With minimal sleep we enthusiastically head out to start on the sights and set the scene. Most of us have travelled together with Gabriella previously and we happily catch up quickly and slowly.
\nWe visit Gandan Tegchenling Monastery, The National History Museum and The Bogd Khan Palace Museum. We lunch on Mongolian BBQ and we begin to get a feel for contemporary local life by stopping very briefly at the State Department Store.
\nBefore dinner we attend a fashion parade with intermission filled by local musicians and a contortionist.
\nMy photo frenzy has started.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday we hit the Fine Arts Zanabazar Museum<\/a>, The Costume Museum plus we tour the bleak Cashmere Factory and then its lush and gloriously tactile <\/em>shop. Generally I listen to our tour guides with only one ear<\/em> – my modus operandi on these tours. I am here for the imagery to further my own interests. Listening attentively takes away from the very limited personal time available. I reason that with basic knowledge and understanding of a culture I can research in detail on my return. This cultural day is topped by THE Cultural performance – high on the list of must sees<\/em> for all tourists to Mongolia. On Thursday we head out of town to the enormous Chinggis Khan Statue and then the 13th Century park. The wide and ’empty’ vistas slowly change from the high rise (but not slick) city, to Ger towns and industry, then free-range country side. Friday is a ‘doing’ day. We visit a local quilter’s home in the UB Ger district and in turn we are all set off to teach at the Mongolian Quilting Centre<\/a> – a not for profit venture set up to educate and empower local disadvantaged women. In the afternoon it was time to swap venues and tasks and it was my turn to be the student and to learn a local quilt pattern and to use a hand cranked sewing machine….very quickly instead I became a teacher’s aide and helped others to make their simple block under these foreign\/difficult conditions.<\/p>\n After a cuppa we had two hours to wait for the other half of the group to join us for dinner and I was coerced to teach the morning’s class again for those that remained. We cobbled together enough materials leftover from the days’ kits to enable completion of some very interesting\/rough:) versions. They got the gist. The weekend sees us fly to the Gobi Desert. In our spacious shared Gers the luxury is also having an en-suite. We are in the Gobi to explore but we are also here to each make a Deel, the traditional womens ‘coat’, so on Saturday night we team up to take our measurements which will be needed for the Monday stitching session. We ‘old people’ as she cheekily referred to us, were opening her eyes – just as she and her country and countrymen were doing to us.<\/p>\n The final day in the week took us bulleting in our vehicles out to a far flung local family. Here we listened and looked and nibbled and rode….and laughed and grimaced!<\/p>\n The lifestyle of these nomadic families amazed us. They are very self sufficient yet they have a TV! They spin on a spindle, make cheese, sniff snuff, make felt in a wink. We politely and very tentatively had a go at many of these tasks. Taking snuff probably had us worried the most:) The next race over the countryside, and our final adventure for the week, took us to the Flaming Cliffs, where the first dinosuar eggs were discovered in the 1920’s.<\/p>\n![\"mongolian](\"http:\/\/janmullen.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/week-38-4.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThe Fine Art Museum is my memorable visit for the this long day – so many ancient and wonderful items and a whole floor of textile wonders<\/strong> to drool over.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nInterestingly there is a charge for taking photos in many of these museums. The snap-crazy amongst us were temporarily taken aback by this but we did not hesitate to help top up their coffers.
\nIn a museum that we visited later we needed to pay for each of the three floors before seeing them and were only allowed to take 10-12 photos per floor – a fascinatingly silly arrangement in this digital age when photos on one’s blog or facebook could encourage visits….<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThe Tumen Ekh Ensemble<\/a> combines a wealth traditional talent through sound, movement and colour. From the amazingly melodic<\/em> Tuvan throat singers, the fascinating skills of the contortionist, the addictive awry sounds of unusual instruments to the visuals of sets and costumes in glorious colour, pattern and form.
\nIt certainly sets the scene for us.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nWe view herds of sheep and goats, always together as a goat between two sheep will keep the sheep warm in this very harsh climate.
\nHorses and cattle wander in looser, generally smaller groups.
\nWe learn much about the intricacies of non-urban life as our questions are asked and answered……why is the landscape sometimes dotted with lines of half-buried tyres?
\nANSWER…the owner can’t afford a fence yet but still needs to mark the boundary….<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nI spend the morning teaching a small group the essence of my Free and Eazy Circles book. One of the Judy’s, (we had three of them), taught Kumihimo braid to the remainder. Both of us were thankfully<\/em> aided by some of our team. We were challenged by many things; lack of a common language, a tiny<\/em> work space, ancient sewing machines, and lack of time. Despite this we had success and a whole pile of smiles.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nI do love teaching – even in the most interesting\/challenging conditions!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nIn five vans our drivers hoon across the very bumpy terrain at speed. The roads are merely tracks – sometimes multiples which veer and merge seemingly randomly across the landscape. There are no signposts and few distinctive physical differences.
\nIt is very bumpy and noisy fun in our vehicle….<\/em>we are in the Gobi on the way to our luxury Ger Camp!!!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nIt is having a few fellas come in our unlocked door at 6am to light our heater.
\nIt is having a movie theatre Ger where we watch ‘The Weeping Camel’ one night then a documentary on the finding of Dinosaur eggs in 1920 the next.
\nIt is lovely fresh food made from minimal ingredients. I chose to be vegetarian on this trip and was rewarded by a beautiful array fresh veg simply cooked.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nEarly on I am sitting next to our guide Annie. We are very well bonded and supportive as a group and I offer Annie an extension of that support. I simply, instinctively<\/em> ask, would you like to make a Deel? Her quick, bullet-like reply allowed me to donate my fabric to her and to prepare once again<\/em> switch to ‘helper’ mode.
\nShe owns her late grandfathers Deel but does not have one of her own.
\nShe is well bonded to her stitching grandmother.
\nMaking a Deel will be a strengthening of that tie.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nTheir income comes from their herds and many of their other skills.
\nBeautiful people.
\nWe finish the visit by riding on their two-humped camels across the sand, around a dune and back to the other half of our group who have their bumpy wobbily turn at being led. Hold onto the hump, the front one<\/em>, was our only instruction!<\/p>\n