Horses, camels, cows/yaks, goats and sheep
by Rachel Charlie and I arrived here on Sunday after an unexpected weekend in Beijing, courtesy of Air China. Fortunately, Team Beijing was there with open arms, as was Team Korea and part of Team Shanghai, so we had a great time. We ate our usual favorite foods, shopped, strolled through parks and caught a […]
Continue ReadingWe are off on a road trip to the Gobi today to get out of the city, visit a radio station and reconnoiter for future trips. We’ll be back in Ulaanbaatar for a few hours on Wednesday and then we are off again, back to the warmer climes of Southeast Asia. We’ll be visiting Chang […]
Continue ReadingBy Charlie Arvinbuyan called me yesterday. I was embarrassed to admit that I was not in the office. He clearly wanted to talk. Arvinbuyan is MIAT’s chief Airbus captain. He is among the most gentle and kind men that I have met in Mongolia. In a country where corrupt money and power command respect, Arvinbuyan […]
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By Charlie Okay. We’re fine. Don’t worry too much about us. And thanks for all the notes of support that you’ve sent over the past two days. Yes, we did have a bad stretch last week, but things have really improved. For example, today I picked up the tickets that will finally deliver us from […]
Continue Readingby Rachel This afternoon Byamba’s father came to negotiate about the furniture. Our new landlord, Sambuunyam, owns the apartment, but makes no claim on the furniture, so we are back to Byamba for that one. Charlie was prepared for battle and wearing his pajamas. He was the bad cop. I was the quiet cop. Byamba’s […]
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By Charlie I rolled out of bed and realized that the computer was not charging. When the lights would not switch on, I realized the obvious: No electricity! Weekend breakfast at our house requires three burners on the electric stove, plus the electric water boiler. Not to be outdone by a typical Mongolian interruption in […]
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by Rachel Yesterday Charlie and I went on a nice, short hike just south of Ulaanbaatar with a group of fiends. You could see the city and the smog sprawling in the distance. The pile with the blue cloths is called an uvuu. You walk around three times, and leave some rocks and something special. […]
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By Charlie I got up at 4 AM on Friday to fly down to the Gobi Desert for a medical evacuation. I was back at the UB airport before lunch, which was just in time for me to be fired from my job at MIAT. I was hastily rehired approximately 30 seconds later. Then I […]
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By Charlie Whenever the doorbell rings, we expect that it is someone looking for money or another alleged landlord claiming that they own our apartment. Nasantoghtokh rang our doorbell on Sunday afternoon. (Yes, I dare you to say that name out loud.) He did want money for something, but he also had a problem. Water […]
Continue ReadingBy Charlie “This is so Mongolian.” You hear that a lot from foreigners living in UB as they share stories about encounters with Mongolian friends and colleagues. A Mongolian high roller called my cell phone at 10:45pm the other night to get my thoughts on a totally insane scheme to fund Mongolian public broadcasting with […]
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