One last day of vacation

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Saturday, October 24, 2009

Illnesses of various kinds plagued us for most of our vacation week, but bright, sunny skies greeted us yesterday morning, and Frank and I celebrated our last day of Fall Break by wandering around UB in the brisk fall weather. Fears about the spread of H1N1 have gripped Mongolia in the past few days, and many, many people are suddenly wearing face masks. At first it was just black and white cotton masks, but now they are sprouting up in a whole range of colors (pink! baby blue!) and textured fabrics of all kinds...

Yes, these fall days can be quite cold--but such brilliant, blue skies! Lows predicted for the coming weekend of -4° F (-20° C)...

Pictured here: The huge and wonderfully fanciful neon Coca-Cola sign just off of Ulaanbaatar's main square.

Kazakh textile treasure

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Ever since arriving in Ulaanbaatar almost three months ago, I have been admiring the Kazakh wall hangings that hang ubiquitously in homes and buildings here. They are used to line the inside walls of Kazakh yurts--Kazakhs are an ethnic minority here in Mongolia.

Until this week, I haven't had one minute for bazaar wanderings or even for the shops that sell new versions of the things. But, at last, I found a shop that had a modest pile of older ones in the corner--AND I had the time to look through them. Vacation is a wonderful thing, no?

Of course the hangings were quite dirty and ripped in an odd number of places. But I found the one I'd been looking for right there in that stack. Now all it needs is a bit of TLC and on the wall it goes.

It's beautiful stuff.

Cheese, boots, and much much more

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Monday, October 19, 2009

This afternoon Frank and I had time for a leisurely stroll around Naran Tuul (the Black Market). It's vacation week, so, for once, no hurry. However, with the temperature hovering around freezing, it's not like we lingered for long at the outdoor stalls...

Pictured here: 1) Arul is a Mongolian cheese product (dried milk curds) that comes in all shapes & sizes & levels of sweetness & hardness. Be careful: the really hard stuff might break your teeth... 2) Mongolian boots are real works of art 3) Sweets!

Fur-lined palace

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Monday, October 19, 2009

This morning Frank and I at last had a chance to visit the Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan, a lovely place that lies about a mile and a half from our apartment.

Perhaps, not surprisingly for a "winter palace", fur seemed to be a major theme of the place. There was a ger lined on the outside with the fur of 150 (!) snow leapords, a lot of very elegant fur capes for the Bogd Khan and some pretty amazing hats--with fur, of course. And a whole zoo full of stuffed lions, cheetahs, etc.

The buildings themselves are about 120 years old. The main building (now a museum) had central heat but the others were very cold.

Perhaps a good place to wear a lot of fur for at least six months of the year.

The blue silk scarves one finds all over Mongolia, tied to rocks, trees, and more are called khata. Once again, it's Wikipedia to the rescue...

A dry, dry place

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Monday, October 19, 2009

This is a dry, dry climate. Leave a half-eaten apple on the table and when you come back a few hours later, it's like it's been in a fruit dryer. Leave your coffee dregs out overnight, and there's a thick paste at the bottom of your cup in the morning. Left-over rice left out overnight returns to its pre-cooked form.

The bottoms of your feet are drier than a bone.

So, we finally bought a humidifier.

While we are still figuring out which of our three kitchen-dining-living room outlets to stick the thing into, we thought we'd review the instruction manual.

"Ultrasonic technology is a very mature technology and being widely used in various domain, ultrasonic humidifiers is adopt ultrasonic high frequency theory transfer the water into 1-5 m super particles and then being propelled by a small fan into the air evenly accompany the ion generated by the humidifier to make the air much more moist and fresh." [sic]

Wow! Sounds pretty high tech.

"With ion exchange resin to soften the water, usefully to avoid the "black power." [sic]

Avoid the "black power"? Is that a political statement?--or do they mean "black powder"?

Finally, we noted the environmental concern of the manufacturers: "Disposal: Do not dispose this product as unsorted municipal waste. Collection of such waste separately for special treatment is necessary."

I must say, the likelihood of any formal separation of the waste stream in this part of the world is rather slim...

Winter is coming

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Thursday, October 15, 2009

It's mid-October, and I think winter might officially be here. The leaves are off what few trees there are in UB, and today it snowed. The high temperature for Sunday is expected to be -5° C (23° F).

Inside, however, all is warm and cozy. And, as you can see, there are plenty of "leaves" on the trees over at A's pre-school.

Next week is our "Fall" Break, and we are contemplating an early winter trek to the west of UB (about 500 miles) with a colleague. Time to get out and see something of this beautiful country--

Black Market morning

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Sunday afternoon arrives WARM and sunny. Don't worry, though, because it will be back down to freezing temps by tonight.

Frank and I had a fun shopping trip this morning--first we did the grocery shopping and then we went to the Black Market to pick up some household items that we have long been missing. Chief among them was another curtain rod so that we can keep the BLAZING afternoon sun out of our kitchen. Our neighbor watched A for a few hours so that we were able to enjoy the zany crowded atmosphere of the Black Market and even (saints be praised) eat lunch.

The Black Market is chock full of super low quality goods from China, but also plenty of decent stuff, too, if you know what you're looking for. One friend bought a set of mugs here--and the bottoms subsequently fell off of them. Our part-time driver works at the Market so he led us through the MAZE of stalls and helped us to find what we needed.

Pictured here: Buuz (pronounced "booze") is THE Mongolian fast food: mutton dumplings that come in several varieties. What? You don't like mutton? Better get used to it...

Qormeh sabzi for dinner, again

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Monday, September 28, 1009

You're in Mongolia, and you've just come home with a great slab of beef from the market. What to do with it?

You just happen to have stashed a huge bag of dried Persian limes in your suitcase from the States--and a little baggie of fenugreek. Oh, and cilantro and green onions are some of the few fresh spices you can get here...

Yes, it's time for qormeh sabzi. Again.

And just what exactly is qormeh sabzi? Well, it's pretty much one of Iran's national dishes, and one that we came to love while living in Kurdistan. The dried limes give it quite a distinctive flavor which is, perhaps, not to everyone's taste.

But, strangely enough, it's just the thing for that slab of steppe-raised Mongolian beef.