Thailand Travel Log, Part 1

January 20 (Bangkok),

Traveling the world is, at some times, highly overrated. Like right now. We left UB early this morning for a short (four and a half hours) flight to Seoul, South Korea. The Incheon airport is really nice. Aside from looking suspiciously like a western mall, it also has traditional Korean culture centers throughout. Our layover there was too short to do all the things that we would have liked to. We did get to see a traditional music presentation and make parchment/ink pictures all for free.

 

We had a great five hour flight to Bangkok and arrived there around 10 pm last night.  We are still here. (Insert glumness and extreme fatigue)  The Bangkok airport is okay but not for setting around all night… I think I just fell asleep for a second because there’s a small wet spot on my paper.  Thankfully the flight to Chiang Mai is just over an hour, and it is leaving shortly.

January 20 (Chiang Mai),

What a beautiful morning it was! It was also great to finally get here. We feel like we just traveled to the States, but we are still in Asia. The sunshine and feeling of completion gave us a short boost of energy. We took a cab to our hotel, the place we stayed last year during pre-conference, and got checked in quickly even though it was before 9 am. This is our vacation time. Once classes start next week, I (Joshua) at least will be busy practically till conference is over.  Our vacation time is about to begin with sleep.  After a valiant attempt to read our books (that didn’t work so well), we ordered room service and watched TV.  The bed feels great, so we are going to get some much needed rest.

January 22,

Since we are spending all of our time during vacation here in Chiang Mai, we have decided to do some of the more touristy things this year that we skipped out on last year. Yesterday, we stayed pretty close and just relaxed, that is, until mid afternoon. Then we took a Scorpion Tail riverboat cruise along the Mae Ping River.

 

It wasn’t long or fancy, but we practically had the boat to ourselves.  The hour and a half ride included us, a friendly couple from Nebraska, and the comedic tour guide.  The tour included a brief history of Chiang Mai (a city whose name means “New City” but is over 700 years old, older even than Bangkok), a description of certain riverside sites, and a brief stop ashore for some mango and sticky rice which is a local delicacy.  We laughed and talked and had a great time cruising through the city.

 

Today was our big event.  After eating our delicious Thai style breakfast, we were picked up by a tour van and taken to a local elephant camp.  Elephants are a big part of Thailand (no pun intended) and its history and something that we gravely missed out on last year.  We determined to not do so again this year.  The first leg of our day long excursion was a float through the jungle on a bamboo raft.  A bamboo raft is nothing more than two layers of bamboo tied together.

It was a little disheartening to see water coming up between the bamboo poles, but we also knew that if it sank we could just stand up (the water was only about knee deep).  Once we got to smooth water, I was asked to help pole the boat.  Though style was perhaps lacking, I at least did not overturn the boat.

 Perhaps the coolest part of this trip, besides the knowledge that Rambo 4 was filmed in those jungles, was the constant sight of elephants wandering along the river bank and up along the hills.

After we set back aground, we ate a delicious albeit hurried lunch in order to make it to our Ox Cart ride.  Exciting as it was, I am pretty sure I wouldn’t want to ride that thing for a long distance.  Again, I was asked to take the reign though quite literally this time.  The driver, after introducing his oxen Moe and How, asked me to cross over the railing and take his seat while he took my camera.  The oxen were well trained, so I didn’t really have to do anything.  But, it felt pretty cool.  I mean, how many other people can say they have “driven” an ox cart in Thailand?

The third leg of our journey was the much anticipated elephant ride.  Thankfully, there was a high platform from which we were able to mount our steed.

Again, the road was a bit “unstable” and certainly not for the faint of stomach, but all this we could overlook from the sheer AWESOMNESS of riding an elephant through the Thai jungle.  As our ride came to the river, the mahout dismounted taking with him my camera.  It was perhaps a bit more unnerving to sit atop an elephant with no “driver” than to “take the wheel” of the ox cart; however, we got some great pictures out of the deal!

After an awesome elephant show where elephants danced, played soccer, and even painted, we greeted a mother and her young calf.

 Our time at the camp now over, we stopped at a hill tribe village.  This was not part of our trip, so we sat and waited patiently for the rest of our group.  What a strange group it was!  We hit it off with a young couple from Munich, Germany who had also been at our hotel.  We also talked a bit with a young man from Australia.  Also in our group, but whom we didn’t speak with much, were a group from Chili, two men from Italy, and one man from Japan.  We were quite the “party” group, but the diversity also made it rather interesting.

