The Chinggas Factor

The Mongolians and I have some things in common...
Their enemies to the south (the Chinese) built a wall (the Great Wall) to keep them out... where as our equivalent (Hadrians Wall) is rather less impressive.

Why bring this up? This summer I took part in an expedition to Mongolia and China with UK Network, and this week at COLDnet I was trying to pass on some of the experiences that I had. I started with the somewhat traditional slideshow of photographs, trying to keep it from being yet another boring slideshow of someone elses holiday.

Thats where the usual stuff ended. After the slideshow I got out some pens and paper and got everyone to try and write their names in Mongolian script... which can look beautiful when done properly and look like a five year old has done a squiggly line with a crayon when a networker does it.

I also got them to try some Mongolian cooking, making cabbage, potatoe and mutton (ok, lamb...) Khuushuur. Everyone seamed to like the food, although not everyone got the hang of sealing up the Khuushuur so that they wouldn't leak into the pan!

*I'll post some photos soon*