CHINGGIS KHAN (aka Genghis)... if I could sum up Mongolia in two words it would be Chinggis Khan. For a guy who lived 800 years ago he has quite the personality cult following; he's everywhere in Mongolia! He's on all the money, his statue is in the square, the local vodka is Chinggis, you fly into Chinggis Khan Airport - truly. Granted he was the greatest leader Mongolia ever had. Between himself, his son, and his grandson Kublai Khan, they united Mongolia from a bunch of nomadic tribes into one of the largest empires in history ~ did you know at its greatest the Mongolian Empire stretched from Austria to Vietnam??
I flew into Chinggis Khan Airport two days before I was supposed to meet the group so I could look around Mongolia a little bit. Thanks to a supreme lack of planning on my part I managed to arrive at the end of the Naadam Festival, the biggest and most exciting festival of the year in Mongolia. Naadam is an annual festival, and is comprised of the Three Manly Games (seriously) - horse racing, archery, and wrestling. The wrestlers are amazing, they're built like Paul Bunyan, no sumo style here. Unfortunatly watching the wrestling isnt all that exciting because these giant guys have strategies that prevent them from making many moves or taking many risks. So most of the match is uneventful until the big finish, but it is by far the favorite of Mongolian sports. And their uniforms, oh my, essentially a blue speedo with a burgundy half-jacket, and great big boots... stylin' :-)
I joined the group and went with them on the city tour around Ulan Baatar, the capitol city of a whopping 1 million people. All of Mongolia has only 3.5 million, spread over 15 million km's. We went to the Gandantegchenling Monastery, which is a Tibetan Buddhist temple, and learned so much about Buddhism and Mongolia from our guide Nemo. Not only did he tell us about Mongolia, but he told us something very strange: Mongolians are superstitous over children, and until a child is 3 yrs old it is bad luck to say that the child is cute or handsome or beautiful -- so it's good luck to say what an ugly baby someone has! :-O This was really killing me because the Mongolian babies were sooooo cute! I mean ugly, aaagh! I didnt get any pictures of the 'cute/ugly' babies because they also believe the photos steal a bit of their soul. Mongolians believe in a combination of Tibetan Buddhism and shaamanistic religion.
The best part of the trip was getting to go with the group out to the ger camp. The vast majority of Mongolia is countryside so going out to the ger camps is the whole reason to visit this country. It was really fun because it felt like being at summer camp :-) We got to do archery and go horseback riding on tiny Mongolian horses. My horse, according to the guide, was a former racehorse! So he had to be kept on a lead the whole time with the guide so he wouldn't run away with me! I called him Speedracer and he even had a racing stripe down his mane :-) As we were coming back to the camp, the guide who had my horse's lead left us and came back a while later with a herd of cattle.... totally normal? Then he took my lead back and I got to ride along with him while he herded the cattle back to the camp! This is definitely going on the list of 'Things I Never Expected to do in my Life' -- herding cattle in the Mongolian countryside! awesome :-D On the way to the camp we stopped to try the local alchohol..... FERMENTED MARE'S MILK. Home-brewed too, mmmmmm. It literally tastes like yogurt that's gone bad a day or two before :-S But like all local horrible specialties, the Mongolians love it! In moderation; the emporer used to force people to drink fermented mare's milk as a punishment >> 5-10 LITERS at once! WOW.
When it was time for me to take the group on to Beijing, we took a 30 hour train from Ulan Baatar to Beijing, including a 7 hour border crossing... :-S It was surprisingly interesting though, because at the border the wheels (or bogies?) had to be changed from the Mongolian track style to the Chinese tracks. They actually kept us on the train while they did this - which means one by one the train cars were disconnected and lined up into the elevators, then while we're still in the cars, they lifted the carriages, pulled the bogies out and slid the new ones in! Reconnecting the cars was a little less fun because they basically rammed the cars together to secure the couplings << once or twice is okay, 16 cars worth is a lot of clanging and banging, especially at 1am. But overall, a very interesting thing to have seen.
Beijing was Beijing, we ran our legs off for two days before the trip ended. I did celelbrate my 10th visit to the Great Wall :-) This group of pax was fun and I think it would've been cool to go the whole trip with them, which is more than I can say for the group I started the following day. The first trip ended Sat night, and Sunday night I started the next group for the same Trans-Mongolian trip going westbound back to St. Petersburg. This group was a whole bunch of oddballs (who didn't listen) and I was happy to put them on a plane this morning and leave them for the other leader to deal with :-)
So now I'm back in Beijing, for the next 6 weeks! I officially got a temporary job during the Olympics, working as a Coach Host (Coach like a big bus, not a sports Coach). I'll be picking up groups of pax at the airport, shuttling them around for three days at a time, and VERY LIKELY GETTING TO SEE SOME OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES!!! :-D :-D You have my full permission to hate me, I know I'm ridiculously lucky. So I'm stoked. The only sad drop in my cup is that one of my dearest friends in China, Sharon, is going back to England in about 2 weeks :'-( I'll be staying with her until she leaves, but then I'm all by myself in China.... not really, but it feels like it. If that's the saddest drop in my cup, then the happiest drop (or cupful) is looking forward to the end of August when my boyfriend Nick comes to visit :-D :-D :-D Hurray! Only about 5 weeks now :-D
Currently Reading: The Travels of Marco Polo << unfortunately disappointing! For a guy who got to explore some of the most amazing civilizations and see more of the world than anyone alive at the time, he was a terrible storyteller! boo
