Mongolia – a little Ritual on departing from a Ger Camp

One morning just before leaving one of the ger (yurt) camps, I witnessed a ritual. A young woman dripped airag onto the furgon's wheels. She mumbled something while doing that.

Let's get into some details. The woman wore a blue dress (deel [1]). Blue is an auspicious color, and so the khadags [2] that are also ritually presented or seen on ovoos [3] or stupas are also blue . She spreads the airag out of a pot with a special wooden instrument, which might otherwise be used to stir the airag.

Is it a Buddhist ritual? I don't want to rule that out, but it's unlikely. However, the popular religion does not always follow the guidelines of the official religion. Is it related to shamanism? A similar answer applies to this. I think it has more to do with guest and host. Perhaps it is part of the farewell, where the ritual cleaning of the hooves or wheels should ensure a safe journey.

Anyway, I would like to know more about this little ritual and like to thank the young lady for being so concerned with my (and my travel companions) safe journey.

Links and annotations:
[1] The deel (дээл) is still widely worn in Mongolia both by men and women.
[2] Khadag (хадаг) is the Mogolian name for the ritual scarf, formerly made of silk, nowadays mostly made of polyester because of better durability. The Tibetan scarf is white to show the pureness of the giver's heart, whereas the Mongolian is blue as the sky. The origins lie both in lamaism as well as tengerism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khata
[3] The ovoo (овоо) often, not always, marks a pass. One could call it a cairn. People wrap khadags around them, circle it three times, throw an unequal number of stones on to it, or pot and beads for a safe journey. But this is a topic of its own. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovoo

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Mongolia – Where do the Mongols get their Vitamin C?

One of the friends suggesting Mongolia as a destination for my travels told me when observing that I'm a vegetarian: „But you know that the Mongols are great meat-eaters – you'll have a hard time getting something to eat.“ As it turned out, it was as easy as in Tibet 25 years ago, when someone had warned me much alike; but vegetarinism in Mongolia is an own story. With long winters and  a meat oriented diet, how can the Mongols get enough vitamin C? The easy answer would be: like all omnivor humans in the world.

Let's take the issue even further. How did the Inuit get their vitamin C, let's say 100 years ago? I was thinking of berries, the stomach with stomach contents of reindeer, organ meats, which all may be true, but still leaving a gap, which could be closed with the subcutaneous fat of the narwhal, which is rich in vitamin C. The narwhal (or narwhale) is “is a medium-sized toothed whale that possesses a large "tusk" from a protruding canine tooth” [1]. Such a tusks was easily thought of as the horn of a unicorn in medieval times.

If we talk about Mongols? Whom are we talking about? The modern city dweller, the modern nomad, Mongols of the past? Nearly 70% of  Mongolia's population lives in cities; within the past 60 years the proportion has nearly doubled [2]. And in the cities, people go to the supermarket or minimarket, as I'll show later. What about the nomads? People, the nomads have cars and motorbikes! Mongolia is divided into provinces or aimags (аймаг) and these have districts or sums (cум) and there you'll find minimarkets. On the average you should find such a store within 40 km.

So let's concern us more with the romantic life of Mongolia's nomads in the past. It must have been a harsh life with extrem cold conditions. Meat is eaten more during winter and mostly cooked and not grilled, the Mongolian BBQ is a newer invention and without tradition. The major part of the Mongol diet has been dairy products like butter, buttermilk, milk, qurut or dried milk curd [3]. And they gathered berries like sea buckthorn, blue-, black-, silverberries, herbs, wild vegetables, roots, tubers, and mushrooms.

Airag (айраг) also known as kumis is fermented mare's milk [4]. Most people are interested in the contents of alcohol in airag, which is 1-3%. I am interested if airag is a source for vitamin C. And yes it is. According to one source there are 15 mg vitamin C per 100 ml airag [5]. Another source from Kazakhstan measured 9.45 mg / 100 ml [6]. So airag contributes to the supply of vitamin C.

So, vitamin C isn't really an issue. If you like a condensed view on what “the average Mongol” eats, there is an answer on the net [7]. If you compare Mongolia to Germany or the USA you won't find much differences [8]. Rural and urban nutrition differs in a surprising fact: “the rural population eats more sugar and sugar products” [7].