Our last stop was at an Orchid farm.  The Orchid is Thailand’s national flower and symbol as well as Jennifer’s favorite flower.

 There were more varieties in one place than I even knew existed, so our thirty minute stay was anything but long enough.  However, our day was quite exhausting, so it is nice to be back in our room.

Now I have to face the fact that “vacation” time is nearly over.  We move tomorrow to the YMCA where I will be occupied with classes for the next two weeks.  Work in Thailand just doesn’t seem right!      

A Little Bit of Life

Since the last two posts were mostly text, we decided to throw a bunch a pictures your way this time!  They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and if you are like us, you probably enjoy the pictures more anyway!!  With that said, feast your eyes on a plethora of pictures from our life and a few bits of text as well ( I was an English major, I have to write something!)

These were taken before it became Winter and are just a few views of the area near where we live.

These are in the west side of town near the home of some teammates.  We thought they looked like sand sculptures, but they were actually made of concrete.  Kind of neat none-the-less!

Here sits the fearless attendence keeper with an eye out for late comers; and trust me, we have them every week!

This murial is painted on the back wall of one of the classrooms we have used.  It seemed very unique and colorful!  We later learned that that classroom is a music room among other things, so the piano keys kind of make sense now!

 Huge green beans, home made bread bowls with clam chowder, and home made hamburger buns OH MY!!!!  Man cannot live on mutton alone (actually we don't live on it much anyway)!

Ah! Let it snow, let it snow!!  Sadly, we haven't gotten much more than this, but we had snow on the ground for Christmas! 

 Our neighboring ger covered in snow.  Check out the wooden slats standing upright next to the fence.  You guessed it!!  The bathroom!!  We just think about that and we get cold!!!  PTL for an indoor toilet and running water; its the little things in life!!

The next picture is of our least favorite mode of transportation, a microbus.  It is little more than a souped up minivan with a crazy Mongolian driver and about 20 people (or more) squashed in it!!  You can probably understand why we prefer to take the bus!

Here is proof that I do help around the house!  This may be all I do, but its better than nothing!!

Right Dear?!

See the napkins next to the sink, the white stack.  Would you believe that they have an expiration date?

Well they do!  We are good though, they don't expire for another two years!!  Nothing like a napkin past it's prime!!

You may be wondering what this is all about.  This is the light in our half bath.  We had it on one day when it went out.  We thought it might just be the bulb but found that the wire had burnt in two!!  When our landlord's son came to fix it, we learned that the original electrician skimped on his work.  PTL our apartment didn't burn down!!  The building wouldn't have gone up because it is concrete, but our apartment could have been toast!!

The Mongolian rule for crossing a road, get in a large group and then walk across regardless of what is coming.  There is a crosswalk right there too, but those mean little here.  Road crossings test a person's true metal, guts, or stupidity!!

Maybe not quite a plethora by definition, but this post is going to have to last you.  We are leaving for Thailand on January 19th and won't be back until February 17th.  We will get another one out for you to read after we get back!  By the way, THANKS FOR READING OUR BLOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Bit Scared

Living abroad can at times be unsettling or even scary. Whenever a person is exposed to a completely new and foreign environment it can and usually causes stress of some kind. We are very thankful that Mongolia is not a particularly rough country to live in. We have had protection and little need to fear. With that said, there have been a few occurrences that rattled our cage a little more than we would have liked. As I said last time, I am sure there have been other events that just don’t come to mind right now, but the following three occasions rank as some of our scariest living abroad moments.


