China - Beijing & Xi'an (12-21.03)

China... oh China...

To be honest China was never on my priority list of travels, I was conscious it was an amazing country and their culture and cultural heritage is impressive... but still not on my priority list... However being in Mongolia, made it easy, made it good!

This was the second time in Beijing and coming from UB it feels so amazing, the civilisation! I'm not sure my perspectives of China would be the same if i went from Europe.

It's been a while since this trip, great trip, so i wont do the narrative part...

In very very brief, we went with Antonio and Peter (Antonio on his way back to Europe and Peter to pick up his mother) on the train to spent some time in Beijing, living i have to say the good life! nice restaurants, bars etc... a few days later some friends of Antonio arrived from Spain, and then after a couple of days in Beijing we left to Xi'an. Peter came back to UB. We visited Xi'an in the proper touristy way, then i it was time for me to go back to Beijing and flight back to UB, the boys kept travelling in China.

I'm glad i saw something more than Beijing, Xian still a major city but less spoiled by globalisation: if i might say!

I have over 500 photos so i'll just select 1 or 2 from each place we visited.... (after all it looks like i couldnt really just choose one or two.... sorry!)
Enjoy!

Beijing

The Art / Galleries "quarter"



What is sad about this photo is that is a natural face!
I was leaning over to give a kiss to the statue and it moved, this was my natural reaction!!!

The old summer palace
in an attempt to visit the more recent palace we ended up in the old one, not easy when the quanji (??) instructions are wrong!

The Great Wall
or as Mongolian call it the White wall...

The whole group
Carlos, me, Marcos, Peter & Antonio

the way down, the slide/toboggan
I was ready to pay again the whole fee just to go down again!

Xi'an


The Mosque

The Muslim quarters

green eggs?

this was sooooo good!

Drum and Bell Tower

Drum tower and the kite runners

Bell tower from the Drum tower

Drum Tower

we were lucky enough to be there for the performance... if i get a change i'll upload the videos on you tube!

the muslim quarters from the drum tower

View of the Drum tower from the Bell tower!

@ Bell tower,
the classic pic!

Mad traffic in Xi'an

Touristy night performance...
but still nice!

On the streets...

Stone palace

this is how the replicate them...

Around the city wall...

Terra-cota warriors!

Big Pagoda

Back in Beijing....

The Summer Palace!
stunning!

Antonio's Farewell (March 2009)

Ya era hora que se fuera! digo yo! (jajaja, no se si lees este blog Polito pero sabes que es de broma! se te extranha, he perdido unos kilitos ya que nadie me cocina ahora!!!!)

So, yes Antonio, also known as Polo, or Javier and even sometimes as Fernandez left us... we had to celebrate, with him of course....

Ops!

Apologies! I have loads of photos and stories to upload, I will eventually do it sometime... soon enough I hope....

Just to let you know I haven't forgotten about the blog... I was in China for some holidays and in Europe for a little while, unfortunately my grandmother passed away, I'm sure she is now drinking champagne and catching up with my grandad...

I wanted to start today but right now I'm suffering for major jet lag issues, plus the fact that I was proved once again that I am not 20 anymore and partying the night before and cycling to the countryside does have some consequences... although it leaves "memorable memories"

Soon! I promise!

Tsagaan Sar & the year of the ox!

The Mongolian Tsagaan Sar or White Moon is one of the 2 more important celebrations in the country. I talked about it last year but maybe now I understand a bit more of it.

It's basically a moment of getting together, celebrating the end of the lunar year and greeting family and friends. "Bituun" day (the day before Tsagaan Sar) is the day of cleaning, in all senses, people not only clean their houses but also debts, quarrels, etc.. On that day close family gets together and eats like monsters, if you are not stuffed it might mean you will be hungry the new year. The days following Tsagaan Sar people go to relative's houses and greet them, traditionally you should greet the eldest of the family first, and also the eldest relatives of your friends. But how do you greet? you grasp people by their elbows and depending on your age you go under or over, if you are the same age you do a mix. (older people on top = meaning the youngest is supporting them). So it is first about greeting, but is also about getting together, eating and exchanging gifts.

Traditions have change, and now people have made some changes. For example in the old times you will only eat white food (curd, sugar, dairy products and many other Mongolian sweet), drink suute tse (milky tea) and airag (fermented mare's milk, since the summer so i tell you it is fermented!), and other traditional food like the buuz (Mongolian dumplings). Now things have change though and the airag has been often replaced by vodka (it's also white if you put it in a white cup no?) and other food is served like salad (I liked that change!)

