Mongolia on NPR

This week NPR ran a four-part series about the impact mining is having on Mongolia.  Each segment is well worth a listen.

Monday: Mineral-Rich Mongolia Rapidly Becoming 'Mine-golia'

Tuesday: Mongolia's Dilemma: Who Gets The Water? 

Wednesday: Mongolians Scramble For A Share Of Mining Wealth

Thursday: Old Ways Disappearing In The New Mongolia

Khan Uul Ovoo

The ladies of APDC invited me out to visit the Khan Uul Ovoo and watch a horse race today.  Super fun!

Khan Uul Ovoo

 Khan Uul Ovoo

 Khan Uul Ovoo

 People walking circles around one of the ovoos, tossing offerings of milk, rice, millet, bread, cheese, candy...

 You can see how coated it is at the base.

Cute kid on a horse.

So first you kneel, clasp your hands, then lay forward.

Then put offerings on this table.

 Then walk a circle around this, still making offerings.

Offerings.

A woman splashing milk.

Walking circles around incense.

 Many people were in deels.

 Some of the APDC ladies walking down a row of ovoos making offerings.

 Walking back up the row.

 Offerings on a smaller ovoo.

 Looking down the hill.

 

 The hodoo is starting to green!

Panoramic.

The Mongol Steppe + The Land of Blue Sky all in one photo!

 Bimba and me with the APDC ladies.

 

Horse race!

 Lots of people there.

 People in deels + horse.

 They saw me snap the picture and decided I needed a photo with the horse.

 Guy in a deel shirt on a horse.  Saw lots-o-that!

Mongol saddles.

 Dudes in deels with horses, chattin' it up.

 Waiting at the finish line.

 Winner!

 Second, third and fourth place.

 They apparently award through fifth. 

It's now law that the kids have to wear helmets.  The problem is affording them...

Some Photos

Here are a few photos from the last couple weeks' happenings:

 

Went back for the obligatory tourist shot.

LEOS now has goslings too!

Found these two babies sleeping outside my door one rainy night.

Had to feed them.

This little one was in my stairwell one afternoon.  Fed it too...

And then there's this pup.  Her name is Kharbaa.

Bambuul and Kharbaa are BFFs.

They love to jump & roll around, playing together.

 I very loosely tied a piece of string around her neck.  My hope is that, when the next extermination happens, the shooters will think she's a hasaa dog and therefore NOT shoot her.

She's pretty much become my outside dog.  I feed her, pet her, call to her...But if I let her inside I know I'll be a goner and I just can't have two dogs.  :(

 Kharbaa brought a friend to breakfast!

 She's soooo skinny.  And Kharbaa got a new purple "collar" (aka the drawstring off my sweats) because she lost the white string.

 Beautiful coloring.

Day Trip with APDC

This Saturday I met up with Beth, Bimba and the ladies of APDC to show Beth some "real" Mongol activities.  We started the day with a trip to the Monastery.

 

The Monastery is two stories.  This is in the landing.

 The temple is upstairs.  This is when we first walked in.

 

Along the back wall is all the iconography.  Left side.

Center.

Right side.

 A lama.

 Dishes for milk tea offerings.

 The lamas during service.

 Then we walked the grounds.  This statue represents the story of the four friends.

 This is a memorial to the monk massacre.

 You spin the drums and say a prayer/make a wish.

 Another drum.

 Then we met up at the Health Department, piled into an SUV, and headed to a ger (Beth had never been in one before and I am unashamed to admit that I still like doing "touristy" things like that).

 

 The flap was open, letting in what little sunlight there was.

 Shrine in the back.

 Hangin' in the ger!  L to R: Munkzul, Beth, me, Oyunsuren and Amgalan.  The ger is Amgalan's brother's.  We ate buuz, boortsog (kind of like an unsweetened doughnut), and drank vodka.

 This is Amgalan's nephew.  He and his brother had their hair cutting ceremonies 6 days ago.

Outside the ger.

 Then we went back to APDC HQ to chat about joint projects and, what else, drink more vodka!

 The note I left for APDC.

 Tumee brushing up on her English.

 The we piled into the SUV again and headed to the Men's Ovoo.  Of course, we drank another bottle of vodka once we got there.  This is the view of the city; I'll have to go back on a clear day.

 At the Men's Ovoo.

 The Men's Ovoo.

 At the Men's Ovoo.

 Panoramic from the Men's Ovoo.

 Cemetery behind the Men's Ovoo.

 Then we started dropping people off in the ger district.  This is an address marker.  It means Zangiat 8th neighborhood, 33rd hashaa.

The Zangiat ger district.