Photos Ahoy

Well, it has been just over a week here in the land of the nomads, and while I have been wandering a bit, I have still not managed to see the things that make Mongolia so special. I have not seen a single yak, camel, nor horse. I did nearly step in a huge pile of horse business however, so I know they are around. A weekend horse riding trip had been in the works, but those bloody tourists snatched up all the horses. I suppose I will have to wait.

But onto the good stuff, the pictures. Here is one of me and my newest Mongolian friend who I met on the steps of the Zaisan war memorial, commemorating Mongolian soldiers lost during World War II.


I apologize for the low resolution. I am still learning to work my new camera. I am trying to do my best Will Forte impersonation, but I think I fall a bit short. Falconer I am not. That bird was heavy though, and I'm not talking Marty McFly heavy here. I only had to hold the pose for about 30 seconds, but my arm was killing the entire time. I escaped with my face intact though, a real accomplishment I think.

Here is said memorial, perched atop the hill. Amazing view of the city from the top.




And what set of pictures would be complete without a little Genghis Khan. The man is everywhere in this country, even carved into mountains. The following picture shows both Genghi in all their glory: Cochrane and Khan together at last! (I changed the camera to high res just in time to capture this gem)


Ah to be young and egocentric again.

More pics will be posted in the coming days and weeks. Still deciding how I want to do it. To Flickr or to Facebook? That is the question, only unlike Hamlet, this one has no clear answer.

My large ego will be put in check this week as I start teaching my Mongolians about life, love, and American History. I'd tell you about it, but I try to keep my personal life and work life separate.

Gold Medals and My First Asian Kiss: A Wanderer's Tale

I am sitting here at the first day of work, already finding time to slack off and work on the old blog. The good news of the day is that one of my coworkers, Muz or The Siberian Moose as I am not calling him, told me that he can lend me a wireless modem for the year that will pick up Mongolian WiFi. Or MoFi as the locals say.

Yesterday was an absolutely amazing day. It started out with a trip to the Gandan Temple, one of the premiere sights to see in Ulaanbaatar. The temple is one of the last standing since the Soviets leveled most of them in the 1930s. This one was kept as a tourist trap, and what a trap it was. The temple is home to over 150 monks of all ages and genders and for each single monk there are roughly 100 or more pigeons. The Gandan Temple is in need of a Bolivian Tree Lizard infestation and fast. The temple itself was great, the highlights being a 100 foot tall statue of Buddha, and all of the locals coming here to worship. Though I didn't understand any of the ceremonies, I was intrigued and want to learn more.

I thought this would be the highpoint of my day, but walking home I noticed a massive crowd standing outside the State Department Store. Now they don't usually have mutton sales on Sundays so I knew something was awry. Turns out, they were watching lightweight boxing sensation, Enkhbat Badar-Uugan, collect Mongolia's second gold medal in their history and of these Olympics. The match was not even close, and following it came the greatest display of nationalism I have seen since being in La Paz when Bolivia qualified for its first world cup. It seems in both Bolivia and Mongolia, the natural response to an athletic conquest is to get in your car to drive around honking horns and waving flags. Many people were equipped with boxing gloves and helmets, while others simply adorned drunken smiles.

In order to escape the madness I went and sat down in a less crowded park. Immediately I was flanked by two (seemingly) homeless men, hopped up on what I thought was Mongolian pride, but in fact turned out to be vodka. We hit it off. One of the guys was wearing a Canada hat, so we had an immediate connection. Though they knew no English and I knew no Mongolian, I pointed to the words "Gold", "Happy", and "Congratulations" in my phrase book and each was met with more hugs and high fives. They then presented their victory juice which took the form of Chinngis Khan National Vodka. Shots were doled out from a dirty old ashtray. I wanted to decline, but luckily I did not. Sadly our time together had to come to an end, but not before my Canadian compadre gave me a giant hug and kissed my several times on my cheeks. I tell you, for a guy with no teeth, his kiss was amazingly firm.

Returning home, I stopped in Sukhbatar square, which houses the parliament building where the main party was happening. I made what I swear is the last frivolous purchase I will make for a while and picked up a Mongolian flag and waved like I've never waved before. Many people loved seeing me with their colors, giving me high fives until my hands were sore. Others must have deemed that I wasn't Mongolian enough to be holding their flag, and asked if they could have it as their god given right. I stood firm however, and waved it against all odds. I almost caved when a little kid tried to trade me some candy for my flag. Little did he know he was barking up the wrong tree as anyone who knows me can tell you I'm a salt man all the way.

Pictures from these and the rest of my adventures will be up soon. The Olympic bash will continue this evening as the president welcomes back the athletes, and who knows what may happen then.

Will I kiss another homeless man? Will I shake the presidents hand? Will I be able to live an entire year with no TV in my dorm?

Stay tuned for the answers to these and other provocative questions, next time on The Second Coming.

Mongolian art is the best art of all art

It took two whole days and two full pints of Chinggis Khan beer, but I am finally mentally and physically prepared to report from glorious Mongolia.

The trip over went off without a hitch. While in Beijing I nearly blew the whole operation by boarding a train headed for the center of town, thinking that it would take me between airport terminals. Luckily though, I am cunning like a crippled cat, and I followed the very well marked signs to the free airport shuttle. Crisis averted. Keith: 1. China: nothing.