However how does a foreigner lives all that?
If you are lucky and you are invited at someone house (I was later told you don't really need to be invited) you will if you want bring some presents (a box of chocolate, a bottle of wine...) when you get into the house you will go around greeting people (arm thing) it is important you keep you hat on and you can say something along the lines of "Amar bain uu?" or for me, easier to say "Saikhan shinleree" (sorry for the spelling!). If the family lives in a ger there is a particular place for visitors, usually the left side as you get in or the east side as the ger's door always faces south. The most important or more respected person sits in front of the door, place of honor. Then the eating (so tempted to write stuffing) begins. As i said all white food the traditional boov (or something like that), a bit cake piece, with different layers that for some reason i still don't know but maybe as all the Buddhist traditions it needs to be odd numbers and on top is covered with white sweeties and erol (curd). And it all goes by 3s, so you need to have at least 3 shots of vodka, or 3 beers (i told you traditions have change), 3 buuz, and so on... When the person leaves the ger is tradition that the family s/he visited offers him/her a gift, there are usually small presents, chocolate, toiletries, etc... if you are lucky and you don't have to visit a family you go home and collapse! During this period you will often see men and women stumbling along the road trying, i guess, to go back to their houses. There is something (i was lucky not to have it this year) about forcing you to eat and particularly to drink... It can be very tough, i tell you!

So the practicalities is what stroked me the most this year. Families with elderly people or basically the eldest in the family, will go through very difficult times if they don't have much money. An average family will make around 600 buuz, but if they have a family member that is relatively old or important in the community they will end up making 2000 of them. I know that for 600 buuz you need more or less a whole leg of a mutton, just for the meat and just for the buuz, then add to the expenses the drinks, other food, the gifts... A Mongolian friend was telling me that people nowadays indebted themselves so much during this period just to be able to keep a face, crime does go up and pickpocketing and even mugging increases drastically...

So at the end of it is a bit like Xmas for us...

Last year I was sick after Tsagaan Sar, I didn't want to eat or touch/smell a buuz for at least 5-6 month. This year I did well, i hide at home and only went where i really wanted to go...


I was curious about the significance of the lunar year itself and the traditions behind and found this web pages which tells the story of how Buddha decided on the order of the animals. So if you want some culture, just click on this link: Nezumi's New Year

Some pics from Peter who woke up very very early on Tsagaan Sar day to visit the Owoo, as many Mongolian did to pay their respect and prey for the upcoming year.

hmmmm... well is the other way around the first photos are supposed to be at the end! No comments!

Wknd in Terelj /Sarah's Bday (21-22/02/08)

Un ptt Weekend a la campagne pour feter les 30 ans de Sarah, de l'air frais le comfort de la ger (yurt), du tout bon!

A little wknd in the countryside to celebrate Sarah's 30th Bday, fresh air, the cosy ger, all good!

Sledging down the hill...

The ger camp

Walking on the snow with slippery shoes is not an easy task!

Work / Boulot

I think this will be my first post here about work...

For a long time I avoided the subject, for many reasons... maybe because I wanted to keep this blog something fun - not work related, maybe also because not much was happening on that front, I was yes, doing some stuff, but I was until recently a bit disappointed, it was all too random, without a main goal, sort of filling the gaps, filling the time. However since I came back from my trip in Europe (october) things have moved, things have changed. My whole life changed!

I'll try to be brief... I came to mongolia to work for a local NGO, that works with parents of disabled children. For a long time I did scattered training on disability, on everyday skills, independence... etc...

Before going to europe I wrote I quite big project, to train national volunteers to visit disadvantaged families that have children with disabilities. When I came back, I had a few meetings, one of them with a big organisation that works all around world with children. Presented the project, and it got accepted. Some modifications needed to be done, basically to make it smaller, a pilot project to be implemented in Ulan Bator to then implemented in other provinces to finally introduce it in the national system of health and social welfare.

So in a few words, what has been keeping me in the office until endless hours? I've been writing the training, 5 months of training (3 days a month), and managing the logistics of it all... for someone as maniac as i can be it's been tough! All the materials are going to be printed as a training manual under the name of the big children organisation, and they have also asked me to do a video. So for now we are filming the training and some more filming will be done soon to support the manual. The training will last until May, June will be the month to edit film and book, and July the month of traveling presenting the manual in different provinces, and I will be very lucky as they are sending me to Bayan-Olgii, the far far west of Mongolia, part I definitely wanted to go, and hadnt found time nor money. (Kazakh province, with amazing landscapes and glaciers) My contract in Mongolia finishes in August, mid-August to be exact, so is all perfect timing!

And what after? Yes I can hear you from here! Well I dont know! For now I decided I will travel a bit in SE Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos) then head to Europe. Again for now, my rational - reasonable part is talking, and I'm thinking to go to Brussels, enjoy the crisis (someone has to make the most of it!) and buy a little flat, invest some money, find a job (hopefully working for this big org will open some doors for me) and do another master in Management & Development with the Open University (distance learning)... Planning a year ahead is enough for me, the rest we'll see!

As you can see all is good, all is busy. This year has been very very different from the first one. More focused on work than parties and trips. And I'm very happy I got to also see this side of the coin! Is true I'm exhausted, a bit stressed out, but it does worth it! Living here was until now an amazing experience on the personal side, and I'm glad is changing to the professional side as well!

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Je pense que ceci est mon premier post qui parle de travail...

