Blogs from Mongolia, Asia - page 11

Naran Tuul market is known by everyone locally as the Black Market, though not everything sold there is counterfeit. I went today with the intention of buying flip-flops, but when I found a pair I liked and asked the stallholder for help, she shouted "net, net" and angrily shoo-ed me away from the stall, so I came away empty-handed. It was anyway interesting to walk around the market, which is so huge that it is overwhelming and disorientating to begin with. The biggest sections are clothes, shoes and fabrics and there is a large food hall where you can buy whole carcasses, but the most intersting part is the section for kitting out a ger, where I saw all the ephemera I had become accustomed to observing in gers multiplied by thousands. It was surreal to ... read more

I was fortunate enough to see a ger being erected today, at our latest stopping-point (I was nearly bitten to death by mosquitoes and horse flies in the process, though - I counted 30+ bites the day after). It was a joint effort between all 4 members of the family, men and women, plus our driver. When we arrived the floor had already been laid and the door was in place, and the furniture had been arranged on the floor (the ger is erected around the furniture, since it won't fit through the door afterwards). The next step is to put in place the lattice wood frame that runs around the circumference, and then the poles that make up the roof frame are put in place and affixed to the lattice (we tried to help at ... read more

The Mongolian presidential election is being held on the 26th June, and the signs are everywhere, including a rally I saw in Sukhbaatar Square today for the incumbent. I have witnessed lots of discussion about the election, including between our driver and guide, and it is heartening to see the level of interest shown by everyone, particularly young people (maybe for Mongolians living in a democracy is still new enough to be exciting). There are three candidates, one of whom is the first woman to stand for presidency in Mongolia, although she has the lowest profile of the three. The current president, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, was one of the leaders of the democratic revolution in Mongolia back in the 1990s and has already been president twice in the past - a lot of his popularity seems to ... read more

The National History Museum has a monument outside stating "No to death penalty". Inside, the museum doesn't seem especially political as you walk through the earlier rooms, charting Stone Age history through to modern nomadic life, via traditional constumes and Chinggis Khaan. But the later rooms of the museum are the most interesting, describing the perceived oppression first by the Chinese and then by the Soviet Union rule. Mongolia appears to have always resented Chinese rule - even now, I have heard Mongolians lament that Inner Mongolia remains part of China - but the Russians were initially relatively welcome as they had supported Mongolians as a way to free themselves from China. The usual features of Soviet rule - forced co-operatives, purges - extended to Mongolia. The museum has an interesting section on the rewards given ... read more

One of the reasons I wanted to tour the Eastern part of Mongolia was the strong connections to Chinggis Khaan, who was born and held court here. It is over 800 years since he united the disparate tribes into the nation of Mongolia for the first time, and he is still by far the most important figure in the Mongolian national consciousness. The history of his life and accomplishments - documented in The Secret History of Mongolia - are studied in depth by all schoolchildren here, and here there is Chinggis Khaan everything - beer, monuments, restaurants, bank notes, hotels. His image is all over the country and sites gain importance through a connection to him, and Mongolians remain very proud of the man and his accomplishments. This approach to him reminded me of the Russians' ... read more