An Adventure...

A few days ago I was planning a trip to Darkhan for a training meeting and I told a friend that I wanted to take the Train. The train leaves here in the evening and gets into Darkhan at about one in the morning. The train comes with a sleeper room and is really inexpensive. 

He told me that "you don't want to take the train. It is a long trip." I told him that I wanted an adventure. Well, I didn't take the train (because I didn't want to get into town at 1AM and have to bother my friends that late at night) so I decided to take a meeker AND I did have an adventure. 
I am in a meeker (a minivan designed to hold 10 but they often squeeze 15 in) that is supposed to be taking me to a meeting 3 hours away in Darkhan but we are sitting on the side of the road waiting for something. Since I can't speak their language I'm not sure what we are waiting for but I would guess that they have more passengers who will pay to take them to Darkhan. If there is more than one, I don't where they will sit because they can only squeeze one more in here. They don't seem to have much sense of urgency like Westerners do. Someone explained to me that before the cities, as nomads, they would tell someone that they would see them tomorrow... or maybe the next day. As specific as they ever got was morning or afternoon, so time means very little to them. We've been sitting at the side of the road for about an hour so far and no one seems bothered (maybe because they all know what is going on).
Ok, we are now on our way. We were waiting for someone and now I know why the driver was willing to wait for so long. He gets 15,000 Tuges (about $9) per passenger. He just squeezed FOUR more into 2 seats.... Oops, false alarm. I thought we were on our way but we stopped about a mile out of town at a convenience store. Everyone got out and went into the store and came back with lots of junk. The guy sharing the seat with me and his little girl came out with a 1 1/2 liter Coke and proceeded to drink it. I know what our next stop will be. 
The road to Darkhan was a beautiful drive. It could have been the road through Southern Utah before I-15 40 years ago. No fences and lots of cows, sheep, goats and horses. We had to slow down or stop often for animals on the 2 lane highway. Most herds had a herdsman, most on their small horses wearing their traditional dells, a few on small motorbikes. The hills and fields look exactly like Utah.
Along any road in Mongolia will be a pole or a tree covered in blue silk strips of cloth. As near as I can understand, they are Buddhist symbols of good luck. We actually stopped at one large one while a female passenger got out and walked around it while throwing what appeared to be pieces of bread and shaking water or milk from a bottle. Some of the men took the opportunity to get out and relieve themselves. My seatmate, of course, took his first of 3 stops. 
In town it is common to see people relieve themselves anywhere. Usually men but sometimes even women. It is a very different culture.
Speaking of culture, they have a custom that if your foot touches someone else's foot it is polite to shake hands. I heard of the custom and I thought "that's nice but how often does it really happen"? You would be surprised how often your foot touches someone's foot. Without even thinking,if our feet touch, they stick out their hand. A few days ago Deni and I were having a meeting with a few people. The man had his feet sticking under the table and when I stuck my feet under our feet touched. He reached all the way across the table to shake my hand. Deni saw him shake my hand and thought this was a strange time to end the meeting but she stood up and started thanking people. We had a good chuckle. We love ho innocent these people are. They are down to earth and real. 
Well, I made it to Darkhan, had a great visit with good friends, enjoyed the meetings, and rode back home with several other people who had come to the meetings also. 

At the all day meeting a man came up to me and said through a translator "I am supposed to talk for 2 hours about preparing for a mission. I can't talk for 2 hours. Could you talk for 1 of the hours?" I asked him "NOW?" I couldn't believe it. He had a month to prepare and I had a few minutes. I put something together and I think I did a good job but, again, I realize time isn't that important in their culture. 




Just like in Utah, the weather changes quickly here. We had warm weather for about a week and then it snowed for a few days. We have been up in the mid 70's but we are supposed to have snow again on Thursday with a high of 29F. We put our warm coats and mittens away for the summer but we had to take them out and this time we will keep them out until we are sure the weather will stay warm. We are looking forward to a beautiful spring and summer.