I'm back to San Francisco, refreshed mentally though not physically, after nearly two weeks as a tourist in Mongolia with a delightful small group of women. (Women Who Explore if you are curious; great company.)
I'm not going to pretend I really know anything deep about this fascinating country after this short visit, but here are a few photos. This a view of the capital and only large city, Ulaanbaatar (known in English as UB). A thriving core houses international commerce and the seat of government, then gives way to crowded haphazard neighborhoods and a sprinkling of the national Mongolian round tent housing --
gers.
More than half the national population of 3.5 million lives in the city. Younger people flock to the modern metropolis; older people continue the rural herding life which is what we were introduced to. Out of 244 countries in the world, Mongolia's population density ranks 240th. There's a lot of beautiful land and not that many people. Though green and pleasantly warm in the late summer, Mongolia sees temperatures of -20°F in winter and UB averages 29°F for the full year.
The countryside is all about sheep, yaks, goats and horses whose human herders live in
gers which they move for better pastures several times a year. One day we were shown how they disassemble a
ger and then erect it again. Since it happened to be the one we were staying in, we laughed happily as we were shown how fast they could get it up again as rain began to come down on our beds!
Extended families raise and milk their herds while their young people find enough internet signal to study for college admission exams!
Inside a welcoming ger in Gobi province, we spoke in the evening about a Chinese-owned nearby fenced-off development, ostensibly for a gold mine operation. Like so many rural people everywhere, retired bookkeeper Tsingit was suspicious of the facility which have been set up despite herder protests.
About fifty percent of Mongolians are Buddhists and both city and countryside are dotted with monasteries and temples.
This is a proud country conscious of ancient greatness. A monument at Kharkorin displays the extent of three historic Mongolian empires.
The greatest of these empires was that of Genghis Khan in the late 12th century -- the largest contiguous land empire in world history reaching across Asia into modern Poland and east to modern Korea.
Living today in our declining US empire, it was instructive to encounter this smart, proud, welcoming people whose history has taught them that empire comes and goes.
And Mongolians do welcome the world; we returned to UB in time to see signs for the COP17 UN conference on climate change in the central plaza.
Some of us took one more day after the tour to visit UB's
LGBT Centre; yes, we are everywhere!
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| With Director Enkhmaa Enkhbold |
Mongolia feels like a place rising to renewed happiness and prosperity. They seem eager and ready for the challenges of the 21st century.
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