximum capacity. I have had, much to my dismay on several occasions, another individual sit on my lap, or decide to have me hold their item (parcel, box, giant bag of firewood, etc.). Also, you don't exactly pay as you get on the bus. You simply board the bus, and wait for someone to come and collect your toll. Also, if you have to transfer, that will cost you an additional 400 tugrug.

Option 3: The Real Taxi

There are 2 types of taxis here. The metered taxi (Real Taxi) and then there's the fake taxi... I'll get to that in a minute.

A metered taxi is actually one of the worst possible options for someone who lives here. If you are visiting, not such a bad choice. I have not yet met a real taxi driver who speaks a lick of English. Thankfully, I have learned a limited amount of Mongolian. Unfortunately, as a foreigner, I get charged the White Man's price. This is roughly 5 times the cost that a Mongolian would get charged. On the plus side, they do actually take the best possible route, and know where pretty much anything is. Also they are excellent drivers, and handle the chaotic traffic with immense skill.

Option 4: The Fake Taxi

This is my preferred means of transportation. To be clear, a fake taxi is not a taxi at all. It is actually just some random individual who decides to give you a ride in exchange for money. This is a much cheaper option than a real taxi. To hail a fake taxi, one simply has to stand at the side of the road, and put their arm out. Remember to keep you arm below your shoulder or no one will stop.

Predicting who will pick you up is not an exact science, but over time you start to see some probabilities. The more expensive a car is, the less likely you are to be picked up. Rarely a car with two occupants will ever stop. The less likely a vehicle is to survive the next bump in the road (and there are many), the greater your chances are to have a ride. I have on several occasions been in a car that has run out of gas just a couple of blocks from where I got in. These are not hard and fast rules, as I have been in several Mercedes, and relatively new Honda.... um I'm not sure what the name of them are, but they are about the size and shape of a refrigerator box. There's also a bit of a guessing game. AS we are often out in groups of 3 or more, someone has to take the front seat. As the person who tends to speak and understand Mongolian the best of my compadres, guess who gets this privilege. Since all cars are imported directly from another country, many of the vehicles come from the roads of Japan. Mongolians don't drive on the left side of the road, so this means jumping into traffic to enter the car.

I have met many an excellent driver who gets us to our destination without incident or fear for my life. Many are very honest about the cost of the ride (about 45 cents/km). On the other hand there is a completely different type of driver. This driver is in a big rush. Somehow they always seem to drive some sort of Japanese car, which is a very important aspect to this ride. Let me draw you a picture.

You get into the car (in traffic since the door is on the left side of the car). You discover the driver speaks a decent amount of English, as many young people do. This is of little advantage once the ride begins. The driver slams the gas pedal to the floor, crushing you into the the soft faux-fur seat cover. All of a sudden, you start thinking about every mistake you ever made in life., and how this seems to be your punishment for the collection. There is no longer anything that resembles a rule of the road. Finally you see a red light coming, and think "Here's my chance to get out." No dice. He's not stopping. He pushes his way through the cross traffic, which is moving at a whopping 4 km/h. After you think you need to replace your pants for the fourth time, it gets better. The driver starts entering oncoming traffic.... at 70 km/h. Of course, only half of the car is actually in oncoming traffic, as a 2 lane artery can accommodate up to 3.5 cars across... apparently the lines are only there to show the direction of traffic. The most terrifying part of half of the car going into the wrong lane of traffic is that it is YOUR side of the car that is facing the rushing automobiles. Just when you thought you could take no more, he starts making left or right hand turns across 2 lanes of traffic without even slowing down. When you finally arrive at your destination, you are prepared to pay just about anything for him delivering you alive. I love these rides.

On a side note, a friend has asked that I mention that we had to cancel recess at school due to an invasion of horses.

Hustai

2008-10-09T00:35:00.008+12:00

This past weekend, a group of us went out to Hustai National park to see the wild Przewalski (one of the most difficult words to spell in the world) horses. The park is located about 100km west of Ulaanbaatar, yet the drive is close to two and a half hours. It was a nice change of pace to get out of the city and experience some of the Mongolia I truly love. It was also our first trip out of the city this year. Thankfully, we got it in before the snow came.

We arrived and promptly ate a lunch with large pieces of fat in it. After this, our driver burned through the park in an apparent attempt to prevent any of us from seeing anything. When we finally did stop, we watched 6 wild horses stand and graze. Not exactly the exciting adventure we were promised. We returned to the tourist camp at the gate, and a few of us decided to go for a ride on the horses.

Here are a few pictures and videos from the excursion:

Paul, the intrepid nature photographer

Jen on her not-so-high horse.

The Wild horses Mongolian Traffic Jam

Paul was forbidden from driving his own horse.

Me Fail English? That's Unpossible!

2008-09-13T21:02:00.002+12:00

As some of you may be aware, I am in Mongolia, teaching at an English language school. While few of my entries focus on things that deal directly with my teaching experiences, I have decided to make an exception.

For a little background, I teach a 2nd Grade class of 21 students. As with many international teaching positions, the student whom I teach have a fairly tenuous grasp of the English language. An unfortunate side effect of this is that my own abilities in speaking English have slipped somewhat.

Since many of my students are rather... active, I often find myself having to redirect their attention. The other day, during one of our activities, I found one of my students doing some bizarre combination of a somersault and a headstand. In response, I asked the child (with no exaggeration) "Who is your doing?"

Allow me to break do this question for you.

Who: In English, a word often used to ask about which person is being referenced. In this context, it is used to mean "the thing in question." Normally, one might opt to use the word WHAT in its place.

Is: A word that implies existence in a third party. Here, it is used in a similar context, but in a second party reference. One may normally select the word ARE in a sentence such as this.

Your: Almost exclusively used to imply possession by you. In this instance, it is designed to create a second person as the object of the sentence. I suppose the word YOU may be better qualified for this sentence.

Doing: The only word in the question that is used correctly, however, it seems to carry a slightly irregular meaning do to the choice of the previous three words.

Sadly, these experiences seem to be increasing in frequency, which may or may not defeat the purpose of instructing the students in English. It also seems that the meanings of my sentences are becoming far more ambiguous. I can only hope that in the future, I can correctly use a higher percentage of the words in my sentences. At least I got 1 out of 4 right.... 25%.... not the greatest success rate.

Taking Care of Tasks, Getting a Big Treat

2008-08-24T23:06:00.005+12:00

I arrived back in Ulaanbaatar on Wednesday afternoon, following a brief stay in Japan (story coming on my international blog). After a few days of getting to know my new comrades, the miniature adventures have, once again, begun.

Today, Jeff (an old roommate of my brother), Jonny and I set off into town to try to pick up a few items. We first needed to get a new battery for Jen's (Jeff's wife) phone. She bought the phone just the day before, but somehow she managed to use up the entire battery in a few short hours. Having accomplished task #1, we set off to find a wireless router. Not as easy as it should be. It seems that Computerland decided not to be open today. Task #2 resulted in failure. We decided that maybe 11:30 was simply too early for Mongolians (a reasonable option) and we should eat before trying Computerland again. We started looking for a decent place to eat when I saw a rundown looking place called "Restaurant World". I asked if they were up for a small adventure and they agreed. We stepped into the restaurant and it was like stepping into a four star restaurant. It was beautiful. We glanced at the menu to see that the prices were extremely inexpensive. We had some fantastic meals (Jeff even got his vegetarian dish without any meat), paid up and set out again for Computerland. Task #3, a resounding success. We arrived back at Computerland to realize that not only we, but several Mongolians were surprised to find it closed for the day. Task #2.... failure... again.

Finally, we set off for the State Department Store, found most of the items we needed, and set out for our final task. Task #4, a moderate success. We stepped out of the department store to find the relative quiet day had become quite busy. There was a Mongolian competing for gold in boxing, and it seems that everyone had come to this spot to watch the bout as there is an enormous television screen across the street. I now turn the story over to Jeff, reporting from the front of State Department Store in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Jeff Eng, in his inaugural field report for ASUTV (American School of Ulaanbaatar Television). Be sure to catch future reports.

Home

2008-06-30T06:40:00.003+12:00

I got home. Come back for further updates starting after August 20, 2008.

I will be in Canada until that time. If you are in Ontario and would like to get together, drop me a line.

Have a great summer everyone.

Welcome to Mudgolia

2008-06-22T02:01:00.003+12:00

The rainy season officially began yesterday. We actually saw more rain yesterday than we have in the entire time that I have been in the country. The term "rainy" is, of course, relative. For a country that sees such little precipitation, a seven minute shower counts as a rainstorm. Our rain has not been anything that resembles a downpour, rather you can go out for a significant walk, and still be reasonably dry.

The biggest problem lies in the amount of dirt/dust that is present in the country, and more specifically, in the city. since there is little vegetation, the ground is actually just dust.... until it rains. Now, it's mud. Everywhere. Also, the majority of roads, especially those in the ger districts (somewhere I have had the pleasure of visiting a couple of times recently) are not paved, and are really just tracks visible in the dirt, several districts are quickly becoming mud pits. Since much of these areas are located on the sides of the mountains, that mud travels downhill and begins to collect in the city centre. Aiding this mud collection is the lack of anything that even resembles storm drains.

I look forward to the next 4 days of predicted rain, which is expected to capped off with a significant thunderstorm.

Saying Goodbye... Over and Over

2008-06-16T13:45:00.002+12:00

This is hard. When I came to Mongolia, I knew that people would be in and out of my life. What I didn't expect was that so many would be leaving at the same time.... or at least planning to. As it turns out, I get to say goodbye to the same people multiple times as flights continue to get delayed. So far, no one has made it out of Mongolia at their scheduled departure time, with at least one person being stuck her for an extra 48 hrs when she is trying to get to St. Petersburg, Russia, where her family is awaiting her arrival.

To those who are leaving Mongolia for good,

Thank you for all you have done and all you have been. This is a year that will remain entrenched in my memories and in my day-to-day outlook on life. I would not trade a moment of this year for anything. I will think of you everytime I look at the mountains, sit on a rooftop and mostly any time anything odd happens. I will miss you all. I look forward to the opportunities to catch up whenever and wherever that may be. As a good friend of mine once said, "I'll see you then." I've always felt that simple sentence captured the idea perfectly. I wish you all the best of luck. Enjoy your new adventures and stay safe in your endeavours.

Your friend,

Colin

Mongolian Weather

2008-06-08T15:02:00.004+12:00

Having grown up and spent pretty much my entire life in Canada, weather was pretty consistent in my experience. I could never have imagined the insane weather patterns of a country like Mongolia. We have weather here that defies logic. To illustrate my point, here are some examples.

1. On a given day, the difference between the high and low temperatures can be in excess of 30 degree. I can wake up at 6:30 and we will have fairly chilly -5 (the coldest part of the day is around 7 am). by the warmest part of the day (4 or 5 pm) the temperature can be as high as 25-30 degrees.

2. During the winter, it was not uncommon to look at the forecast on weather.com or theweathernetwork.com and see that the day's weather was listed as "smoke". This is not from forest fires, but from the gers. Seriously? Smoke? Does that even count as weather?