One of the biggest problems faced by Mongolians and foreigners alike is pick-pocketing. Throughout the city, it is imperative to constantly be on guard for pick-pockets. Whether out of need or greed some have made it their profession to steal from others. While foreigners are the most likely targets, even other Mongolians fall prey to these events. We know of some Mongolians who have lost three or four cell phones in less than a year! When we first got here, we were warned by our country leaders to be careful and to keep an eye out for such things. We were told the most likely places to be stolen from and given tips on how to best avoid this problem. For several months we had no problems at all even though we had been to some of the “hot” areas. One day, after visiting a nearby market, I (Joshua) had my pocket picked for the first time. We had bought a blanket that was rather large and bulky. For ease of carrying, I was holding it in front of me with both arms wrapped around it. We were preparing to cross the last street before we got to our apartment building when a man stepped in front of me and stopped. My momentum carried me into him for an even more abrupt stop. At the same time I stopped, I felt a hand reach into my right pocket and pull out my wallet. There is no feeling in the world like the abrupt knowledge that someone else’s hand is in your pocket. It was that feeling alone that bothered me for the next few days. Though my reflexes may not be the quickest in the world, I was aware enough of what was going on to grab the hand after if left my pocket. Of course, I was still holding the blanket and was unable to see the hand. I turned around to look at the guy who I was holding while telling Jennifer what had happened. She grabbed the guy who stepped in front of me to ensure that neither one of them got away. At first, I thought I had the wrong guy because of his innocent reaction. It was only after making quite a scene (there were lots of people around plus at least one cop across the street) that the guy returned my wallet and then all of the money that he had pulled out of it before handing it back. Thank the Father for watching out for us! Of all times to have my wallet stolen, that was one of the only times that I was carrying my check card. It occurred to us later that we, by catching them in the act, publicly shamed those two would-be thieves. The thought here is that if a thief can get away with stealing, good for him. If he should get caught while trying to steal, shame on him. It is the responsibility of the person being stolen from to realize it. If he or she didn’t, then they deserve to be stolen from. Regardless, this event shook me up for a few days and caused us to be super protective and suspicious for several weeks.

Another problem in Mongolia is alcoholism. A majority of the male population stay drunk a large portion of the time. This is a very sad truth. It is not uncommon to see a man, even in nice clothes, passed out drunk on the sidewalk. One time, I moved a drunk man’s legs out of the road because he had passed out with half his body sticking out in a busy thoroughfare. Others stay just sober enough to be able to work or drive. During our class last spring semester, we would take a taxi home from the school every night because the buses had stopped running. Most taxis we took were decent enough and the drivers friendly enough. However, we had a more interesting drive one night. Our teammates were in the States, so another female teammate joined us to assist in the lessons. After hailing a taxi and telling the driver where we needed to go, the girls climbed in the back seat while I sat in the passenger seat. Shortly after leaving the school, it became obvious that the man was highly intoxicated. Traffic in UB is mostly crazy to begin with. Mixing that with a liquored up driver made for a most frightening ride. The driver however did not see any problem. In fact, once he figured out that I could speak some Mongolian, he made a continual effort to carry on a conversation with me. Later we realized that keeping him occupied with conversation was probably a good idea. Needless to say, all three of us were uplifting the whole way home! Most taxi drivers and rides are fine. Aside from the nightmarish traffic and a little daredevil driving on the side (sidewalk sometimes!), taking a taxi is not a bad idea. However, after that event, we chose to take the bus as often as possible.

The last event takes us back to just after we arrived in UB in 2009. Mongolia seemed new, unfamiliar, and in some ways frightening. We didn’t know any of the language and were living smack in the heart of town. The day or two after arriving, our country director cautioned us to not venture outside after 11 pm or open our door for anybody except those we knew, at least for the time being. As I said before, Mongolia is mostly a safe place, but we had not fully become aware of that. Combined with our jet-lag fatigue, those cautions took on a whole other level of fear in our minds. I think we said at least once or twice “What did we get ourselves into?” However, we had little to worry about. We had no strangers come knocking during the day and we did not venture out after dark. But one night either our first or second week, we were awoken by what sounded like a knock at our door. We had left some windows open in the front room and thought that they had caused the fright. While checking on them, there seemed to be a sound at the door, but we were both so sleepy that it was hard to tell for sure. We closed our bedroom door and crawled back into bed. A few moments after closing our eyes again, we heard a loud bang at our door. Doubting our hearing yet again, we just lay there listening. A moment or so later, we heard the noise once more. Knowing that nobody we knew would be visiting us at 2 in the morning, we decided it would be best not to answer the door. Shortly the noise stopped and we were able to go back to sleep, after much uplifting of course. More than likely, it was probably a drunk person who either had the wrong door or knew that new foreigners were living in that apartment. Either way, answering the door was probably not the best idea, and it did cause our hearts to beat a bit faster for a little while.


