Well. I don't have much time to post anything these days, as this seminar keeps me pretty busy. I must say that it is a surprisingly good time, at least intellectually. I have never in my life traveled in a group, and I was a bit worried about that. . . actually, I am most always pretty snobby when I see the foreign group pile off the bus in a herd, complete with guide. I think the only times I have ever even been with a single 
person (other than family) is with Mike in Panama and Karl in India. However, this is working out well. The group, about ten folks (about half from the University of Missouri, which makes me feel at home from my undergrad days in Missouri), is all a different bunch of folks, and pretty much all but one or two are drinking buddies already (and later on I found the Bourbon drinker in Marian). And the seminar part is amazing-- I am really getting more out of learning the easy way then I ever have in a foreign port. Mostly we have one or two lectures a day and then visit museums, monuments, temples, or whatever at other times, and then go off in small groups for dinner and drinking in the evening. The lectures are incredible-- from the Deputy Director of the Unified Intelligence Agencies giving a briefing on security matters to laughing lamas babbling about Buddhism, it works really well. I am learning tremendously about this place.
BUT Ulaanbaatar (UB, as it is called) is still is right up there with the dustiest, concrete-ugliest, construction-and-butt-ugly city I have ever been in. Broken concrete, pavement heaves, dust and dirt. Like Russia, incredibly hot in the sun but it can drop down to below freezing in the nights, little things have can have huge impacts on the ecology of the place. . . a little less moisture one year, and the grasses don't grow the next, so the herds chomp everything down and what little moisture there is is not retained, and a five-year cycle of brown follows. One lecture said that current global warming predictions are for the Gobi to entirely consume Mongolia 
within fifty years!
person (other than family) is with Mike in Panama and Karl in India. However, this is working out well. The group, about ten folks (about half from the University of Missouri, which makes me feel at home from my undergrad days in Missouri), is all a different bunch of folks, and pretty much all but one or two are drinking buddies already (and later on I found the Bourbon drinker in Marian). And the seminar part is amazing-- I am really getting more out of learning the easy way then I ever have in a foreign port. Mostly we have one or two lectures a day and then visit museums, monuments, temples, or whatever at other times, and then go off in small groups for dinner and drinking in the evening. The lectures are incredible-- from the Deputy Director of the Unified Intelligence Agencies giving a briefing on security matters to laughing lamas babbling about Buddhism, it works really well. I am learning tremendously about this place.
BUT Ulaanbaatar (UB, as it is called) is still is right up there with the dustiest, concrete-ugliest, construction-and-butt-ugly city I have ever been in. Broken concrete, pavement heaves, dust and dirt. Like Russia, incredibly hot in the sun but it can drop down to below freezing in the nights, little things have can have huge impacts on the ecology of the place. . . a little less moisture one year, and the grasses don't grow the next, so the herds chomp everything down and what little moisture there is is not retained, and a five-year cycle of brown follows. One lecture said that current global warming predictions are for the Gobi to entirely consume Mongolia 
within fifty years! 
But, there is nonetheless a positively euphoric feeling in the air-- everybody is so excited and pleased with liberation from Russia (1991 or so) and the possibilities. They have lots of minerals to sell (with all sorts of interesting problems, from corruption to too much money) and everybody is way up-beat. So its cool!There are Soviet-like statues everywhere in town-- Lenin of course, and their own revolutionary heroes as well. Stalin, who offed almost 10% of the population back in the later '30's, was removed and now is the centerpiece of a disco right down the street! LOL!
Tomorrow we leave for a four day jeep trek through the steppes, hot on the trail of Chingis Khan. Chingis Khan (Ghengis Khan) is a god over here. If you don't know, he went from being an orphaned herder/hunter kid in a tribe that nobody really ever heard of (the Mongols) to having perhaps the world's largest empire within about 25 years. As they say, his horses drank the waters from the Pacific to the Mediterranean, from the Vietnam shorelines to the Siberian, from Moscow to Korea. He has become an incredibly potent foil to the Western cultural/political incursions, and most all Asians take great pride in their Chingis. . . but here in Mongolia, he is a cult fetish item. Everything is Chingis, from the beer to the vodka to the candy bars to the images in the Buddhist temples to the pics on the cash. So, following the ancient "Secret History of the Mongols," we have a number of jeeps and are going out to the steppes to retrace his early life. . . feels a bit like a pilgrimage! We have ger camps for the evenings as we make about a 1,300 km journey: http://www.mongoliacenter.org/IFDS2008OK, gotta run. More later.
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