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Archive for the 'postcard: Mongolia' Category

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going quiet

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

written on April 13th, backdated to the 7th to make chronological sense of the rest of the posts
Orkhon, Mongolia

blew up computer’s power pack the other day so no pooter till we have traversed this continent at least – may not even be until early May when we make it to Berlin – don’t have zippy internet anyway

having the time of our lives though on a Mongolian ranch – milking cows, herding goats, riding horses

even taking a bath today when we’ve heated the water on the fire (first in a week – and another ten days till we get running water again)

amazing amazing amazing

wish we could share it with you, but it will have to wait (for a start I’m writing on a keyboard with Mongolian script – have discovered I can almost touchtype!!!!)

russian music playing in background

a wolfskin is hanging from the ceiling- two actually

Cossack-man sleeping on the floor beside me (and I don’t mean Rob – he’s in an orange painted Mongolian bed)

fire keeping us warm

amazing amazing amazing

hope this posts…….so long….

Posted in postcard: Mongolia | 3 Comments »

gotta pick a pocket or two

Monday, April 6th, 2009

by Rachael
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

He’s still shaking as he bursts through the door and sinks onto a couch. A white bandage stands out on his Asian-coloured cheek, one lens is missing from his glasses and his girlfriend is close to tears.
“What happened?” fellow travellers and hostel-owner alike, ask the pair.

We were walking along the street minding our own business when three guys came up from behind and tried to get into the pockets on my pants. (He had baggy cargo pants on with lots of pockets for the picking). When I realised what was going on I elbowed them back and they didn’t appreciate it. They chucked a jacket over my head and threw a few punches at my face before disappearing. A lady on the street, who spoke a little English, came to our aid and drove us to the hospital. She was so kind, she really went out of her way to help us. She even brought us back here once I’d got stitched up. So kind. At least we’re OK and they didn’t get anything.

No wonder he was shaking. This was broad daylight on the main street, two o’clock in the afternoon.
And that’s about the time Grandpa got done too, the day before.
He was on a busy bus, camera around his neck (because we know not to use a backpack here) when he saw a guy jump off at the last minute before the bus started. We’ve seen stranger things, so he didn’t spare the thug another thought. Even when he noticed his camera bag was open, dear Grandpa just assumed he was really starting to get a bit dottery. But closing the bag, he realised it was empty. And the jump-off-the-bus-behaviour made total sense. Good-bye camera. It was probably at the Black Market before Grandpa was even off the bus.

Coupled with the signs warning us not to go out after midnight or to open the door, these situations have made us a bit jittery when out. We find ourselves looking suspiciously at everyone – and to be honest, ninety per cent of *them* look shifty. Probably doesn’t help that this is a culture that does not smile in greeting, so everyone looks sombre. Usually we carry our valuables with us at all times (money, passports, cards, camera, laptop)….but here it seems a lot safer to leave them in the hostel. And it’s not just tourists that are targetted if the behaviour of local women on the bus is any indicator – most of them clutch their bags in front of them, not letting go even to stop themselves from falling when the bus stops suddenly (which it has at least three times on every journey so far!)
Maybe we would do well to learn from the old ladies at the market…..we have seen a number of them carrying their money in their shoe.

Not sure that would help the children though. After starting out vigilantly watching each and every one of them at all times, we had become quite relaxed, and even in the big city crowds felt the need to do a head count only every so often (assuming, of course, that the smallest four were always at our side). Here, at the end of the world, where we wrongly thought nothing could possibly happen, they are  buddied-up at all times when we are out – coz, just to add to our sense of dis-ease, this happens to be child-snatching country too. And we’re not taking any chances.

Some general photos of central UB

Posted in grandpa's stories, postcard: Mongolia, transport | 4 Comments »

a quiet night at the hostel

Sunday, April 5th, 2009
by Rach Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia So there we are sitting in our hostel room, having read the warning signs and verbally been informed to NOT open the door to strangers. It’s late, dark and Grandpa has already been relieved of his camera ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, dress, housing, postcard: Mongolia | 1 Comment »

GER: Global Education Received

Friday, April 3rd, 2009
by a very grateful Rachael Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia 60% of the city’s population is without running water…is this Africa? Nope, too cold for that. Are we in a refugee camp? No, although we are living in a tent. Is this a medieval ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, craft, food, health, housing, learning, parenting, postcard: Mongolia, toilet, tradition, transport, weather | 3 Comments »

What We Found In The Gobi

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
by Rach Zooming through the Gobi Desert Predictably perhaps, brown sand. However, it is not quite so simple. The smooth rolling sand dunes I had expected are littered with stones, sprouting brown tussocky grass and dusted with occasional lingering patches of snow ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in postcard: Mongolia, transport, weather | No Comments »

*crossed*

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
by Rob On the K3 train from Beijing to UB (for us, although it continues on all the way to Moscow)

 

“This will be one of the easiest border crossings,” I had commented earlier as ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, health, postcard: China, postcard: Mongolia, toilet, tradition | No Comments »

the last that was ever heard from them….

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
was a short blogpost as they headed off into Outer Mongolia in search of snow. 06:00 Leave hostel – take two subways to train station 07:40 Train pulls out of Beijing Station (and if the other ones we’ve caught are                anything to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in postcard: China, postcard: Mongolia, transport, weather | 3 Comments »

staggering

Saturday, March 28th, 2009
by Rach Beijing, China

 

Badaling is apparently where most people view The Great Wall from. We went in the opposite direction to a less-populous more run-down section, one with the promise of a ten kilometre ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, postcard: China, postcard: Mongolia, recreation, weather | 3 Comments »

more mongolia

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008
In the LP Guide, there was mention of a bow-n-arrow making place just north of Anak Ranch. There are some children round here, who are determined to make that not-so-far-relatively-speaking-journey. When I consider their homemade adventures and 1938-movie-watching (including all the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, postcard: Mongolia, preparation | 2 Comments »

well, whaddya know?

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
We went to the library and there on the shelf was a Lonely Planet guide to Mongolia published a mere couplea months ago. I had become used to our local library offerings being at least two years out of date, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in postcard: Mongolia, preparation, transport | 1 Comment »

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