Jun 10, 2013 - Karakorum and the Gobi Desert

Well. We survived our trip to the grasslands and the Gobi desert. We've just returned to UB from a four day three night trip to the Bayangobi, Karakorum and Hestai national park and it was the worst tour we have experienced, ever, anywhere. Don't get me wrong, the scenery was beautiful, the people were great, the experience was fantastic, it was just the organisation was hopeless. It was the least organised, most chaotic, shambolic tour I've ever been on. We got lost every day, the tour guide never seemed to know where we were and the...

May 24, 2013 - Life in Mongolia

For the last 5/6 days I have been in Mongolia which is a country of great contrasts. Ulaanbaatar(UB), the capital, is a big, sprawling , dusty, noisy and chaotic city, which is pretty western in its outlook. Half of the total population of Mongolia, 1.5 million live in UB and it is still sucking in people from the countryside. Mongolia is the 18th largest country in the world but with just 3 million people. Meanwhile the countryside, or at least the parts I saw, is sparsely populated, arid, scenic, with some attractive places and with very...

Aug 6, 2012 - Exploring the Gobi Desert

It was so hard to leave the Lotus Children’s Summer Camp. After a week there, we all got so attached to the children. But it was time for us to head out to the next part of the trip – four days and three nights in the Gobi Desert. We took local bus from UB to Mandalgavi, about 7 hours south. Mandalgavi is a small town right at the northern edge of the Gobi Desert. We spent our time exploring this part of the Gobi Desert, which is cooler than the sand dunes located further south. We booked our trip through a company called Ger to Ger...

Aug 1, 2012 - Naadam

We were in Mongolia during Naadam, the yearly 3 day festival where three traditional Mongolian sports are featured - archery, horseback riding, and wrestling. In Ulaanbaatar, it is always July 11-13, but it can be celebrated on different days in other towns. If you are planning a trip to Mongolia, I would recommend going during Naadam to Ikh Gazriin Chuluu (aka Noble Rock), about 7 hours south of UB by local bus. This area is in the Gobi desert and looks very much like Joshua Tree (without the Joshua Trees but with the same type of rock...

Jul 24, 2012 - Rhythm of camp life

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the camp had a Peter Pan Never land quality where the kids rule the camp and refuse to grow up. But there is some semblance of a schedule we followed each day. In the morning, about 7 am, we would wake up and have a morning circle where a staff member led some stretching exercises. The kids then go off and do their chores - gathering water, gathering firewood, washing clothes and helping in the kitchen. We then did morning activities until lunch. Then there were afternoon activities, dinner, and an evening...

Jul 21, 2012 - Children at the Lotus Center

The children at the orphanage range from 3-18. They were living on the streets or were abandoned. For example, there was a brother/sister twin sibling group whose father had killed their mother. The father was serving time in prison but was expected to be release in a few years, and perhaps regain custody of the children again??? Another young girl was left in the hospital by her mom right after labor, and the newborn had two holes in her heart. Doctors predicted she would not live long. Due to the care at the Lotus Center, she is an...

Jul 21, 2012 - Pictures of camp life

Attached to this entry are some pictures of what the camp, the kids, and the volunteers. We divided the kids into three teams (Super Girls and Boys, Mickey Mouse, and Pizza Party (the names were chosen by the kids)), and we had contests over 5 days, and the competition between the teams got pretty intense. Hope you enjoy the pics.

Jul 20, 2012 - Video of the Lotus Center's summer camp from 2011

Here is a link to a video about the Lotus Center and has video from last year's summer camp. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKLvggnz3gA. This video mixes images from the old oprhanage building (there is a newer facility) and images from the summer camp which is a green meadow area surrounded by trees and next to the river. I also now have access to a computer and will start including some photos from my trip.

Jul 11, 2012 - Ben en Mongolie - In der Mongolei

Debut Juillet, Ben est alle en Mongolie pour le boulot, et il a prolonge son sejour par quelques jours de vacances afin d'assister a la fete nationale du pays, appelee Naadam. Je devais le rejoindre mais le yahourt francais n'attend pas, finies les vacances! Pendant ces 4 jours de fete, Oulan-Bator se transforme en grande arene ou toutes sortes de jeux traditionnels mongols, competitions, concerts ont lieu. Pour ne citer que quelques animations: tirs a l'arc, courses de chevaux, lutte mongole... Ca reste une fete tres traditionnelle et les...

Jul 10, 2012 - Life in a ger

For the week that we were at the summer camp, we stayed in a ger (the Mongolian veraion of a yurt). It had lattice wood walls that fold accordion style. These walls are expanded and then are tied together to a door frame and form a circle. A center structure which is a small circle with two wood posts are the support for the wood poles that attach between the lattice walls and the center support to create the roof. Animal skins are placed around the top and sides. It's not watertight as we found out the hard way.  The male volunteer ger...

Jul 9, 2012 - Lotus Children's Center Summer Camp

Lotus Children's Center (www.lotuschild.org) is the orphanage that Rena and I volunteered with. Rena learned about this organization from a guy we met as we trekked through Nepal in Sept. 2010. The Lotus Center accepts volunteers to work with their children. They prefer a minimum commitment of 2 weeks but agreed to let us come for just a week. There are a variety of volunteer opportunities. There is a gardening project to build garden beds at the newly opened orphanage in Garchuurt. There is also an older boys' camp (age 14-17) that we were...

Jul 8, 2012 - How to Avoid Jet Lag

Getting to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia was rough. But the upside was that I suffered absolutely no jet lag. I did it by: - sleeping only 2 hours the night before my flight (July 4/5) - flying a crazy route of LAX to Chicago to Beijing (July 5, arriving July 6) - arriving in Beijing about 10 pm local time and going to a 24 hour massage place and getting a massage. Unfortunately, it wasn't really 24 hours because they shut down all the amenities and shooed us out after our massage, so we weren't able to nap there like we had planned. - sleeping on...