As I said above, we are very thankful that nothing major has happened during our time living here. We have heard many stories far worse than the ones that we just shared and are thankful that these are the worst we have to tell. However, please continue to uplift us and our safety.


Next post, we will share numerous random pictures and a few random stories or facts!

funnY Time

There have been many unique and humorous experiences while living cross-culturally here in Mongolia. In fact, it is kind of hard to think of them all and to narrow the list down to five. As sure as we post these we will think of something else funnier, but we hope that you get a kick out of these stories.


 At number five, this story doesn’t have much to do with living cross-culturally, but it was a funny part of our life last year. When we arrived in Mongolia, we expected to be living is a small and non-fancy apartment. We were pleasantly surprised to find an apartment larger than our last one in the States. It was also clean and very nice. However, the bed was another story. After walking into our apartment for the first time and taking stock of things, Joshua sat down on the bed. A rock would have been softer than it. We were blessed to have a bed with a Chinese mattress! Suffice it to say that we didn’t get a lot of sleep until we got a foam mattress to go on it. While that story in and of itself is pretty funny, what happened next was great! One night, after lying down, the bed collapsed under us. We got up and removed the mattress to find that the bed was nothing more than a frame of wood, wood that had dry rotted so bad that the hardware wouldn’t stay in the holes. We pieced the thing back together for the night only to have it break again the following morning. Then we got serious; we pulled out the duct tape! You would think MacGyver had gotten a hold of that bed after we were done! Sadly, our tape job didn’t do as well as we would have liked. After another collapse, we pulled the bed apart, put the rock mattress and foam on the floor, and slept that way for the rest of our time in that apartment. The real fun thing was trying to piece the thing back together before moving out this past spring. We got it together the day before moving and tried to sleep on it, but after reclining and hearing it pop, we quickly got up and slept on the floor one last time!

Number four also occurred shortly after we arrived last year. Within our first month, we took a car trip into the country to visit a very popular and important religious monument called Mother Rock. If you remember, we wrote a post about this event last year. After getting a ways out of the city, the roads stopped, and there were no buildings except for the occasional ger. The biggest event, aside from cows and horses in the road a few times, was meeting another vehicle. Since there were so few other people “out and about,” having the opportunity to chat with another passing vehicle was apparently an important social event. It was reminiscent of the time before cars when people would stop along their path in order to “shoot the breeze.” However, chatting was not the only order of business! Along with the absence of buildings was the absence of bathrooms. Not a big deal for those adventurous outdoorsy types! Not even all that big of a deal for us except for the fact that the social gatherings were the pit stops as well. In Mongolian thought, it is not the responsibility of the person taking care of business to get far out of sight but the responsibility of the other folks not to look. We were still new, this had not yet sunk in. Needless to say, it was a little unusual to look up and see several people taking care of things just a few yards away. It is also important to note that there was a serious lack of hide-behind material such as trees, and the wind was blowing very frigidly. I got one word, Burr!!



This was a purely innocent picture. I had no idea it included what it does until I picked it for this post!



Number three was one of our first interactions with a Mongolian individual. We, along with our teammates, were walking to the home of another country teammate and his family. We happened to veer off course and walk through a gas station. After turning into the gas station, we heard and saw a car zoom in behind us. We thought the usual, the guy needed gas; however, the car stopped behind us, and a young man jumped out and ran up to us. At this point in our time here, we did not know any Mongolian which was okay because he came up speaking English to us. Feeling a little accosted, we heard him saying, “You help me. I help you. We be friends!” He repeated this several times, and we could get little else out of him. I called the friend that we were going to meet and had him speak to the man. Come to find out, he saw Americans (we stand out) and wanted us to help him learn more English. In return for our language, he was willing to help us in any way we needed. This is very Mongolian. If I do something for you, you owe me. Free gifts are not usual. We said we would help him, so he gave us a ride to our friend’s house and stuck around for an English book study. Before it started, he left to get his girlfriend and brought her back, but for about half of the book study, he left her in the car while he was visiting with all of us. Jennifer and I met with him a couple times, but the relationship was short lived. He changed his phone number and stopped trying to contact us.

