Home at last. . . and riots in Ulaanbaatar

Ah, as they say, taking off for an adventure is always great, being on the road is wonderful . . . but coming home is best.

After a two-day rest, I had to get back on a plane and head down to the International Association of Buddhist Studies in Atlanta for four days, and then finally got back for good.

And then the riots hit Ulaanbaatar. On the night of the election, suppossedly driven by rumors of election fraud, folks burned down the headquarters of the MPRP (Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, basically the Communist party which has pretty much held power since 1921, including in the non-Communist democratic Mongolia). People have blamed the Democrats, especially the former PM that I was drinking with on my last night in Mongolia!!! In any case, things seem to have quieted down almost immediately, with no lingering after-effects or continued violence. Here are some places that I go to for information: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hKe4LhXXcwou_A20rfic7togZTrw;

http://mongolianstudies.blogspot.com/; http://asiangypsy.blogspot.com/2008/07/mongolia-riots-state-of-emergency.html. All of these sites will get to other places as well. Finally, a fun blog run by a Western Buddhist living in Ulaanbaatar that was very informative when I met him is: http://danzanravjaa.typepad.com/my_weblog/. Especially interesting is his critiques of the new movie Mongol, and the many critical reviews that he points you to.

Alas.