Paige Gets To Visit Her Daddy's Work

Last weekend Ben had to be on site to work so I thought it would be a good opportunity to take Paige for a visit to see where her daddy works.
Everyday a company bus goes to and from town to the mine site so it was perfect to jump on for a day visit. Paige was very excited to be going on the bus, the first thing she said when she woke up was "I'm going to be seeing my daddy's work today".

The bus trip took about two hours on a very bumpy road. I am always quite amazed that the roads are not two lanes wide they are only single lanes. With all this land you would think that the road system would be better with wider lanes. Ben tells me of many accidents he sees to and from site so I was surprised that we didn't see any on the way.

On arrival to site we had to go through a security check. It is the most diligent check I have ever seen on a mine site. The personal check all parts of your bags and will pull things out to get a better look. .

Ben walked down from the office block to meet us, Paige was very excited to see him just like usual. We headed up to see where Ben worked each day.

Picture: Paige and Ben at his desk

Paige was really funny she didn't want to sit in Ben's chair but was full of questions "Whats this" she kept saying and followed Ben everywhere. She liked looking at the rocks which she found on one of the shelves. Ben shares an office with another employee so I was glad the other employee wasn't there at the time as I am sure he wouldn't had gotten any work done. Ben decided to take us for a drive to show us around site and the mining areas. As a safety rule if we got out of the car we had to make sure we had a safety vest, glasses and hard hat on. Paige didn't like that rule and it took us a while to convince her. On our drive around we stopped at the workshop to show Paige the trucks and digger that where there. We drove into the pit and Paige saw the trucks being loaded and we collected some rocks. Paige was very cute walking around looking at things. I pointed out a drill rig and told her that her Matthew Pop used to operate one just like that and told her how I used to drive trucks. Paige said "Mummy I might drive trucks as well" both Ben and I laughed.

Picture: Ben & Paige standing in front of a truck at the workshop

Picture: Paige and Ben looking for rocks

Picture: Ben showing Paige a rock

We then drove around the site a little more and then drove up to a look-out that you could view one of the pits from. To the right you could see the enclosed mill area. It is a little strange seeing a mill area all enclosed, they do this because in winter it would be to cold to run.

Picture: View from look-out

Picture: Bernadette & Paige standing at look-out

It was now time for lunch so we headed to the mess area. I was surprised at how many people turned to look at Paige as we walked in. A couple of people did say she looked like a doll, I think it is because she has curly hair. As we sat to eat on of the workers asked Paige if she wanted to eat at his table, but she wasn't too interested in that. After lunch we went to see where Ben's room was. He had just moved rooms a couple of weeks ago so I expected the room to be a bit smaller and he was lucky to have his own bathroom which his last room didn't have.

Picture: Hall way leading to Ben's room

Picture: Paige laying on Ben's bed

Picture: The living areas of the camp and mess including the contractors gers

Picture: Cannabis plants that grow wide in the area

After spending about four hours on site it was time to catch the bus home. Once again we had to go through security checks. Paige was really up set leaving as she didn't want to go home, she wanted Ben to come with us. I am glad she fell a sleep on the bus because she was very upset. On the way home we saw an accident which was not an unusual sight due to drivers not driving to conditions. I think that some of the Mongolians must get their licences out of a vodka bottle.

I am glad that Paige and I where able to visit the mine site where Ben works. I think Paige enjoyed seeing where her daddy works.

Ah Mongolia Or Would It Happen Anywhere Else

This week I have been asking myself why and trying to think of positives and things happen for a reason as I keep telling myself.

Ok you all know that we live in an apartment and at times I feel it is a little small so not being one to sit back and wait for things to happen on there own I decided to ask if we could move. This was a while ago and turns out that three days after I had ask to move I found out one of the families was leaving who lived in the same area so I asked if their apartment would be free then we would consider moving to their apartment as it had an extra room, perfect I thought.

Not so easy after all.

