Camel mania!

This past weekend was all about camels. There was a camel festival in town which meant we got to see a few games of camel polo, a camel race and a camel parade.

We saw big and small camels, white camels, camels with attitudes, camels pooping, camels slipping on ice, camels weeping, you name it, we saw it.

The camels and their owners came from far and wide. Most came from the south, from the Gobi Desert where camels are more common. The polo teams represented their respective regions.

Camels in Mongolia are bactrian camels (the two-hump kind). They're hairy things and the size of some of them was impressive. I did the tourist thing and did sit on one for a little bit. They're quite comfortable...

Aaron and I added one more to our list of weird food experiences: fermented camel's milk. Description: very creamy with a slight tang. People at the festival were lining up in droves for the stuff.

Dulaankhaan or the story of Billy's unfortunate end

Once upon a time (last weekend actually), a group of 14 dedicated volunteers (and spouses) descended upon a quiet little town named Dulaankhaan. Dulaankhaan (translation: Warm-King) is about four hours north of UB towards the Russian border. Pete, one of the 14 volunteers, had once lived in Dulaankhaan and was now playing tour guide to the other 13. Pete had worked there helping a group of women start a jam cooperative.

We stayed at Dulaankhaan's newest and only hotel which also happens to be the only building in "lower" Dulaankhaan with a second storey. A family runs the hotel, a convenience store and the public transportation to and from Darkhan, Mongolia's second largest city about an hour away.

The highlight of the trip was to be a horhog party on the Saturday with the women from the jam cooperative. A horhog is a Mongolian speciality consisting of meat (usually mutton) cooked in a pot with hot stones. It's usually done outdoors in the summer but ours was done inside.

We met Billy on Saturday. Billy was a nice three-year old goat who was kind enough to sacrifice himself for our party. One minute after I petted his nose, Billy was on the ground, hooves up with a man's hand deep inside his chest snapping off the main vein (or was it the aorta?) from his heart. Billy died to an audience of shocked foreigners. The man attached to the hand then brought Billy inside, skinned him and removed the internal organs. While Billy was being cut into pieces, the women were preparing blood sausages and cleaning the stomach and intestines. Mongolians eat just about everything on a goat. It was all quite quick. And bloodless. Not one drop of blood was spilled. Finally and again to the shock of the foreigners, Billy's head went into the freezer for future use.

Billy was cooked with hot stones in a big pressurized pot. He was joined by potatoes, onions, garlic and spices. We ate, we sang and then danced. The women tried to teach us the tea cup dance. The dance is all in the shoulders but our shoulders didn't want to listen.

It was relaxing to be in the countryside away from the city. Deadly quiet too. Hours can easily go by without a car driving down the main drag in Dulaankhaan. Most residents walk or ride their horse to get around town.

I'd go back to Dulaankhaan in a second. Perhaps not to live but another weekend there would be nice...

Amar bain uu?

This is the question you ask people during Tsagaan Sar (literally White Moon). Tsagaan Sar is the Mongolian New Year which sometimes coincides with the Chinese New Year, like this year. The celebration lasts a few days (for some, up to a month) and consists of visits to family. Tsagaan Sar is about starting a new year but also honouring the older members of a family. Everyone visits the eldest person in a family and then keeps on hopping from one house to another. At each house there's a spread laid out that includes a sheep's rump, Mongolian cheese and dried curds, salads, chocolates and meat dumplings. Meat dumplings (or buuz) are central to the celebration and you can't leave a house without eating a few. The women prepare buuz in the hundreds if not thousands.

One thing I haven't figured out is how they know when to visit and when to receive. It's all very confusing.

Aaron and I visited the family of Aaron's co-worker on the weekend. We were invited to her grandmother's place. Her grandmother is 86 years old and was the first woman to drive in Mongolia. On the day of our visit, she wore her nicest del (a Mongolian long coat) and sported two medals for having had 10 children (one medal for every five). When we first came in, we greeted her with "Amar bain uu?", which roughly means "Are you at peace?", "Are you rested?" while placing her arms over ours. She then sniffed our cheeks.

It was nice to see a big happy family together. It made me miss my own.

The city was crazy on the weekend with everyone driving around with their families. There were even traffic jams. It was great to look out the window and see everyone dressed to the nines in either Western clothing or Mongolian clothing.

We'll post photos soon...

Party, party, party!

Aaron's in bed at the moment and it's almost 2 pm Sunday... Our weekend really started Thursday night with some live jazz at a restaurant. One of Mongolia's more famous singers, Naraa, sang a few songs. It was nice to hear live jazz. We'll definitely go back. And they have fish'n'chips...

Glitter

Friday night was the New Year's party* for Aaron's work. We had been warned that the women would be wearing ball gowns and the men tuxes but we hadn't been warned about all the hair glitter. Unfortunately, I didn't pack my ball gown or any hair glitter so my outfit of cashmere sweater and black pants was a little boring. The place was packed with some 250 Mongolians dressed-to-the-nines and two Canadians dressed-to-the-fives. There was food, chocolates and several rounds of vodka going around. There was a lot of dancing. Enkhtuya, Aaron's coworker, dragged us to the dance floor when participants were requested for a game. There we were, in front of a huge crowd, acting out a chicken wooing scene. Aaron was pretty funny. We got second place. The best outfit of the night had to be the woman wearing a wedding dress. There was no mistaking it as anything other than a white, frilly wedding dress. Honourable mention goes to the Jennifer Lopez dress, remember the one requiring double-sided tape? We had a fun night. Mongolians know how to party.

*Most Mongolians don't celebrate Christmas so their parties are for New Year's. The decorations are still Christmasy with Santa and the ubiquitous decorated coniferous tree.

Bloody Party

The party was at our place on Saturday night. It was a Bloody Caesar, Bloody Mary party in honour of the clamato juice I brought back from Canada. The VSO crowd (and a few non-VSOers) filled our apartment. Many of our guests had never had a caesar (caesars being Canadian) before last night and the majority quite enjoyed them. Our "living room" even served as a dance floor. Our guests left and Aaron and I finally crashed at 3 am.