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narwhal
[2] https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS?locations=MN
[3] https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1451/food--drink-in-the-mongol-empire/
[4] More on airag or kumis here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumis  
[5] https://www.latequina.it/de/stutenmilch/zusammensetzung-stutenmilch.html   
[6] https://p.ayu.edu.kz/documents/3f92ae36-f011-42a6-90f3-1d1cc5f3b109_201008%20%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BF%D1%83%D1%81%20%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B0%202019.pdf   
[7] https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-main-dietary-sources-of-vitamin-C-in-Mongolian-cuisine-It-seems-very-meat-heavy  
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_meat_consumption

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Mongolia – looking at Yaks

 

I like yaks. You can see them all over the Himalayas, around the higher parts of Central Asia, Xinjiang, and Mongolia, of course. I was quite surprised to see yaks at about 1500 m altitude. I thought they wouldnt thrive below 2500 m, but that might be the case in the southern part of their habitat, Ladakh for instance, from where I had this knowledge [1]. In Mongolia the yak also thrives a little lower, maybe because of the lower temperatures their as yaks are also well adapted to cold. I've found a map about the distribution of yaks in Asia [2].

I thought that it should be interesting to know how many yaks there are in Mongolia. For 2020 I've found:  30.0 million of sheep, 27.7 million goats, 4.7 million cattle, 4.1 million horses, and 472.9 thousand camels, but the census didn't tell the number of yaks [3]. However, I could find a number  for the end of 2011, when the yak population reached 440.300 heads [4]; so I assume that there are roughly as much yaks as there are camels in Mongolia, each according to climate and region. The same article informs us: „Yaks don’t acclimatize well to land lower than 1800 meters above sea level and its reproductive ability worsens, being apt to suffer diseases.“ The photos I show here were taken at an altitude of about 2200 m.

The nomads try to avoid cross-breeding, which is totally different compared to Ladakh, where herders experiment with cross-breeding. More on this topic in the Yak in Ladakh blogpost [1]. „The English word "yak" is a loan originating from Tibetan: གཡག་, Wylie: g.yag.“ [5] English uses yak for both genders whereas Tibetan and other languages of the region have different words for bulls and cows. We'll have to spend some time on different term, when we talk about interbreeding. Yak in Tibetan is for the yak bull and the yak cow is called bri. As we use a word coming from Tibetan, we should ask: what terms are the Mongolians using? For the yak bull sarlagiin bukh (сарлагийн бух) is used and for the he yak cow sarlagiin ünee (сарлагийн үнээ).

My first yak sighting in Mongolia had been, as mentioned, at 1500 m altitude. The yaks were grazing and grunting – one name for them is also grunting ox. The pictures were taken at Yolyn Am (Ёлын Ам), while accessing the gorge, which is famous for the bearded vulture or lammergeier (correctly spelled in German: Lämmergeier). But now, I want to make the gorge famous for another attraction: the sarlagiin.

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-yak-in-ladakh.html
[2] https://en.nabu.de/topics/species/yak.html
[3] https://montsame.mn/en/read/249861
[4] https://montsame.mn/en/read/125609
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_yak

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Mongolia – Flying in and out

To go to Mongolia there's a convenient flight from Frankfurt by MIAT (Монголын Иргэний Агаарын Тээвэр , Mongolian Civil Air Transport) [1]. The flight from Frankfurt (FRA) was going to Ulaanbaatar's new airport, Chinggis Khaan International Airport (Чингис хаан олон улсын нисэх буудал) (UBN) [2], of course.

MIAT only has a small fleet and this flight to Mongolia has been on a Boeing 737. I enjoyed excellent service and a good seat for th eight hours of this flight. MIAT hasn't yet worked out to serve vegetarian meals. One may arrange for a Baby Meal, Child Meal, Low Salt Meal, Moslem Meal, Hindu Meal (lamb, poultry, fish), and Diabetic Meal – no vegetarian option [3]. However, I asked and got a question as an answer: „Did you order a special meal?“ I didn't as I couldn't. The meals were in a way I could do with exchanging some items with a friend. And maybe the next time the friendly flight attendant asks it will be possible to get a vegetarian meal [4].