There is an apartment free that we could move into but we would have to pay an extra $300 per month out of our own pocket because we have only one child and the apartment costs more in rent then the one we are in now. Ok I thought is there any other apartments out there that we could look at?, maybe has an extra room?, "No" because the company wont be renting any other apartments because a number of expats are leaving (their contracts are being cancelled) plus to top it all off our apartment lease is up for renewal so because we like the area looks like we will be staying put.

So if you can imagine there is a free apartment but we cant move into it because the budget the company sets for a one child family doesnt cover the cost they are already paying for the apartment and I think they would rather see the apartment empty then let us move in. Ok I thought, I am not paying extra to cover the cost, my view is they can pay for an empty apartment if they want to, I have built a bridge and I am over it.

I have made some changes in the apartment that we are in now so Paiges bed and toys are in the same room and we have changed the second bedroom into a study and craft room so now at least I can get back into arts and crafts. It just boggles the mind I really cant help thinking "hmm are we any different to any other expats here" sure there are managers on different levels who are on different wages which is only normal but I cant see how different managers can be to be living in the bigger houses then the rest of the work force who have families we are all from overseas breathing the same air, living in UB weekly. Oh well just goes to show how the world really runs in some companies. Ok its time to move on and get over it I think......... My Blog and I can voice my views I think if I do say so myself.............................

Meeting the Family

You may remember that we employ a young lady for baby sitting, her name is Altan-su. A while ago she asked us if we would like to come and meet her parents who live in the country side. After answering yes and thinking at some stage we would, she mentioned her father wanted to meet us so I thought it best we follow though with what we had said we would do. We were able to borrow Ben's mangers car as he was away on holidays so we took a drive to met the parents.

It is interesting to hear bits and pieces about people and then finally met them. The drive took us about fifty minutes, where we drove on the main paved road then onto a dirt road. The dirt road was a shocker and we where glad the car was a 4wd.

Picture: Two gers on the land

Picture: View from gers

Most Mongolians like to live in the country side during summer if they can. Altan-su's parents are retired, her mum being a cook and father, a well know teacher in the area. It turns out that the small plot of land they have just purchased and have set up home there. Altan-su comes from a large family, 12 children I think and I found it very interesting hearing about Altan-sus childhood. On the land we found two gers, one for her parents and the other one for guests. With a warm greeting we where shown the guest ger and where able to relax and take in the surroundings. Altan-su's mother disappeared and later we realised why, she was preparing lunch for us. Altan-su's father sat and spoke to us with Altan-su translating as her father doesnt speak English. He was an interesting person that I wished I could understand, he would have so many stories to tell us. After a while one of Altan-sus sisters arrived with her husband, turns out that they live in Italy so they could speak very good English and where here for a visit for a number of weeks. When lunch was ready Atlan-su's parents ate in their ger and we ate in the guest ger with Altan-su and her sister and sister's husband. They told us this is what their parents do so I wasn't worried that maybe we had done something to upset them. We spent a couple of hours with the family and headed back to town. Once again we enjoyed the drive out of town to view part of the Mongolian country side.

Picture: Paige and neighbours son playing

Picture: Altan-su's mum & Altan-su

Friends From China

This week we have had our friends Bruce and Gloria visiting from China. Ben used to work with Bruce in Indonesia and now Bruce in working in China. Gloria is a domestic goddess like me.

It has been such a nice change having friends visit and playing tourist with them. While Bruce was busy with work I showed Gloria around.

On the weekend while Ben was home we all went out for dinner at one of the local Indian restaurants. Paige was funny as she remembers the restaurant from the elephant sculpture they have there.

Picture 1: The Group, Gloria, Bernadette, Paige, Ben & Bruce

Picture 2: Gloria, Paige & Bruce

Picture: Paige with her friend the Elephant

Having visitors no matter where I have lived I always like to show what day to day living is like so I decided to take Gloria around to the local supermarkets and fresh food market here to give her a sense of where we do our food shopping. She was surprised at some of the selection of items, yes we wouldn't stave here.

