Before we leave this journey in Mongolia, I want to share a few things about Ulaanbaatar, the capital city. Nadine and I arrived there a day before the tour started and then had three days after to look around a bit.
First off, it may impress you to know that I became an overnight millionaire when I first arrived. The money was quite difficult for us to get used to as one US dollar equals 2,267 Mongolian tugriks. All those decimal places really messed me up. I was very nervous about the exchange rate when I first withdrew money from an ATM, as I was scared of the possibility of taking out too much. (That was before I had downloaded my handy dandy currency converter.) So I dithered at the machine before finally requesting 30,000 tugriks, which seemed like an enormous amount. When I realized that I had only nervously withdrawn a bit more than $11, I had to laugh! So the next day, we headed off to a bank where I turned over a little less than $400 and got back 1,012,809 tugriks! I didn't care that the currency was worth so little - it was fun to have a million of them - although the wad of notes was almost 1/2" thick. The biggest note, as you see, was 20,000. We kept on mixing up the decimal points as we made change, so I'm sure the Mongolians thought we must be very stupid! The only place we even contemplated using an ATM and changing currency was in Ulaanbaatar - once you leave the city, you need cash.
This view from my hotel window gives you an idea of the architectural mix we found here. The garages nearby were not maintained, the roads developed big puddles when it rained and it did not strike me as an attractive city.
The traffic was surprisingly snarled most of the time. Ironically during Naadam this was not the case as it was a public holiday and many people left the city to visit family - the other possibility is that all the cars were at the horse racing! The style of architecture here is typical Russian according to Nadine, who had spent time living in Russia in the 80's and 90's. Our guide joked that the Mongolians don't know how to build attractive cities as they are much better at destroying them (a reference to Genghis Khan in case you missed it).
The traffic was surprisingly snarled most of the time. Ironically during Naadam this was not the case as it was a public holiday and many people left the city to visit family - the other possibility is that all the cars were at the horse racing! The style of architecture here is typical Russian according to Nadine, who had spent time living in Russia in the 80's and 90's. Our guide joked that the Mongolians don't know how to build attractive cities as they are much better at destroying them (a reference to Genghis Khan in case you missed it).
There were wide walking paths with vegetation on one or both sides. The greenery was nice, but it felt as if the designers were really 'pushing' to create a cohesive, landscaped look. It was unusual for the grass to be mowed - which I liked as a more 'natural' look and makes sense for people who value grass for the nutrition it provides for animals outside the city. I had to keep in mind that landscaping efforts must be influenced by a very short growing season due to the long cold winters. There were also many modern skyscrapers going up.
The skyscraper on the left, The Blue Sky, is one of the most notable high landmarks of the city. The structure in front is Choijin Lama Temple Museum. More on it later.
The skyscraper on the left, The Blue Sky, is one of the most notable high landmarks of the city. The structure in front is Choijin Lama Temple Museum. More on it later.
Mongolia has a total population of about 3 million, and almost half live in Ulaanbaatar. As the result the housing pressure is intense and the resulting apartments being put up are more in the Chinese style.
Here's a panoramic view from the Zaisan Monument on the outskirts of the city. They use coal power plants here, which creates pollution.We were told that as the nomads move to the city in their gers, they continue to use fire for traditional heating and cooking, which adds greatly to the pollution in the winter. Their arrival on the city outskirts also puts a lot of pressure on the infrastructure - schools, transportation, health services etc. It breaks my heart to know that people are leaving the traditional life, but I understand how hard it must be to not step into the comforts of the modern world.
The core of the city revolves around Sukhbaatar Square, where the Government Palace is situated. It has a similar vastness in size as Tienanmen Square - according to Google, it is the 47th largest city square by size. The palace is dominated by a large statue of Genghis Khan man-spreading in the center, with Ögedei Khan, and Kublai Khan on either side.
In our free time, one of our first tasks was to find cashmere. All those goats in the country contribute their hair to factories which make beautiful garments that are sold at prices well below those we pay in the west. Nadine and I trekked to a few places in this quest and had success at a commercial business called 'Gobi' and the State Department store pictured above. After I got home I learned that the desire for cashmere in the west is leading to environmental problems here, as the herders are trying to graze too many goats and they are destroying the vegetation. I was sorry to hear that I had contributed to this problem with my purchases.
The core of the city revolves around Sukhbaatar Square, where the Government Palace is situated. It has a similar vastness in size as Tienanmen Square - according to Google, it is the 47th largest city square by size. The palace is dominated by a large statue of Genghis Khan man-spreading in the center, with Ögedei Khan, and Kublai Khan on either side.
