Ulaana in Mongolia

Going, going

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:40:00 +0000

View from balcony August 2007
View from balcony July 2008
This Sunday is my last day in Mongolia (for now). This also mean the end of this blog (for now). I don't know what my next undertaking will be, but I am leaving this country having successfully completed my research. I even earned myself a Masters degree.
I'm not really sure what to end with, but I dug up a picture I took when I first moved in my apartment in late August 2007 and I'm putting it next to a picture of my view now. As you can see there is a major building boom here in UB. This place is changing daily. It'll be interesting to see what transpires in Mongolia both politically and socially in the coming months and years.

Mongol:

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:48:00 +0000

I saw the movie Mongol last night. I was lucky enough to be sitting with a physical anthropologist who focuses on the region. This movie was so historically inaccurate, it was nerve wrecking. It should be tagged "The un-true story of Genghis Khan". The actual story of Chinggis Khan's life, as depicted in The Secret History, is far more interesting then Sergei Bodrov's fictional script. Not to mention the fact that the movie seems to lump Central Asian culture (from multiple centuries) in to one pan-Mongolian theme (Uzbek clothes, Tibetan earrings, Turkmen rugs and head scarves, Kazakh gers...) The film also depicts Borte (Chinggis Khan's wife) as slutty, which is sick. Borte is held high in Mongolian culture as a devote wife and mother, and almost a goddess. The actors (Chinngis is played by a Japanese actor) speak Mongolian in the movie...or at least you think they do. Mongolian is not my native language, but I can say with certainty that their Mongolian was awful. Especially the actor who played Jamukah. I guess they made them speak Mongolian to make the movie seem foreign and interesting. To me it just made it seem ridiculous.
I totally understand why my Mongolian friends said the movie was terrible. It's just another movie wrongly depicting Mongolians and Mongolian history. I suppose if you watch it as a work of pure fiction (which it is) you may be able to appreciate the cinematography.

Highlights from Beijing

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:33:00 +0000

My friend and I took a long weekend in Beijing last week and these pics are some of the highlights of that trip. I had major culture shock in Beijing because UB is nothing like that! We had a great time and oddly enough when we landed back in UB we were both happy to be home. The weather in China was pretty rainy and smoggy/foggy. It looked like they are pretty well prepared for the Olympics minus the pollution. However, if you are thinking of going during the Olympics, good luck getting a Visa because the regulations have changed and Visa's are being denied left and right (at least in UB). Warning sign in the hutong (click on it to read the fine print)
Great wall under great clouds
Taking the cable car down from the wall
Jocelyn and I renting bikes-the best thing to do in Beijing
The Forbidden City
Bill Clinton sat in the cable car I sat in
Ulaana storms the Great Wall in honor of the Mongols
Mao!

Bee Venom Therapy

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:31:00 +0000

bee keeper has the bee in hand
bee keeper pushes the stinger into my arm
The stinger in my arm (it hurt the longer I kept it in)
I thought I was just being a tough chic, but apparently bee stings are therapeutic. Taking a chance and letting the beekeeper sting me with a live honey bee in far eastern Mongolia (days from the nearest hospital) wasn't stupid...it may have in fact made me healthier!
http://www.ahealthyme.com/topic/beevenom :

People who use bee venom for medicinal purposes don't wait around for random insect attacks. Using long tweezers, they pick up live honey bees (which they've usually raised themselves), put the insects next to their skin, and let them do what comes naturally. You might have thought that your single encounter with a bee was enough, but people undergoing apitherapy may get stung 80 times a day or more.

Why would anyone subject himself to such pain? Because bee stings are thought to help ease the symptoms of a wide variety of diseases, including arthritis, multiple sclerosis, tendonitis, and fibromyalgia; they're also thought to promote desensitization to bee stings. These claims don't come from beekeepers looking for a profit; they're made by patients whose experience with bee venom has turned them into believers. One woman says that 80 stings every other day helped reverse her rheumatoid arthritis. A woman with multiple sclerosis found that the leg spasms she'd been having calmed down after she started using bees to sting herself a few times each day.

Thanks to Rachel for taking these pictures!

More Dornod pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:58:00 +0000

Taking a break from the tension of the past few days here in UB (things are calm now), Todd gave me a CD with the pictures he took of our Dornod trip. These pictures prove to me that professional photographers really do take better photos then us normal people. I picked these pictures from over 400 on the CD. You can click on them and see bigger versions.
I recently spent a weekend in Beijing too. I'll be sure to post some pictures from that trip soon.
Enjoy!
http://www.toddforsgren.com If you wanna see more of his stuff!

