Joakim and Urnaa going for a walk
3 June 2009
This morning Joakim and I walked to a small spring-fed lake at about 6:30am. You can’t see the lake from the soum, it just looks like a smear of green on the ground. As we got closer we could see water birds and wild ducks. We were chatting, so none came close enough to photograph. It was sunny, with only a gentle breeze. I wandered back and took some pictures around the temple in the morning sun – dragon carvings on the corners, prayer wheels, etc. Apparently this is the biggest temple complex in the area and once a month there is a big meeting here. We are staying in a guesthouse that just opened a month ago to serve the visitors to the temple. The guesthouse needs a lot of work, but it is quiet. There is a hotel in town but this guesthouse has been opened by an ADRA client and we wanted to support his new business. Five of us staying overnight almost covers his monthly rental of the building.
At about 10am we met with members of the self-help group at the local school. They were enthusiastic, all chattering at once about their plans and businesses. This soum won’t have electricity here for maybe three years, so they all face challenges in developing businesses that don’t rely on power. After the meeting we wandered around to see some of the businesses. We met a man who has found three types of local clay so wants to try making ceramics. He wanted advice on how to “cook” the clay. We met a couple who hand sew Mongolian wrestling costumes. A standard costume costs about $60. The big wrestling matches happen during Nadaam in July, so they are busy with orders. I was impressed by their ger. It was spotless, considering our visit was unplanned. When we arrived with the husband the wife quickly went to her make-up table and put on some lipstick. She had the figure of a gym instructor and when she let her hair out briefly it swung down well below her waist. I got permission to take some photos of the inside of the ger, but I couldn’t bring myself to photograph the bathroom corner (can you have corners in a circular building?) where all the pegs were hung in colour-coordinated order (Kym – perhaps I have met your Mongolian equivalent?).
We went into a house and disturbed a lady with suction cups placed strategically on her back. This was being done by an energetic woman who runs two businesses and holds down a job as a nurse at the local hospital. One business is making shoes, and she demonstrated the manual shoe making machine in the centre of the small room. The second business is a hair-washing and massage business she runs from a room in the local hospital. After three days of countryside dust I really wanted my hair washed.
Our businesswoman left her other work (I wonder what happened with the lady and the suction cups) and took us to the hospital. She put on her official hospital coat and showed us to her work room. I lay down on a low bench and had a warm blanket put over me, which was nice as it was chilly inside. She sat at the head of the bench and poured a small amount of water through my hair. The hair-washing/head massage was very strong and hurt quite a bit, but at the end I had squeaking clean hair and a tingling scalp. She only used about ¾ of a litre of water. I paid $1. Joakim was feeling ill, so he lay on another massage table while I had my hair washed. Urnaa offered him a head massage and when he started to yell out in pain she told him that he was full of toxins and needed at least five massages to unblock everything (her mother is a natural healer).
This soum has a pair of free-range donkeys. They belong to the school, which is closed now for summer. The donkeys wander the town without any restriction, their brays echoing off the ruined buildings. They can surprise you around any corner and several times we had to stand back while they chased each other across the road. Just before we left they surprised me when I came around a corner of the temple wall and stumbled into them resting in the sun.
After three soums it was time to drive back to the provincial capital – about 5 hours drive. We left at lunch time and drove as the shadows lengthened. The car was hot and most of the journey I had dust in my mouth, ears and nose. We crossed valley after valley, climbing up the end of one to look down into the breathtaking vista of another. To get anywhere here takes hours of driving, but for me the drive is the most important and beautiful part of the journey. Arriving is always a bit of a disappointment, as the small towns are rugged, harsh places where living seems a huge effort. In contrast the immense landscape is broad languid lines, devoid of trees, the shapes and curves only broken by the occasional rock outcrop. Some valley’s were dry, no signs of humans – just birds, big eagles, fast falcons, occasional giant vultures. Some valley’s had small rivers running through them that created a carpet of emerald green, dotted with gers and herds of animals. After the dry valley’s these signs of life seemed extremely fertile and beautiful.
The air conditioner in our car isn’t working so we had to drive with the front windows down. Only the front windows as the back seat windows don’t work (electric windows on cars are stupid in developing countries). Today the wind wasn’t our friend and dust blew in the front windows, covering everything in the car. I have had a shower since arriving at the hotel, but can still feel dust up my nose. Our bags are covered with it. I am back in the presidential suite (see an earlier post about this). This time Joakim has the presidential bed. I have the second bed in the dining area. Urnaa is sleeping on the sofa bed in our foyer. The light in the foyer is not working, so she is sitting with two candles creating atmosphere while she works on her laptop.
