The land of smiling faces
Trip Start
Aug 02, 2007
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33
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Trip End
Oct 05, 2007
Ulan Bator, Mongolia
Thursday, September 6, 2007
After 16 years of what Muujie calls the "democracia" the Mongolians have been slowly and surely re-discovering their storied past, a past that had been shunted to the wayside and virtually buried since the socialist revolution of 1921. Nowhere is this re-discovery more evident that Sukhbatar Square, Ulan Bator's main square named after their national hero, a 1920's socialist revolutionary
Sukhbaatar, the Axe Hero
. In the center of the square Damdin Sukhbatar stands poised astride a horse with sword raised skyward, yet despite his position in the center of the square that still bears his name, he has been reduced to the role of a minor player. The square is now dominated by the newly remodeled (2006) parliament building setting at the north end of the square, and right smack-dab in the center of the parliament building complex is a large statue of a seated Chinggis Khan, facing south, commanding the square (and of course, Sukhbatar). There was no question Chinggis had regained the people's crown.Chinggis is omnipresent in Mongolia. As Mongolia's best vodka (of course, named Chinggis) states on its label, Chinggis Khan is "The Man of the Millennia" and his name can now be found everywhere, from gracing restaurant marquees, to being included in every souvenir shop name, to being the name of Mongolia's best selling beer (and a not-too-shabby-a-brew at that). Not too bad for the man who set in motion the largest land empire the world has ever known (apologies to Alexander, Rome, and Ms. Britannia).
After being kept in the dark by the communists as to whom they really were for so long, the Mongolians were discovering that no matter how bad the traffic is, or how unappealing Ulan Bator looks, they have every reason to smile and be proud of being Mongolian
Mongolian Parliament
. Most importantly, they had passed Chuck's simple test of "interestingness" - a smile was always returned with a smile, and I initiated the smile test way less than half the time. A side note to the curators of the Russian National History Museum in Moscow, there is no need to ignore the period from the Bolshevik revolution to the current day. It makes it look like you're trying to sweep an era under the carpet (sorta like what the communists did to the imperial era). The Mongolians included every period in their National Museum of Mongolian History, and while the socialist/communist period contained some very painful events, they were still covered with dignity and respect for the period. I think they're richer for it.
We visited the Gandan Monastery (short for Gandantegchinlen) and saw its treasure, a 26.5 meter tall re-constructed gilded statue of Buddha. This monastery survived the nationwide wholesale destruction of temples and monasteries, and systematic elimination of Buddhist monks in the country during the early 1930's under the direction of good ole Uncle Joe. An event paralleled by Uncle Joe's attempted elimination of Russian Orthodox churches during the same period in Russia. The monastery survived, but the original gilded Buddha did not
Chinggis Khan
. Uncle Joe's minions carted the original off to Russia (hmmm, I wonder if the gold and precious stones had anything to do with it), never to be seen again.Not to be daunted, Mongolia and public and private donors have been systematically rebuilding some of the leveled temples and restoring others that were not knocked down and scattered to the four winds.
No visit to Ulan Bator would be complete without the climb up to the Zaisan Memorial to see the wonderfully kitschy memorial "donated" to the Mongolian people from their Russian brethren. Besides providing a splendid view of UB, it was worth the effort to climb the 280 steps (you guessed it, Ho-Ki counted them) just to see the mosaics done in the communist-era social realism style.
Muujie had done her guiding job admirably. We had really enjoyed the two days she showed us around UB, and her good selection of restaurants for us. Our driver, Saruul, had done a yeoman's job as well, guiding us through a city with crumbling streets that appeared to be just one large traffic jam. Tomorrow we were headed out of UB with Muujie and Saruul to Terelj, a national park, located 70 Km (40 miles) away, for two days in a ger camp. We were really looking forward to that...
Comments
Walls, fences, and nomads
This is Ho-Ki.
Why are we so fond of walls? There was the Berlin Wall, and the Kremlin wall, and the Great Wall in China to come. And Anna, our guide, told us the joke that, since the Iron Curtain came down, Russians had to make do with fences round their houses, and walls round their gated compounds.
But little did I expect that Mongolian nomads, who are used to roam in wide open spaces, would put up solid 6-ft walls around their gers!