Old woman giving post-rain offering to the gods in Sumber.
The beekeeper and his bees
Bullseye in Choibalsan
Strike, Choibalsan
Happy parents of Yussentumor
The sweetest candid shoot of Saraa's older brother playing with Saraa's cute baby!
Sumber Buddha's, up close and personal
I hope you enjoyed these and remember to check out Todd's site.

Shock: Post election riots

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:52:00 +0000

There really isn't much I can say. There were protests outside the MPRP (Mongolian Peoples Revolutionary Party) headquarters yesterday. It started out being over allegations of election fraud, but turned into something different and ugly.

http://www.mongolia-web.com
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7483286.stm

I have a feeling that some people here are frustrated. Frustrated with unemployment, lack of services and they felt the need to take it out on the ruling party. Sadly, they burned a large portion of the MPRP building (possibly burning the archives) and the looted a nearby art gallery and the State Symphony. It's a sad day for Mongolia.
Check out these blogs: http://asiangypsy.blogspot.com/
http://www.terrycom.net/blog/

Steppe Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:27:00 +0000

I think our trip out to Dornod (Choibalsan, Buir Nuur, Sumber and Khalkh Gol) is best expressed in a photo-blog.
We drove 14 hours in the public Furgon (UAZ) to Choibalsan on a relatively overcast and nice day. 14 hours was a pretty short drive and we got there with no problems. We spent 2 days in Choibalsan where I got to show my UB friends around and catch up with all my old Choibalsan friends.

Ochiroo and I outside the Light Center Orphanage

Toroo's baby, Yussentumor (9 metals) PreNadaam archery contest in Choibalsan (Sidenote: They are shooting in the direction of the Mormon church)

1939 commemorative tank in "Friendship Park" in Choibalsan
Lenin looks over the rubble of the old Russian section of Choibalsan
1939 war statue and mosaic, outside the Choibalsan Museum
After being in Choibalsan for 2 days, we jumped into the "Dornod 6000" and headed for Buir Nuur. It was ride filled with very flat landscape, steppe eagles, gazelles, and herds. Because we were going to a border area, we had to stop at a few military outposts and register. We had special permission from the government in UB to go to these areas. The military posts were so random and remote , but all the "roads" led to them. There were always little , scrappy kids playing around outside who were pumped full of candy, a delicacy from the city.
The Dornod 6000

Stretching a military checkpoint
Amazing steppe land
When we were close to Buir Nuur, we weren't sure if we were actually seeing the lake or a mirage. It was just looming on the horizon. Once it was in full view, we were all instantly in awe. Large bodies of water are rare in Mongolia (minus lake Hovsgol) and we could not see across this lake.
Buir Nuur, China 11 miles in the distance

Buir Nuur at sunset, Annie, Rachael and Todd in their skivvies.
After the lake we went to Khalkh gol soum which apparently used to have a large, wonderful orchard. However, after the Russians left, the orchard fell apart. Now animals graze at bushes and trees. I bet it was nice to have fresh fruit back in the day. After that we went on to Sumber to see Ikh Burkhant. Consequently the shrine is located next to a military check point . They found some flaws in our documents and ordered us to take some cute kids, a pregnant woman and an old man in our car to the next town as punishment...cute kids as punishment, ha! On the way to Sumber soum we stopped at several war moments. They were a strange site out on open steppe land.
IKH BURKHANT INFO: a huge image of Janraisig (Avalokitesvara in Sanskrit) carved into the hillside. The carving was commissioned in 1864 by local regent Bat Ochiriin Togtokhtooriin, or To van (van means ‘lord’) and was reconstructed between 1995 and 1997. Source
Ikh Burkhant at a distance