The flight back was much different. MIAT's Boeing 737 had been on a scheduled inspection and they chartered a flight by Air Asia. The whole crew had been provided by Air Asia save the purser. Most of the flight attendants were male, only two were female and interestingly the companies policy for the inflight female staff is open long hair, which I cannot remember having seen with other airlines. This aircraft didn't have inflight entertainment, not that I have use for it, but it's easier to sit on long hauls if you see, where you are and where you are going. And on this flight I would have liked seeing this, as we must have passed the Altai mountains covered in snow. MIAT's flights may cross Russia, the Malaysian airline had to use the southern route to avoid Russioan airspace. East to west flight already take longer, but we sat on this plan for 12 hours. The seat rows were narrower than expected. And the meals were not only not vegetarian but also more oriented to durability than taste or balanced diet. Maybe this aiscraft usually serves short hauls. The flight attendants of both flights were very helpful and friendly.

For both airlines I would wish the CEO work on the same level of professional competence as the crews.

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIAT_Mongolian_Airlines
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinggis_Khaan_International_Airport
[3] https://www.miat.com/pagecontent.php?pageId=63&lang=en (as of 28.08.2022)
[4] I won't fly Air Africaans, but I'll surely fly MIAT again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK1YpYr5fn0

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Mongolia – in and out of the State Department Store or Fountain Pens

Market and State Department Store

The State Department Store in Ulaanbaatar lies within the 1 km radius around Sükhbaatar / Chinggis Square and I went there on my last day just to have had a look at this store. Mighty fine department store! On the uppermost story they had a large show on school utensils as school was going to start soon again.

They may sparkle in sunlight, but the points are dull

I looked at ballpoint pens, rollerball [1] pens, gel pens, marker pens, stylus pens, felt pens, lead pencils, crayons and … no fountain pens. I was looking for a fountain pen. I had been searching in Cologne, but you won't get a simple pen, you may buy a high end fountain pen, which is useless unless you are CEO and want to impress when you sign a contract, or you find fountain pens for pupils, which are ergonomically adapted to the young writer's hand. I had bought fountain pens, which suit me well, before while travelling through China, though people use fountain pens less frequently nowadays due to the use of electronic devices and people loose their ability of actively writing Chinese characters [2]. So I was looking for a fountain pen in the State Department Store in Ulaanbaatar and didn't find one!

 

Poor Mongolian kids! Maybe they could sing along with Adele:
"We've could have had it all"

I had entered the department store by a side entrance, but was leaving via the front entrance. Across Peace Avenue you find another avenue with a broad middle portion where there was some kind of market. The market featured the same topic as the uppermost story in the department store: equipping school kids, from school uniforms to bag, caps and of course stationery. I went through all of the pens. And then luck struck! I was able to buy three fountain pens. The whole stock of the market! I admit I acted totally without scruples.

It isn't the "Ork Empire"!

Links and Annotations:
[1] Just a short deviation from the tracks: James Caan in „Rollerball“.
[2] https://www.facebook.com/asianboss/videos/1791405304228612
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYEDA3JcQqw

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Mongolia – the mysterious 100 Stupas of Erdene Zuu Monastery

 

„The Erdene Zuu Monastery (Mongolian: Эрдэнэ Зуу хийд, Chinese:光顯寺, Tibetan:ལྷུན་གྲུབ་བདེ་ཆེན་གླིང་) is probably the earliest surviving Buddhist monastery in Mongolia.“ [1] I guess that's a good reason to visit this monastery while in Mongolia, especially if you visit Kharkhorin. Said and done. And then the guide talked about the 100 stupas on the surrounding walls. I asked her, why not 108 stupas as this is the holy number in Buddhism and I thought if you have the money for 100, you probably have enough money for the remaining 8 stupas. Stupid as I was, I didn't count the stupas, which would have been a task by itself as each wall is 400 m long, but let myself mullify when we went outside again to see the remains of ancient Karakorum, which made it possible to see two stupas at each corner. 100 + (4x2) = 108. QED!

Also seen in Pucha's book from a different angle

After I returned to Germany, I looked at a Google Map image of Erdene Zuu Monastery and counted the stupas on the walls. Well there are only 92 stupas on the four walls. My guide-book says 102 stupas [2]. Now, 92 + (4x2) = 100. So we're back to the number, the guide originally quoted [3]. I leafed through a book by Pavel Poucha [4]. Poucha gives 108 plus 8 – he obviously didn't count, though I must ask: could he count at all, because he visited the monastery in 1955 and tells us: „In 1940 almost everything was destroyed here.“ And: „The whole complex of Erdenitso is now managed by only three people, the guard and his family, who have a beautiful and clean yurt in the monastery courtyard.” So,  Pavel Poucha's honour is restored; he has been a czech orientalist, mongolist as well as indologist, who taught at the renowned Charles University in Prague [5].