3. A couple weeks ago, we experienced 32 degrees on Sunday. On Monday, we had snow squalls all day long.

4. Last night, in what was the most bizarre weather I've ever seen, we experienced a combination of 2 different storms at the exact same time. All day it had been sunny and well over 30 degrees (which isn't so bad since we get little to no humidity). Suddenly, at 9:30 the skies turned the darkest black (the sun hadn't quite set yet), and a massive storm came through. Sand/dust storms are not particularly uncommon as anyone in Korea, Northern China and Mongolia will attest to. What was odd about this dust storm was that we also got a rain storm at the same time. As a result, it turned into a mudstorm. Seriously. Mud fell from the sky. After a day with no wind, the storm also brought winds of greater than 80 km/h.

A dust storm as seen from our school. You would normally have a view of the entire city without the dust. Instead, you can barely see 60m away.

Clarification

2008-06-05T16:56:00.002+12:00

It turns out that it was a Chinese fortune teller that predicted the earthquake for last night. She was (obviously) wrong. The Russian fortune teller was much less specific. She predicted that it would happen in the month of June. So she has a few more weeks to be right. Let this be a lesson to us all.... don't believe Chinese fortune tellers who are that specific... only the vague Russian ones.

Also, this allows us to continue with our belief that Russian fortune tellers are better than scientists.

Forcasting Earthquakes

2008-06-04T22:51:00.004+12:00

Keep your eye on Mongolian news. It seems that an earthquake is being predicted for sometime between 8:00 and 11:00 tonight for Ulaanbaatar. Now, I realize that seismologists still proclaim that they can't accurately predict earthquake activity, but that is irrelevant. As the story has been told to me (by several Mongolians), a Russian fortune-teller predicted it. For those of you wondering, it is, in fact, the same fortune-teller that was crowned champion at a recent national (Russian) fortune-telling competition.... I had no idea that fortune-telling was a competitive sport... I think I may have a new career path in mind. Now, this may not seem like a reasonable cause for concern, but the Mongolians seem to be giving it the same attention and concern as an American might if NASA said that a meteor was going to strike the earth.

Now, for this to be reality, we may need to suspend our disbelief. Firstly, it is completely irrelevant that Ulaanbaatar does not sit anywhere near a major fault line (We didn't even feel the quake in Sichuan). Second, the only volcanoes in the country are far in the west, and they have been extinct for millenia, so it is reasonable to believe that one may erupt. Third, Mongolia hasn't even felt the slightest hint of seismic activity since 1957, so there is clearly a long tradition of earthquakes shaking Mongolia. Fourth, Buddhist tradition believes that earthquakes release demons into the world (okay, that has nothing to do with anything, but I had to fit it in somewhere).

So, if you don't hear from me again, it is possible that I am buried in Ulaanbaatar under the rubble. Fear not, however, I have stocked up on beer, so I'll be fine if I'm still alive. Also, if this happens, it is time to stop listening to scientists who do not claim to have the answers, and begin putting our faith in old kooks that we previously would only listen for entertainment purposes.

Still No Luck

2008-05-31T20:20:00.003+12:00

Two weeks ago, we commenced upon our second trek in an attemp to get to the elusive Manzushir Khiid. Now, you are probably expecting a tale of dramatic failure, and I will not disappoint.

We left at 8:30 am. Now, it has become illegal to climb the mountains to the east of our school, which posed a small problem, since it is necessary to do so to get to our destination. Through a little cunning and stealth, we made our way through the forest to avoid the less than overwhelming guard. once we were at the top of the mountain, the thick forestry was a plesant change of pace to the wide open plains that the majority of the country is comprised of. We continued on until noon, when we stopped for a nice lunch, protected by a large rock formation. After lunch we continued along our planned route, when dilemma struck. There is a single pass between two valleys that is essential to take. This pass, however, is covered with gigantic boulders and the pile is about 100 m wide, 200 m across and about 70 m high. After a brief attempt, we decided that it wasn't worth crossing, and we would try to go around. Unfotunately, "around" resulted in going down the mountainside.

Where do you think we ended up? The exact same valley as the last time. Not willing to climg back up the mountain, we followed the valley right to the same ger camp where our last trip ended. It seems that this ger camp is located in the gravitational centre of the universe, unknowingly pulling us toward it, despite taking a completely different route than the first time. As for the elk, there was no attack this time, but there were signs of them everywhere. We did see one in the distance, but it took off before any of us could even get a camera out.

To conclude, Manzushir Khiid cannot be reached on foot from Zaisan.

Disease Outbreaks and Weekend Plans

2008-05-13T22:30:00.002+12:00

Mongolia has apparently been stricken by a contagious disease outbreak. Hand, foot and mouth disease has forced all classes up to and including grade 5 to be cancelled for at least this whole week. While this means that I have no students for the week, there is no shortage of work to be done.

To clear up a couple of misconceptions, allow me to provide a small amount of knowledge.
1. Hand, foot and mouth disease is NOT the same thing as foot and mouth disease. Foot and mouth disease affect livestock, and not people.

2. I am in little to no danger. Hand foot and mouth disease is passed easily amongst people who do not wash their hands regularly. Thankfully, this is a habit I am glad to say that I practice regularly. Also HFMD, while it can be carried by older people, tends to strike young children (usually younger than 10) as they have not developed a strong enough immune system. By chance, and, I think, through a little skill, I have survive to a ripe old age that is nearly three times that which is commonly stricken.

On a completely unrelated note, this weekend Dan, Andrew, Terry and I have decided to make an overnight hike to Manzushir Khiid. Okay, so this may sound a little familiar (see September posting), but we are determined to make it there. We have taken some additional precautions this time. To begin with, we will be bringing a compass and topographical maps. We have also made the decision to avoid any type of antlered animals. Finally, we have our "wonderful" experience to draw upon, and we know that we should, under no circumstance, go to the bottom of any mountain. Now, I realize we did not plan to get attacked by elk, go to the bottom of the mountain and get lost last time, but I believe that our combined 21 months of worldly experience will prevent such things from happening. In any event, expect a post next week informing you of how we got attacked by elk, ran downhill, and became utterly lost.

Coming Back

2008-04-07T13:50:00.002+12:00

It's official, I will be returning to Mongolia for another year. I signed another one-year contract recently, securing my job. Fear not, I will still be returning to Canada this summer. My flight has been booked for June 28 and I'll arrive in Toronto just before 9 pm. I will be in Canada until August 17, when I fly out of Detroit (I refused to allow them to fly me out of Toronto again). From Detroit I fly to Washington D.C. (I know, kind of the wrong direction). After Washington I fly the tremendously long flight to Tokyo where I will spend 2 days (country #8 in less than a year) before continuing on to Ulaanbaatar. I will be back here on August 20.

Visitors and Shameless Plugs

2008-03-29T19:16:00.006+11:00

There is nothing better than having visitors. This goes double when you live in a foreign country. Back in January, Sean and Erin - whom you should recognize from my Siamese Adventure blog (shameless plug #1) went on a journey that would take them through Ulaanbaatar. While their adventures deserve a good read - and you can find link on my Siamese Adventure blog (shameless plug #2), they didn't quite seem prepared for Ulaanbaatar. Since I can't provide nearly as good of an account of our time together here as Mr. Sean Mullin can you should read about it on their blog - the link to which can be found on my Siamese Adventure blog (shameless plug #3). What I am willing to say is that having visitors have a great way of getting you to go see those thing you just haven't checked out yet. So, at their prompting, we toured the Winter Palace - which is only a 30 min walk from my place. A small note - there is no heating in this landmark, I had only been back in Mongolia for a week after 35 degrees in Cambodia and Thailand for the previous 3 weeks - which you can read about on my Siamese Adventure blog (shameless plug #4) and the temperatures in Mongolia were a balmy -45. What I'm getting at here is that more of you should come and visit me here to encourage me to keep going out to see the sights. There. Now it's your fault if I don't do it.

The Absurdity of Mongolia Returns

2008-03-26T21:21:00.002+11:00

Last night, Naomi and I grabbed bite to eat after doing some grocery shopping. Through the window of the restaurant we witnessed a man, whom we assume to have been drunk, getting pummeled by a woman. At first it seemed to be a simple assault, but upon further watching we noticed a few things that were odd about the picture.

1. No one seemed to care.

2. The woman removed the man's coat and sweater, leaving only his t-shirt.

3. We first thought she was trying to take his money from his pockets, but it turns out she was actually taking his pants.

4. She started to walk away with his clothes.

5. Only at this point did the man put up any opposition by running after the woman.

Somehow this just seems so... normal now.

Mongolian Eagle Festival

2008-03-23T16:51:00.008+11:00

Okay... so I lost my memory cards for a while, and I finally found one (I promise more updates when I find the other one). A few weeks ago, Maureen, Naomi and I headed out to Terelj to witness the Mongolian Eagle Festival. The festival was being held near UB for the first time, as it is a Western Mongolian tradition. Obviously, we seized the opportunity to spend $30 and spend the day watching people drag fox pelts behind a horse, having their eagles catch them, and then a few bouts of goat wrestling - the goats don't do the wrestling, two men, riding horseback, play a kind of tug-of-war with a goat. All of the competitions are designed to show how good of a hunter the man is, using his eagle.

Okay, so the picture doesn't show what's going on so well. Check out the video

Eagle festival competitor. Not sure how you win this, but I know how you lose. One eagle just kind of flew away and landed on the mountain... guess it's not such a good hunter.

Big Mongolian men, wearing traditional Mongolian dels, with giant eagles. They seemed to like carring them upside down for some reason.

Still Alive, I Promise

2008-03-09T23:57:00.002+11:00

Sorry it's been so long since there has been any update on my end. Unfortunately, report cards, parent-teacher conferences and weeks of illness take their toll, and have a way of maing one not want to do anything. On that note, I promise to start having updates appear in the next couple weeks covering my 2 month blog absence.

Mongolia has Gone Dry

2008-01-07T23:35:00.000+11:00

It looks like there will be no birthday drinking this year. Due to an unfortunate event over the Holidays, somewhere between 11 and 14 Mongolians died due to drinking some tainted vodka. The company responsible was apparently filling bottles of a rival company and selling their vodka at a higher price. The government has decided to take action: No alcohol will be sold in Mongolia until further notice.

In typical Mongolian fashion, this has extended beyond the cessation of vodka sales. They have decided that all forms of alcohol, domestic and imported alike will not be allowed to be sold within the country. Only the Mongolians would believe that preventing the consumption of alcohol produced outside of Mongolia is a logical response to a problem that is entirely domestic.

My Siamese Adventure

2008-01-05T02:46:00.001+11:00

As this blog is dedicated to My adventures in Mongolia, I felt it inappropriate to include the stories from my trip to Korea, Thailand and Cambodia here. Also, it will clearly takes weeks to update you all on those adventures, so you are welcome to see my newest blog at colininternational.blogspot.com for said stories. You can also find that link in the "links" section on the right-hand side of this page.

Again, please bear with me through the lengthy time it will take to update the new blog, but continue to enjoy the stories about Mongolia in the meantime.

I should be back in Mongolia in a little over 24 hrs (as long as the planes run on time).

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Opportunity is Knocking

2007-12-12T02:44:00.000+11:00

A great opportunity presented itself today. A couple of guys came to the school looking for a white male to star in a T.V. commercial. Obviously, I jumped at the opportunity.

I was picked up around 10, and taken to a makeshift studio. I sat around for about a 1/2 hr before they asked me to change. My costume was liederhosen and a white shirt (the socks were my own). The commercial was for Zoos Bank Mastercard.

It took about 15 takes altogether, and I played 2 different roles. I cheers myself. The first character is a sober man who is excited to see the other guy and emphatically clinks his beer stein. The second character is a drunk who has some difficulty with the whole process, and manages to clink his own beer stein back. It's almost like long lost twins finding each other at the bar. I performed in front of a green screen, so I don't know what the background is.

