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.

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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!

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