The next day we where off to visit one of the factories that make cashmere products. This visit was new to me as I had never gone there before. I was surprised at the range of products they had, many different types of clothing and blankets but I was surprised at the prices. I know its cheaper to buy here then anywhere else but I thought some things where a little over priced, just goes to show I wouldn't have a clue about cashmere.

Picture: Some Ger's around town

Having lived here now for six months I hadn't done a city tour. Gloria had come across a city tour on her enquires so seeing as the tour was only for two and a half hours we thought we would give it ago.

Picture: Gloria & Bernadette in front of Gandantechilen Monastery

The tour included the Gandantechilen Monastery, Zaisan Memorial and Ulaanbaatar City Museum. I hadn't been to two of the three stops so it was good to see some places I have yet to visit. Our tour guide was a young guide who spoke pretty good English.

Picture: Looking up at Zaisan Memorial

Picture: Part of the Zaisan Memorial

Picture: Large Buddha


Picture: View from the top of Zaisan Memorial

It was really an enjoyable tour and it gave us a good look at the city and some of the sites. I think the high light for me was when I had a go at shooting a bow and arrow. We had seen a man practicing at the Big Buddha and our tour guide had asked us if we wanted to try. "Why not" I thought. Gloria gave me a bit of coaching "Make sure to pull the bow right back" easier said then done I thought but I must admit great advice as I was able to shoot the arrow 25 meters. Not bad for my first go!

The next day I took Gloria to The Black Market. You may have read about it in one of my other blogs. With the sun shining we made our way around the market and even pick up some bargains from what some items where being sold in the city at higher prices. Being aware of our safety we had to laugh when my water bottled was stolen. A drunk man had bumped into me and had decided that my water that was in my side pocket of my back pack looked quite tasty I thought it was his water as he held it up and said sorry when he passed me. Gloria then pointed out that it had been my water as she had been standing behind me. It was one of those funny things that happen here, "Don't worry about your money, it is your water they want".

A week just flies by when your having fun. It was so nice being able to spend time with friends. Seeing as Bruce is working here from time to time I am sure it wont be to long before we see them again plus we hope to get back tom China soon.

Naadam Festival in Mongolia

Over the past week we have been soaking up the festivals of Naadam. The Naadam festival, or eriyn gurvan nadaam, is the biggest festival of the year for Mongolians. It runs for three days in all parts of the country and highlights the greatest athletes in horse racing, archery, and wrestling, Mongolia's most popular sports. Women can participate in all events but the wrestling category. The word Nadaam means game or competition in Mongolian. This festival has been held for centuries as a form of memorial celebration, as an annual sacrificial ritual honoring various mountain gods or to celebrate a community endeavor.
HISTORY
The origins of the Naadam Festival go back to times primordial when horse was domesticated and first hunters learned how to ride them. Though the historical evidence is not available, the festival roots can be traced in the culture to such Central Asian nomadic tribes as Huns, Scyphians and Turks.
As early as 3,000 year B.C. the holiday become a regular national event when all the nomad tribes would come together to show the best of their physical strength, riding and shooting skills, qualities vital for the survival of nomad herders and hunters.
This tradition of annual festival survived throughout the centuries of turbulent history of Central Asian nomads. After came an official celebration of the National Revolution's victory. On June 11 the revolutionaries mounted a successful attack on Urgoo, the capital city, and expelled Chinese military garrison. Nowadays, it is simply the Naadam Festival.

Our first experience was to go out to the country side to see a Mimi Naadam that is held by one of the townships before the grand Naadam in UB.
The company had arranged buses to take employees out of town and after a three hour drive we arrived at the area where the events where being held. The scenery was amazing. The area was a flat plain surround by mountains.

Photo: Paige with local boy

We ventured off the bus and could see an area where people had gathered in a large circle. On the outer of the circle where horse riders sitting on their horses watching the wrestling. There were concrete seats surrounding the circle, where spectators where watching the middle of the circle were the men where wrestling.

Photo: Horse riders watching the wrestling

It was such an amazing experience to be soaking up this culture. Paige was running around to my horror as there where horses everywhere being ridden around the circle. The surprising thing was many of the riders where very young children. We had to keep a close eye on Paige as I was very worried about horses kicking her if she went to close from behind. Once again people wanted to take her photo, Miss Superstar.