They paid me $10 and gave me vodka. Well worth the experience. They also promised to bring me a copy of the commercial when it's finished, so it will be posted when it arrives.

Who knew that I would become a tv commercial star when I came to Mongolia?

Christmas Vacation Plans

2007-12-06T23:52:00.000+11:00

So, the plans are (reasonably) set. The tickets have been purchased, and now it's just days away.

Andrew and I fly out of UB on Mongolian Airlines at 5:00pm on Saturday, Dec. 15. We arrive in Seoul just after nine. We hope to meet up with many of our old friends from various phases of our lives and have a nice get-together. We will be spending 2 days in South Korea, and fly to Bangkok by Korean Airlines at 5:25pm on Monday, Dec. 17.

We will arrive in Bangkok 3 1/2 hrs later only to get a hotel room and catch a flight to Phnom Penh at 7:00 the next morning. We'll spend 2 days in the Cambodian capital before sailing up the river for 5-6 hrs to Siem Reap. We plan to spend 4 days or so there to check out Angkor Wat amid various other ancient temples, and do some interaction with the locals, and maybe even ride an elephant.

From Siem Reap, we will fly back to Bangkok. Originally, we had planned on taking the overnight train to Chiang Mai to spend a few days in the north, but we have decided to scratch that idea to provide us some leeway in case we want to spend an extra day or two somewhere. Chiang Mai also made the trip seem much more scheduled than we wanted it to be. Now, we will either spend an extra day in Siem Reap, maybe pend a day or two in Bangkok, or head down to Ko Samui for a couple of days to do some sea kayaking or snorkeling. We plan on being in Ko Phangan (an island just north of Ko Samui) by Dec. 28. We will be spending New Year's Eve there, and enjoying one of Ko Phangan's Full Moon Parties. While there we will definitely be renting some mopeds to check out the island jungle, and spend much time on the beach outside of the bungalow we plan to rent.

Jan. 1 or 2 will find us traveling back to Bangkok to spend our last few days before flying back to UB via Seoul on Jan. 5. Conveniently we lift off at 2:50am, and then have a nice 11 hr layover in Seoul. We will be back in UB at 12:35 in the morning on Jan. 6, giving us a day of rest before our professional development on Monday, Jan. 7. I have a feeling I won't be partying much for my birthday in 2008.

So, officially...

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy birthday to anyone that applies to.

Big Burger

2007-12-04T01:10:00.000+11:00

Have you ever wondered if McDonalds would be the same by any other name? The answer is... wait for it... YES!!! They have a fabulous chain of fast food restaurants (about 3 or 4) that is almost identical to McDonals. It is called, simply, Big Burger. It's menu is a scaled down version of Mickey D's, and the decor looks like the Golden Arches about 15 years ago. The Big Mac is called the Big Burger (but uses mayo, rather than "secret sauce"). The burgers and the fries even taste the same. There are benefits to not being McDonalds though. Big Burger offers chicken wings, ramen noodles, and egg and shrimp soups. Food costs a lot less, and things only come in two sizes: small and big. So it turns out that McDonalds is only McDonalds because they can charge an arm and a leg.

P.S. my Big Mac meal cost less than $4.

Mongolian Independence Day Weekend

2007-11-28T01:21:00.000+11:00

It was a fairly exciting weekend. Saturday found Naomi, Maureen and I taking a hike up one of the smaller nearby mountains. As Maureen has some difficulty with ledges, it was a fairly momentous occasion for her to get to the top. She did occasionally have to ask for a little help. That night, some of the staff attended a get-together at the nearby house of some parents from South Africa. The people are amazing, and we were treated to plenty of hamburgers, soup, salad, popcorn and, of course, alcohol.

Sunday, the excitement increased slightly, as Dan and I decided to climb a significantly taller mountain. Deciding that warmth was more important than grip, I wore my new riding boots, which are hand-made with Mongolian leather and have a felt liner on the inside. They, unfortunately have little grip on the soles, and I found my feet sliding a little more than I had hoped. Nonetheless, we made it to the top, and travelled along the ridge to the largest ovoo I have seen so far. While there, we met a Mongolian soldier, named Erdenbileg, who was going to be leaving for Sierra Leone in a month to go to war (I didn't know Mongolia was at war with anyone, let alone a West African country). We found that he had daughters of 16 and 18, and would be gone for 5 months. He asked us to join him in his prayer, lighting incense, and walking around the ovoo. It was a great honour to be asked by this complete stranger to literally pray for his life. After some time with him, we parted ways with some excited good-byes, and started making our way down the mountain. On the way down, Dan fell a couple of times, whereas I... fell down the mountain. Not in a head-over-heels, movie-esque way, but I was definitely on my ass more than on my feet. It didn't take long to realize that the lack of grip on my boots allowed for a form of tobogganing, with one foot under me, and one in front to avoid crashing into any hidden rocks, any visible rocks, and even more importantly, any trees that were in my way. This was mostly successful, with a use of my hands to aid with steering, and I found myself travelling 60 or more feet at a time, with a single push (luge-style) with my hands.

Monday, I went shopping on my own for some groceries, only to find that almost all of the stores that I wanted to have open, were pretty much the only ones that were closed that day. After finding about 10% of the items I set out for, I hailed a fake-cab, and got a ride home. On the way home, I found out the guy grew up a few doors away from where the school is, but even more remarkably, he lived in Canada. He asked where I was from, so I responded "Ontario." He then mentioned that he went to the University of Western Ontario. As the conversation progressed, I found out that he lived in the same apartment building that I lived in, just three apartments down the hall, but a few years before. I think this falls into the "extremely small world" category. That afternoon, some of us went to the Mongolian wrestling tournament.

Mongolian wrestling is an interesting sport. There are no weight classes, and it seems that the lightest fighters get matched up against the largest in the first round. There are about 15 matches at a time (although only about 7 referees, and I use that term loosely). They are not constrained by any sort of ring, and matches often run into one another. There is a surprising level of gentlemanly conduct involved. The costumes are just as odd, as the fighters wear tight briefs and an open jacket. Legend holds that some time, centuries ago, a female sneaked into a tournament, managed to win, then bared her breasts to everyone, so now the jacket is designed to show that the competitors are male... or at least don't have breasts. I have no idea who won, but some of the matches took seconds to end, while others took as long as 1/2 hr.

All-in-all, a wonderful long weekend. Oh, and Glen, this is waaaayy better than your WWE.

Long Weekend

2007-11-24T03:06:00.000+11:00

So, report cards, and parent-teacher interviews are over. They went surprisingly well, and was regularly thanked for all of my hard work in educating their children. After two consecutive half-days for the interviews, we now have a long weekend, as Monday is Mongolian Independence Day. Today, the school's financial officer asked me if I was going to go see the wrestling on Monday. Immediately, my reaction was, "There's a wrestling tournament on Monday?" and "What better way to celebrate Mongolian independence than by watching what Mongolians love most - beating each other up." Of course, I have never experienced live Mongolian wrestling, so I began to investigate this event. I had to find out when, where, how much it cost, how to get tickets, and how many people wanted to go. After a quick poll, six of us decided to go to the event. I still had no idea how I could buy tickets. I asked several people, none of which knew anything about the event, before I got to the school's receptionist, Nasaa. Nasaa, in turn asked Ganbold (who speaks next to no English), who in turn picked up the phone and called the Wrestling Palace. First, I wondered how he knew the number so quickly, and second, I was fairly excited about the up-coming answer. Ganbold told Nasaa, who translated for me that we had to buy the tickets today at the Wrestling Palace for T 5000 each.

Andrew and I made the trek after our interviews were over. After a bus ride to UB Mart, we hailed a cab. We were picked up by a man in full military dress uniform. He inquired about where we are from. After we responded by saying "Канад," (Canada) he told us that he is Mongolian. I was a mite dumbfounded by this, and made the response (with some gesturing to his uniform), "I can see that." After some jovial broken Mongolian conversation, he dropped us at the Palace. As we went to the ticket booth, we we bombarded by scalpers trying to sell us tickets to tonight's concert. Since I only know how to say 'today' and 'tomorrow', I had to try to explain that I wanted tickets for 3 days from now. This didn't go so well, and I eventually discovered they ONLY had tickets for tonight. We eventually found the ticket booth, and after a similar conversation, I found a ticket on the window, pointed and said "zorga!" (six) The man was a little surprised, since there were only two of us.

Moral of the story: I'm going to live Mongolian wrestling on Monday.

Mongolian Barbecue

2007-11-12T00:13:00.000+11:00

A group of us decided the other night, that after a particularly stressful and difficult week at school (we had a visit from an accrediting agency, report cards are beginning, my foot is still injured, my grandmother is suffering through some health problems, and the rest of the staff had their own problems to deal with as well), we were going to go out for dinner. Seven of us made the trip to BD's Mongolian Barbecue. As I was sitting in the restaurant, I realized just how absurd it is for this restaurant to exist in this city.

For those of you who have visited Mongolian Grill, imagine a restaurant that is identical in every way, except for decoration. BD's is and American chain, which has a number of locations across the US. Here's where the absurdity kicks in. Mongolian Barbecue is a creation of North Americans and is as Mongolian as apple pie (which I have yet to see here).

It seems odd to me that an American company would open a restaurant in Mongolia that specifically claims to be Mongolian food, while there is nothing Mongolian about it.

What's more, the slogan seemed to somewhat politically incorrect. For a mere $10, one can purchase a t-shirt, with a small logo on the front, while the back reads "Go Mongo!"

Some of My Favourite Gobi Pictures

2007-11-05T12:36:00.001+11:00

Here are a few of my favourite pictures from my excursion to the Gobi, including my feeble attempts to be artistic. For unexplainable reasons, I have presented them in reverse chronological order.

Coming back down the mountain.

Kinda looks like an old man with a snarl.

Is that an eye in the rock?

Possibly the best picture I have ever taken.

The side of Sacred Mountain.

Gazelles, making the dash across the steppe.

Gazelles.

The hidden monastery.

Granite formations.

Maureen in the granite.

Water rushing beneath the ice in Yolin Am.

Scenic Yolin Am.

The stream rolling through Yolin Am.

Rocky outcropping in the mountains.

Pump house in front of the mountains.

Camel tracks in the sand.

Andrew's camel taking a drink.

Horses in the early morning near the sand dunes of Kongoryn Els.

The far side of the sand dunes.

Our trail.

The salt left behind after the water is gone.

So lonely, so beautiful.

Camping under the Flaming Cliffs.

A portion of the Flaming Cliffs.

Ripples in the sand.

I assume the pillars add protection?

Monastery at Erdenedalay

Solo tree at the base of the mountain.

The Gobi Concludes - Days 7 & 8

2007-11-05T00:58:00.000+11:00

So... here it is.... the final installment of my Gobi trip story. It has only taken as long to write about it as I was on the trip itself.