Number two happened less than a week ago. It was Saturday, and we were hanging out at the school where we teach our lessons. We had a little bit of time before the lesson needed to begin. Several students had arrived and were getting settled. I (Joshua) sat in a chair at the front of the class waiting to begin. In the moments of boredom before beginning, I was scanning the room. I stopped at a large sign hanging on the back wall. I had seen the sign before while in there for other lessons but could not understand the Mongolian on it. Out of pure curiosity, a desire to expand my Mongolian database, and to break the pre-class silence, I asked the students what it meant. I didn’t point it out though. I just asked “Could someone tell me what (insert Mongolian here) means?” I should have suspected that something was amiss when the students turned a light shade of red and started giggling. By the way, all but one of the students there at that time were female. I was oblivious, and Jennifer was otherwise occupied, unaware of my question. After a few tense moments, one of the students said something about the Red Cross. Believing that it was difficult for them to translate the few words I said, I took this response to mean that it was the motto of the Red Cross. That was wrong. Turns out, the four words on the poster on the back wall of the classroom say something akin to “Be safe and healthy, use condoms!” Can you say “Awkward!!” Of all the things I could have said in Mongolian to a classroom full of women!! The blood eventually drained from my face, and class began. Later, I realized that there was a condom package on the poster with wings like a dove coming off of it. You cannot make this stuff up!

The sign! A bit blurry, but you get the point!!

Number one on our list of funniest foreigner moments again includes me and our cat Jejeg Baatar (Mongolian for Little Hero). Last fall, we adopted a stranded kitten and added him to our family. Since we found him in our stairwell, we took him to the vet to have him checked out. It was cool but fine to carry him in a thin-walled cat carrier. The vet was only about a ten or fifteen minute walk from our house, and Jejeg did fine except for freaking out when we crossed the road (don’t we all!!). We were told to take him back in December to get some shots. December came, and it was about -20 degrees outside. Fearing that he would freeze before we got him to the vet, I had a somewhat brilliant idea. I put Jejeg in my coat! He was still small but refused to stay in one spot. All bundled up, we left our apartment. Aside from having a very unusual lump in my middle that was moving, Jejeg would occasionally stick his head out of the jacket by peeking up over the zipper. You can only imagine the looks that we got that day!! For one thing, we are foreigners. Most people don’t pay us any attention, but others will just stare at us for being us. For another thing, most Mongolians hate cats and consider them evil omens or spirits. Can you get the significance of this picture? A foreigner walking around with a cat sticking its head out of the jacket. After seeing a few looks, I refused to look at people until after we got to the vet. Jennifer got a kick out of it though! After getting his shots, I tucked Jejeg back into my jacket. Being the curious cat that he is, he refused to stay put in the lower part of my coat but tried to climb into my sleeve. We removed him, wrapped him in the pink towel that had also been in my jacket, and Jennifer carried him like a baby. The looks on the way home where of curiosity to see a foreign baby and disgust to see a white fuzzy face hidden in the folds of the towel. There was also the occasional meow now and then. I don’t think either of us where ever so glad to just get home. Usually we try to keep a low profile, but that was difficult to do that day!

Next time, we will share our four scariest living-in-Mongolia stories. Perhaps a little less entertaining, they will still be interesting and informative.

Mouthwatering Mongolian Morsels

The answers to the Mongolia trivia questions in the November newsletter are:


1) C. 13   There are far more horses and animals in Mongolia than people!!


2) True   The Bogd Han National Park which is just south of where we live was established around the mid 1700s. We have hiked and camped in this park.


3) B. 5,000 ft   Ulaanbaatar is just under 5,000 ft above sea level but the highest point is well over that!


4) A. Indian Jones   In case you didn’t know, Roy Chapman Andrews was the first Paleontologist to find intact dinosaur eggs and nests in the Gobi.


5) True   Though there are other “wild” herds of horses in the world, Mongolia has the only remaining truly wild breed of horse which has never been totally tamed and domesticated.


In this blog post, we are going to introduce you to some Mongolian cuisine! Prepare for some mouthwatering descriptions of some of the best Mongolian foods we have eaten. Feel free to drool a little, but don’t let anybody catch you because they might think you are going crazy!


