Mongolia

The most expensive box of chocolate I have given Allan was the one-pound box of See’s Nuts and Chews that I sent him in Mongolia for Valentine’s Day. DHL, an international delivery service, was running funny ads showing that their professional drivers don’t mishandle packages while they are practicing bullfighting or using their delivery van as a taxi. After the woman who answered the phone at FedEx told me that there is no such country as Mongolia, and the UPS employee told me they don’t deliver there, I called DHL and they assured me they could deliver it by February 10 and they would hand carry it through customs so it would be safe.

I emailed Allan on February 11 to check that he had received my package. No, he hadn’t. I emailed again on February 12, February 13, and February 14. No, each time. Now they had missed Valentine’s Day and I was worried because Allan was leaving Mongolia on February 15. The box arrived before he left, but it had been half eaten and Allan told me the DHL van in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital, was being used as a taxi.

I called DHL and told them they missed the date they promised, the chocolate was half eaten when it arrived, and that, contrary to their advertising, their delivery van was being used as a taxi. The woman on the phone said, “We’ll take care of it” and hung up. We’ll take care of it? What did that mean? I didn’t find out until June when I received a credit on my card for the $120 I had paid DHL (I’m sure it would cost more now).

Allan tells me this was not the most expensive box of chocolate I have given him because my money was returned. I say that I was willing to pay it and did pay it initially, so it counts. You make the call.

That was Allan’s first trip to Mongolia. He was working with his friend Scott who was the director of a development agency there. As a vegetarian, Allan didn’t eat the mutton, the most common food available. He did eat a lot of potatoes, one of the few vegetables that can grow during the short time of the year when the ground isn’t frozen. For Allan’s second trip, I packed seventy pounds of dried fruit, the maximum weight allowed on the plane.

When Gladys and I met Phyllis in Los Angeles to eat at the Golden Mongolian Restaurant (now Arag Mongolian Restaurant), I wasn’t sure what to expect – mutton and potatoes? We had the traditional Mongolian potato salad, khuushuur (pan fried Mongolian flat dumplings with beef), and tsuivan (handmade noodles with stir fried chicken and vegetables). They were served with a red cabbage salad with a light and sweet dressing. The meal was much more varied and delicious than I expected. If I can find someone willing to go who will eat lamb, I want to try the khorkhog (lamb, potatoes, and carrots cooked with hot stones in a tightly closed stone container).

The other Mongolian restaurant I have tried (no, not Mongolian BBQ, that originated in Taiwan) is the Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot in San Mateo. I overdid it and ordered way too many things to cook in the broth over a fire. It was delicious but I ended up with a stomachache. I wonder if the ancient horsemen who used their helmets to cook like this had the same problem.

My book group read Rough Magic by Lara Prior-Palmer in January of 2020. It describes the author’s experience in a horse race in Mongolia. It is wonderfully self-deprecating and fun to read. I also love that she recognizes that her experience of a country is not the country, that her conception of Chinggis Khan won't be what any individual in Mongolia thinks of Chinggis Khan, and that she has an “Author's Note” at the end listing "some brilliant Mongolian literature available in translation."

I also enjoyed reading Lost in Mongolia by Colin Angus describing the first documented rafting trip of the entire Yenisey River. To be honest, the source of the river is in Mongolia, so a significant portion of the action is there, but a lot of time is spent in Siberia as well.

Scott's letters from Mongolia are so funny and descriptive that I still have them. Scott wrote a book called The Mongolian Connection about a partnership between an American detective and a Mongolian (two used copies are currently available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Mongolian-Connection-Scott-Christiansen/dp/9628783092/). The movie The Mongolian Connection caught my attention because it has the same name and a similar set of characters. It turns out that the movie is more violent, but I enjoyed watching it: https://tubitv.com/movies/584880/the-mongolian-connection

Kanopy and Hoopla both have several Mongolian films including Kiran Over Mongolia: Becoming an Eagle Master. I also watched part of the Netflix series Marco Polo which is set in Mongolia. More movies from Mongolia are listed here: https://www.toursmongolia.com/mongolia_travel_news/18-best-films-to-inspire-you-to-visit-mongolia

A few more sources of Mongolian culture and history include:

· A module on Genghis Khan by the Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/medieval-times/the-mongols/v/genghis-khan-and-the-mongol-empire

· A poem by B. Odgerel: https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/the-sound-of-pigeons-in-flight

· A professional Mongolian dance group: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1599973100134363

· Overtone singing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6Muit4cZ-I

Great places to visit in Mongolia are listed here https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-mongolia/#more-25729 and I would love to go! After all, Allan has been there twice and Scott’s family has great memories of their time there. I look forward to that time when we can travel broadly again. In the meantime, I’m hoping we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace, health, and safety to flourish in Mongolia and throughout the world.

Photo credit: Lightscape https://unsplash.com/photos/BAAYyQizKhc