Day 7 - Tsogt-Ovoo to Some Ger

This day started out with a bang. Literally. It wasn't really meant to be my day. After a rough sleep on the floor, we packed up the van... or at least started to. We had a nice gallon-sized thermos that had a glass interior to hold the hot water. It seems like the thermos had had it's time with us. As I was carrying it, and a box out to the van, the bottom fell out of the thermos, and the glass tube, full of freshly boiled water, struck the concrete step that was less than 2 inches from my right foot. The water instantly scalded my foot, melting the skin. I hastily removed my shoe, and pulled down the sock. Thankfully, Maureen had brought her first aid kit with her. We applied some first aid, bought some gauze and made a bandage (something I'm getting kind of tired of doing). In my haste to get indoors - mind you I had to hop back over the broken glass - I bumped into the door frame and broke my sunglasses. Most of the trip that day was pretty uneventful until close to the end. Even a stop in Mandalgovi for lunch provided little excitement, other than Andrew and Maureen's ability to charge their iPods. I was determined not to allow my foot to hinder my fun, so I still got plenty of pictures. Just before finding a ger to sleep in for the night, we checked out some of the craziest granite rock formations I have ever seen. I think I have a new found respect for granite. The formations looked an awful lot like puzzle pieces being stacked upon one another. After a few pictures ( I didn't do much walking because of my foot), we went to another destroyed monastery that was hidden in the cliffs. As Dava so eloquently put it, "Monks.... Communists, boom boom." There was a lovely little birch forest that had sprung up in where the monastery ruins are, which was very surprising as I hadn't seen a tree taller than me for the past week at this point. The ger was warm, with a lovely family that made us traditional Mongolian soup - which pretty much means hot water, fatty mutton and noodles. Interesting side note... it was actually the Mongolians who introduces noodles to the Europeans, not the Chinese. It was also the Mongolians who introduced noodles to the Chinese. We sat around, shared some drinks, and played some cards.

Nora and Dava cleaning up the broken glass.

The brilliant first aid work performed by Maureen.

The bizarre granite formations.

"Communists, boom boom."

Tibetan writing on the walls at the entrance to the monastery.

Day 8 - Random Ger to UB

The day started out like any other, except that I had to redress my foot. First thing in the morning, we began our day of spelunking (okay, it was 2 caves, we only went in 1, but it's a really fun word to use). Andrew and I decided to explore the cave a bit. We had to slide on our backs for the first 15 metres or so, but then the cave opened up (actually, it dropped down) so it was tall enough to stand in. Of course, we left our flashlights in the car, so we took random pictures to light the way. After our first cave we hit the road. Along the way we saw three different herds of gazelles, all progressively closer to us. At one point Dava started chasing them with the van, prompting the male to kick into his defensive technique, which consisted of drawing away the "predator" while the females could escape - and people say chivalry is dead. We ate lunch at a ger beside a sacred mountain, whose name I can no longer remember. The mountain had a natural spring, and is older than any of the nearby chains. Just before eating the old man who lived in the ger led us up a mountain to check out another cave that dropped straight down about 65 feet. He climbed the mountain so fast we thought he was crazy, but then he said I was crazy for the way I chose to go down the mountain. The granite had such great grip that I was able to do the Spiderman crawl down a couple of 8-10 walls without losing my grip at all. In some places, it was difficult to get my shoe to release the rock. Nearby, there were the remains of a structure so old that no one knows what it was. It seems that not all of the ruins were caused by the Soviets after all. The stones were taken from the Sacred Mountain, and placed in a rectangular pattern, with two structures near each other. After lunch, it was a few hours of uneventful driving back to Ulaanbaatar, which we reached around 6 pm.

looking back to the entrance of the cave from just a few feet into it.

Wheels, just small enough to fit through the small part of the cave. It was tall enough for us to almost stand upright past this point.

Chasing down the gazelles in the van. We were doing at least 40, and they were pulling away. God, they're fast.

Another herd of gazelles. It's almost like they wanted us to take their picture.

The Earth's right hand.

Sacred Mountain.

The second cave, looking straight down.

These rocks pre-date recorded history. They're odd because they show up in a place that has never been known to have permanent structures.

And thus concludes my amazing Gobi experience. I hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed being there.

The Gobi Continues - Days 5 & 6

2007-11-01T22:06:00.001+11:00

Day 5 - Khongoryn Els to Bayandalay

Day 5 started early, with the intention to hit the road and arrive at our destination as early as possible. We made an early stop to see our guide from the previous day's camel ride. As I've mentioned, he turned out to be the park ranger, and we paid for our stay, and for our day in Yolin Am (we'll get to that). The man and his wife were an interesting couple who had recently returned from 2 weeks in Tibet. They shared, their snuff (ground tobacco that you at least pretend to snort from your hand), some cookies and airag. Airag is fermented mare's milk, but this wasn't ordinary airag, it was camel airag. This stuff was possibly the most vile and disgusting thing I have ever tasted. It was similar to liquidy sour yogurt that had been heated for too long. Nonetheless, I can now say I've had fermented camel's milk at 10 am. After a couple of hours on the road, Dava hit the breaks hard, and told Nora that there were a herd of gazelles to our right. He was right, and they were so close they looked like tiny specs in the distance. We were told that they rarely come into the areas that people regularly travel until the temperatures get colder, and they need to stay nearer the water sources. The rest of the day was somewhat uneventful, or at least should have been. We arrived in Bayandalay a little after 3. Nora went to buy some food, while Andrew and I searched for a store for him to buy a pair of socks. In our search we accidentally walked into someone's home and a pool hall. The locals seemed eager to have us play a game, but we thought we should get back to the group since we thought we would be back on the road shortly. Turns out, we weren't going back out on the road at all. We rented both rooms in the local motel, a nice change from sleeping the the ferocious wind. After a few drinks, some rummy, and dinner, I mentioned that I felt like exploring the town, as it was only 8:00. The others quickly agreed and we started to head out. We got as far as the back lot before we made our first stop. There were 3 kids kicking around a ball, so Andrew, Maureen and I decided to hang out for a bit a play too. The game quickly developed into a kids vs. the grownups (or locals vs. foreigners) game of keep away. Of course I began to cheat by picking up the kids as the ball came to them. They thought this was hilarious, and quickly tried pulling my tricks on me (with a little less effect). The game came to an end when one of the kids brought a week-old puppy out, and we couldn't stay away from it - the dirtiest trick of all. While the three of us played, Cat went in search of a bar, only to find out that it was close with the power off (this is a nightly occurrence in Mongolian towns, since the Russians provide the electricity). When she found that the bar was unavailable, she decided to stay at the motel, while the three of us and Nora went to the town hall to check out the goings-on. It turns out there was a show in town from UB. It started off "normal" enough with a bunch of dancing. Not dancing, like back home, but full-out waltzes and line dances. Maureen, who loves to dance, learned how to ask in Mongolian. She approached the local police officer, only to be shot down in front of the entire crowd. When enough people showed up, they collect 3000 T from everyone, and the show began. Three words: Weirdest Show EVER!!! So much so, they should make t-shirts with that slogan. First, a woman, sang a couple of songs, although the amp was turned up a little high for her voice she was pretty good. Then the show got weird. First, the contortionist took stage, followed by more singing, a dance, a belly-dancer, more dancing, an act they called "yoga", but was oddly reminiscent of a freak-show I saw at UWO, more singing and dancing, and finally a strip-tease. You heard me. Weirdest. Show. Ever. We went back to the motel, laughing hysterically and settled into the best sleep of the trip.

Possibly the most sketch-bag motel ever. It had a ceiling tile caving in, my bed had a piece of cardboard instead of wood holding up my "mattress", it had a whole 2 rooms, and 4 beds in each, with no space for anything else. The bathroom was a giant hole in the ground on the other end of the lot. I loved it.

Maureen, amongst a swarm of Mongolian children during a game of keep away.

Notice who everyone is staring at and laughing. Also, notice the embarrassed policeman behind Maureen.

The belly-dancing at the weirdest show ever.

Crazy waltzing. SO fast, my camera couldn't even capture it well.

Day 6 - Bayandalay to Tsogt-Ovoo

We started the day by driving to Yolin Am. Yolin Am is a very narrow gorge that is nestled in the middle of a mountain range, and can get up to 10 feet of ice by the end of the winter. On the way there we stopped at one of the world's oldest monasteries, or what WAS one of the world's oldest monasteries. Not surprisingly, the communists destroyed it during the 1930s. At this same site we the foundations of two of the oldest known permanent structures in human history. They date back to a few millenia pre-bronze age. I found an amazing brick carved that was from the monastery. Later, Cat asked if I took it, and I said "no, it belongs there." From the monastery, we drove down (and I mean down - a fairly steep slope) into the canyon. Not long after entering the canyon we spotted a herd of wild sheep - apparently even more rare than spotting gazelles. We continued along the toughest road I have ever experienced and stopped at a passage that was no more than 3 inches wider than the van we were driving. At this same spot, we looked up to see the Golden Vulture, which exists only in this mountain range and is the only type of vulture that does not have a black body. We then began the 2.5 km hike through the canyon, hopping back and forth across the stream an developing ice. The scenery was incredible. 1200-1500 foot mountain peaks on all side of us, and sometimes less that 8 feet between the sheer cliffs on either side. The canyon seemed to be trying to give me a good scare, as the ice caved beneath me at once (only the tip of my shoe got wet thankfully), and later, a rocked rolled over as I stepped on it, making a loud cracking noise, like a gunshot, that echoed through the canyon. After the canyon, we went to see the museum, but the caretakers couldn't find the key. It is supposed to have dinosaur bones and eggs, as well as stuffed ibex, wild sheep, and other wild animals. It seemed like it would be worth the 1000 T entry fee. We stopped at a nearby ger for lunch, and Nora got bitten by the owner's dog. We continued on the Dalanzadgad, the Airmag (provincial) capital, and Mongolia's third largest city, with a whopping population of 30 000. The biggest feature of the town (for us) was the paved roads. Nora stopped by the hospital to make sure she didn't get rabies from the deranged canine. We continued on, drive past sunset. As we approached Tsogt-Ovoo, we chanced upon a local doctor, riding a motorbike that would break down every 1/2 mile or so, and also had no headlight, so Dava drove behind to light the way. We found a one-room little house to sleep in, which was owned by the lady who ran the hotel, and rented it to people who thought the hotel was too expensive. Her son hung out with us, very excited to show off his toys, school work and awards - he was the local waltz and latin dancing champion, and had several academic awards. We gave him some batteries in case he had toys that could use them.

This is what remains of the monastery. It was made from stone bricks and sand. I don't know how anything survived the communists.

This brick would have been carved close to 4000 years ago. I wanted to keep it, but I just couldn't do it. Maybe it's because the Buddhist believe so firmly in Karma.

Yes, that van fit through that passage. I don't know how.

A Golden Vulture flying overhead.

Two (of about 15) wild sheep standing at the precipice, just long enough to get a picture.

A small piece of Yolin Am. You could turn just a touch, and another exquisite picture would be there.

One of many beautiful waterfalls in the canyon. Maureen and Andrew in the background.

Sunset over the Middle Gobi.

