08Mar08
Trip Start
Feb 15, 2008
1
5
13
Trip End
Ongoing
UlaanBaatar,
Mongolia
Saturday, March 8, 2008
I've been in Mongolia for three weeks now, and it continue to get warmer! It was a truly tropical 8 degrees yesterday, a total heatwave! I hope it lasts.
This week has involved more Mongolian language training which I am really enjoying. I can now do past, present and future tenses, order food in a restaurant, and answer the phone Mongolian style. Our teachers (Chimgee and Saraa) make the lessons interesting and never seem to run out of energy.
On Friday I met a representative from the Central Veterinary Laboratory (CVL) here in Ulaanbaatar, where I'll be working this year. The set up of the veterinary laboratories seems very similar to that in the UK and Australia
UB from Zaisan monument
. There are a number of smaller diagnostic labs in the countryside which deal with on-farm problems and do simple diagnostic tests, and they feed into a larger central laboratory (the CVL) which carries out more complicated tests if needed. The CVL has a bacteriology, virology, pathology, serology and parasitology department and about 50 staff. They deal with quite a few diseases I haven't seen before such as brucellosis (abortus and mellitensis), rabies, and sheeppox. I'm hoping I'll have the opportunity to visit some of the countryside laboratories during my time here.I have also been continuing my sightseeing around UB. There is a monument on a hill to the south called the Zaisan monument. It is dedicated to soliders, and you get a wonderful view of the city from the top. I walked up there this morning and took some photos as well as a video. I'll see if I can upload the video, it shows UB laid out the other side of a frozen river. Unfortunately it does highlight the thick blanket of smog that hangs over the city, one of its least attractive features. A lot of people, if they can afford it, are beginning to move out of the centre of UB to the outskirts to avoid the smog and the traffic jams, and you can see on the video lots of new buildings going up on the southern edge of the city. There are also areas called "ger districts" going up on the outskirts of UB. These are at the opposite end of the social spectrum from the new apartment blocks
Zaisan monument from a distance
. Rural people who cannot make a living in the countryside anymore move to the city with their family and ger and set up on the outskirts and try to find work in the city. The wood burning stoves used in the gers are the cause of a lot of the UB smog. We have had a lot of statistics given to us over the past three weeks during our lectures, but I think my favourite is that there are 2.6 million people in Mongolia and 2.2 million horses, so there is almost a horse for every person in Mongolia!
Love from
Pip (or in Mongolian "Οθο")
