Adventures in Asia: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

The Idre Guesthouse and Tour company is managed (and probably owned) by a lady named Mrs. Tsetsegee.S, who carries herself in such a way that she seems to be remarkably powerful.  Her employees treat her with incredible deference; even those who don't know English managed to refer to her as "my boss."  Anyway, when we asked Ms. Tsetsegee this morning if we could call a cab, she told us we should just use her driver.  So, I mapped out where we wanted to go, including where we wanted the driver to wait, and she quoted us a very reasonable price (about $7) and translated our plans for us to the driver.

Our first stop was a couple of kilometres up the road, the Gandantegchinlen Monastery.

The first building we entered here charges admission for foreigners.  

It houses UB's largest Buddha.

More interesting to me, however, were the countless smaller Buddhas that lined the three walls behind and beside the large Buddha.

There were also bowls with fire in them that worshipers were doing something with.  This particular ritual was not one I had seen elsewhere, but unfortunately I did not get a chance to photograph it, or figure out what exactly was going on.  Mongolian Buddhism is heavily influenced by Tibetan Buddhism, and this was the first place we visited in Asia where the Dalai Lama was honoured.

From this building we moved next door.

We were the only people inside, other than a monk chanting and ringing a bell for a lady (I assume this was some type of blessing).  We also saw this interesting scene.

We assumed our visit was done at this point, so headed back to the van.  Our driver was fast asleep in the back, and we decided to wander around the compound a bit more and let him nap, because there was more to see and we were in no rush.  We got to see this statue, which depicts a story that we saw illustrated all over Mongolia.  It's a story that comes from Tibet, and shows animals working together to reach apples in a tree.  The lesson, according to our guide, is that cooperation allows living beings to accomplish more than they can individually.

But the best part of the monastery was yet to come (although unfortunately pictures were prohibited).  The building we went into was not in any way remarkable, but inside some type of service was happening with about forty monks, most of whom were sitting in pews with books in front of them.  The service involved chanting, throwing rice, burning incense, and so on.  We felt a bit out of place at first, but other laity were inside (albeit all Mongolian), and many were sitting in pews along the walls.  An older lady smiled at me and moved such that I assumed she was expecting me to sit by her, so we sat down and observed the service for about ten minutes.  It was amazing.

Monks continued to arrive as we sat there, taking their places in the pews and joining in the chants.  Two elder monks presided over the service, and at one point one of them rose to wave incense sticks over the other monks, as well as the laity who were sitting down.  Many lay Mongolians were simply circling the room and then leaving, often bringing offerings of food or money, and pausing in front of various shrines.  Eventually we joined the moving line of people, and at one point observed monks "shushing" people for talking too loud.

By now we have literally visited countless Buddhist sites in Asia, but this was a unique one yet again, and really, really fascinating.  In terms of a chance to observe people practicing Buddhism, it was probably the best place we have been after Shwedagon in Yangon. 

Returning to the van this time we woke up our driver and headed across UB to the Narantuul Market, known to English speakers simply as the "black market."  Getting there allowed us to really experience UB's infamous traffic, but we arrived, eventually.

We were going to the black market out of curiosity more than anything, although if we had realized how great a place it was we may have gone with a shopping list!

Over and over we had been warned to be careful here, because it is notorious as a haven for pickpockets, but these warnings seemed to be over done to us, and we felt quite comfortable after a while. 

Andrea bought herself some socks, but other than that we simply "window" shopped.

Most of the market stalls are outdoors, although there is a large indoor portion as well.  I think it is probably the largest market I have ever visited, except perhaps for an enormous pazaar in Istanbul, Turkey.

Probably the most interesting section to us was the section selling ger parts and furniture, including stoves.

We ended up walking around here for almost an hour, and really it was only because we told the driver we would be no more than an hour that we left.  It was a really fascinating place to visit, but in retrospect I wish we had gone prepared to do more shopping, because it also seemed like a great place to buy things.

Our final destination with our driver was Chinggis Khan Square, UB's city centre, and the site of Mongolia's parliament.

Here we stumbled upon a bit of a world fair, featuring booths from various countries, and cultural performances.

We toured the square, and ate lunch nearby.

The Mongolian arms reminded me of the explanation our guide had given us about the Mongolian flag.

The arms are once again Tibet-inspired.  Fire, the sun, the moon, and yin and yang are all included in the arms, and the two pillars on either side represent China and Russia, in between which Mongolia is landlocked.  On the flag, the arms are set on the furthest right of three vertical stripes: red, blue, red.  The two red stripes once again represent China and Russia, with the one to the right (the one upon which the arms sit) representing Russia.  The fact that the arms are on the "Russia" stripe indicates Mongolia's closeness to Russia as opposed to China.  The blue stripe is for Mongolia, because it is known as the land of the blue sky.  Incidentally, the most impressive office tower in UB is on Chinggis Khan Square, and is known as the Blue Sky building.

From the square we walked back to the guesthouse, making a final visit to the State Department Store (this was actually our third visit, because we had gone here last night after getting back to UB!), and posing for a trick photo with a heavily-burdened camel.