The Gobi - Days 3 & 4

2007-10-31T00:32:00.000+11:00

Day 3 - Flaming Cliffs to Khongoryn Els

We awoke pre-sunrise to catch the magnificence of the cliffs. We could not have been prepared for what we saw. The cliffs were an incredible almost blood-red in the rising sun. We drove a short way to Bulgan, a small town, where we reloaded on water, gas and some food supplies. Andrew went to the hospital to recharge the battery on his camera. We realized how absurd this concept would be back home. I can't imagine anyone walking into the local hospital to plug in a camera to let it recharge. After our short break, we continued on with some relatively flat driving. We stopped for lunch in an amazing spot where a herd of horses were dining on some grass and water. At this point I realized how salty the water in the Gobi is. Everywhere water has been in the past few years has massive amounts of salt left behind. After a pleasant and peaceful lunch, we finished the day's journey by passing through a chain of mountains where the road followed a dried up riverbed. When presented with the choice of sleeping in a ger or camping out, we opted to camp. After sleeping in the Flaming Cliffs, who could turn down the chance to camp under the world's tallest sand dunes. That's right, world's tallest, from bottom to top, not in elevation. Ironically, the Gobi is also the desert with the least amount of sand in the world. Before dinner, we decided to work up an appetite by climbing to the top of the tallest dune. About 1/4 of the way up, the girls chickened out, and turned back. The climb was insanely difficult. It took us about an hour and a half, but we got there. At the top, in my great intellectual way, I turned to Andrew and commented, "Wheels, I have sand in my eye." After a few amazing photos, we decided to bum-scoot all the way to the bottom. We looked back at the bottom and realized we cause a landslide that could be seen from miles away. The view was spectacular. When we returned, Andrew and I found that Nora, Dava and Maureen had set up the tents. Dava had a campfire started, and had managed to get some of Gobi wood. This is the most amazing woods of all time. It is so dense, that you can't chop it with an axe, it burns for hours, produces an immense amount of heat when it burns, and ignites quickly and easily.

The Flaming Cliffs at sunrise. (I hate you Dan, cause now I have to laugh every time I say/hear Flaming Cliffs)

The water source. Is it wrong that it seemed normal?

Our horse friends at lunch.

The dunes.

The top of the tallest sand dune in the world.

The view from above.

Day 4 - The Dunes

It was a nice break from driving on our fourth day. Instead, we rented camels for the day. We started with the best grilled cheese sandwiches of all time before Dava drove us over to our guide and our camels. It turns out we had the "park ranger" as our guide. It was widely acknowledged that My camel, Jerry, was by far the most intelligent. He went fast when I asked him to, turned when told to, and even bit Andrew's camel on the butt a couple of times. We're told this either means he thought the other camel was too smelly, or too slow. Since Andrew's camel wiped snot all over his leg, I was glad to get out into the lead. We stopped at our campsite for lunch, where Andrew decided to go climb the dunes again while the rest of us continued on for a few more hours. Big mistake - my butt had bruises for days, and I had to sit on a pillow in the van the next day it was so sore.

My camel can kick your camel's ass.

"You love my humps. My humps, my humps. My lovely camel humps. Check it out."

Maureen, in her transition from tropical climate, and Cat's camel, doing whatever it pleases.

Notice the camel on the left. He didn't start the day with us. He eventually joined in the line.

A few notes about camels - the camels here are the less common Bactrian Camel (2 humps) and much furrier than the 1-humped Dromedary Camel. The Bactrian Camel will only live in domestication within the next couple of decades as wild ones are severely endangered. Camels like to walk in straight lines. If another camel is within 30 feet in front of one, it will automatically follow the lead camel's path, no matter what you want it to do. We joked about how a camel's single's ad might read "Likes - walk in lines. Dislikes - not walking in lines."

Two more installments to come....

Gobi - Days 1 & 2

2007-10-28T22:50:00.001+11:00

So, I have returned from my week long venture through the Gobi Desert. I'm not really sure how to tell the story in a way that will give an accurate representation of such a trip, but I'll give it a shot.

Day 1 - UB to Erdenedalay

We started our trip when our driver, Dava, and our guide, Nora, picked us (Andrew, Maureen, Cat and I) up at the school at 9 AM. We made our way to the tour office, and picked up some last minute things at the State Department Store. We were initially had a 7 hour drive that day, but it was full of excitement. The landscape changed every 20 minutes or so (this was the case throughout the journey). We were amused for the first hour or two by the thousands of mice that would scurry from our path to their holes along the side of the road. The roads of course were what Mongolians call "natural roads", which basically means that they have been carved out by hundreds of cars that have travelled these paths over the years. Our first lunch found us parked on the side of a low mountain. We walked to the top for our first real photo-op before sitting down to our first experience of Nora's fabulous cooking. When we were back on the road, we began noticing the vast number of eagles and hawks that were sitting, watching the steppe for food. This was not our only wildlife experience, as Dava chased after a couple of foxes in the van so we could try to get some pictures. We arrived in Erdenedalay slightly before dark, but our arranged accommodations had decided to travel to UB for the night, so Nora spent the next hour finding us a place to sleep. In the middle of the afternoon we stopped at a mountainside lake for a little climbing and some magnificent pictures. We ended up sleeping in a ger with an older woman who was the mother of another driver for Tseren Tours. She was a lovely lady, who was kind and welcoming, and happy to have company.

Our van, named Vladmir, at our lunch stop on the side of the mountain.

The road ahead.

A mountainside lake. Wheels & I climbed the side of the mountain.

The monastery at Erdenedalay. There are no monks here currently.

The bustling metropolis of Erdenedalay. It's a town of about 2000 people.

Day 2 - Erdenedalay to the Flaming Cliffs

We were on the road around 10 after a simple breakfast. We had a very long stretch of nothingness, where we stopped for lunch. I loved the though that I was the tallest thing as far as the eye could see. The roads were a little rougher that the previous day, and Dava seemed to choose the most roller coaster router possible. As the driving for the day was getting close to an end (another 7 hrs) we started to see the incredible beauty of the Gobi. First, we drove by the Gobi Forest, which sadly will disappear in the next 15 years if nothing drastic is done. This is tough, since the nomads depend on the wood, which burns for a very long time, and very warmly, as we found out later in the trip. We arrived at the Flaming Cliffs about an hour before sunset. The cliffs are aptly named, as the glow red with the sunrise and sunset. There was a souvenir shop at the cliffs where I purchased a dinosaur bone and a piece of petrified wood for a total of T 3000 ($2.50). We wandered through the cliffs for a while to take some incredible pictures, which resulted in me almost sliding off of one cliff. Dava had parked at the edge of the cliff, so when we piled back in the van, Cat said something to the effect of, "Please don't roll forward at all." In response, Dava drove over the edge and down to the bottom of the cliffs. This convinced me that the Russian van that we were in, while not designed for comfort, could kick the snot out of any North American vehicle. That night we camped in the middle of the cliffs, something that would never be allowed in North America for conservation reasons. WE set up our tents, with some difficulty. Andrew and I decided to climb the cliffs in the dark with the aid of a headlamp.

Watering the goats at a roadside stop.

In the middle of nowhere... or maybe the egde of somewhere.

The Gobi Forest.

Me and Andrew at the Flaming Cliffs.

I almost died taking this picture, so I insist that you enjoy it.

A small portion of the Flaming Cliffs.

Our crazy awesome campsite inside the Flaming Cliffs.

A small sample of the amzing rock formations.

To Be Continued...

Call Me

2007-10-18T22:34:00.001+12:00

So, I've been dying to hear some voices from back home. I, by no means, expect you to call me from your actual phone, since it would cost you an arm and a leg (although if this seems like a valuable use of your money, you can reach me at +11-976-95695612). Alternatively, for those of you who are subscribers to Skype, please, e-mail me your Skype account, or add me (I'm the only person with my name in Mongolia, I'm quite certain.)

Secondly, for all of those wonderful teachers back home, if you are interested in setting up a pen-pal program with a Mongolian class, let me know. There are a few classes in the school who are interested in doing this, and I can try to set it up for you. I have a grade 2 class and would LOVE to have a program with a class back home.

That's all for now. I'll be camping in the Gobi Desert for 8 days starting Saturday, so expect one heck of an extensive entry around the end of the month.

Running on Empty

2007-10-17T23:51:00.000+12:00

I've been here, what? a month and a half? Today, I saw the rarest of sights it would seem..... a car whose gas tank was ALMOST empty. That's right, I said almost. That is to say that I had not seen (and neither had anyone else, it seems) a single car that had a needle that read anything more than empty. In fact, it is a common concern as to whether or not the vehicle will actually have enough gas to get you home. Last week, we experienced a car that actually ran out of gas. Thankfully this happens just seconds after we arrived. I have heard many a story where the car, or fake taxi, actually runs out on the way home. The reaction seems to commonly be a shrug of the shoulders, you pay, get out, and flag another fake cab. The other day I actually experienced a bus running out of gas. At least it wasn't the one I was on, but at least 20 people piled out, and began to push it to a nearby gas station.

If you're not concerned about the car running out of gas, it's usually because of the overriding fear of it breaking down, or possibly exploding. Mongolians have a remarkable way of making a car work when it should have been junked years ago. If a car wasn't purchased in the last 3 years, there's little chance it would be able to pass a safety inspection in Canada.

Even the English isn't in English

2007-10-07T13:52:00.000+12:00

I bought a bottle of GEM draght beer, which is bottled right in the store for you. This is the card they give with your bottle (Aunt Moe, you will love this):

Side 1:

GEM Draft

"Living" Beer

No Conserving, No Pasteurization ,No Filtering

Living Beer

GEM DRAFT beer is pure natural product and was made by European the best quality of barley, hop and new yeast.

Beer will not be contained filtering, pasteurization, conserving in its content for to be kept for a long time.

LIVING BEER is contained combination of vitamins, mineral substance, including, protein, carbohydrate, iron, potassium and new flavour of barley, hop and beer can be expressed unrepeatable flavour and quality.

The living beer was equipmented by the best know-how refrigeration systemof motile tank. And motile tank was installed at the sales point.You can flavour GEM DRAFT at your desired time ,

Side 2:

Clarification

Please, clarify me what is the difference between kinds of beer

The beer is contained with a lot of benefit mineral substances which is helpful for the human body.

"Simple" beer is contained with pasteurization, filtration conservation which is used for lenghtening term of preservation of beer. Nutrimental substances of "Simple" beer was filtered and about 20 percent of nutrimental substances was left. Nutrimental substances of "Living" beer was left 100 % pure in the result of filtering.

What is the Filtration, Pasteurization, Conservation?

Filtration - in the result of filtering majority of the nutrimental substances of beer is lost

Pasteurization - it is heat treatment activity to eliminate bacteria of yeast and for lenghtening preservation of beer

Conservation - all kind of chemical substances for used preservation term and improving stabilization.

GEM DRAFT - is "Living" beer and it is not contained pasteurization, conserving, and filtering, any additional content.

When you flavour "Living" beer, you can feel Fresh Airag/mare's milk/of/Khukhuur/leather bag for used storing airag/.

"Living Beer" - is contained all kind of nutrimental substances, multi proteins, Polisugar, monosugar, B6, B5, B2, B1, vitamins, potassium, iron, organic acid

Storing Term:

It can be kept for 72 hours after package

Package:

1.5, 1.0 liter

Leave you the choice

Werespects the interest of consumers.

"GEM INTERNATIONAL" Co., Ltd

Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar city, Khan-Uul district, Chingis Avenue, "Erel" complex

"GEM INTERNATIONAL" Co., Ltd

Phone: 345700, 345528, fax: 976-11-34570

Learning Mongolian

2007-10-06T22:21:00.001+12:00

I'm not sure how, but I'm finding the Mongolian language to be rather simple to pick up. Dan and Tina were quickly able to get the grammar, since they know Japanese fluently, and the grammar is the same. Most people have had a particular problem with pronunciation. This, I have found to be the easiest part.

I should mention, that some of the staff have been taking Mongolian lessons for the past 3 weeks, for 1.5 hours each Thursday. The teacher is the Mongolian language teacher for the school. We felt it appropriate to give 1000 tugrug ($0.85) per person, per lesson. The school was trying to force Ganaa into doing it for free, so we just pay her under the table.