 

The authors of the Wikipedia entry quote a German source [6] and think that planners wanted 108 stupas, but only realised 100. 

 

Prayer wheel

Abtai Sain Khan ordered the construction of the monastery in 1585 after meeting the 3rd Dalai Lama. In 1688 the monastery had been damaged and abandoned, but had been rebuild in the 18th century. There lived about a 1000 monks in 1872. During 1939 (not 1940) the monastery was destroyed and monks were killed by the communists. And it's quite strange to read that Stalin pressured the Mongolian communists to maintain the monastery as a showpiece for international visitors [1]. And it must have been much in this state as Pavel Poucha has seen Erdene Zuu Monastery. 

 

Today much has been restored. Lamas with affiliation to the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism have returned. Erdene Zuu Monastery is an active place of worship and also a museum.

 

When you return to the outer world again, you find yourself in a kind of county fair, directed at local and foreign tourists. You can watch and feel sorry for the eagles [7]. You can watch people taking their photographs in historical costumes, which I have seen also in Tibet and elsewhere.

 

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdene_Zuu_Monastery
[2] Michael Walther und Peter Woeste: Mongolei. DuMont Reise-Handbuch. Dumont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2019. ISBN-10:  ‎3770181417. P. 301.
[3] Never doubt your guide! Nonsense, always doubt, but try to get proof later.
[4] Pavel Poucha: 13000 Kilometer durch die Mongolei. VEB F.A. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1960. P.  201.
[5] https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel_Poucha Pavel Poucha (1905-1986). He started with studyin Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, Hebrew, Turkish and Persian. Interestingsly he had been removed from his position because of political reasons in 1957, but kept on publishing non the less. There's also an entry in Mongolian on Pavel poucha: https://mn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BB_%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%83%D1%85%D0%B0
[6] „Niels Gutschow, Andreas Brandt, Die Baugeschichte der Klosteranlage von Erdeni Joo (Erdenezuu), in Claudius Müller (ed.), Dschingis Khan und seine Erben, Bonn 2005, p.353“ - quoted from [1].
[7] Nobody will understand you if you sing „Hotel California“.

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Mongolia – Sükhbaatar Square

 

When I started writing this blogpost I was taken by surprise. The square's name looks in German: Sukhbaatar Platz. If you look at the Cyrillic script – Сүхбаатарын талбай, you see that ü is correct. Now, German is notorious for its umlaute. Maybe it's an idiosyncrasy as in Türkmenistan [1] – or should I say idiosyncrazy? Another name for Ulaanbaatar's central square is Chinggis Square (Чингисийн талбай), which is also the name that my German travel guide-book lists [2]. The name change took place in 2013 and though the Democratic Party maintains that one wants to honor Chinggis Khaan, whose statue overlooks the square from the north end, but there's also the statue of the revolutionary hero on a horse in the middle of the place – Damdin Sükhbaatar. Renaming often is a polical maneuver.

Sükhbaatar Square [3] is the center, the heart of Ulaanbaatar. You can reach quite a lot of places of interest within a radius of one kilometer. I had been walking down Chingis Avenue and before entering Sükhbaatar Square, I saw the Central Post Office (Төв шуудан), which I guess is important for travellers, who have preserved the habit to send postcards, which means relying on snail mail instead of instantly enlighteing the world about you whreabouts. So entering from the south-western corner you walk through a park, looking west you'll see buildings like the Stock Exchange or the National Museum of Mongolian History (merits a visit). Walking north you pass Damdin Sükhbaatar' statue and  Chinggis Khaan on his throne at the colonnades of the Houses of Parliament overlooks the place. At the eastern side there's the Central Cultural Palace Building and State Ballet and Opera House, which I immediately associate with „The east is red“ (东方红), but I know that the love for China has limits in Mongolia.

You may find people taking group photos dressed traditionally (deel) in front of the national heroes. About the bride and bridegroom photographing I'll write a blogpost on its' own. There are kids playing. In the evening you might see young couples. One day there has been a science fair. So it's a good to visit the square more than once.

