January 26, 2009 by Karin.

 A camel is not a minivan

When traveling in Mongolia, you’ve got to pack light. Think nomadic style: everything you need for survival, you can carry on your back.

Wonder how you would cope with the barest of possessions? Here are a few ideas:

1. Try cement debris as facial exfoliator, to be activated during mid-day sunscreen application on the construction site. Dusty fingers massaging upon dusty skin is excruciatingly effective.

2. To build a pillow where there is none (like when you are an overnight ger guest), roll up your spare clothes and shove into your emptied sleeping bag sack for a lumpy head rest.

3. Or, in case you failed to pack proper cold weather gear, put every spare piece of clothing you’ve brought on your body. As for Pillow Plan B: your sleeping pad rolled up becomes a perfectly functional pillow to keep your shoulder from getting crushed on the wooden platform Mongolians call “a bed.”

4. The Costco granola bars your mom had you pack in case of hunger are a good icebreaker when offered to locals and children in the countryside.

5. When you roll up your dirty socks and run them under some water, they get reincarnated as a sponge bath tool on pants sticky with dirt and sweat.

6. During your moment of morning toiletries behind the ger, the sleeve of your zippered sweatshirt acts as a fine face towel.

7. When running low on water, use the last of your morning tea for rinsing your mouth and toothbrush after brushing. Don’t forget to shake off brown tea bits from rinsed toothbrush.

Things I wish I had brought despite fantasies of being portable:
1. postcards of my home to show locals
2. (oh so versatile) sweatpants instead of PJ bottoms
3. aloe vera (to repair the cement damage on my skin)
4. rubber bands (for wrapping up half eaten packs of (carefully rationed) food).
5. Mongolian –> English dictionary

Posted in Life-altering, Mongolia | 2 Comments »

January 6, 2009 by Karin.

Travel guides always say that learning a few words in the local tongue goes a long way in warming up the locals. I’ve always been too shy for that but in Mongolia, not only was it easy to learn and use Mongolian, but it was often necessary!

Here is a list of words I learned during my two weeks in Mongolia:

Sain bain nuu (hello, how are you?)
Baiyarlaa (thank you)
Akh (older brother)
Ajil (job)
Jorlong (toilet)
Muur (horse)
Hun (sheep)
Yamaa (goat)
Ishik (baby goat)
Yemee (camel)
Os (water)
Choco Pie (Choco Pie)
Showerl (mortar)
Teny (your)
Hoorts (hammer)
Sheement (cement)
Scotch (scotch tape)
Chi (you)
Yawi (let’s go!)
Duu (younger sibling)
Kheden (when)
Supermarkt (supermarket)
Ger (yurt)
Nar (sun)
Sar (moon)
Khirtekh (eclipse)

Other expressions that regularly popped up were “how old are you”, “family?” and “how much?” (that was for drivers who acted as impromtu taxi drivers on the streets of Ulaanbaatar). These sentences were too complicated for me to retain so the Mongolian and I would take turns pointing out questions and answers from my phrasebook. Next time though, I will definitely take a Mongolian–>English dictionary with me.

Posted in language, Mongolia | 1 Comment »

January 6, 2009 by Karin.

With every confident turn our drivers as they navigated the countryside, we shook our heads, “how do they do that?” The response from Mongolians was always, “they’ve taken this route before. They recognize it.” We scoffed. Hours of off-the-road driving on endless slopes of green land with no signs…no way!

But on the way back to Ulaanbaator, my van mates started pointing out hills and houses they recognized from our initial drive out to Kharkhorin. They concluded that Mongolians have such an intense connection to nature that they have superhuman ability to recognize and memorize subtleties in the landscape.

My memory was not as good as my fellow travelers’ but I could tell that all our time in the countryside did leave me with an appreciation for the land. My particular connection to nature was through my bladder. It was what set off a signal of hope whenever I spotted a large rock nestled in tall grass, a valley, or a dip in the land. Toilet pit stop ahead!

Posted in Mongolia | 1 Comment »