The other day, Ganaa was talking to some of the T.A.s and told them that my pronunciation is very clean and surprisingly good. Considering the closest languages to Mongolian are Hungarian and Finnish (both of which were highly influenced by Chinngis Khaan's Westward advancement), I don't know how I'm understanding it so well.

I have also learned the whole alphabet now, and it is pretty common to see/hear me just reading random Mongolian words. I often check with the nearest Mongolian (usually one I know) to check that I have pronounced it correctly. About 98% of the time, I'm told that it was just right. It helps that the language is mostly phonetic. I also practice my spelling. I often spell the names of my students on the board while the class is settling back down after lunch. There are a few things that should be mentioned about the Mongolian alphabet. First, it is NOT the Cyrillic alphabet, only based on it. The Cyrillic alphabet has 33 letters, Mongolian has 35. Second, some of the letters are extremely hard to write, so they Mongolians have a lazy way of writing them. Third, some letters have no sound. Fourth, the letters that look the same as those in English don't always get pronounced like their English counterparts. The differences and similarities are something like this:

Mongolian letter Pronunciation
Aa A (like in cat)
Бб B
Bв V
Гг G (like in gear)
Дд D looks like a triangle in handwriting
Ee Ye (like in yellow)
Ёё Yaw
Жж J (like in jury)
Зз Dz (the emphasis is on the z, so that the d is almost inaudible)
just saying Z is acceptable it seems
Ии I (like in in) also can be E (like in green)
Йй This is "hagusee" - and technically sounds like I as well, but it changes
the sound of whatever vowel it follows (it always follows a vowel)
Kk K
Лл Lsh (the SH is very slight, and said like someone with a lisp would
say it)
Mм M
Hн N
Oo Aw (like in claw)
Өө (supposed to look like an O/o with a horizontal line through it)
O (like in Go, but with a slightly longer O)
Пп P
Pр R (with a slight SH at the end, like in Л)
Cc S
Tт T
Уy This is a combination between O and oo
YY Oo (like in bruise)
Фф F
Xx Kh - this is more of an H than a K, the K part is like you have a wad of
phlegm you need to clear out of your throat, but it is done very
quickly
Цц Ts - mostly an S, but tongued like you would if playing a trumpet
This is the hardest sound to make
Чч Ch (like in change)
Шш Sh
Щщ Shch
Ъ This letter has no sound - it's kind of like a space... I don't get it
Ыы E (like in green) - I haven't figured out the difference
Ь Also, no sound - more of a change in intonation
Ээ E (like in beg)
Юю You (like in you)
Яя Yah (said emphatically)

Just thought You would like to know.

Mongolia, "Where Polar Opposites Collide"

2007-10-06T21:34:00.000+12:00

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."

A Glimpse of Terelj

2007-10-03T00:08:00.000+12:00

A handful of staff members decided to make a trip out to Terelj for the weekend, which is about 55 km, and about 2 hrs away. The trip was a nice tourist ger camp where we did some socializing, horse-back riding, and sight seeing. There wasn't much adventure other than the Mongolians friends that Sue and I made when we crashed their karaoke party. I just thought that some people may enjoy some photographs.

Some horses just hanging out by the edge of the river.

Apparently, this rock, which is almost completely hollow, hid over 100 monks from the communist soldiers during the purges.

The ger camp at Terelj.

Beautiful scenery. This is from the front door of my ger.

My horse, Harold, and Moe.

Turtle Rock.

The bridge to the monastery in the mountains that we walked up to. It seemed like on of those rickety wooden bridges from cartoons. It even had a sign telling us that there could only be 4 people max.

The monastery from the side. 115 steps to the top, but only 108 count.... not too sure why.

This is one bad-ass looking eagle just hanging out at the side of the road. Note the aviator goggles.

A Mongolian golf course. That's right... we got them too. They may not have any fairways (yet contain 400+ yard holes), nor any patrons, and the greens may be perfectly flat and made of compressed sand, and painted green, but we still have golf courses.

Another bout of horseback riding. This time my horse was named Francois... I think I got a lemon. I'm not this far behind to take the picture, my horse just didn't have an accelerator.

On the way home. We are about 30 feet from and actual paved road at this point, but who needs roads when you can drive through a river instead?

Boy, Canadian Tire really IS a great store.

2007-09-26T15:36:00.000+12:00

I've realized that some of the things that we, as Canadians, take for granted. First of all, you really can find anything you need at Canadian Tire. If you need camping gear, sports equipment, even boots, they are all available at Canadian Tire. Here, you have to wander around to find anything you want. Sometimes the Black Market is good, but there are about 4000 little shops.
More recently, I've set out to get a class pet. The class decided they want turtles, so I obtained an aquarium (with great difficulty). The only problem is finding the turtles. We are currently in the process of collecting some rocks to put in the habitat, and then we will add some water. Where the problem lies is that there are few, if any, pet stores in Ulaanbaatar. I can't figure out how so many students have pet fish, lizards, and turtles, if no one knows where to find them.
I also appreciate grocery stores, especially the megastores that Canada has. You can go and find a variety of any product you want. Sometimes you just want to buy some mustard. I have found some, but it took 3 stores and a couple of hours of searching to find it. The stores are very hit-and-miss on the products they carry. Spices and seasonings are another issue altogether.
Restaurants are another issue. While they don't cost much, you have to have 2 meals in mind. The first one, which they won't have, and the one you are actually going to order.
There are some advantages to shopping in UB. There are many little stores which all carry little things which are unique. You can find just about anything, but it's really just luck of the draw whether you find what you want.

Well Said, Cat.

2007-09-22T16:47:00.000+12:00

Since Cat is notoriously bad with directions, I gave her a quick pop quiz. The conversation went like so:

Me: So, what direction are we heading right now?

Cat: North?

Me: No. North is that way. (pointing to my left)

Cat: West?

Me: No, east.

Cat: Well, if we were in Toronto we would be going west.

Me: Huh?

Manzushir Khiid?

2007-09-17T02:27:00.000+12:00

After two crazy and hectic weeks, Dan, Andrew and I decided a little break was in order. After picking up a copy of the Mongolia Expat magazine, we saw an article about Manzusir Khiid (pronounced Manshir Heed), which is the ruins of an ancient monastery with Buddhist rock paintings. It is about a 7-8 hour hike from where we live, so we decided we would hike down, camp overnight and hike back.

On Saturday morning, we left at close to 10 am, and headed south. As we were leaving John K decided he would hike part way and head back. We travelled along the valley to the south and had a pretty intense climb to the peak. We reached the peak around 12:30 and ate lunch. After lunch, John decided he was going to head back, while the three of us continued on. not even 10 minutes later we were greeted with an incredible view. Following a few pictures, we continued on. We arrived at the top of a fairly decent descent, and decided to have a quick break, before heading down the hill. Just seconds into our break, Dan happened to look to the left and saw what we originally thought to be a deer. We realized shortly afterward that the were four, and they were actually young elk, rather than deer. The elk walk right up to us and started sniffing our packs before wandering off into the accompanying pasture. We took some incredible photos, and then after a few minutes, continued on into the field. We tried circling around, while getting many more spectacular pictures. As we reached the far end of the field, one of the females, took a particular interest in us, and began to approach rather quickly. We thought this was a bit odd, and tried to put some trees between us and the elk. The female faced off against Dan, and started circling the tree. He shed his pack to increase his mobility. It turns out that the elk didn't really like Dan's pack so much, and forced Dan and Andrew to the East, while I was forced West. Suddenly there were all four elk dividing us from each other.

The females started herding Dan and Andrew around, preventing them from retrieving the pack, while the male kept a close eye on me. I slowly put some distance between us while Dan and Andrew were forced back up the hill and off to the west. In the mean time, I watched the male start sniffing Dan's pack. One of the straps got caught on it's antler, and it took particular offense to this, and started attacking it. For close to an hour, the male kept lifting it up off the ground, and even took a full charge at the pack. Eventually, the male moved away, leaving it for dead. Unfortunately, I didn't have the best view, and could not tell how far the elk had moved. I laid in wait, testing nearby trees, as they seemed to be able to appear without notice, and thought I might have to make a hasty climb. After 30 minutes, I tentatively ventured forward, checking all directions after every few steps. I was able to get within 10 feet of the pack (which had been moved at least 60 feet by the buck) when John sent me a text message asking how we were doing. I hastily sent a reply saying "Dan had his pack attacked by an elk" and turned off my phone to avoid alerting the elk to my position. I quickly grabbed his pack, and returned to the spot that I had left my own. I tried turning my phone back on, when I realized I couldn't remember the necessary PIN code, and was now unable to communicate with anyone. Since it had been close to 2 hours since the attack began, and I hadn't seen the other two in well over an hour, I thought that they might be trying to get the pack, and they needed to know I had it. I made a quick dash across the edge of the clearing, and started to call out for my friends. Receiving no response, I turned and saw the buck only 20 feet away. I quickly put some trees between us, and stayed out of sight. I made the quick dash back across the field, when I heard Dan make "the call of the north" courtesy of Bob and Doug Mackenzie. As I ran for cover, I signalled to head down the hill. We regrouped at the packs, and made a hasty retreat down the hill. Unfortunately, down the hill was not where we wanted to be going.

When we reached the bottom, we checked our GPS and noticed the we were off course a little, but has some mountains between us and our destination. We continued along the beautiful valley floor for a while, when we encountered a German man on a BMW motorbike, who told us it was rough going to get to our destination. By this point it was already 4 pm. After climbing a small hill, we realized that there were several mountains in our way, and we elected to bail on Manzushir Khiid. Andrew remembered having been in the valley before and that there were some gers up the "road" a little ways. We decided to try for them, but were willing to set up camp if we couldn't get there before dark. After a couple of hours of walking, and dwindling daylight, we saw a ger camp in the distance, and made the trek forward.

We reached the camp just after 6, and thankfully, it was open for business. We discovered it would cost T25000 to rent a ger for the three of us (just over $20), and figured that was fine since it would have been T15000 for entry into Mazushir Khiid. We were brought beer, water and food (in that order) before looking to retire. We also attempted to call home in case word of the attack had spread to Dan's wife, Tina. We had brought a bottle of wine and a bottle of vodka as well, and were well into those as well. As we left the little dining room, Dan and I turned to find an older man holding Andrew's hand, and a bewildered look on Andrew's face. The man was enamoured with our beards, and invited us over to his ger, which was located next to the camp. We entered his camp to find his family very hospitable, yet embarrassed by his drunkenness. They fed us homemade biscuits and yogurt. We eventually parted way, after he spent some time singing about his love for Andrew, and mashing his face into Andrew's cheek. We prepared some food, cooked it on the stove and left it for morning. It was a pleasant experience communicating with so many people who spoke no English.

After a fitful sleep, we re lit the stove, reheated the food, and had breakfast. We thought we would head south to Zumoond, a town of about 17 000, and catch a ride to UB. As we were leaving, one of the camp staff told us that it was quicker to go over the mountain and we would find a road. We took his word for it, and we pleasantly greeted by a road on the other side. We reached said road, and walked for about 15 minutes when a man drove by, and gave us a ride to the main road from the airport. We gave him T1000 for his trouble, and decided to start walking home. We made it about 12 metres before we were offered another ride. We graciously accepted, and realized en route that it would have taken hours to get back home. We gave this gentleman a little cash, and had him drop us at the Zaisan Memorial.