Ikh Burkhant

2 of the cute kids we had to drive to the next town
1939 war monument
1939 Khalkhiin gol war museum, Sumber
What the war may have looked like: panorama inside the Sumber Museum
Memorial to the soldiers inside the Sumber Museum. Sumber is kind of a sad town. You can see remnants of businesses and buildings that used to be. However, after the Russians left, everything was dismantled. We did get to see some really great community horticulture which my friend Todd is photo documenting. We also visited a bee keeper and his bees. He convinced me that getting stung by a bee had medicinal properties and that I should allow him to sting me. The fool that I am, I let him. He picked a bee outta the bunch and jabbed it in my arm. I had to keep the stinger in for 30 seconds (pictures to come). At first it didn't hurt that bad, but then it hurt like hell. Thank GOD I hadn't developed an allergy to bee stings. Consequently, I do feel stronger! Sadly, it is not the season for honey yet. We drove back to Buir Nuur for one more night and a 1/2 day of swimming, and headed to Choibalsan.
We stayed one more night with my friend Naranbayar in Choibalsan and caught the furgon home on Saturday morning at 9. It was raining... a lot. Rain is a huge problem on roads with no pavement. Needless to say, it took us 12 hours just to go 123 km (72 miles) . The entire day was about getting stuck in the mud and pushing the cars out. With public buses like this, 2 buses travel together on long journeys to bail each other out. However, we had to rely on bigger cars like the the one pictures below. All in all it took 20 hours to get back to UB. It was rough for us as we were sitting next to the engine block the whole time (in the UAZ, the motor is actually next to the driver, so the people in the row behind him have a big engine block which is about 10,000 degrees burning their legs). We drove through the night and finally made it home.
Pushing
Big car to the rescue
Some of these pictures are care of Christian Packard. His blog is here: http://altanzam.blogspot.com/
and for another view of the trip check out Todd's website: http://www.toddforsgren.com/MNblog17.html that link will take you directly to his post on Dornod.

Dornod!

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:37:00 +0000

On Friday my friends and I are going to embark on a journey of somewhat epic proportions. Well, it's only "epic" because most of it has no road, just bumpy, dusty paths. We are driving from UB to Choibalsan, Dornod Aimag (650km, 300km paved) which should take about 17hours. This trip 2 years ago (pre-pavement) took 24 hours to several days! Hooray for pavement! Let's hope they paved the road well so that it survives many ice cold winters and super hot summers!
We are going to spend 2 days in Choibalsan hanging out with my friends there and enjoying some time on the shores of the mighty Kherlen river. My friends are particularly interested in seeing the old Russian parts of the "city" (50,000 people). We'll go to the Lenin statue and the Choibalsan museum. It should be fun. During the week we are going to drive out on the open steppe to Buir Nuur, a lake that is 90% in Mongolia and 10% in China. Then we will visit Khalkh Gol which Russian history buffs know is the place where Russian fought Japan in 1939, leading to the start of WWII. We will then go on to a small soum called Sumber which has a giant buddha "Ikh Burhan" (Great God) built in stone into the side of a hill. Sumber is also know for it's honey which I cannot wait to taste!
I promise to take lots of pictures. The weather here has actually been quite hot so hopefully we will get to do some swimming in all of these waterways!

Asian Gypsy - Musings of a Mongolian Wanderer: The Blind Organize a Demonstration on Knees

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 06:31:00 +0000

Asian Gypsy - Musings of a Mongolian Wanderer: The Blind Organize a Demonstration on Knees

Christian led me to this blog. It's got great social commentary on current issues in Mongolia.

Re-appreciation

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:36:00 +0000

Pitt students assembling a ger
"Khudor" guarding the gers
A horse race
Herds coming home at dusk
Sunset in Bayanchandman
I was helping the ACMS guide a group of University of Pittsburgh students who were in Mongolia as a part of a study abroad program that looks at China and it's periphery. This year they focused on Inner and Outer Mongolia. I just got back form spending 3 days in Tov Aimag, Bayanchandman (Mongolian for: Rich past, present and future) soum. This soum is on the "Darkhan road", about 60 minutes outside UB. There we got to stay with a herder family, build a ger, ride horses, do some sightseeing, slaughter a sheep and a goat, and eat a tasty hurhog (delicious pressure cooked meat). The best thing about a hurhog is that they use hot rocks to help cook the meat. They heat the rocks in the fire and then put all the meat and ingredients into a canister with the hot rocks and let it cook. When its finished they take out the rocks and everyone juggles hot rocks in there hands, covering themselves with oil. It's supposed to be good for your health! The great thing about this trip for me was watching the students discover and realize things for the first time. Not much surprises me anymore having lived here on and off for nearly 3 years. It's nice to be reminded about how unique Mongolian culture is.
Note on the weather. The herders said that the weather is about 3 weeks behind where it shoudl be. If you look at the pics you will see that this area hasn't gotten much rain. Which means the animals aren't fattening up. I was looking forward to the first airag of the season, but that'll have to wait a few weeks.

blocked! access forbidden....

