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.

Who doesn't love being photographed?

I must say I'm loving all the posers out here in Kuwait.

I took the picture below at a local resto that the footballer spent many evenings at during his school days. I started off by taking a picture of the resto itself, which was followed by a conversation with the owner, who was overjoyed when I asked if I could take a picture of him. Everytime I took a picture someone from his staff would also sneak in from behind (like the guy in the blue shirt).

In return for the pictures that I agreed to email to the guy I got to sample all the sweets in the shop - which included the local sweets and some gulab jamuns even.

The weather lashes out in Kuwait

Weekend log

This weekend was a short one compared to the past few weeks where we've had either a Monday or a Friday off. Of course, we get a day off this Tuesday again (as it is Buddha's birthday), which makes this the fourth '4-day' week in a row. Happy days.

This weekend was spent:

1. Getting a hair cut from a really friendly stylist at Tony & Guy

Takeaway: Aveda is no longer a favourite. Also, everytime I leave a salon I mysteriously seem to walk out either with a whole bunch of products or with the idea that I need to come back for all the treatments they offer

2. Shopping in Central at these cute boutique stores and the newly opened Uniqlo in the mall near my apartment.
Takeaway: Discounts do not equal savings - I always buy more than what I need and never end up using a lot of it

3. At a one year old's birthday party, with a good mix of kiddos, cupcakes, some champagne and cookies. And then putting together the birthday gift, which is going to be a book with some of the pictures I took of the kiddo and the party - figured this would be better than a toy or clothes that won't last forever.
Takeaway: Sorting through over 500 pictures to get to the 20 pictures that will be printed in the book and then arranging the pages cannot be achieved without a headache and some wine.

4. Exploring the streets of HK while I waited for the footballer to get his haircut
Takeaway: The temperature at 9am is not reflective of the temperature at 1pm. Jeans and 30 degrees C aren't the best of friends.

5. Blogging and listening to commentary on the ManU game late into Sunday night (actually Monday morning now)
Takeaway: Waking up in a few hours to get ready for work is going to be a real bitch.

More than just two minutes of joy

Kinder eggs have always been entertaining only because I get to 'build' a toy. I still get my 2 mins of joy from them even though the toys aren't as nice as they used to be (they initially had miniature wooden airplanes and cars - and now all I get are plastiki things).



When we lived in Taiwan, the footballer would get me a kinder egg every Sunday morning when he went out to get breakfast. This ritual eventually led to the footballer even proposing to me with a kinder egg - and long story short, there was no need to 'build' the toy that time around but it has surely given me much more than 2 minutes of joy.

The 2pm snooze

Cooking diaries

You know what's better than having someone cook for you?

Having someone who can cook a spinach souffle like the footballer made for lunch today.

Nothing else going on today - been lazing around the house for most of today except for the much-needed 40 mins at the gym.

On a good note:
• There is only one more day left in this week
• The coming Monday is a holiday and so is the Tuesday of the week after
• Work has been slow (can almost sometimes be a negative though)
• Going on vacation in three weeks for an entire week
• Manunited has been winning, which means I have a very happy footballer at home
• I bought a new pair of wedges for the summer – very cute
• I also got myself a new pair of lens – the 24-105mm Canon standard zoom, which I’ve been planning for a long time
• I started going regularly to the gym
• I’ve made progress on learning to swim
• I (apparently) feel like blogging again – not that I was ever too regular although I did have a few good patches
• There are lots of other travel plans being put in place for the year
• I can feel my birthday month getting closer and closer
• There’s been some good progress on my role in the NGO world.


On the other hand:
• The footballer has been persistently sick since the end of March
• I seem to be developing a chronic back ache
• I have a bad throat and can feel a temperature coming on, which also has resulted in me taking a short break from the gym and swimming
• There is a large pile of dishes waiting for me in the sink
• Hmmm....that’s about it on the dark side….almost surprising