The Zaisan memorial is close to our place, so we decided to climb the mountain. It was built by the Soviets to commemorate the valiant fighting the Mongolians provided during WWII. The memorial is atop a small mountain, and is all about Soviet superiority and its defeat of the Nazis and the Japanese (?). After Zaisan, we trekked home, which was only about a 10 minute walk.

Maybe next time we'll actually go to Manzushir Khiid.

The Use of a Horn

2007-09-10T02:25:00.001+12:00

So, all of you back in Canada may understand the use of a car horn to mean one of two things. Either "Watch it, you're going to cause an accident," or, "Hey! I know you and want to get your attention."

Here, there are a few options as to what the use of the horn might mean:

1. "You are in my way, and I don't like it." honk honk (Used both when someone IS and is NOT supposed to be there)
2. "You are somewhere that I might want to be in the future." honk honk
3. "You are neither in my way, nor in a place I plan to go, but I want you to know that I'm here anyway." honk honk
4. "You are unable to move (or unwilling) and I feel that honking my horn is an adequate solution." honk honk
5. "I am passing you." honk honk
6. "I haven't honked for the past 30-45 seconds, and I fear that I might have forgotten how." honk honk
7. "I don't know what else to do with my hand while I'm driving." honk honk

This is just a sampling, as we find new reasons for horn honking everyday. It seems that there is actually little reason to refrain from using one's horn. It's actually become a source of amusement for us. It's right up there with the Mongolian need to punch every so often (see Dan's blog for that explanation)

End of the Week

2007-09-10T01:46:00.000+12:00

So I managed to survive the first week. My class is an interesting bunch, but highly varied in both academic ability and in English. We kind of eased into the week, and I got some of my initial testing done to level the children. It appears I have much more of it to do, since some kids don't even know the alphabet yet, while others can read at close to a grade 4 level.

The kids here don't seem to understand certain concepts that are commonplace back home, such as keeping your hands off each other (although that one seems to be cultural, as people will just sit on your lap on the bus - seriously), stand and walk in a straight line, and don't talk to someone else while you are being spoken to.

Andrew, Terry and I are starting an American Sports Club on Tuesday. The list filled up in minutes. We are planning to start with baseball, then get into football, and maybe hockey, then back to baseball in the spring. We've kept sign up to the older kids, so we can actually try to have a baseball team. We're all pretty excited about it.

Outside of school, the T.A.s had a welcoming party for all of the new staff, and like all Mongolian get togethers, copious amounts of alcohol were present. After the party, some of us headed down to the Green Pub, which is really just a small bar outside that is just around the corner. Dan, Andrew and I had some lamb skewers that were marinated and then barbecued. It was, without question, the best lamb I've ever eaten in my life. Yesterday, Cat and I went into town, a forgot to get off the bus at the right stop, so we had to find our way back so we could get to State Department Store for a little grocery shopping. We got a little lost on the way, so it took an extra couple of hours to get where wanted to go. We noticed something was up when we had gone in a full circle. I eventually figured out where we had gone wrong, and got us back on track. Last night consisted of a quiet movie night at Dan and Tina's place, as we made good use of Colin Buster Video. Today, I went for a nice hike through the valley to the south, which had a beautiful little stream that tricked over and around a million rocks, then up a small mountain to eat a quiet dinner of tuna salad and fruit all alone. It was so peaceful and serene, that I might decide to do it alone more often.

Dan and the T.A.s

Andrew, me and Dan mowing down on our swords of lamb. That's my awesome Mongolian jacket I bought at the Black Market.

The sweet valley stream.

I call it "Old Man Rock"

The dinner table.

This story just HAS to be told.

2007-09-03T23:38:00.000+12:00

I realize that I just posted a couple of hours ago, but since then I experienced the most "entertaining" bus driver EVER!!!

Cat & I decided to go enjoy a meal at American Ger'll (a clever pun that is probably lost on most people back home). After dinner, we hopped aboard the 33 bus which drops us at Zaisan. I imagine the thought process of the driver must have been, "I wonder if this gas pedal can get any closer to the floor?"

We are screaming down Chinngis Blvd, like a bat out of hell, we arrive at a bus "stop."

Here is the approximate translation of the exchange that takes place as the bus begins to accelerate again:

People at back door: "Hey stop the bus, we need to get off."

Driver: "Screw that, you should have gotten off when I didn't quite stop."

People at back door: "Please mister, we need to get off here."

Driver: "Okay...... NOW!!!!!" (slams on the brakes)

The only thing that was apparently going to slow down this bus driver was the President's police escort, which brought the bus to a stop, then a very tentative acceleration for the next 40 feet, then he kicked right back into Bat-Out-of-Hell mode.

You Never Know Where You'll End Up in Mongolia.

2007-09-03T20:25:00.000+12:00

So this weekend didn't seem like much, but in retrospect, even the mundane chores of life contain some fantastic stories. On Thursday, John, Christina, Cat and I decided to hit up the Black Market (I never knew it was an established location). After much walking around, trying to find moderate essentials and some slight luxuries, we ended up with a fair amount of purchases. John and Christina had left early with some fabrics, whil Cat bought a humidifier, a robe, a jacket, and various other small items. I went for the bare necessities, getting a rug for my front hall, a microwave, a cd of modern Mongolian music and a rockin' traditional Mongolian suede jacket. We hailed a fake cab, since they cost substantially less than the real ones, and found that the driver spoke decent English. We found out that he is 20, married, and has a 2 year old child. He, like many others helped me with the pronunciation on the words for left (zun), right (borun), and straight (chigeraa). That night we went to Dave's Pub, an English joint for Quiz Night. THis is the only place you can be sure to meet other English speaking people.

Friday night, the lot of us took over an out-of-the-way Thai restaurant. I have now tried the Mongolian version of Chinese, Korean, Irish, and American, and have been to the German and English restaurants, but didn't eat while there. The food was good, and we decided to stop at Khan Brau (the German place) for a couple drinks. While were there a homeless man was selling postcards, so I bought one for 500 (stamp included), when he suddenly wanted me to buy 6, then 9, all because I wanted to see what he had. I never got to look at the selection, and ended up with some dancers that I have never seen. 10 minutes later, he was back trying to sell me more. The panhandlers seem to forget who they've hit up a lot. There are also random fireworks on some days. No one really seems to know why, but they are as extensive as our annual Canada Day fireworks in Sarnia. We figure they must just really love days that end with a 'Y' and go nuts on the celebration every few days.

Saturday was my easy night in. I went in to work for a couple of hours in the afternoon, then got a big haircut at Charming Beauty Hair Salon for about $6. Not a bad price for the best haircut I've ever had. We grabbed a quick bite at Grand Khaan Irish Pub and wandered over to Happy Shop to buy some $2 movies that are bootlegged and mass produced by the Chinese Army (seriously).

Sunday, I again went in to work for a couple hours. Terry and I decided to go for a hike up the Mountains to the immediate West of Zaisan. On the way up, we met some of the teachers from the International School of Ulaanbaatar. After a brief, but pleasant conversation, we parted ways, and we continued to the peak and ate a quick dinner of cheese, tube meat, bread and the greatest wine ever. This wine cost 2800 tugrug ($2.20) was 17%, and contained some kind of fruit, that we decided to call "Goldenberries." We packed up the rest, and after a steep descent, we happened upon some men drinking vodka just in the middle of nowhere, at the side of the road. They waved us over, and we decided this was an experience, we couldn't pass up. THe men offered us some vodka, and we accepted, as it is rude to refuse here. in return to dished out the rest of the meat and cheese from dinner, and the apparent ring-leader, Merbukht, chipped in some of the greatest bread I have ever tasted (I call it Mongolian Circle Bread). We chilled out for a little while with Inkhbut, Merbukht and their friend who Merbukht told me was drunk, and I was unable to figure out his name. Eventually his daughters had to come and drag him home. We were able to establish that they live near the ger camp, and have lived there for about a year. We returned home around 9, to the realization that we had just climbed a mountain and drank with some locals all on a whim. It turns out Dan, at the same time, was off herding goats with one of the neighbourhood goatherds.

Today was the first day of school. My class spend most of the day practicing lining up, since they prefer the "Mongolian line-up" which really just sonsists of a mass of people trying to get to the same spot first. The kids don't seem to understand why it's a big deal to just bugger off and do whatever they feel, like go out and run around the school yard, or just choose not to come in from lunch. Despite some disorganization, we figured things out, and the kids are pretty reasonable. Most of them have a grasp of English, but some still have no English skills at all.

I have 25 children, almost all of them are Mongolian, and the names are sooo difficult to pronounce. I have 1 boy from Tanzania, who is incredibly polite, and very bright, and a couple of South Koreans.

This boy of (I'm guessing) 4 is actually building this house.

Merbukht, cutting the Mongolian circle bread.

On the Mountain, overlooking UB, and with my new haircut.

From left: Drunk guy, Merbukht, me, Inkhbut.

The Neighbourhood and some Temples

2007-08-30T13:24:00.000+12:00

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

Random Mongolia Observations

2007-08-28T22:50:00.000+12:00

Here are the top 10 bizzare observations about Mongolia.... so far.

1. The speed limit in Ulaanbaatar is no more than 30 km/hr. This is not because there is any sort of posted speed limit; rather there are just enough potholes and speedbumps to prevent any vehicle from picking up any more speed than that.

2. Things have different names. There are 3 reasons behind this, a) they are in a diffrent language, b) They are translated from English, and then back into English, but somehow different, c) car companies decided it's easier to call their cars something different, but still use English.

3. It's not uncommon for people to try to drive up a mountain.

4. There are thousans of dogs, yet no dog owners.

5. The ground often throws rocks at your feet.

6. When soething is put somewhere, that is ow the way it was originally supposed to be.

7. If there is an inch available, you must take it.... NOW!!!! (This includes driving and park benches)

8. "Common" sayings in Mongolian are not things we would ever expect to have the opportunity to use.
Quotes from my incredibly "useful" phrase book (English portion only).....
a) "Can I shoot with ankle?"
b) "Before,I never had ridden a yak."
c) "When can I have a denture made?"
d) "He's a middle aged."
e) "I like food that is not too fat."
f) "Please tel me how to get o the haberdashery's section?"
g) "Can ou amend this a rig?"
h) "I'd like to buy the best English-Mongolian phrase book." (yes, this was in my phrase book)
i) " The archers are wise today."
j) "Where must a sign?"
k) "Have you been a good wintering?"
l) "May I pasture the livestock today?"
m) "Please dismount me from a camel."
n) "Cuckold someone."
o) "To fall into fangs."

9. P = R

10. A line is another way of saying, cram as manypeople into the same space a possible, otherwise known as the 'Mongolian lineup."

The Adventure Begins!!!!

2007-08-24T21:00:00.000+12:00

So, I'm here. You could say I got here safe and sound, but I wouldn't. Both were tested on the journey, which I can only hope is an indication of what I've gotten myself into.

To start, I decided that a 6:25 am departure (which means that I had to get to Pearson by 4 or so) meant that I should stay up all night, as I tend to have difficulty getting up very early in the morning. Since Mom drove me to Kitchener early in the day, Graham kindly offered to drive me to the airport from there. We arrived around 3:30, so I just chilled out for a little while. Thankfully it wasn't a long wait to get on the plane. As I was preparing to sit in my assigned seat, I was asked by a lovely couple if my name was Colin. I turns out that John and Christina are the middle school P.E. teacher and the school nurse. (If you were wondering, the guy at the check-in station told them about me, since it is rather uncommon to find 3 people going to Ulaanbaatar together from Toronto.) After an uneventful hour on the plane, we landed in Chicago for a 5 hour layover.

