What, no Mongolian beef?

Hello, from the land of the eternal vistas:
Yes that's right, if you want Mongolian beef, don't come to Mongolia, to to some Chinese restaurant in the states, cause you won't get it here. You'll get beef, but not that spicy schwezan (sp) style. But that's about all you'll not have.
Everything is wonderful here and we're having a great time. What a great choice for visiting!!!
We arrived on the MIAT (maybe I'll arrive tomorrow) flight and indeed we did arrive the next day, but only because we were 10 minutes late and landed just after midnight. We were immediately introduced to what is referred to as the "Mongolian Shuffle," the pushing and shoving which occurs at any place where more than one person wants to occupy the same space at the same time as you. As soon as the plane hit the tarmac, people were out of their seats, getting their carry-ons down and heading for the exit. We decided to wait till the crush was over, a wise move indeed. Our hotel is as modern as any one could need. Mints on the pillows, cable TV with espn (I watched a Giants game) cartoon network and MTV, amongst the Russian, Italian, Korean, Japanese and BBC channels. Not to mention toothbrushes, shampoo and other amenities.
We left the next morning for the countryside and it was an immediate cultural and time warp - bouncing back and forth from the 20th century to the past and back again as the miles slowly passed underfoot. On our journey we had paved roads, a novelty for Mongolia, and our eyes continued to be riveted on the unique sights of Central Asia: Whirlwinds kicking up clouds of dust across the steppe, herds of animals ( horses, goats, sheep, yak, camels), broken down vehicles of all flavors littering the roadway, women carrying gunny sacks picking up dried dung for fuel, and herders herding their flocks from foot, horseback, or motorcycle.
The only thing that was consistent was the vistas, the seemingly eternal and unending. I've never seen a place where you could see for so far for so long a time. As we journeyed, we say families repairing the roads, with various degrees of success. The government pays families to maintain 15 km's of road. This provides income and hence is the Mongolian equivalent to Caltrans.
We have stayed in the Ger (pronounced gair) camps for our time outside of Ulaan Baatar and they have been wonderful surprises. They are called yurts outside of Mongolia, but that's a Russian word for these portable homes made of felt and canvas which are amazingly comfortable. You can always orient yourself because the doors always face south, and upon entering the men head west (left) and the women east (right). They have had electricity for lights inside the individual gers for recharging camcorder batteries and there is always a pot of hot water there upon arrival for tea. The camps have had flush toilets and hot showers in a central building, and by limiting liquid intake just before dinner like mom used to do to us when we were kids, and eliminating everything possible just before bedtime, you can have a cozy, comfortable, warm night's sleep with minimal distress, even for old bladders like ours:-)
The book said that there would be a dearth of veggies, mostly mutton and so constipation was more of a problem than diarrhea, but we have been very pleased with the food, good tasting and wholesome, we haven't had any physical "difficulties" of any flavor. One camp even had a mini fridge in the gers. There are usually about 20 individual gers but since we're really ahead of the tourist season, in two of the three we've been the only ones in camp.
We hit the road for the second day and this was the only downer of the trip so far. The tour company only allowed one day to get from Kharkhorin to Dalanzadgad in the Gobi, and we had to adjust the time schedule because as it was it took two days of very slow (5-35 mph) driving 8 hours each day to get there. That meant that we had to drop our day with the Cashmere goat herders, one of our main purposes of coming. We'll have more time up north where we are to spend time with the yak herders, so hopefully that will work out. It was disappointing, but given the "pick your poison" potholes and dirt tracks across the terrain, it was the only decision to be made.
There are no "roads" as we would know them. There are tracks which have been used, but those are just general indications of direction and off you head pointing to some far distanced point of reference.
Our guide, Anya, and our driver, Bulga are both competent, informative, and fun to be with. Stories, jokes and information made the 8 hour drives each day more palatable. And of course, how could one not be enamored by the wondrously brilliant sky and vistas of central Mongolia.
We had to stop for gas on the way, and Anya and Bulga somehow found this little settlement in the middle of nowhere and we stopped and pumped gas. Pumping gas in Mongolia is literally that. There is a hand crank by which a pump is turned and a meter counts how many liters have flowed. Gas is amazingly cheap here. We paid $5 a gallon in Korea, but here it's the same price as home, about $1.40 a gallon, and it has to come in from Russia. Motorcycles are the motorized vehicle of choice, being cheaper and with better efficiency, but even those are few and far between. On our two day journey south we passed one car and two motorcycles.
You see family gers dotting the countryside and it is a rare point in time where you don't see some herd/flock of animals somewhere in your line of sight. With 2.5 million people and 25% of them in UB and 34 million animals you can see that there's a lot of land for a few people, less than 1 person per square mile in the whole country, and certainly less than that in the countryside. Mongolia is the most sparsely populated country in the world.
The people are warm, friendly, and hardworking. Courageous is a word that we heard from US Army personnel here setting up civil defense and medical centers in the hinterland. But the kids are something special. They would melt any heart. Full of laughter and bright faces and full of curiosity. It has been fun to film them and then show them their pictures on the camcorder. Their delighted sequels make such a simple thing seem so worthwhile.
Well, I've so much more to say, but we leave here in a half an hour so I've got to get back to the hotel when Anya and Bulga pick us up.
Time wise if you go back 8 hours and think of it as tomorrow, you'll know where we are. For example, it's 8 p.m. Saturday in Cal, then it's noon Sunday here.
Hope all is well at home. I’ve even been able to use the internet to finish off some client work from the office. Cool, huh. The best of all worlds.
We'll be back here in a couple of days, I'll try to write more.
Love to all,
C & J