This is a photo my Mum took of all the stuff that gets left on an ovoo. People leave crutches there after they experience healing (whether natural or supernatural). This is a pity, as Mongolia has a shortage of crutches, but it is not possible to remove them from an ovoo. So they just sit there and weather....
This is Nyra's - a really nice, smoke-free, cafe that we go to often for coffee and pizza. It has wireless internet, some nice comfy chairs and some ok cakes. Natalie (my sister) used to hang out here on Sunday's trying to do university assignments. My Mum was introduced to this place and decided it was a nice place to hang out, and now we have a picture of it!
This is taken by my Mum when she spent a while hanging out in front of parliament house. Note the mighty big Chinggis (Genghis) statue in the background.
This building is a monastery museum. It was one of the important monasteries in UB when the Soviet times started. Many were destroyed but this one became a museum. While looking around inside we realised that we know nothing about the Mongolian form of Buddhism, and it is a pretty scary one if all the violent statues and paintings are anything to go by. This museum is a few minutes walk from where Alesia does ballet, so we found it while exploring during her class. Alesia does ballet in an office under under that big tower you can see in the background.
Shortly before Mum left we went on a mission to get Keira some winter clothing. We tried this suit and coat on, but once everything was done up Keira promptly fell over - so we figured it was too big. I ended up getting something better at the Black Market after Mum went back to Australia. Alesia isn't taking well to the change in seasons - she is wearing a dress over her jeans in the photo above. If she could she would wear a dress all the time.
This is Ananda's - a great little Buddhist cafe (the kind of Buddhism I am familiar with) near the office. We can get a plate of vegetarian food here for about $2. On Mum's second last day we went here for lunch with Nymaa and the girls. Nymaa was interested in the vegetarian food and spent some time reading the Mongolian-language promo material for vegetarianism. The cafe is a fund-raiser for the Lotus Children's Centre http://www.lotuschild.org/, which is supporting 148 Mongolian children who would otherwise be on the streets.
We had to cancel our trip to the "country-side" as my doctor wouldn't allow me to leave UB. So in order for Mum to experience more than just the urban Mongolian environment we cheated a little and took ourselves for a day trip outside the city. This photo was taken off the road about an hour out of UB. As you can see - Chris and Alesia have adapted to the cold wind and Keira and I have not...
And here is the Mother herself, in her Mongolian camel-hair coat, standing where there is nothing behind her at all except rolling hills. It is so brown at the moment she almost blends into the background!
This is Ananda's - a great little Buddhist cafe (the kind of Buddhism I am familiar with) near the office. We can get a plate of vegetarian food here for about $2. On Mum's second last day we went here for lunch with Nymaa and the girls. Nymaa was interested in the vegetarian food and spent some time reading the Mongolian-language promo material for vegetarianism. The cafe is a fund-raiser for the Lotus Children's Centre http://www.lotuschild.org/, which is supporting 148 Mongolian children who would otherwise be on the streets.
We had to cancel our trip to the "country-side" as my doctor wouldn't allow me to leave UB. So in order for Mum to experience more than just the urban Mongolian environment we cheated a little and took ourselves for a day trip outside the city. This photo was taken off the road about an hour out of UB. As you can see - Chris and Alesia have adapted to the cold wind and Keira and I have not...
And here is the Mother herself, in her Mongolian camel-hair coat, standing where there is nothing behind her at all except rolling hills. It is so brown at the moment she almost blends into the background!