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Thu, 29 May 2008 12:53:00 +0000

If this is a free, open, and democratic country, why can't I access my blog? I asked myself this question last week, when my ISP blocked blogger. Today they are blocking www..net
If you can access .net, it's a great site with all kinds of stuff about Central Asia. Now, what does Mongolia have against .net?? Probably nothing. I doubt it's deliberately blocked. My server might run off a Chinese server, and I'm sure the Chinese government has a problem with .net. If this is the case, it's unfortunate that I am being subjected to censorship.

A little weather came our way

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Wed, 28 May 2008 00:36:00 +0000

This morning I woke up to snow. It's not uncommon to see snow in Mongolia in May and often well into June. That doesn't mean that I'm still not surprised when it happens. It's strange to see green trees confused, cold, and covered with snow. Sadly, the snow fall does not stop the construction that now plagues my ears day and night. These are pics from my window.

Contemporary Mongol Jams!

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Mon, 26 May 2008 15:10:00 +0000

Lots of you said you wanted to hear more Mongol Indie Rock. Here are some Youtube Links to some cool bands. If other Mongols know about other bands, leave a comment.
Pilots
A Sound
Mongol Hip-Hop!
Tatar
Mongol R&B
Bold

Enjoy...that Tatar video is hilarious

Rockin UB

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Mon, 26 May 2008 04:29:00 +0000

Totally Rocking
Totally sick and still rocking (the face mask isn't a prop. Generally, when people are sick in Asia, they wear a face mask).

Some friends and I were lucky to catch some great Mongolian rock bands the other night at the UB Club. The audience was predominantly Mongolian, the atmosphere was great and the music was really good. Most of the people there were teenagers who were really excited to be seeing cool rock bands playing. These teens have yet to develop hipster indifference when it comes to music. They were jumping around and having a blast...I was too.

Other UB stuff that's going on: It was 85F yesterday and today it turned back to winter with a current temp of 36F at 1:30pm. It's also snowing. Spring in Mongolia is notorious for crazy weather. It's just too bad because it was a really beautiful weekend and it looks like it'll be a blustery week.

Outbreak!

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Fri, 23 May 2008 04:25:00 +0000

The Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD), or as my Mongol nedz call it "the disease from China" has gotten much worse. They closed all the primary schools and other places that children frequent...like the Tengis Movie Theater. This was particularly upsetting to me because Tengis was supposed to get the new Indiana Jones movie. I really wanna see it. Anyway, I think it's great that the government and Ministry of Health moved quickly to close schools and slow down the spread of the disease. The sad part is, apparently 100 people a day are becoming infected (mostly 2-4 years old). The other crazy thing is the amount of MIS-information going around. People were saying that is was in the food coming from China and others were saying it was in the water. Some people have been keeping their small children indoors for nearly 2 weeks even though the disease is not airborne. It's only transmitted by touch. It's an ugly disease, that's for sure. You get sores on yer tongue, hands and the bottoms of yer feet. The Ub Post covered the outbreak this week.
The other big news around here is the coming election. It's gonna be an interesting election year considering that many Mongolians are dissatisfied with the parliamentarians. Come June it will be election madness with concerts everyday, free stuff being thrown at me, and lots of promises. Just like the USA.

Spring is over

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:56:00 +0000

I think there was a week of spring, and suddenly everyone is saying it's summer. Mongolians always say they have 4 seasons here, but I think it's just 2, summer and winter. A week of fall and spring don't count for much in my book. It's 70F here today, but I remember from my days in Choibalsan, the weather here can change back to winter quite quickly. Snow in June is not uncommon.
Here are some pics from a recent Hash House Harriers run/walk
Smoggy UB in the distance
Trees!

