Pilgrimage in the Gobi Desert

An interesting view at Danzanravjaa's Shambala Pilgrimage in the East Gobi.

Giving Garbage

It is always rather pretentious to make fun of other one's language abilities, especially because i lack in them considerably in myself. But sometimes things are just funny enough to pass them on.
This picture here is the backside of the entrance ticket to a National Park, the Terelj Park in this case. It conveniently gives a list of services provided to visitors in the park. Most interesting is point 3, where it says the park is....

To provide with information, brochure booklets, warning and garbage

When we enlightened our loyal driver on the issue, he ousted one of his high shrieking laughs, opened his window again and shouted at his friend the national park ranger while pointing at the ticket: "It says: We give you garbage!"


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technorati: mongolia

Vietnamese perspective on Mongolian Invasions

"At that time, the Mongolian became a super power in the world stage. By then, half of the world already felt into the Mongolian hands: Central Asia, Russia, Hungary, Poland, Yugoslavia, Iran... then China. After dominating China, Mongolian look into Vietnam. Then 30,000 troops of Mongolian cavalry -very well known at that time- crossed the border and attacked Vietnam the first time on January 17, 1258. Emperor TRAN THAI TONG -the one who wanted to be a Buddhist monk - now commanded the Vietnamese army to fight back. It took about 2 weeks, the Mongolian was defeated.

Angry over the defeat, the Mongolian took the revenge. The second invasion was well prepared, began on August 1284, with 200,000 strong troops under the command of a Mongolian prince. This time, the commander of Vietnamese army was Emperor TRAN NHAN TONG, also a devout Buddhist. The second invasion was not luckier than the first time. After 6 months that both sides had engaged into the fierce battles, the Mongolian was defeated and there was only a few thousands survived to back home.

For Mongolian, especially Emperor Koubilai, the defeat was so unbelievable and unbearable. It's too shameful for the Mongolian empire, therefore, only two months after the defeat, Koubilai giving the order to mobilize all of his best units, ready to take the revenge. On December 25, 1287, 500,000 Mongolian troops under the command of the same Prince, one more time, crossed the border to invade Viet Nam the third time. Again, Emperor TRAN NHAN TONG led the Vietnamese army to fight back and defeat the Mongolian. This time it took for only 4 months. Like last time, there were only few thousands Mongolian survived to comeback. After the third try, the Mongolian quitting the idea to invade Vietnam. Vietnam then began enjoying the peaceful time for about two centuries."

Mongolia Wins Second Gold Medal At Olympics

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technorati: mongolia olympics goldmedal ulaanbaatar

North Korean Embassy Censored Air Conditioning

It is a bit a crappy mobile picture, but those with good eyes might be able to distinguish the North Korean state emblem on this wall of their embassy in Ulaanbaatar (clcik on the image for a larger size). But the interesting thing in this picture is the box below. Yep the airco. Nothing special right. Well, look again. This bright square there is where the branding used to be. But the embassy decided to painting it over. Why? The manufacturer is South Korean LG. Of course they are too proud to have a symbol of South Korean kapitalism on their walls.
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technorati: mongolia north korea censor

Mongolia 3rd in Olympic medal count

That's an unexpected number. So what About the US, China, UK? Well they do really well, but if you translate the number of medals to the population of the country, they are nowhere to be seen in the top 10. That is the conclusion that the La Times draws. Their Top 10 of medals per capita is as follows:

1. Armenia (4) - 742,147
2. Australia (16) - 1,287,554
3. Mongolia (2) - 1,498,041
4. Georgia (3) - 1,543,614
5. Switzerland (4) - 1,895,380
6. Cuba (6) - 1,903,992
7. Slovenia (1) - 2,007,711
8. Azerbaijan (4) - 2,044,429
9. The Netherlands (7) - 2,377,902
10. Hungary (4) - 2,482,729

No over billion Chinese that can change a thing about that. Reminds that India must be at the very bottom of this list. They might be very proud on their gold, but one medal on a billion is ultimately not al that impressive

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technorati: mongolia

Mongolia Celebrates Olympic Gold Medal

On Thursday evening in Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar people went en mass out to the streets to celebrate the first Olympic gold medal in its history. Judoka Tuvshinbayar became first in the category under 100 kilo, beating his rival Askhat Zhitkeyev from Kazakhstan 120 to 10. Mongolia is famous for its wrestling both in its native form as well as in the Japanese Sumo competition which has been dominated by Mongolians in recent years. During the match load cheers were heard all over town from the public screenings of the match. Four tv channels had live broadcasting of the event that marks a highlight in Mongolia's sports history.
The celebrations culminated in a surprising display of unity amongst the stark divided political forces. President Enkhbayar came down the stairs of the Government house holding hands with acting prime minister S. Bayar to his right and Democratic Party (DP) leader Elbegdorj holding his left hand. It was an unimaginable scene bearing in mind the still lingering conflict that sparked the July 1st protests which left 5 people dead. Mining and in particual gold mining was the big theme of the election on June 29. When a victory for the MPRP was announced the DP and other parties sparked a protest with accusations of vote rigging that led to the fatal riots.
But while it was the large quantities of gold that divided parties in the election turmoil, a particulary small amount of the commodity was able to unite people from the three key figures on the square to every man in the street. Again army personal had to come rushing to protect the government house from a wild crowd, but this time there were no ill motives. Singer Javkhlan had become the center of the crowd's euforie and he was mangled from the one side of the square to the other, where on the roof of his car he sang one of is famous songs. People greeted and hi-fived strangers, cars were driving past with passengers holding flags while screaming and yelling of joy. From high government officials to street kids, everyone joint in one of the most overwhelming displays of celebration in Mongolia's recent history. The Genghis Khan statue was looking motionless over the crowd that celebrated until deep in the night for their new national hero.

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technorati: mongolia