A bad day

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Everyone will just have to turn their heads and talk amongst themselves as I proceed to embarrass myself like an incontinent 80-year old racist in the NW.

I am effing irritated with how this day went. I got home and was completely ready to go to the central black market (naran tuul according to the guidebook.) I looked in my little phrasebook and looked in my guidebook and finally plucking up the courage, went down and hailed a taxi. Now this is something that i have avoided for the simple fact that I DO NOT SPEAK MONGOLIAN and therefore would have no idea how to tell anyone where to go. But I got in and told her “naran tuul” and she nodded as tho she understood. She then took me on a very long and scenic drive to the edge of UB I think where she presented me with what looked like deserted fairgrounds. She then said “naran tuul” and crossed her arms, and I took this to mean that it was closed. Thoroughly irritated that she had waited until we got there to tell me I was then at a complete loss. She spoke no English and i tried to illustrate the second black market which I actually knew existed and its location. She then took me to the OTHER side of UB where she presented me with a “market” (having passed several just like it on the way.) I by then was panicking cuz i had no idea where I was and no ability to communicate that to her. I popped my head into the grocery store and finding no one who spoke English, was forced back to that miserable taxi. Mind you she was also ripping me off but I had no way in which to argue or disagree. So then I insisted the State Dept Store (she tried to take me to “sky” department store) before I finally spotted a building I recognized and ordered her to stop. I paid the ridiculous charge and got out, walking the rest of the way home.

Now. Before anyone launches into how ethnocentric this complete passage was, let me assure you. Other than being annoyed at the overcharge, i am pissed AT MYSELF. I am so angry that I don't speak the language and that i did not bring my phrasebook of all things which could have helped clear the matter up nicely. I am also aware of a creeping American attitude starting to surface and that is this: I am in a poor country and therefore my living costs should be a fraction of what they are at home.

So i recognize this and recognize my own disappointment with myself. I know better than this and to start copping a 'tude like those “ugly Americans” i read about, i should be letting some of this slide. So I'm trying to. It's just hard cuz it felt like a monumental waste of time and money. Not to mention when I went to my local store, the sign said 1100 and then they charged me 1500. The owner showed up and spoke a little English and i pointed out this inconsistency. He walked back there, saw I was right, and then said, “Oh, that was the OLD price.” I didn't know whether to believe him and as i walked home i wondered if he knew that by speaking a bit of English it would make him seem more believable. It's just hard to know whats true and whats not and whats being inflated and what isn't.

At the same time I tried to imagine what it would be like to be a foreigner in Los Angeles or New York. It'd be bloody terrifying and everywhere you go you'd have people saying “learn to speak English gook!” or simply refusing to serve you at all. Maybe being overcharged is the charge they demand for putting up with me. I simply don't know but wish that I wasn't so illiterate in Mongolia. One things for sure... I'm never leaving that damn phrasebook at home again!

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Photos

Chingis Khan Vodka
This actually has a very floral aftertaste and is quite good. Very smooth :-)

Trash
This builds up every now and again but disappears now and again as well. This was leftovers of a street market.

Graffiti
Spray paint on the monestary walls. Guess Mongolia has their fair share of idiots too.

Graffiti 2
God is Dead/And no one cares/If there is a hell/I'll see you there

Versace
Yes... even they are here :-) But for some reason McD turned UB down. Go figure.

Little buddhist touches
These line the major street on my way to work.

A big one
This is a great one with lots of room to sit... though you surrounded on both sides by honking cars and exhaust.

Lenin Museum
Found out that this building (which I took a picture of before) is actually an old Lenin Museum. Take a closer look at the themes being presented here.

Communism = Freedom
This particular frame I think is the embodiment of what communism initially was: freedom and equality. Can you find the peace sign hidden in there? :-)

Lenin Museum
This is an overexposed shot but the lighting in there was very difficult to work with. The bust of Lenin is very big and overall a very.... imposing tribute to him... though I think they're tearing it down? Lots of construction going on around it.

Beautiful thing
I have no idea what this is supposed to be but it's quite nice. They're in the process of building a fountain in the same square and when its all done it should look rather nice.

Old infrastructure
The downside of course... tons of soviet infrastructure that the govt can't afford to upkeep now. A crumbling examples of this.