3Nations: Off to Mongolia

Previous 3Nations entries can be found on the Expedition page

Sunday 19th July 2009
The Chinese believe in the whole good/bad balance, they call it yin yang. This morning, at least was... well... balanced.

Good: We were getting a flight to Mongolia today! woo hoo
Bad: We had to leave the hotel at 3am to get to the airport

Good: We were given rice cakes on the bus
Bad: That was the only food we got til the plane as everything was shut at the airport

Good: We arrived at the check out desk the designated 3 hours before departure
Bad: No one told the airline staff this, they didn't start check in til an hour and a half after we arrived.

Good: The flight was relatively short
Bad: The flight was relatively bumpy

Ulaanbaatar

But all that didn't matter... we were all successfully transported to Mongolia, the main part of the expedition experience. If only we could say the same thing for the luggage. Heather was unfortunately without a bag, a hour or so of investigation... and getting us to all line up with our bags to make sure that none of us had it by accident... revealed that it had fallen off the luggage cart on the runway in China. errr, opps

Ulaanbaatar Airport, it's really small... only two gates!

Just before setting off on the coaches, we were introduced to our Mongolian scouts, they would be paired with an aravt (group... kind of like a patrol) for the length of our stay in Mongolia. I am a part of the Lion Aravt, and Anne is our Mongolian scout

go Lions!

... we rock...

Sorry, just a little bit of Lion PRIDE coming out there...

you know it's rude to groan out loud like that!

Anyway... it wasn't that long a trip to the camp site, located just outside the Bogd Khan National Park (on the south side, near the Manzushir Monastary and Zuunmod). It was an absolutely stunning spot.

Stunning isn't it...

Absolutely unbelievable, completely untouched and incredibly fresh (well the freshness was extremely noticeable given that we had just traveled from the smog of Beijing!). The grass even had some wild thyme in it... so when walking about you would kick it up and get a lovely whiff of it.


As you can see from the photos above, not all of the gers had been built (they're the 'tents' that Mongolian Nomads use)

Ger Building 101:
First, start off with the floor

... and some confused looking Mongolian scouts

Put together the center of the roof in the middle of the floor area 

Tie together the curved trellis like walls (all 5 of them)

 

... wait for Mongolian guy to fix your work....

Get some people to hold the roof centre upright in the middle of the floor area

Attach the roof slats, slotting them into the central wheel and looping the horse hair string to the trellis

Getting there...

woo hoo!

Cover roof with layer of cotton like fabric

Cover roof and walls in thick wool

Get someone to climb onto the roof

Final top layer of cotton like material (white of course)

Strap it all in...

... and stick two posts in at the door

And Bobs your estranged sibling of one of your parents (ok uncle then- but am sticking with the estranged, fine then.... just strange then)

Notice some people digging in the background in some of those photos? Well... that's people digging out the toilets. I'll leave those details* out, am sure you'll thank me.

With the completion of the gers and the toilets it was time to officially open the camp with a little ceremony. The Scouting, Mongolian, Union and Austrian flags were all raised over the camp, and the Mongolian part of the expedition was underway. Which is when Troll decided to surprise us with a gift. Our very own Mongolian top!

That's the Mongolian scouts being presented with the expedition neckies

Each aravt had its own set of colours, the Lions were red and silver, and it had Mongolia written in Mongolian script on it. Very classy. I still wear it to some camps actually

 Random lessons learned:

• 80 people in a queue to check in at stupid o'clock in the morning can have an uncanny resemblance to human-pick-up-sticks.
• Sitting next to Stu on a plane can be hazardous to your health (number of flights so far=2, number of people beside stu throwing up=2, number of others throwing up=0... coincidence?).
• Tiny, little, sweet, innocent Beth can be a force to be reckoned with when she is trying to get the bus to sing.
• In Mongolia, large stage coaches are apparently classed as off road vehicles.
• ... either that or anything resembling a brown smudge on the ground is classed as a road.
• The in fight magazine informed us that it is actually socially acceptable to throw bricks at cars that run red lights in China! 

*Throughout the Mongolian part of the trip the conversation regularly turned to toilet matters... things like colour, consistency and even artistic impression were discussed. This is how sophisticated we were, and this is what I will spare you from in the future! (except when I publish the International Toileting Badge requirements later- and yes we came up with all the requirements while away)

Again, thanks to those that let me borrow steal their photos

3Nations: Hutongs and Towers

Well, you can't say that I didn't warn you about the last 3Nations post... and that was only the morning.