Pendant très longtemps j'ai évitée le sujet pour plusieurs raisons, peut-etre parce que je voulais ce blog comme quelque chose de plus perso, pas a propos de boulot, aussi peut-etre parce que il ne se passait pas grande chose de ce cote la (boulot). Oui, je m'occupais bien, mais j'étais un peu decue, il n'y avait pas un but majeur, je faisait des ptt formation a droite et a gauche, quelque parts pour m'occuper. Pourtant, depuis mon ptt voyage en Europe en Octobre les choses ont pas mal changée, ma vie ici a pas mal changée!

Je vais essayer d'être briefe, je suis venue ici pour travailler dans une ONG local, qui supporte des parents d'enfant handicapes. Pendant longtemps j'ai fait des formations sur l'handicap, l'importance de l'indépendance des enfants/persones handicapées.

Avant de partir en Europe j'ai écris un projet pour former des bénévoles locaux, qui visiteraient les familles dans les banlieue et qui ont majoritairement un revenu très bas. A mon retour, après pas mal des réunion une organisation reconnue mondialement pour son travail avec des enfants a accepte le projet a condition de modifier l'empleur et le faire a plus petite escale, en faire un projet pilote, pour après l'implementer dans d'autres régions et une fois qu'il est en marche l'introduire dans le système de santé au niveau national.

Donc en quelques mots, ce qui me garde au bureau jusqu'à des heures pas possibles, est le fait que je suis en train d'écrire la formation, 5 mois a raison de 3 jours par mois, en plus de gérer le projet et les logistiques du tout. Pour qq1 comme moi qui peux être très maniaque a des moment ca n'a pas été facile! Tous les matériels utilisées pour la formation vont être imprimées ds un manuel sous le nom de la grande organisation pour enfants, en plus d'une vidéo qui supportera le manuel. La formation dure jusqu'en Mai, le mois de juin est prévu pour l'édition du matériels et le mois de juillet pour le voyage, présentation du manuel ds différentes provinces, j'ai bcp de chance car on m;envoie dans l'ouest région Kazakh que depuis mon arrivée je rêve de visiter!. Mon contrat en Mongolie se finit a la mi-Aout, donc le timing est parfait!

Et après?? oui! oui! je vous entends d'ici! Bon je ne sais pas trop! Pour le moment j;ai décidée de faire un ptt voyage en Asie du SE (Vietnam, Cambodge, Laos) et puis rentrer en Europe. Encore une fois, pour le moment mon cote raisonnable me guide, et je pense que je rentrerais en Belgique, profiter de la crise (quelqu'un dois bien le faire non?) acheter un petit apart, investir! trouver un job (avec un peu de chance travailler pour cette grande org va m'ouvrir des portes) et faire la maîtrise sur management & développement avec L'open university a Londres ( a distance). C'est deja toute une année prévue a l'avance e t je ne pense pas pouvoir faire plus!

Comme vous pouvez voir tout va bien, pas mal occupée! Cette année a été très différente de la précédente. Plus axée sur le boulot que les voyages et les fêtes. Je suis heureuse d'avoir eu l'occasion de voir l'autre cote de la monnaie. C'est vrai je suis crevée, un peu stressée mais ça en vaut la peine! Vivre ici a depuis le début été une expérience incroyable, mais je suis heureuse que ce cote incroyable est aussi maintenant professionnel.

Mongolian gliding...

I was about to turn off the computer, when I heard a bit of shouting outside, couldn't stop my curiosity... what I saw made my night: a man running and a policeman running after him (did I mention I live right next to the police station of the district?), "amused" I payed a little more attention to the scene. Running on the icy pavement is not an easy task! Walking is hard enough! After a few seconds the policeman grabs him, both fall and slide for about 2 metres (probably exaggerating as usual!) A gliding catch! I can not stop the grin on my face... However it becomes a laugh when i see back another policeman, i guess the partner, "helping", hands in the pockets slowly nonchalantly walking towards the 2 men, while the first poor policeman is struggling to hold the running man on the floor. Who manages to get away; off he goes again! Both police men look at each other and for about 15 seconds they sort of argue who will run after him, look at each other, and hand in pockets both policemen and a third one that i didn't see coming, go back to the station...

That's it! a little bed time story... Nothing much amuses me lately i guess!

Snooker Wizard?

I received this today! (thanks Chris) and had to post it, it looks good but have to point out I missed that shot...

Whoever makes a comment about my wrinckles will suffer consequences...

Life is hard!

So here I am, getting ready to write a short post about the fact that I haven't had cold water, yes cold water for the past week... the pain and discomfort of it all, and they cut the electricity!!!

So yes! no cold water! i complained last summer about not having hot water, but realise now not having cold water is even worst... Can't wash clothes, dishes or anything, even brushing your teeth becomes painful when you only have boiling water coming out of the tap! for a week (it came back yesterday) I had to fill a bucket with boiling water before going to bed in order to be able to wash in the morning, and washing my now-far-too-long-hair was a hell of an experience!

But hey! as I said earlier you get used to everything, and now I'm writing in the dark and will have to skip a hot meal and the worst for a sunday night (I need to point out I spent the afternoon in the office, preparing the training that starts tomorrow) is that most probably the battery in my computer wont last until the end of the film!

Life is hard sometimes I tell you!