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2014/10/turkmenistan.html English has it correct – Türkmenistan, in German it's written Turmenistan.
[2] Michael Walther und Peter Woeste: Mongolei. DuMont Reise-Handbuch. Dumont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2019. ISBN-10:  ‎3770181417. Before travelling to Mongolia, a friend, who lived there for about five years, advised me to contact Michael Walther, which I did, not knowing at this stage of my travel preparation, that he is the co-author of this wonderful guide-book. I should have checked!
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%BCkhbaatar_Square


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Mongolia – some Camels

 

The landscape shortly before the encounter with the camels

While in Mongolia I had the chance to see quite a lot of camels in the wilderness. Did I see the wild Bactrian camel? Of course not; the Great Gobi A Strictly Protected Area still had been 500 km away from my route. But I had been interested as I had read the book on these cames by John Hare [2]. Hare writes about his expedition: 1993 to Mongolia, 1995, 1996, 1997 to China. He saw some wild Bactrian camels after great efforts. Interestingly, Nikolai Michailowitsch Prschewalski (or Przewalski or Przhewalsky / Николай Михайлович Пржевальский) first described this cameloped; some people doubt that it had been the wild Bactrian camel (Camelus ferus), but think he'd seen the offspring of the Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus), which had gone astray / run away – to my dismay these camels are called feral Bactrian camels, which comes close to the Latin taxonomic term. I've been at the Przhewalski Museum near the the city of Karakol in Kyrgyzstan [3], but failed to write about it so far. Przhewalski was buried on the Issyk-Kul lakeside. But we'll meet him again, when it comes to Przewalski's horse.

I guess quite a lot of people think of camels as depicted on the wrapping of a brand of cigarettes, but that's a dromedary.  We look at the Bactrian camel or Mongolian camel (Camelus bactrianus) [4], which isn't the domesticated form of the wild Bactrian camel; it is possible to differentiate them via DNA testing. The Bactrian camel can stand cold, drought, and high altitudes.

If look at the herd in the wilderness you may overlook the marks of the herders as these animals roam for quite a long tine on there own. The herders might adjust there route every now and then and they do so … on motorbikes, and yes, sometimes more romatically on horseback. The nomads don't move their gers (you might call it yurts, but there's a difference, we'll come back to this issue) with the herds, but twice a year from summer to winter pastures.

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Gobi_A_Strictly_Protected_Area
[2] John Hare: Auf den Spuren der letzten wilden Kamele. Eine Expedition ins verbotene China. Vorwort von Jane Goodall. Malik National Geographic, München 2002. ISBN-10: 3492401910.
[3] https://www.nomadsland.kg/en/before-you-go/kyrgyzstan/history/przewalski-museum
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bactrian_camel; and you might also want to check the entry on camels: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel or the wild Bactrian camel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Bactrian_camel

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LYRIK-Taschenkalender 2015 30. KW 23.08.2022

 

Michael Braun hat den LYRIK-Taschenkalender 2015 herausgegeben und zusammen mit Henning Ziebritzki alle am Taschenkalender beteiligten Autoren und Kommentatoren mit je einem Gedicht vorgestellt. Er ist mir jetzt wieder in die Hände gefallen. Auch dieser Kalender lädt ein zum Annotieren und Assoziieren, zum Erstellen von GegenEntwürfen. Vielleicht so auch ein wenig wie Daniel Spoerris: An Anecdoted Topography of Chance (1966 Something Else Press, New York / Cologne). Diese Annotationen stammen aus den Jahren 2014/2015 und 2020-2022.


30. KW
Norbert Hummelt: der nachtmahr

Alb
    Alb sieht
Albern
Aus
Und
Auf der
Alp
Do
Gibt's
Koa
Sind
Und
Weise
Die Schuld
    Auf
Den Mond

(oder vielleicht noch den Bossa nova)

Auf den Mond sollte man sich nicht verlassen, mal versteckt er sich hinter Wolken, dann geht er unter. Und erst sein unflätiges Lachen!

Mond
    warum ist
Der
Mond
Immer
Noch
Weiß
Oder
Grau
Bei
All
Dem
SonnenBad
    Das
Er nimmt

Mond
    tief unten
Noch
Steht
Golden
Der
Mond
Und
Kräht
So
Völlig
Falsch
In diesen
    Abend
Hinein

29. KW
Kommentar: Henning Ziebritzky

Aber man hat vergessen, WeihWasser zu verspritzen.

Füßli ist gut denkbar, denn die Sprache des Gedichts erinnert an schweizer Literatur wie z.B. Uli der Knecht von Jeremias Gotthelf.

Blick
    der irrende
Blick
Zwischen
Kommen
Und
GeGAngen
Wo
Doch
Das Kommende
    Dich
ÜberKommt

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