In our free time, one of our first tasks was to find cashmere. All those goats in the country contribute their hair to factories which make beautiful garments that are sold at prices well below those we pay in the west. Nadine and I trekked to a few places in this quest and had success at a commercial business called 'Gobi' and the State Department store pictured above. After I got home I learned that the desire for cashmere in the west is leading to environmental problems here, as the herders are trying to graze too many goats and they are destroying the vegetation. I was sorry to hear that I had contributed to this problem with my purchases.
Once our acquisitive urges had been saisfied, Nadine and I did some sight seeing. One of the most unique sights was a monastery near our hotel, the Daschoilin Monastery. It was the only functioning monastery we saw - most of the others had declared themselves to be museums to protect their assets. One thing we really liked was that the structures were shaped like gers, as you see above, so it felt very rooted here.
There were plenty of nice shiny prayer wheels and some of the little buildings did show Chinese influence in their architecture.
The main temple was not elaborate and there were people over to the side conferring with a monk, while others waited nearby for their turn for a consultation. I appreciated seeing the temple being used for purposes other than ritual.
We also enjoyed the National History Museum. This beautiful letter opener and ink well there had belonged to a former leader whose name I failed to register. Some of the most notable displays for me in the museum relayed the story of the peaceful Pro-Democracy Revolution that took place here in the 1990's, following the fall of the Soviet state. Seeing the ripples from the collapse of the USSR here, led me to have more compassion for the grief that Putin must carry. This country, although never part of the USSR in a legal sense, definitely abandoned the political model set by its long-term allies after 70 years. The revolution occurred after a number of young Mongolians returned with the knowledge of glasnost and perestroika when studying in the USSR. Ultimately, after they returned with these new ideas, there were large demonstrations in the winter of 1990 in Sukhbaatar Square, (when temperatures were down down to -22F) and hunger strikes. My favorite quote from the description of this event on Wikipedia was from the leader in power at the time, Batmönkh. He'd been presented with a document to authorize force against the youth in the square. People who were present there later recalled that he said "I will never sign this. We few Mongols have not yet come to the point that we will make each other's noses bleed," smacked the table, and left the room. If he had seen the demonstrators as 'others', rather than feeling that connection to them, perhaps the outcome would have been very different. I found this a heartening story and although the 90's were tough years for the Mongolians, their opening to commerce from the outside world appears to be leading to prosperity among many.
We also visited the Choijin Lama Temple Museum, which showed a number of architectural styles and had very beautiful displays. This part of the temple is distinctly Chinese in style. We had met up with a Mongolian woman Enkhee - an acquaintance of a friend of Nadine's - who knew this temple well and told us of many little known facts about it.
Some of the painted details were exquisite. The complex was begun in 1904 and completed in 1908, in honor of the State Oracle and brother of the eighth Bogd Khan, the Mongolian leader at the time. The temple was associated with 'yellow hat' Buddhism.
There were a number of branch temples in the complex. This was my favorite, as it is octagonal, reminding me of a ger. The blue brick you see is presenting challenges to the reconstruction efforts, as the knowledge about their production has been lost.
Choijin Lama functioned as a temple until 1937, when it closed in response to the Communist repression of religion. In 1938, it was re-opened as a museum, a clever strategy to save its beauty and treasures. Perhaps this was due to the foresight of the State Oracle or was it the close connection to the Bogd Khan?
This young art student at the temple was writing people's name in traditional Mongolian script, so I now have my name written in Mongolian.
After leaving the Choijin Lama Temple Museum, we joined Enkhee in her walk home, toward a memorial we wanted to see on the outskirts of the city. This building, which we passed, was the Wedding Palace, styled after similar buildings in Russia. With the destruction of the churches, buildings like these replaced them as venues for civil wedding ceremonies. It was close to Sukhbaatar Square, so it was not unusual to see wedding parties gathering there for their photos.
Our route also took us past the Continental Hotel, which had an old world grandeur. However, I think it is a fairly new structure and does not seem to have a glorious history. It is rated 3-star, so can't even claim luxury status. However, it was the nearest to a European 'colonial' building I saw here.
Our walk took us through the maze of streets at the base of the multi-story accommodations - navigation was quite confusing through here. Good thing we were with a local.
The Saizan Memorial, was a Soviet style monument that honored fallen Mongolian and Russian soldiers killed in World War II. Mongolia was formally neutral through much of that war, but supplied Russia with economical support, such as livestock, raw materials, money, food, and military clothing. They fought the Japanese Kwantung Army in 1939 with the Russians, in the Battles of Khalkhin Gol, which resulted in stalemate and cease-fire. The combatants remained at peace until August 1945, when the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Manchukuo (formerly Manchuria) and other territory after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The Mongolian People's Army fought on the Soviet side in this event.
The circular mural which hangs suspended beside the statue of the soldier depicts a variety of scenes showing Mongolian-Soviet co-operation.