If you're wanting to start from the beginning, cause it's a very good place to start, then head to the Expedition page. It even has a map now of places featured in the posts!

... so if you have gotten your good self comfortable and a cuppa tea, or even better a glass bottle of wine, then we'll begin. Well, continue... you know what I mean!

Saturday 18th July 2009: part two
We were taken back into the city for lunch, where we were treated to a dance while we ate. We were also given a red bit of wool that was tied round our wrist, for good luck. I still have that bit of wool actually, its tied to one of the inside zips of my bags

By the by, they served some glorious fried golden dumpling thingys that we were to dip in condensed milk. If anyone happens to know what they are called I would be eternally grateful although my waistline may eternally suffer... but that is a risk I am willing to take.

Now, I should warn you about a particular game that we played for the vast majority of the trip. I will admit it is rather childish... and kind of sets the tone of the group really... the game was to say "badger" when you fart. I have since been told it is badger cause its supposed to smell like a badger climbed up there and died... lovely eh? I am dragging this conversation into the blog purely because it was during lunch that we tried to find out what the Chinese word for badger was. Serena, our guide, had never heard of a badger before in her life, which prompted some interesting descriptions:

... it's like a black marmot, but a bit bigger... o'h and with white go faster stripes

... or think of a rat-panda.

Somehow Serena didn't manage to understand what on earth we were talking about. Go figure!

It was off to the Hutongs next. They're the ancient residential areas of Beijing, which are still in use today. The best way to get round the Hutongs is on a riskshaw, and man can those guys get round/over/through obstacles, be it roadworks, piles of rubble, anything... they would care not a jot.

*rumble rumble rumble*

...

Ooo look at that!

...

how cool is thi... wait, is that a hole in the road?...

argh!

*holds on for dear life*

*prays to God, Allah, Buddha... anyone that will listen*

During our tour of the Hutongs we paused by the gateway to one house so that one of the guides could describe some of its features.

• The number of beams above the door was a status symbol, so much so that marriages would be arranged on the basis of how many beams were above the door. hastily nails beams above my door at home
• The doors are flanks by either guardian animals or drums. The different animals or drum shapes would signify the military rank of the man of the house.
• Now this one is the weird one... all the traditional gateways has a raised ledge along the bottom. This is to stop the evil spirits entering the house. How it stops them I hear you ask... well, apparently those evil spirits don't have knees and are therefore unable to step over the threshold. Is it bad that I am currently imagining a pile of evil spirits, flat on the floor, unable to get up? hehehe

It wasn't until after the rest of the rickshaw ride that we actually got to explore behind one of these gateways. We were taken into a families home so that we could see how a traditional Chinese house is laid out.

The traditional style of house is courtyards with surrounding rooms/buildings.

I will admit that I wasn't entirely comfortable with this part of the Hutongs tour, even though the family were very welcoming, it still felt like the whole... look at the poor Chinese people type of tourism.


But at least it wasn't for long, we had a tower to climb!

The Bell Tower

Traditionally the Bell Tower, along with the Drum Tower, told the time to the commoners, one for the day time and one for the night time. To my surprise we were ushered into the Bell Tower.

The Drum Tower- but we didn't go in it

Now, a lot of people have this stereotypical image of a Chinese person being short, either that or we are just overly tall, but it came as a shock to realise that even if they are short or not, they are certainly fans of steep stairs! Some of the steps came a good way up my shin (in fact, when coming back down them later several people sat down and descended with posterior aid- and before you ask this wasn't the only steep stair case on the trip, but that's getting WAY ahead of myself).

You can see them struggling with the steps way at the back?

At the top we were greeted by some fantastic views of the city... and a HUGE bell. Well, I suppose that was to be expected really given that it's called the Bell Tower, but it really is rather huge. (The internet reliably tells me that it is in fact 23 feet tall... that's just over 7meters... that, you have to admit, is huge)

Ding Dong...

And that's all there just to hold it up!

In fact it is so huge that they had trouble casting it! The story goes that the Emperor had wanted to bell made from a single casting. The casting kept failing and the Emperor, who was used to getting what he wanted when he wanted it, set a dead line. A literal dead line. It was the day of the deadline, and if it didn't work today then the caster would be executed, when the casters daughter prayed to the gods... right before jumping into the vat of molten bronze! The caster, realising his daughters self sacrifice, cast the Bell. this time it worked... as her soul helped keep it sound.

... so bell makers remember, if nothing is working right for you today, then you're probably just missing the secret ingredient... dead daughter.

