Friends, life, fun, IWAM, bumps, sore feet, ballet, snow and ............

Friends, life, fun, IWAM, bumps, sore feet, ballet, snow and ............ a big week.

Nigel with Barb & Teena being swamped by young girls selling art work in Sukhbaatar Square.

Friends from Aussie, Barb and Teena arrived in UB, a little the worse for wear after two weeks travelling in China. Both had terrible coughs and poor Teena was feeling very poorly. Sunshine and fresh air was the order of the day and the Square was an interesting place to visit on your first day in Mongolia.

Old and new buildings ring the Square with many people out enjoying the early spring weather.

Great fun to be pulled by your little brother.

A massage was next on the agenda - all in one room.

Then for the more serious side of things we took a visit back to the Mental Sanatorium we had visited last week, taking with us two physiotherapists, 2 nurses, translator, and two other helpers.

This time we were down in the play room which we had seen before but none of the children were in it. Everyone interacted with the children and it was great to be given some exercises that we can do on return visits with the children. I also handed out some pear that I had peeled for the children and it was tough watching the more able bodied ones taking it from the more disabled children.

We will try and go back often to help these little ones and we will also be working with the staff to try and make their lives a little easier as well and bring fruit and other food so these children aren't starving each time we come. I would also like to help at meal times so we can see how much food the children are given as I am sure that many of them take ages to be fed.

Working with the children.

Showing the staff some exercises for the children. The delight this girl of 17 was showing was wonderful to see.

Teena interacting with one of the little girls who was thoroughly enjoying the attention.

A country visit was next on the agenda as I had to inspect a summer camp to see whether IWAM will support it this year. The director of the camp, her husband and another volunteer worker, Anya & he 20 month old son picked Barb, Teena and I up at 9am from near our place and we headed due north out of UB on a road I hadn't been on before. A kilometre out of the centre of UB we passed through the ger camp area into the summer camp area where many people have their summer homes and judging by the size of many of them, they are certainly wealthy. There were also some camps as seen in the following photo.

This camp would be no more than 6 kilometres from the centre of UB.

It wasn't very far out of town and we were on a very bumpy dirt road and doing about 5 kilometres an hour as we literally clambered over the ruts made from last years traffic. We were told that the way we were going was 40 kilometres shorter but we felt must have taken several hours longer as our top speed for most of the trip was about 20 kph.

After two hours driving we stop to stretch our legs on the top of a very wind swept hill. Poor Barb and Teena were nearly blown away.

On we drove....... up hill and over dale.

Passing sheep & goats on the way to find water.

Horses in front of a winter ger camp trying to find some nourishment from what looks like bare earth. Note the little foal with the mare on the right at the back.

It wasn't all dry as we found the only wet patch and became bogged of sorts as the tyres just kept spinning on the wet ground.

The girls and I just looked on at this stage and decided we weren't going to get stuck in the mud ourselves but I finally had to get in there and help them push and with one little hand on the car I did it... out.

Finally the Summer ger camp.

Finally at 2pm, after having left at 9am we arrived at the ger camp and were warmly welcomed by a local couple who had a fire going and a hot Mongolian soup for us. The three of us were as stiff as boards with aching muscles from trying not to get knocked around too much in the vehicle. 

The view from where we sat in the ger

Khorhog being cooked for us after we had the soup. Khorhog is like cooking in a pressure cooker with a difference... you put in some meat, then vegetables, salt and hot stones alternating until the vessel is full if meat, vegetables and hot stones. Leave it for about 30 minutes and then enjoy a delicious soup, vegetables and usually tough but tasty meat.

In the summer 70 children come by train which takes 3 hours (wish we had done that) every week to enjoy all sorts of activities; dancing, singing, sports, nature, but the highlight is swimming in the gorgeous river at the bottom of the camp. They take 7 intakes in the summer so over 400 children enjoy this wonderful atmosphere for a week.

The children come from programs that CYPPD  (Children & Young People's Protection & Development) run in Ulaanbaatar and this organisation is also supported by VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas) so really do a holiday in the country when they can.

This is a little bridge built by the Asia Foundation to allow the villagers access to the railway line in summer which comes through to collect the milk to take to UB at 1am. Winter of course the river is frozen & it is easy to walk across but in summer they have to virtually swim across unless they go up or down river several miles.

Just loved this photo of the river, mountains and clouds.

Back to the camp to enjoy our Khorhog

The many tracks and all as rough as each other.

Heading home we knew we were in for a rough ride especially as they kept insisting we were going back exactly the same way as we came up and seeing as it took 5 hours we knew we wouldn't be home till after 10pm. Fortunately they did take an easier road for the last 20 kilometres and we were home by 9-30pm. A long day

Going through a very small village I just loved the colours.

Another view of the many tracks.... which one to take? I feel that the ones they didn't take always looked smoother.

Had the girls out next day to inspect the restaurant where we are having "The Wedding Party" this Friday and lucked out when one room is red and the other blue and we will be able to combine them to hold the IWAM function to raise more funds with hopefully at least 100 attending.

A different look to Sukhbaatar Square with protests going on from the herders re the mines. Elections are coming up next year and everyone wants their cut of the pie that results from mining.

A map showing the different nationalities mining in Mongolia and it also gave the number of mines. As you can see there is a considerable amount of mining going on here which has already changed the face of Mongolia since we have been here.

We had many things to do this day and this is where the sore feet bit came in as we must have walked about 5 kilometres on pavements that are a challenge at the best of times but after having been bounced around for 10 hours the previous day every muscle in our feet were soon aching.

We had to stop at the French Bistro for a bite to eat.

A wonderful group who are well known in Mongolia and were wonderful entertainers.

That evening we went to a Benefit Concert raising funds for a little girl, her siblings and her mother to live in safety and employ decent lawyers. This little girl  had been raped by her step-father from the age of 8 and when it was taken to court the judge freed the man saying she had been born with rape like scars. Four doctors had examined her but it was a forensic doctor who had the last say. Hopefully it won't be long before this despicable man is in goal forever.

This young Mongolian girl was astounding with her flexibility and I know many people have seen this type of act but I have to say this is one of the most amazing I have seen.

Try that one at home.

 

 Extraordinary show with some wonderful Mongolian talent and hopefully it has raised enough money at least to give this little girl some sense of security.

We are extremely lucky in UB to be able to see either the ballet or an opera or both every weekend and it is of a world class standard. This weekend we saw Swan Lake and it was just wonderful.

Still some things for the girls to do yet but they leave on Thursday and not nearly enough time to see all there is to see. Neither of them are feeling much better and I think will be very glad to be home. Not that they haven't enjoyed their time but when you aren't feeling 100%, travelling is not as much fun as it should be.

Take care.