In addition to the seriousness of the monument, there was a lot of commerce taking place here, too.
One such commercial venture was the opportunity to hold this beautiful eagle with a protective glove. These birds are traditionally used in western Mongolia for hunting - captured as young and released in the wild as they age. A marvelous movie, The Eagle Huntress, tells of this practice, but I hated to see them used commercially like this. When he spread his wings so magnificently, I couldn't resist a photo, though.
Our final outing was to the Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan - the leader who had been in power when the Choijin Lama Temple had been built. Bogd Khan was the last king, Jebtzun Damba Hutagt VIII and regarded as Mongolia’s eighth Living Buddha. This somewhat modest palace was built between 1893 and 1903, and the king lived here for 20 years. This wall (above) is a shield wall, built to keep out evil spirits and danger. It is considered bad luck to go behind it and even to step into its shadow.
The campus consists of six temples, richly decorated and displaying many superb Buddhist artifacts.
These two larger-than-life figures looked as if they had been put together with legos. They were unlike anything I've seen before.
There were beautiful thangka's.
We were caught in one of the temples by heavy rain. I enjoyed watching these children ahead of us playing in the rain.
As a result of being held in place by the torrential rain, I spent a great deal of time photographing the inside of the temple we were caught in, waiting for the rain to ease off.
There was also a collection of bronze and gold statuettes of Tara, who is known in Tibetan Buddhism as the "mother of liberation", and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements. The pieces in this museum were created by Zanabazar in the 17th Century. He was a religious leader and artist who is highly regarded as the Asian Michelangelo.
The actual winter residence was a two story white building, which you can see on the right.
It contained a great variety of different displays. This is part of the Bogd Khan's 'Elephant Regalia', which was apparently worn by his pet elephant!
These painted panels are the backs of a bench seat described as the chair of the first Bogd Undur Gugeen (The Great Enlightened) Zanabazar - the artist who had created the statuettes pictured earlier.
This remarkable collection of nooks and crannies mounted on the wall, was described as the Queen's cosmetic box. It was made of paper and silk.
The King and Queen each had their own bed. Both structures sat in the same room, but as you see here, they were really like a little room all by themselves.
And so I leave you with a photo of this lovely light fixture. A lamp from a Lamp!
The modest size of this palace was really fitting for a country that probably had a population of less then a million at the time it was built. It was a fair representation of art work and style of the time, but I didn't find myself wondering how 'robbed' the citizens must have felt about the taxes it may have involved to provide opulence for their leaders. It was a suitable way to end this journey in a country that exuded beauty in its land and people.
The following day, Nadine and I head off in different directions. She to her home in Australia, me to spend six days in Hong Kong.
The main temple was not elaborate and there were people over to the side conferring with a monk, while others waited nearby for their turn for a consultation. I appreciated seeing the temple being used for purposes other than ritual.
We also enjoyed the National History Museum. This beautiful letter opener and ink well there had belonged to a former leader whose name I failed to register. Some of the most notable displays for me in the museum relayed the story of the peaceful Pro-Democracy Revolution that took place here in the 1990's, following the fall of the Soviet state. Seeing the ripples from the collapse of the USSR here, led me to have more compassion for the grief that Putin must carry. This country, although never part of the USSR in a legal sense, definitely abandoned the political model set by its long-term allies after 70 years. The revolution occurred after a number of young Mongolians returned with the knowledge of glasnost and perestroika when studying in the USSR. Ultimately, after they returned with these new ideas, there were large demonstrations in the winter of 1990 in Sukhbaatar Square, (when temperatures were down down to -22F) and hunger strikes. My favorite quote from the description of this event on Wikipedia was from the leader in power at the time, Batmönkh. He'd been presented with a document to authorize force against the youth in the square. People who were present there later recalled that he said "I will never sign this. We few Mongols have not yet come to the point that we will make each other's noses bleed," smacked the table, and left the room. If he had seen the demonstrators as 'others', rather than feeling that connection to them, perhaps the outcome would have been very different. I found this a heartening story and although the 90's were tough years for the Mongolians, their opening to commerce from the outside world appears to be leading to prosperity among many.
We also visited the Choijin Lama Temple Museum, which showed a number of architectural styles and had very beautiful displays. This part of the temple is distinctly Chinese in style. We had met up with a Mongolian woman Enkhee - an acquaintance of a friend of Nadine's - who knew this temple well and told us of many little known facts about it.
Some of the painted details were exquisite. The complex was begun in 1904 and completed in 1908, in honor of the State Oracle and brother of the eighth Bogd Khan, the Mongolian leader at the time. The temple was associated with 'yellow hat' Buddhism.
There were a number of branch temples in the complex. This was my favorite, as it is octagonal, reminding me of a ger. The blue brick you see is presenting challenges to the reconstruction efforts, as the knowledge about their production has been lost.