Photo: Wrestlers doing dance before wrestling

Photo: Two wrestlers, wrestling

Photo: One wrestling position

Photo: Wrestler gets another wrestler to the ground

Photo: Losing wrestler on the ground

Photo: Winning wrestler doing dance for victory

After a while there was a break in the wrestling and everyone bolted down to a finish line of a horse race that was being ran. As we headed down to the finish line there where cars, horse riders and trucks speeding past us, it was such a crazy site, madness really. As the riders and horses crossed the finish line the winner rode past us with people trying to touch the horse, it was so dangerous, we tried to get out the way to a safer place. I couldn't’t understand why people where trying to grab the horses. The poor child rider was grabbed by another rider on to another horse and the people just converged to the horse. I found out later that if you touch the winning horse and rub the sweat on your self it is meant to bring you luck. How strange I thought. The culture in Mongolia is sometimes hard to understand the people’s beliefs but as I say “What ever blows your hair back”.
This day had now set the scene for the big Naadam in the coming week in town. So let me tell you a bit about the sports that make up Naadam.

HORSE RACES
Mongolians have a high regard for horses since, for centuries, they have relied on them for transport, sustenance, and companionship. During the races, up to 1,000 horses can be chosen to compete. The horse races are broken down into six categories based on the age of the horses. For example, two-year-old horses race for 10 miles (16 kilometers) and seven-year-olds for 17 miles (30 kilometres). The race is conducted on the open grasslands with no set track or course. Children from the ages of 5 to 13 are chosen as jockeys since this guarantees that the race tests the horse’s skill and not the riders. The small size of the jockeys also increases the horses' endurance. Even still, jockeys train for months before Naadam and the horses are given a special diet. The winning jockey is praised with the title tumny ekh or "leader of ten thousand" and the five winning horses are talked about and revered in poetry and music. The losing two-year-old horse are also allotted special attention by being serenaded with a song. Music is very important before the race too, as the audience sings traditional songs and the jockeys sing a pre-race song called a gingo. Eating and drinking is the other "sport" during the Naadam festival. The horse races are held in the steppes behind these people who stop to drink tea and arak, fermented mares' milk. Cold meat pancakes, called khuurshuur , ice cream, bread, and fruits are other popular festival foods.

Photo: Two very young horse riders

ARCHERY
The sport of archery originated around the 11th century, during the time of Khanate warfare. Contestants dress in traditional costumes and use a bent bow constructed of horn, bark, and wood.

The arrows, made from willow branches and vulture feathers are shot at round, leather targets with grey, yellow or red rings. Men must stand 75 meters and women 60 meters from the target. Judges, standing near the targets, assess each shot with a cry, called a uukhai, and a raised hand. The winning archer, or mergen, is the one who hits the targets the most times.
360 targets are put up for the archery competition. In this competition both men and women participate; men fire 40 arrows from 75 meters away while women fire 20 arrows from 60 meters away. Before the contestant shoots, the audience shouts "Hit the target!", and if he or she does, the audience says "Hit!". The winners of the contest are granted the titles of "National marksman" and "National marks woman".

Photo: Where the arrows are shot too and each arrow has to hit small black targets

WRESTLING
The wrestling competitions begin around noon on the first day of the festival and end on the second day. They are quit unlike American wrestling matches in form an have other two important differences. First, there are no weight divisions. A small wrestler can be pitted against someone two times his weight. This can lead to some very interesting matches. Second, there are no time limits. The loser of a match is the wrestler who falls first. A fall is when any part of a wrestler’s body, except his hands or feet, touches the ground. Titles are given to winners of a number of rounds: Falcon to those winning five rounds, Elephant for seven rounds, and Lion to the one winning the whole tournament.
One elite wrestler was once given the title "Eye-Pleasing Nationally Famous Mighty and Invincible Giant." Wrestlers honor the judges and their attendants with a dance called devekh, or eagle dance. The winner also performs the eagle dance after the loser of the bout takes off his jacket and walks under the winner's arm. Wrestlers wear small, over the shoulder vests called zodog, and snug shorts called shuudag. The heavy, traditional Mongolian boots are called gutuls. 512 or 1024 wrestlers meet in a single-elimination tournament that lasts nine or ten rounds. Mongolian traditional wrestling is an untimed competition in which wrestlers lose if they touch the ground. Wrestlers wear two-piece costumes consisting of a tight shoulder vest (zodog) and shorts (shuudag). Wrestlers are exclusively male.