The view from the top

Foot and mouth, and me; Stencil graffiti; Random UB

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:11:00 +0000

All the people depicted in this stencil have names above or below them. This is the "S United Crew"
This one says "I give you my heart"
The "S United Crew" logo and their depictions again.
A man painting the bottoms of the trees. Apparently it keeps the bugs off...
Another great spare tire cover "To choose sports for fashion or you personality. The basic idea is to enjoy yourself. That is important" Around the edge "It's outdoor sport that has recently started to shine. Outdoor sport is the science to raise spirits" WHAT?? Who writes these? I'll try and get more.
I hadn't realized that the country was in the midst of a foot and mouth scare until I went to the gym today only to find out it is closed until Wednesday because of "health issues". Upon further research I discovered that elementary schools and kindergartens are closed too. Here is a brief article from China View. Apparently this strain of foot and mouth is jumping from animals to humans (yikes!).
I've been walking by the "S United Crew" graffiti outside the National University for a few weeks now and today I brought my camera. These stencils are pretty ornate. Whoever made these obviously put a lot of time and work into them, especially the one that has depictions of all the crew members. Now that spring, excuse me, SUMMER is here, it's easy to take pictures without my hands freezing off. The picture of the man painting the tree trunks is interesting to me. I have no idea what they are painting on there. Nor do I understand how that keeps the bugs off. The other part of tree care taking here is to literally cut the tops off the trees. I heard that this is a Russian method. They say it makes the tree produce more branches and more shade. I have no idea if that is true.

Back in the MGL

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Wed, 07 May 2008 05:59:00 +0000

I'm back from my short jaunt to the USA. I must say, I really missed Mongolia! It was nice and easy to come back to beautiful weather. It would have been awful to come back to the pollution.
I went to by food today and I was really happy that the Mongolian grown vegetables are back at the market. I was not so happy about the price inflation. 3 weeks ago I bought bread for 850tg and now that same bread is 1000tg! I was shocked. Even though the weather is nice now, I heard there was a blizzard yesterday. You just never know what it's gonna be like here. The dust storms are in full affect. I'm constantly eating bits of Ulaanbataar, or the Gobi or wherever that dust comes from!
I'll get back to picture taking and posting soon.
Cheers!

No vacation from speaking Mongolian

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 03:48:00 +0000

Today I rode my bike up to Marshalls with my mom to pick up some new clothes. I had tons of stuff to try on and I went into the dressing room. I was trying on a shirt when I realized that the 2 ladies next to me were speaking Mongolian. At first, it didn't register because it seemed normal. Then I remembered that I was on the north side of Chicago. I walked out, looked at one of the ladies and said "Ta mongoloor yirdig uu?" (Do you speak Mongolian). She looked at me blankly and called to her friend saying in Mongolian "I can't understand this persons English, can you come and help me." I looked at her and said "yassen ve?" (what?) and then it hit her, I wasn't speaking English, I was in fact speaking Mongolian. Both women were in shock. To be honest, so was I . We chatted and made some plans. It was so random and bizarre.

Mongolia New Highlights

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 20:20:00 +0000

My hiatus was interrupted with juicy news updates! Firstly, a person protesting Chinese aggression in Tibet was arrested in Mongolia. Read this
Secondly, The Children's Park is only going to be 1/3 the park it used to be. I think this a REAL lose for everyone...read here
And lastly, rising food prices are affecting Mongolians. I cannot believe that 20,000 people gathered to protest. I'm sure that was something to see. Read this
Thanks to my friends who are one the scene to keep me in touch with what it going on.
If you really are interested in news about Mongolia and don't speak Mongolian, there is a link to the UB Post on the side here, check it out!

Short Hiatus

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:20:00 +0000

Greetings people who read my blog. I'll be taking a short 2 1/2 week break from working and blogging to go home, be in my friends wedding, and defend my thesis. When I get back I promise some great summer posts and pics from Mongolia!
Cheers!

Children's Park/Development

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:26:00 +0000

Stark contrasts between old and new (These 2 pics taken in the 13th district, not far from Children's Park)

The UB Hilton
Children's Park
The wooden statues that once stood are now being removed...
I wrote an email to the editor of the UB Post asking him to do some investigative reporting on what is going on with Children's Park. For those of you who don't know what Children's Park is, it was an amusement park built during the socialist period in the middle of downtown UB. I've heard (and this is just rumor) that some portions are privately owned and some are state controlled. In the last year a wall was erected so that you cannot see inside the park. When I was walking my friends dog, we went nearly every day to play in the park (sadly, we went in illegally. I say sadly because it's a beautiful public space that EVERYONE should be allow to use). It's one of the last tree filled spaces in UB!!! It looks to me like some buildings are going to be built on the corners of the park. Just last week, I noticed workmen taking apart the sidewalks inside the park. I hope they are renovating the park and not dismantling it to sell to private investors.
This is one of the last open spaces in the city and if it's developed Mongolians would be losing green space and a piece of culture. Last week I took a picture of the intricate wood sculptures that are being taking out of the ground. I think the wall around the park has blocked peoples vision so that they can't see what's happening. Hopefully whoever owns that poverty is thinking about the future and the environment. It could be a little "Central Park" in UB. Please feel free to comment if you know anything about the park.

