Mongolia: Blue Skies, Big Spaces, Shakira

In my last entry I made reference to the city of Ulaanbaatar as being "The Napanee of Asia". For those of you who do not know of the 'city' of Napanee, this will serve as an introduction, and for those of you who do, well, I will do my best to explain why Napanee is indeed the Napanee of Asia (according to my experiences). Napanee, Ontario (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napanee,_Ontario, http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=napanee&sa=N&tab=wi (why someone Wikied this I'll never know)) is the town where I went to high school. It has its charms, er, maybe it has a charm...yes, probably only one. I'm sure some would argue, but the town is lacking in...niceness. True there are a few street where older houses have not yet been overtaken by the sprawl of truckstops or Wal-Mart, but mostly...not nice. Same goes for Ulaanbaatar. While the architecture of Napanee is mainly of the Ontario-concrete school, the buildings of UB are built in the similar naSoviet style; lots of concrete, small windows, uninviting facades. And when I was there it was cold. And I think the last time I was in Napanee it was cold, and if I remember correctly it was 2 years to the day.

Moreover, as I am (obviously by now, and admittedly) biased on this topic, I also find that the area surrounding Napanee to be rather pleasant. Small towns such as Yarker, Marlbank and Tamworth (really the cultural capital of it all) make up for in small town charm what they lack in things to do. Similarily, and to an even greater extent (UB is bigger than Napanee afterall) the landscape surrounding UB is utterly fantastic. Totally beautiful. Super great. Amazing. I hope my readers understand what I mean when I say that there is a lot of sky in Mongolia, and a hell of a lot of empty space.

I spent 2 nights in UB before heading to Terelg National Park for a horse riding, ger sleeping, potato eating 3 days. My ass has recovered from the horse riding. It was lovely to wake in the morning to quiet, something that doesn't really happen in Beijing, or many of the other places that I've been recently (the train in particular, but more on that later). The air was clean, the surroundings beautiful and the company (English and Dutch) was sound. We slept in a ger (Mongolian felt tent) which got really, really hot just before bed and then really, really cold at about 3 in the morning.

Random anecdotes

Our van driver sure likes Shakira. Really. Apart from Mongolian hip hop (roughly translated, 'Don't drink vodka, drink fermented mare's milk'), she seemed to be at the top of his play list. Those moments when he cranked up the music in the van really added to the serene atmosphere of the steppe.

Mongolian guys like pony tails. And black jeans. And Shakira.

A Nigerian soccer player took us to a Mongolian night club. Wasn't so bad. The American guy got lost, I got a ride home from a guy with a lot of facial piercings and a pony tail.

In the end, I believe that most people have a regret or two when they are traveling. It may be the discount boat tour, the toxic seafood (that was mine in Thailand) or picking up a lady boy. For me, up to now, it is that i didn't give myself enough time in Mongolia. In 7 days I barely scratched the surface of an amazing place, and I would recommend it to all of you, but I don't want everyone to go and spoil it ;)

Coming up next time: Russians from the sky and other tales from Siberia, where the sun doesn't rise until 9am (where I am now).

ciao

m

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