Spring Break 2007...Mongolia

Mongolia doesn't first come to mind when you think of Spring Break. It was up to UB for a few days of fair weather, yet still icy. Met a friend en route to the 'ol guesthouse. He'd just returned from Phillipino waters. Things here often work out by chance, luck turns quickly. You have to keep your eyes open, you don't know when opportunity will come a knockin'. You may run out of a gas in the countryside and whadda ya know, there's a ger up ahead in the distance, he's sure to have some petrol. I'm interested in traditional instruments and as I was fixin' up a neighbors computer, I mentioned it and turns out his friend manages a music store. Anyhow, my sunbaked friend and I hit some bars and restaurants the next few days.

Off it was to Khentii for the weekend to roast a few pigs and throw back some brew. Someone must've brought a curse with them for what seemed the "100 year storm" enveloped us as we entered the aimag center. Visibility was zero. There was sumo. And drinking games. There were disoriented night raids in search of open delguurs (shops) in knee deep snow. We'd spend a good half hour in distress until we realized there was a shop five strides in front of the apartment. Needless to say, we made the same mistake the following day.

All said and done, back to UB and straight up to Selenge Aimag. I visited my Mongolian mom and pops. They came in past midnight a little tipsy. Tony Danza (he's half-Russian and is the Italian's spitting image) pulls out a hunk of meat to fry and a bottle of vodka we duly finish. Such is Mongol hospitality. Hit up Darkhan next few days, the second biggest city of MNG, with say 100,000. A Malaysian man opened up a food court above the Nomin's (Mongolian Walmart). It was bizarre, being in a foodcourt above a Mongolian superstore, eating tasty cheap Malaysian food prepared by a Malaysian family that spoke perfect English and Mongol. Small is the world. Back at the apartment, some folks were recording songs for an English CD. Some fine stuff I might add "...we are the people of the world, you know it we liiive in...this world together..."

One thing bugs me here is how natives try and rip you off. It ain't much, a few bucks, and it's mostly drivers and sometimes shopkeepers, but on this salary it can hurt. Sometime's they try to double the taxi rate but I know better muchacho. I almost left the Peace Corps. That week I had been thinking much about leaving for UB after the school year. Somehow I managed to rediscover the romance of the semi-desert and am giving the second year a go. Time is relentless. I've got two months on the Adriatic to tide me over.