So here I am in Mongolia on a monitoring visit for work. The project that I’m working on is about ensuring access to health and education for children with cognitive disabilities – and it’s been good to spend the first day with the team out here learning how the project is going… lots of discussions on what the team has been up to during the first six months and then an afternoon of finance going over reporting requirements and EC particulars of the EC contract.
As we stepped out of the airport terminal building last night the cold temperatures hit you in the face but I was slightly disappointed to discover the temperature reading in the car only registering -2C. Still, we’re promised colder weather later in the week and I’m looking forward to the forecast -11C!
We were dropped off at our hotel just after 11pm Mongolian time. So after catching a taxi from home at 3.30pm on Monday afternoon, I make that a good solid 24hours travel! But it helped that I managed to sleep quite a bit on the flight to Seoul, which left me awake enough to get a bit of work done in the airport lounge on my 4 hour stop-over.
Fortunately the jet lag hasn’t hit despite all the meetings - - top tip for jet lag is to get into the daily routine of your destination. I slept surprisingly well last night and haven’t felt too tired today despite having to wake up at what my body was telling me was 2.30am! After breakfast at the hotel I got picked up at 9.30am for the drive to the office – it turned out to be literally just round the corner no more than 10 min walk away but I’d have never found my way alone through a maze of soviet style housing blocks! Most people seem to live in apartments in these housing blocks – not like back home where a lot of people have a much smaller individual home. Having said that I have also spotted a number of gers (the traditional Mongolian round felt-tent) dotted around the city. Not what you usually expect to find in the middle of suburbia!
This is the first work trip that I’ve had where Kaylene has come along also – makes a nice change and won’t be having any lonesome nights in a non-descript hotel like I had in Burma!
This evening some good friends that we know outside of work took us out around the city. It was great to catch-up with them and spend the evening together. Also helps to have a guide to show you some of the places we might not have seen. First stop on our tour was Sukhbaatar Square where Damdiny Sukhbaatar declared Mongolia’s final independence from the Chinese. Unfortunately a statue of the man-of-the-moment astride his horse had been removed for refurbishment and the sign told us we’d have to return on 20th Feb 2011 to see him in all his splendour. I guess that will have to wait till next trip!
Next we were taken up a steep hill to the Zaisan Memorial which overlooks the city and provides a great view at sunset – we timed the visit to perfection and got to view the city just as the sun set. The Zaisan Memorial was built by the Russians and celebrates the close working of the two countries with paintings around the circular memorial depicting how the Russians helped establish communism, the Mongolians assisting Russia to defeat the Nazi’s, Mongolian involvement in the Russian space race (they even had a man sent up themselves) and finally how they all worked together to reach the expected utopia. I guess they’re still waiting for that final stage to actually happen but it certainly makes a good painting!
We finished the evening with dinner at a restaurant. As I like to try new foods I went for the khuurshuur, which sounded distinctly like “horse-shoe” when I ordered it. When it arrived turned out to be a fried mutton pancake – that actually tasted rather good but a little on the greasy side to manage all three that sat on my plate.
Back at the hotel now and trying to fit all we need for the next four days into one suitcase for our trip to Bayankhongor. Situated 400 miles west of Ulaanbaatar I’m expecting a long and bumpy ride tomorrow to get there – it's going to be a full day’s drive so better get to bed.
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