We were then given the choice of getting the coach back to the hotel, or making our own way there. Needless to say, most of us opted to make our own way. While walking back to the hotel we found a gorgeous little area of Beijing. It was what we all had in mind when they said that we would be going to the Silk Road Market the day before.

It was only unfortunate that this touristy style of china was also accompanied by tourists prices! £3 (yes pounds!) for a can of Sprite... and you thought that the vending machine at work was bad

Things I learned today:

• Hailing a taxi is difficult in China, they just think that you are waving, wave back at you and keep on driving

• They are rather curious about white people, and will stare... even in the public toilets... which have no doors

• You can get viennetta ON A STICK! why don't we have this in the UK?! lets get with the program people...

• Beijing has its own version of the I (heart) NY t-shirts... Beijing can be shortened to BJ. I'll give you a minute to fully appreciate that

• A stair master would be a pointless present for an evil spirit

• If in doubt, chuck your daughter into a vat of molten metal

• Beths shoes can fit entirely inside Eds...

Yup, she is wearing her shoes inside those shoes!

  Again, thanks to those that donated photos.

A camp with extras

There were several reason why we went camping with the scouts at Laughterton this weekend:

• We had been asked to do circus skills workshops for a cub camp.
• Saxilby scouts (from whom we are 'borrowing' a leader) were potentially needing more leaders to meet their sprog to adult ratios.
• We wanted to do a small weekend camp before we broke up for the summer.
• please note that the weather forecast was not one of the reasons- the past so many weekends have been glorious, and we had to pick the wet one!

And I would like to say straight away... before I forget... THANK YOU to Mim (my GSL) for organising it. I was far too busy running round like the proverbial decapitated poultry getting everything sorted out for Kandersteg.

We had a total of 8 sprogs attend the camp and our program for them was simple enough.

• Friday: pitch site, wide game, supper and bed
• Saturday: route cards and plan hike (while some of the leaders ran circus skills with the cubs from another group), the actual hike in the afternoon and a campfire that night
• Sunday: some pioneering and then strike camp

Apart from that it would be free time for the sproggage to play. Simple enough you would have thought?

Friday went pretty much to plan... apart from me only having 15minutes to actually pack my own kit! mind you, I didn't actually forget anything. We thoroughly annoyed the sprogs with the Train Game at supper, it's a puzzle game where they have to figure out the rule behind what you are doing... none of them got it so I suppose it will run over to the next camp.

Saturday, well... that is where our first little extra surprise came in. I hadn't long returned to the site, from collecting the circus gear (there wasn't enough room for it and the camping equipment) when the site warden walks up to us and tells us that we have to move! Apparently the plot we were on is actually owned by a group, and they were on their way to the site for the weekend.

*argh*

With all hands to the pumps, and a bit of help from the cub camp leaders thank you! we managed to move our entire site - mess tent, tables, stoves, tents and all in 20-30mins.

Our second little surprise came when we were driving out to the checkpoint to meet the sprogs on their hike. I had noticed that a sign saying ZHP Polish Scout Centre. Turns out that there is actually another campsite, just 2minutes further down the road, that is run by the Polish Scout Association... and no body even knew it was there!

We stopped in to check the place out and the facilities looked brilliant, I currently have plans for some things to do with that site buzzing round my head at the moment. But how could this little gem of a place not be known by anyone? Laughterton was mobbed with groups this weekend, and the Polish place was deserted (purely cause no one knew about it).

... it's a strange World I tell ya

... anyway, back to the camp.

I managed to get 2 of my new starts invested at the campfire infront of all the other scouts. One of the cub leaders and myself ran the campfire... and there was only two things that I thought we wrong with it. Firstly I wanted to keep going longer (but cubilly-winks need their sleep). And secondly, I was the one doing all the running for Cecile the Caterpillar.

running.... *shudder*

Unfortunately the pioneering on Sunday didn't really happen, mainly because the sprogettes didn't finish making breakfast til 11am. (and before you say anything about me being sexist and getting the girls to do the cooking, the boys had done it the day before...*so there*)

Some funny quotes from camp:

• when heading up to the campfire: "Are they going to dim the lights when you do the fire poi?"
• Leader: "Stop being things I can't call you"
• Sprog while walking out of toilet, added humour in the fact that a boy she really fancies was within earshot: "Going to the toilet is fun"

Camps little lessons:

• How to move a site- quickly
• pretending to flick someones blister is a bad idea... you might accidentally hit it Sorry!
• Sprogs can take forever to cook or wash up at times
• Cub leaders are usually packing sweets/cake
• Coca Cola burps can be the cause of hilarity for several reasons