Chicago proved to be one long attempt to prevent ourselves from dying of boredom. It was mostly filled with taking turns walking around the airport to find that it held nothing of interest. I think that the breakfast from McDonalds qualifies as the highlight. After those dreadfully boring 5 hours, we got to sit through a 13 hour flight. If I can offer any advice, it would be this - don't do it. It was made tolerable by their selection of adequate movies, my MP3 player and the 2 empty seats beside me, that allowed me to lay down, although I really only slept for a total of 2.5 hours, and never more than 45 min. at any time. I must admit it was pretty cool to look down and see the Arctic Ocean. And if I fly over a country, does that count as having been in it?

We arrived in Beijing at 4:00 pm local time. John and Christina decided to spend the available 3.5 hours checking out the inside of a hotel room. I decided to be a little more adventurous, and took a bus downtown to see Tien'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. Maybe going into a city that I don't know, have no map for and can't communicate with any of the people sounds like a bad idea, but I survived, and got some pretty good pictures. I took a little longer than expected, and found myself getting back to the airport a little after 8:00, with my plans set to depart at 9:10. I ran frantically through the airport, making several wrong turns in the process. I got to the counter around 8:30 to find that the flight was delayed. It remained delayed for another 2.5 hours..... and then it was cancelled. It seems that they forgot to fly the plane TO Beijing, so there was no plane for us to board. The only 2 international planes MIAT has were in Seoul and Yakutsk, Russia. Finally, the airline decided to put us up in a hotel.

As we're all aware, Beijing is preparing for the 2008 Olympics. This means that there is a lot of construction. Someone forgot to tell the country they don't have to build 4000 new office buildings to host them. The city is going to double in size in the next 6 years at the rate they are building. Included in this construction is the building of about 4000 new hotels. Of course, the hotels take guests, desipte not being totally built. I had to share a room with a kind gentleman in his 40s or 50s, who did not speak a word of English. Thank God I'm good at charades. we managed to communicate somehow. My first order of business was to have a nice, hot shower. Nothing doing. I took a shower, but the water was a few degrees below the temperature of icewater. The washroom was an interesting situation. It was preceded by a small dressing room, and was itself the same size as the bedroom. The shower was merely attached to the wall, with a curtain to separate itself from the toilet and sink. What is odd about this is that they had a room that looks like it was designed to be a shower on the other side of the shower. Instead, they have an empty room surrounded in frosted glass. Also I found it convenient that they put the drain in the highest point on the floor. I can only guess this is because physics don't work the same way in China. I finally got some sleep in an amazingly comfortable bed, only to get a call at 3:30 am to tell us we need to go to the airport to board the plane so it could depart at 6:05. They lied again. The plane didn't get to Beijing until 6:30. After waiting for 3 hours, at 3 different gates, the finally boarded the plane. We lifted off at 8:00, and set out on a beautiful 2 hour flight. I mean it. I was given a window seat, and the scenery was fantastic. First mountains, then desert, then mountains again.

We got here at 10:00, and I was given the day to get settled. After some unpacking, John, Christina and I went out to buy some food. Apparently, you are required to speak English, French, Korean, Mongolian, Mandarin Chinese, Russian and Japanese in order to do your grocery shopping. That is, if you want to know what you are buying. I took some random guesses (such as deciding what kind of milk to buy. It comes in 1.5%, 2.5%, 3%, 4% and 6%), and a few educated ones (I figure that the pickles labelled Ogorki are probably Gherkins), plus some helpful advice. I was rather impressed that most of the foods I wanted were available at the markets.

Last Post From Canadaland

2007-08-20T09:03:00.000+12:00

So, this is it. I have just two days left before I leave for the great land of the Mongols. I quit my job last Friday, and took the past week to get some serious packing done, well... I took 3 days for that, and spent the past 5 helping out Kyle and Mel with their wedding.
The wedding was wonderful. Congratulations to the two of you, I'm so happy to see that you both swallowed your pride and decided each other was good enough. The ceremony and the reception were absolutely appropriate for the two of them -- chaotic and lovely.

Nonetheless, I just want to take this opportunity to say goodbye to anyone I didn't get the chance to say it to in person. I've had many incredible and memorable experiences here in Canada, but it's time to experience the rest of the world. I want to be able to be here a year or two or four from now, and to be able to fully appreciate this lifestyle in way that I can't until I've experienced something else.

Postcards

2007-08-02T09:25:00.000+12:00

It has been mentioned to me (a number of times) that there are some people who would like to receive a postcard from Mongolia during the year sometime. There is a small problem -- I don't have most of your addresses. I have no problem sending some postcards, since postage is only about $0.40. If you would like me to send you one of these postcards, leave your complete mailing address in the comments for this post.

This is not a guarantee that I will get around to mailing everyone a postcard. All I am promising is that I will try to send you one. If you don't receive one, I apologize in advance, as I will be awfully busy, and may end up with many of them to send out.

P.S. for those of you unfamiliar with blogs, to leave a comment, click on the hyperlink that says "comments" below this post. A pop-up window will appear. Select "Anonymous," and leave your message. The reset should be pretty straight forward.

40 DAYS!!!

2007-07-14T08:47:00.000+12:00

That's right, 40 days to go. It seems as though things are starting to shape up. I've picked up my Chinese visa, and am now waiting on my Mongolian entry visa (I should have it in the next week, maybe two). Yesterday I saw the Lambton Health Unit to get my innoculations. I was happy to see that it would only cost me $93 and change, considering my friends headed to South Korea are spending upwards of $500 for theirs.

I'm now in the process of giving away/throwing out all of the junk that I don't need to own anymore. This is a much more difficult process than I expected... especially for clothes. I've deciced on four categories:
1. Stuff I need to bring with me,
2. Stuff I need, but is staying here,
3. Stuff I don't need and is being given away,
4. Stuff I don't need and is being thrown out/donated.

I have my carry-on bag, which could be a little dicey since it is a hiking backpack, and will be awfully close to the dimension limits set by United Airlines. I still need to buy my luggage, but I think I've settled on some rolling duffle bags, rather than suitcases, since they take up much less space, and it seems like I may not have a lot of it in my apartment.

40 Days seems so far away, until I look at how my weekends are shaping up. This weekend is tied up with a much needed, and overdue visit to my grandparents in Leamington, since I haven't seen them in almost a year, and likely won't see them again until next year. Next weekend is available, for the time being, but Bayfest beckons, and I may splurge on a ticket for Def Lepard. The weekend after that is the last chance I will get to see my brother and sister until next summer (not to forget my sister-in-law, and Sharon's boyfriend). I kind of look at it as our Christmas dinner. The next weekend will be a reunion with some of my North Bay friends, as will the one following (maybe). The last weekend I have here starts with leaving my job, then one of best friends getting married. By the way, Kyle, I'm still hurt you're not here to say goodbye. The following Wednesday I fly out of Pearson at 6:25 AM. Suddenly, it doesn't seem so far away after all.

Communication

2007-06-25T07:29:00.001+12:00

I have been asked a number of times how easily I will be able to keep in contact with everyone back home. I am provided internet access both at work and at home. For those of you on facebook, I'll be checking regularly. I will also be making regular use of MSN, although bear in mind that there is a 13 hr. time difference between Ontario and Ulaanbaatar. I will also be sending on the periodic e-mail updates, mostly for the family, but for select others as well. Communication will be hindered the most by work and my need to be out experiencing the "Land of the Mongols" as I have come to call it. There is still the option of snail mail, but that can be a little complicated.

My address will be:

Colin Attwood,
American School of Ulaanbaatar
Post Office Box 2365
Central Post Office
Ulaanbaatar 211213
Mongolia

If you decide to mail me anything, please address the envelope in the Cyrillic alphabet, as such:

Colin Attwood,
Àìåðèê äóíä ñóðãóóëü
Төв Шуудан Ш/Х –2365
Улаанбаатар хот- 211213
Монгол улс
Mongolia

This is VERY important, as most Mongolians will not be able to read the English writing. Only my name and "Mongolia" should be written in English. Also, and equally important, mark any and all mail with "airmail". Airmail will take anywhere from 1-3 weeks to arrive. Groundmail can take as much as 2-3 months to arrive.

The school has provided me the following advice about receiving mail (I've already mentioned some of it):

Mail to Mongolia generally takes one to three weeks to arrive, and some mail may never arrive. Occasionally, letters may arrive with clipped edges because someone has tried to see if any money was inside; also, some boxes may be opened by customs officials to ensure nothing illegal is being shipped. Advise your family and friends to number their letters and to include the word “Airmail” on their envelopes.
Packages sent by surface mail normally take two to three months. Foreigners have found that letters and packages have a better chance of arriving if correspondents do not use a variety of interesting stamps; write the address (with the exception of “Mongolia”) in the Cyrillic alphabet; use sturdy, well-taped boxes for packages (to discourage tampering); and use padding for breakable items (including cassette and CD cases).

It is much less difficult for me to send mail back, since I can mail it through the school.

Visas

2007-06-19T11:02:00.000+12:00

So... the visa process is well underway, but has to be the most complex process possible.

First, I had to do the whole "passport" deal, which wasn't so bad. I just had to stop in London and wait at the passport office for an hour on my way back to North Bay for graduation. Thankfully, I was able to persuade my dad to leave bright and early so the line wouldn't be any longer. The passport finally arrived in Sarnia today, but forced me and my mom to suffer through yet another setback as they didn't want to release it to her.

I also had to send scans of the obvious documentation:
- both university degrees
- criminal record check
- passport pages
- HIV test results (that's right)

I am now left with only a handful of things left to do to secure my visas (yes, I need 2 of them). I have to send my HIV results, which I have yet to receive, then courier my application and passport to the Mongolian embassy in Ottawa. I also need to make a visit to my neighbourhood Chinese consulate to obtain a multiple entry visa. Now you think that sounds like plenty, right? Not so much. The Mongolian visa is a single-entry visa, which the American School of Ulaanbaatar will change to a multiple-entry visa for me.

This will only leave the issue of packing my life up, getting vaccinated, finally flying away.

Tickets Booked

2007-06-18T06:59:00.000+12:00

As plans are starting to be finalized for my depature to Ulaanbaatar (UB) I have been notified of the travel arrangements. Originally, I was supposed to arrive in UB by August 15, but because of delays caused by my passport, my departure has been pushed back to August 22.

I am scheduled to depart from Toronto's Pearson International airport at 6:25 AM on Wednesday, August 22. For there I will fly to Chicago, arriving at 7:07 AM central time. I then have the pleasure of waiting until 12:40 PM at the lovely O'Hara Airport, before taking off to Beijing, China. I will arrive in Beijing at 3:00 PM the next afternoon (local time), causing me to lose almost an entire day as I cross the International Date Line. I then get to wait around Beijing's airport until my flight leaves at 9:10 PM that night. I hope it is still light enough outside to get a picture of the Great Wall of China as I fly over it. Finally, my journey concludes at 11:25 pm on Thursday, August 23 at Chenggis Khaan International Airport in Ulaanbaatar.

The closer this gets, the more excited I become. Only a few more things left to do before I finally fulfill my dream of living in a Country that isn't Canada.