My first introduction to Mongolian life and culture occurred in the Beijing airport. By the flight gate, the airport TV's were showing Olympic volleyball. The match, China versus Brazil in a battle of the bitterest of rivals. China, jealous of Brazil's mastery of Portuguese, and Brazil, angry that they can't find a good spring roll in Rio de Janeiro. It was very fascinating to watch the contrast between the Mongolians waiting for the flight and the Chinese airport staff. The Mongolians heralded every Chinese miss with enthusiastic cheers and claps. No one boarded the plane until Brazil had taken care of business.

But onto the good stuff: Ulaanbaatar. Where can I begin? This is a most fascinating city. I was greeted at the airport by my coworker Heliuna (Mongolian version of Helen) and her boyfriend, whose name I thought was Patrick, but now I am not so sure. Though driving is done on the right hand street in Mongolia, the Japanese made cars all have the steering wheel on the opposite side. Talk about culture shock!!!

I am living in University housing approximately a 5 minute walk from the center of town. I spent today doing touristy things before I become a disgruntled local. I don't want to be the New Yorker that has never seen the Empire State Building. That might be good enough for a certain New York Hipster, but its not for me. In the morning I saw the Choijin Lama Monastery museum, a collection of 5 monasteries almost in the middle of the town. Seeing the degraded temples standing next to highly modern buildings is a bit depressing, but the art inside the monastery was amazing. It was all highly graphic, depicting man being punished for his sins. It included a mask worn by traditional dancers of the past made of over 6,000 corals and weighing 30 kilograms. Where the Mongolians got the corals from is a mystery to me, but it was still fascinating.

I then went from the old to the very old and on B. Lowd's recommendations checked out the Mongolian Museum of Natural History. Though not quite as expansive as the house that Teddy built, the price was much more reasonable. 2500 Tugrik or just over 2 dollars. The crown jewel of the museum was a full skeleton of a tarbosaurus, a slightly smaller T-Rex. Also, to my amazement the museum held several Moose!!! Apparently Canada and Mongolia have more in common than I once suspected.

I haven't been robbed or assaulted yet, so I'm already doing better than I did after my first day in College. I don't start work for another week, so hopefully I will get a chance to hit up the countryside and ride me some camels. Like George Bush's presidency, this post has been both long and boring.

Stay tuned however, for the Obama of posts is on the horizon. Change is on its way!

Mutton To It

Well, this is it. The last day on native soil. Or should I say First Nation soil? As Ben Affleck first said in Armageddon, "I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again." As I have not booked my return flight, I truly don't know when I'll be back. Unfortunately for me however, , I don't have the safety net that is Bruce Willis watching my back. Nope, I'm all on my own for this one.

Unlike Ben though, I leave knowing that I will come back. I have to, because there are just too many things that I'm going to miss about this place. For starters, I will miss time zones.

Apparently, time zones were invented by the white man as no Asian country has more than one distinct zone. Unless you count Russia, but who in their right mind would do something like that?

The next thing I will miss is American TV. I fear the Olympic coverage will not be up to par in Mongolia, and I will miss watching Canada excel in such high profile sports as equestrian and trampoline. I also don't think I will be able to exist having to watch LOST online or even worse... having to purchase it on iTunes. There's some things they prepared me for during orientation, but having to wait ONE DAY to see where and when Desmond time travels to next was not one of them.

I had thought this would be an increasingly nostalgic and extensive list, but apparently America is not that great. If all I could come up with to miss are time zones and Henry Ian Cusick than I say So Long Stink Town!

In 24 hours I will be be in Beijing, jockeying with Chinese businessmen for the best seat at the airport bar, and in 24 more I will be starting my new life in Mongolia, hopefully riding a horse or sizzipin' on some mizzare's milk. But don't worry. To all my homies back in America and scattered across the globe, I will pour the first sip out for you.

Losing my B card (aka Canada vs. Mongolia part 1)

Hello World!

I have been telling people that I would set up a travel blog and here it is. It is not much, just a spot for me to share my experiences through stories and photos. For those of you not in the know, I am spending the coming year in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, teaching English and American Studies at the National University of Mongolia. I have not left yet, but am slated to leave on Wednesday. This blog, like Bill Nye, is intended to both educate and to entertain, but since I haven't left yet, I don't expect this first post to do either. I can however offer a few pre-trip musings on Canada/Mongolia relations:

As a Canadian, I think I can really relate to the Mongolian cause. Canada and Mongolia are similar in many ways. They are both vast, mostly uninhabitable masses of land, both have to live under the constant shadow of their southern neighbour, and both are inseparable from their trademark hoofed animals. Canada has the Moose, and Mongolia the horse. In fact, these two animals appear to be identical to the untrained eye.

Can you pick out which of these hoofed beasts helped to build history's largest empire in the 13th century?

Me neither? But I am excited to learn.

As a Canadian in Mongolia I hope to be part Louis Riel and part Genghis Khan. Put these two national icons together and who do you get? That's right, the great Shaolin warrior Louis Khan (actually pronounced Liu Kang, but not bad right?).

I will therefore approach this experience the same way Liu approached the Mortal Kombat Tournament. I will live with honor and avenge my fallen brothers. I will shoot my students with fireballs of knowledge, and use my bicycle kick, not as a weapon, but as a means of transport in this oil dependent world. I may be beaten at times, but I will always find the strength when given the option to continue.

Today is Sunday, 3 days until M-day. If anyone has any words of wisdom or sagely advice before I leave, write me, or leave a comment. In the coming weeks and months this will surely contain many interesting stories and pictures, but this is all I've got right now. Sorry for wasting your time, but I promise to make it up to you in the swiftest of fashions.