There are thousands of restaurants in Ulaanbaatar. Some are big, fancy, and expensive. Some are akin to a more western dining experience. Some are Indian. Some are Italian. There is even one that is Mexican though we would not call it that. And surprise of all surprises there are not only Mongolian Bar-B-Q restaurants but there is also a Kenny Rodger’s Roaster, not that we can afford to eat there. Alas, the only thing missing is a McDonalds or Burger King. The most numerous of restaurants in UB are the guanzes. “What the heck is that?” you are probably asking. A guanz is a Mongolian café of sorts. One can find all sorts of traditional Mongolian foods in a guanz. Most of the time, they are also very cheap. Thus these are the restaurants that we eat at the most.


A guanz is usually small sometimes in a building that doesn’t look very sanitary. Once you get by that though, the food is most often delicious and very affordable. While there are many guanzes around our apartment building, two have arrested our attention and patronage. They are located across the street from our building very close to our meeting place and the school that we teach in. Because of this, it has become a habit of ours to eat at one of them at least once or twice a week. When we teach a double workshop, we will eat at one of these places during the hour lunch break. Also, every Sunday after meeting we eat lunch there. We have frequented one so many times that we know the owner, waitresses, and the cook. It is fun to go in some place that often and know the people and they know you.

The most traditional Mongolian food that a person can get at a guanz is called Buuz. Buuz are like dumplings which have meat, generally mutton, and are steamed. Sometimes they might have cabbage or onion, but the traditional way they are made is with only meat and fat. The fat of course becomes liquid when the Buuz is steamed and remains that way as long as it is hot. Because of this, a fresh Buuz will be full of hot liquid, so you have to be careful how you bite into it.

Besides Buuz, another traditional food is Khoshur. Khoshur is a deep-fried meat pie. Sounds good, right!? These are flat and a little larger than the size of your hand. They have less grease than Buuz and, if cooked well, are nice and crispy. They can also be found with potato, cabbage, or kemchi filling, all of which are very nice. One variety that we have never tried is the horse innards Khoshur. Not real sure if we will ever be quite ready for that one!












Another dish that is usually crispy is Bansh. Bansh are like Buuz but a little smaller. They are meat filled dumplings that you can sometimes find steamed but most often fried. Fried Bansh (pronounced sharshan Bansh) is usually drizzled with mayonnaise and served with a Mongolian potato salad and cabbage salad.

Another dish that we like is called Tsooven.  It has chunks of meat that have been cooked in oil with carrots, onions, and noodles. The noodles are firmer than most Italian noodles and are more like Oriental noodles. The dish is usually a little dry and tastes even better with some soy sauce on it. Tsooven is very easy to make, so Jennifer has even made this a few times at home. We have also eaten this with a Mongolian family in there ger; however, that meal had a lot more fat than we prefer.

Paroshky is kind of like khoshur but the outside is made with yeast, so the breading gets thicker. Paroshky is not a native Mongolian dish but is more Russian. It is likely that Paroshky became popular during the years of close ties between Mongolia and the Soviet Union. Paroshky usually has meat, rice, and onions but can also be found sometimes with potato and peppers or sausage and egg. This is another one of our favorites!












There are so many other interesting and tasty dishes that this post could go on longer than you would care to read, so we will conclude our list of food items. You can see a few more dishes in the pictures. A good explanation of Mongolian cuisine would not be complete without talking about milk tea. Milk tea (called suuta tsaa in Mongolian) is perhaps the drink of Mongolia. It is served hot which is very nice when the temperature is well below freezing outside. To make it, chips of black tea are scrapped off a block into a pot of water. A large amount of cream, milk, etc. is added. Though it is called tea, the dairy aspect is the predominate element. Some people add butter or animal fat in order to flavor it, and salt is always added. The end product is creamy and salty with a hint of black tea flavor. Though this was not our taste last year, we have become very accustomed to it this year and usually order it whenever we eat at a guanz. We can get instant milk tea packets, but the fresh made stuff is by far the best tasting.












It has been evident this year that our tastes are changing. Things that we tried last year and didn’t like, we are trying again and finding that we enjoy eating them. Though we are not as extreme as Craig, the specific fats and greases of Mongolian food have actually become more appealing and tasty! Who knew!?!
Here are a few more Mongolian food dishes that we enjoy!  Hope you enjoy them too!

Other Guanz Foods VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Next time, we will share our top five funniest foreigner-living-in-Mongolia stories! You won’t want to miss that!!