Shagai (Mongolian: Шагай) is the Mongolian word for the cuboid bone of the ankle of a sheep. The shagai are collected and used for traditional Mongolian games and fortunetelling. They are often painted bright colours. Such bones were used by many ancient cultures, and were the first forms of dice. Shagai games are especially popular during the Mongolian summer holiday of Naadam. In shagai dice, the rolled shagai generally land on one of four sides: horse, camel, sheep or goat. A fifth side, cow, is possible on uneven ground. Mongolians still exchange shagai today as tokens of friendship. The shagai are kept in a little pouch. In fortunetelling, four shagai are rolled on the ground; the two convex sides, horse and sheep, are considered lucky, with horse being the luckiest. The sides with concave indents, goat and camel, are deemed unlucky; rolling all four sides on one throw is considered indicative of very good fortune.The shagai are also used to play other games, especially a Mongolian variation of marbles, in which the goal is to capture more shagai than your opponents do.

Our first Big Naadam – 11th July 2007
We were told that its best to arrive at the stadium early as tickets are usually over sold. To get a seat to watch the opening can be difficult if you are not early. Taking that advice we arrived at the stadium an hour before, there was a small group of us sitting all together.

Photo: Lisa, baby Jack, Altun su, David, Tracey & Ben

We had to go to gate ten to sit in the section as this was stated on our tickets. Once we had our tickets punched with a whole we walked up the stairs into the stadium. I could now see why we had to enter the right section as there is a small fence on the edge of each section manned by a police officer. It didn’t take long before the stadium and our section filled up. Every spare section of the concrete levels where filled even the walkways as people sat to see the opening ceremony. People even tried to squash us up but I just said no, some rows you could see two people in the same space that should have only had one person sitting. The opening of the festival began with a parade of people dressed in traditional clothing, famous singers, horse riders, flag carriers and the winners of Miss Mongolia. It was interesting to see the ceremonious ride by medieval warriors bearing the Nine Banners/ flags of Chinggis Khaan. At first I was a little confused as I was told about the nine flags but it was pointed out that the nine hairy topped poles where what the people where calling flags. Ah now I get it. These 9 flags I was told are very old and each one is made up of hair from nine horses tales of nine white horses. The number nine is very lucky. To carry these poles are done by 9 riders on nine white horses.

Photo: Riders bringing in the nine flags

The national anthem was played and the president of Mongolia opened the festival. While all this was happening we still couldn’t get over how many more people where trying to squash into the section of seating. After the ceremony began the wrestling started in the middle of the stadium. We head out to see the archery and knuckle bone sports that where starting to be played.

Photo: Wrestlers do starting dance before wrestling

The crowds where amazing people heading to the same places and then we realised that they where hoping to see the president of Mongolia as he was heading to see these sports as well. The crowds thinned out once the president had moved on so it was easy to take a look at the other sports. Ben and Paige ended up going home as Paige had had enough of culture for the day.

Photo: Looking at some of the crowd from the stand

I stayed a little longer to try and get some photos which I hadn’t been able to get earlier due to the crowds. One thing I did notice was the amount of tourists that came to the opening. They where everywhere.
All in all experiencing our first Naadam was quite interesting but we enjoyed the Mimi Nadaam better as we could get up really close to the action and the setting was amazing. I think the opening ceremony was good by Mongolian standards but I wouldn’t say it was up to anything you would see in a western country at an event like this one.

Photo: Father & son walking together

Photo: Eldly man at festival

Below photos are from the open parade