Mongolia and Tibet

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:10:00 +0000

I was reading the UB Post today and there is an opinion piece written by R. Dulmaa. This opinion column echoed some of the same things that I had been talking with my friends here about. For your information, Mongolia officially supports the "One China" policy. It's just a little food for thought...
A Friend in Need Is a Friend Indeed- R. Dulmaa
Thursday, April 03, 2008.
Being the “spiritual brothers and sisters” of Tibetan people and sharing history of faith in Tibetan Buddhism, one cannot but notice how unusually quiet has Mongolia been in response to the recent overwhelming wave of pro-Tibetan protests around world.Theoretically, it is not hard for Mongolians to resonate with anger and frustrations of Tibetans having ourselves tasted the bitterness of political oppression on religious rights during Communism. Moreover, the “cultural genocide” that Dalai Lama sees taking place in Tibet has in a lesser form once appeared in Mongolia as well, when Russian military, schools, shops were ubiquitous. In this period, Buddhist temples were emptied, monks prisoned or killed and the general message was “Buddhism is bad for you.”The recent years nevertheless saw some form of religious revival from the Mongolian side. The Dalai Lama, on the other side, has expressed much faith in the future of Buddhism in Mongolia. In fact, he said that Buddhist teachings can truly flourish in a democratic country—Mongolia being referred. His faith in Mongolians is supported by his numerous visits to Mongolia in the last few years. Even in his public talks in America, he calls out for Mongolians in the audience.

During his Mongolia visits, thousands flock to receive a blessing from him and equally many rush to monasteries on special occasions such as the Tsagaan Sar celebrations. Mongolia’s political figures are also seen there flaunting their best deels, showing off khadags and offerings.
And yet even when non-Buddhist heads from Europe and America are admonishing China, where have all the devoted Mongolians gone? Where are the outspoken parliament members? Where are temple heads? Where is the media? Ironically, even the Chinese community in Mongolia has issued a statement supporting the Tibet crackdown.
As the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend in need.
The Dalai Lama perhaps has put too early and too much hope on Mongolia’s political maturity. R.Dulmaa is a graduate student at the Center for Buddhist Studies, University of California at Berkeley.

If yer gonna steal from me, do it right!

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:07:00 +0000

Today I had an experience that made me so mad that I’m using my blog as an outlet to vent. I went to a bookstore to see what they had and I ended up buying a Mongolian magazine to send to a friend in the states. I was on my way to buy some food at the market so I had my backpack with me. I put the magazine in my otherwise empty backpack and went outside. Because there was virtually nothing in the backpack, I put it on my back. If there had been something valuable in it, I would have been wearing it on my front. I got stuck in between traffic and this 18 (Maybe 19) year old young man, tried to unzip my bag. Being aware, I felt it, broke through traffic, he followed and I turned around. Then I yelled and berated him in Mongolian (he was shocked). Luckily, he didn’t get anything as the only thing there was to get was a Cosmopolitan-esque Mongolian magazine. It just really pissed me off. This is the first time (this year) someone has tried to steal from me (that I know of). For me, it calls everything into question. I reminded myself not to let one failed mugging attempt effect me so drastically…The rest of my shopping experience went off without a hitch. I just hate to think of myself as a target just because I'm foreign, a woman, or wearing a backpack. Ugh!

North Korean Circus

noreply@blogger.com (Ulaana) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:46:00 +0000

The North Korean circus was in town last week. A group of friends and I figured this was probably as close as we would ever get to North Korea, so we went to the Mongol Circus and checked it out.
Apparently Asashoruyu (Dagvadorj, the Mongolian Yokozuna sumo wrestler) bought and remodeled the wrestling palace. In his remodeling plan, he failed to think of people over 5 feet tall. None of us could fit in these seats. You think a sumo wrestler would have considered that.James demonstrating how difficult it was for him to fit.
The North Korean Circus was also a diplomatic venue as the President of Mongolia was sitting a few rows in front of us. Also in attendance was the "Ulaan Lama". He was in the row in front of us and is one of the most famous and respected Lamas in Mongolia. He is the guy who decides what dates Tsagaan Sar will be celebrated on based on astrology and other calculations.
The performance itself was great! It wasn't Cirque de Soleil, but it had it's moments of suspense and grandeur.