Choijin Lama functioned as a temple until 1937, when it closed in response to the Communist repression of religion. In 1938, it was re-opened as a museum, a clever strategy to save its beauty and treasures. Perhaps this was due to the foresight of the State Oracle or was it the close connection to the Bogd Khan?
This young art student at the temple was writing people's name in traditional Mongolian script, so I now have my name written in Mongolian.
After leaving the Choijin Lama Temple Museum, we joined Enkhee in her walk home, toward a memorial we wanted to see on the outskirts of the city. This building, which we passed, was the Wedding Palace, styled after similar buildings in Russia. With the destruction of the churches, buildings like these replaced them as venues for civil wedding ceremonies. It was close to Sukhbaatar Square, so it was not unusual to see wedding parties gathering there for their photos.
Our route also took us past the Continental Hotel, which had an old world grandeur. However, I think it is a fairly new structure and does not seem to have a glorious history. It is rated 3-star, so can't even claim luxury status. However, it was the nearest to a European 'colonial' building I saw here.
Our walk took us through the maze of streets at the base of the multi-story accommodations - navigation was quite confusing through here. Good thing we were with a local.
The Saizan Memorial, was a Soviet style monument that honored fallen Mongolian and Russian soldiers killed in World War II. Mongolia was formally neutral through much of that war, but supplied Russia with economical support, such as livestock, raw materials, money, food, and military clothing. They fought the Japanese Kwantung Army in 1939 with the Russians, in the Battles of Khalkhin Gol, which resulted in stalemate and cease-fire. The combatants remained at peace until August 1945, when the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Manchukuo (formerly Manchuria) and other territory after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The Mongolian People's Army fought on the Soviet side in this event.
The circular mural which hangs suspended beside the statue of the soldier depicts a variety of scenes showing Mongolian-Soviet co-operation.
In addition to the seriousness of the monument, there was a lot of commerce taking place here, too.
One such commercial venture was the opportunity to hold this beautiful eagle with a protective glove. These birds are traditionally used in western Mongolia for hunting - captured as young and released in the wild as they age. A marvelous movie, The Eagle Huntress, tells of this practice, but I hated to see them used commercially like this. When he spread his wings so magnificently, I couldn't resist a photo, though.
Our final outing was to the Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan - the leader who had been in power when the Choijin Lama Temple had been built. Bogd Khan was the last king, Jebtzun Damba Hutagt VIII and regarded as Mongolia’s eighth Living Buddha. This somewhat modest palace was built between 1893 and 1903, and the king lived here for 20 years. This wall (above) is a shield wall, built to keep out evil spirits and danger. It is considered bad luck to go behind it and even to step into its shadow.
The campus consists of six temples, richly decorated and displaying many superb Buddhist artifacts.
These two larger-than-life figures looked as if they had been put together with legos. They were unlike anything I've seen before.
There were beautiful thangka's.
We were caught in one of the temples by heavy rain. I enjoyed watching these children ahead of us playing in the rain.
As a result of being held in place by the torrential rain, I spent a great deal of time photographing the inside of the temple we were caught in, waiting for the rain to ease off.
There was also a collection of bronze and gold statuettes of Tara, who is known in Tibetan Buddhism as the "mother of liberation", and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements. The pieces in this museum were created by Zanabazar in the 17th Century. He was a religious leader and artist who is highly regarded as the Asian Michelangelo.
The actual winter residence was a two story white building, which you can see on the right.
It contained a great variety of different displays. This is part of the Bogd Khan's 'Elephant Regalia', which was apparently worn by his pet elephant!
These painted panels are the backs of a bench seat described as the chair of the first Bogd Undur Gugeen (The Great Enlightened) Zanabazar - the artist who had created the statuettes pictured earlier.
This remarkable collection of nooks and crannies mounted on the wall, was described as the Queen's cosmetic box. It was made of paper and silk.
The King and Queen each had their own bed. Both structures sat in the same room, but as you see here, they were really like a little room all by themselves.
And so I leave you with a photo of this lovely light fixture. A lamp from a Lamp!
The modest size of this palace was really fitting for a country that probably had a population of less then a million at the time it was built. It was a fair representation of art work and style of the time, but I didn't find myself wondering how 'robbed' the citizens must have felt about the taxes it may have involved to provide opulence for their leaders. It was a suitable way to end this journey in a country that exuded beauty in its land and people.
The following day, Nadine and I head off in different directions. She to her home in Australia, me to spend six days in Hong Kong.
I like the look of the Choijin Lama Temple. The utilitarian structure of housing in the cities is depressing. So unnecessary, they (builder) have learn little of respect. The Continental Hotel looks nice and clean. Guess that gets it three stars. The old ways are beautiful and bright. Thanks for the tour.
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