That fateful day in December

A re-post of the blog I wrote about our "official" wedding day. A lot of good memories and many more to come!

Just the usual everyday stuff....: No turning around now: On Monday the 14 th of December we made this whole event official by signing the dotted line in a Government register. First, we found a f...

More than a muffler



Lane Crawford is giving out knitting

kits that includes a ball of wool and

chopstick -like knitting needles



Knitting has no purpose – or at least it didn’t have any purpose that I thought was worth pursuing. This was until last Sunday when I discovered that Lane Crawford – a fashion retail store – is collaborating with a charity, called Crossroads, to provide blankets to people who need them to stay warm in the winter. In order to do this they’re asking the community to help knit 8x8 inch squares by the 25th of Dec, which will then be sewn together to make the 3,000 odd blankets that are needed.

Isn’t that just fabulous? My skill to knit straight lines is actually coming in handy! And for once the end goal isn’t something pointless like a muffler or a straight-lined tank top that I would never use.

This project has got me excited enough to use all my spare time to knit, but I haven’t gone past my first square as yet (and that has nothing to do with the amount of spare time I have). Given my modest knitting capabilities, I’m aiming to knit about 20 squares which should be enough for half a blanket. I’m thinking better half than nothing, right?

What can I do in Ulaanbaatar?

Now I know that it's question that doesn't come up often (heck, I never thought I would ever be exploring it...at least not in the near future). But if you are asking the question here are some pointers.

The view of Zaisan Hill from my balcony in Bayongol Hotel

I stayed at the Bayongol Hotel. Reviews on tripadvisor will tell you it's a terrible hotel. It's not. Yes, it's old and there's nothing fancy about it, but it's clean, has a decent internet connection and is walking distance from Peace avenue where a lot of restos and shops are located. If you are the type who needs a 4-star at the minimum - you can drop the whole of Mongolia off your list (until 2013 when the Shangri-La is set to open in UB).

Since I was there on work my activities were limited to places near the hotel. This wasn't the worst deal coz UB isn't a big city and everything was walkable distance from the hotel. Here's a list of some of the places that were worth my time.



Mongols in their local attire on Zaisan hill


Zaisan hill gives you a nice panoramic view of the city and is only a 10 min drive from Bayangol hotel. The hill has a war memorial built at the top, which shows some of the communist history in paintings. You can also literally witness the growth of the city as it encroaches (yes, encroach is the word I want to use although it might be legal) the surrounding hills. While getting down we ran into a wedding party, which was most exciting coz they were all dressed in the traditional Mongolian attire (which means only one thing: photo-opps galore :D)

 

On the way to Zaisan hill you can stop by at the Bogd Khan palace. Unfortunately we only got here at 4:30pm to learn that the palace is closed at 4pm. So make sure to check timings. 

A corner of the Bogd Khan palace

 

Inside the Choijin Lama Monastery

The Choijin Lama Monastery is a 5 minute walk from Bayongal. It won't take more than 30 mins to see the temple. It was strange because I thought it was a Tibetan temple but it had a lot of Shamanistic touches to it - so it will give you a feel of the Shamanistic practices in Mongolia. The ceiling had cut-outs that showed people being tortured, possessed and other horrible things. Once you're done with the temple, there is a nice Italian resto near-by called Veranda (where you can eat in the balcony over-looking the temple roofs) -and if you've been eating Mongolian food for a even a day or two you will definitely be looking for something less adventurous.    

Choijin Lama at 7am



Sukhbaatar Square

Nothing much to see at Sukhbaatar Square but it's a nice stately-looking square and looks better at night. It's located on Peace avenue and is a 5-min walk from Bayongal. (Yes, everything is only 5 or at most 10 mins away :))



Buildings to the left of the Sukhbaatar Square

If you're looking to try some local Mongolian food you can try Nomads - serves horse steak, goat's head, aarts (sour fermented milk) and a lot of other local "delights" :D. Note that there are many branches, one of which serves American food, so make sure you find the one provided in the link I've provided. There are lots of other food options around Peace Avenue - Uzbek, Russian, Indian ect etc.

Souvenir shopping is never big on my list, but UB really had a lot of fun things to buy. Cashmere, local vodka, the cutest baby booties, boots of all kinds, local khoomi music cds (i.e., throat signing), antiques...and the one thing that I'm always looking for when I travel - local art. Don't miss the State Department Store on Peace Avenue for this - it's priced a little higher than the other stores around but I felt like the quality was better and I didn't have the time to search for anything else. 

The locals took us up this alley which led to a resto

And some interesting sights to see in the local streets - so let your feet take you where it wants. I did hear of some people's experiences with pick-pocketing (and you will read a lot of warnings about this) but from what I gather it's only happened late at night on lonely streets or in very crowded areas - so like any big city make sure you follow some basic precautions to stay safe. I didn't have any trouble while I was there.


A local park








 

The Mongolian diaries

A few weeks ago I visited Ulaanbaatar or UB (the capital of Mongolia) for a few days. It was primarily for work, and the lack of frequent flights to UB made it almost impossible to extend my stay, but I managed to squeeze in some sight-seeing time.

I loved every minute of it. I did a lot of walking, ate some crazy-assed food (which you can read about here), saw yurts squeezed in-between concrete buildings, froze my ears off, climbed a hill, saw the local temples and palaces, met some really nice people......and then left thinking that I would never come back to UB. Not because I don't want to (in case you have a short memory span I started off by saying that I loved it), but because it's just one of those places that's hard to get to, and also I don't think there is much else to experience in UB except the traffic and the development of a new city. So if I do go back it will be for the country-side which I hear is worth experiencing.

A yurt in the middle of the bustling new city of UB



View of UB from Zaisan hill

Ame, ame, ame, ame, ame....AMERICANOOO

Last week I met a bunch of Koreans who I fell in love with. A lot of them didn't speak English but that didn't stop them from attempting to have a conversation with me. They were fun, inclusive, interested in getting to know people...genuinely nice people that I actually want to keep in touch with.

As a function of hanging out with them I discovered this Korean indie pop band, called 10cm. Kpop (i.e., a commonly used term/abbreviation for Korean mainstream music) has always been a little too pop'y for me - but this band looks very promising. One of their most popular songs, Americano, is about how much they love drinking (guess?) an Americano. Have a listen...

Chicken's heart, hot milk with salt, a full plate of fried ox liver and pear, some bugs (or maybe it was feet - I couldn't really tell), frog, fermented sour milk served hot, stone soup, sweets made of sour yak milk...and the one that tops it all....an entire goat's head baked and served with carrots. All in a week's time.

Now, that's what you call a food riot!

A taste of the Middle East

Some of our purchases from the Middle East combined together: spices and crockery.