VISITING WITH CHINGGIS KHAAN

 Here he is in all his silver glory, Chinggis Khaan astride his favorite white horse.  His monument is far into the countryside.  Does it look cold?  Its cold enough to freeze off body parts.

 The Mongolian  flag flies high and the wind is fierce.

 We go inside and find the biggest boot in the world.  Our guide Jack gives us the history of the boot but I can't remember what he said so I'm just going to say it represents their opinion that Chinggis's boots could never be filled by anyone else because he was legendary and lived a bigger life than anyone before or after.

 Here we are huddled together trying not to freeze our you know whats off because the wind chill factor must be about -40F.  Our smiles are frozen in place.

 The warrior is the one on the horse.  The other guy just looks really good.

 This is what one of Chinggis Khaan's soldiers looked like.  Chinggis rewarded loyalty and destroyed any who refused to bend knee in allegiance to him.  He could depend on complete obedience from his soldiers.  They each had 5 horses that they brought with them on warring campaigns.  Some they ended up eating, but mostly they drank the milk which sustained them.  They didn't require supply lines so his soldiers could move fast and carried the element of surprise with their speed.

 Here is the big guy.  He doesn't look very Asian.  He looks resolute and strong.  Some say he was a butcher.   He killed everyone in towns and villages where they didn't take him seriously.

 He ruled with an iron fist and meted out his own personal kind of justice.  His first wife was stolen from him and made a slave.  He hunted the tribe that took her and killed them.  He believed in retribution but more so he freed all slaves and made a law against slavery.

 This gate is protected by 9 of his most trusted warriors.

 I just threw in this photo of the eagle because there are people along the side of the road waiting for cars to stop so they can take photos holding the eagles.  That's how they make their money.

 I decided to ride a camel.  They are really big and if I was one of them I would be unhappy with that stick going through my nose.  I guess they don't obey very well so the stick, when pulled on, reminds them to obey.

 Here comes the royalty.  Guess which one is king.

 Here is the king with his queen.  The higher the head dress the higher the rank.  For once I'm taller than David.

Ok, I've just spent way too long trying to move the car photo down to allow me to write something below it like in the other photos but I can't make it move so just note that this goes with the car photo.  Here is all the gang plus the Farleys.  They came along with us.  They came for a few weeks to help sort out the gardening projects that were going on in Feb.  Sister Farley's brother is Mark Fuhriman.  Brother Farley's niece is Misty Mayfield.  Small world!

Surprise!  We're bringing home a Mongolian baby.  (just kidding)

THE STREET WHERE WE LIVE

 So you're wondering when the bomb went off?  Roads here in Mongolia take a beating every winter.  There is also a building under construction behind the blue corregated metal fence on the right and the street has been dug up and patched back together in several places.  In the winter (April is still winter here) going up and down the road was pretty exciting.  Once I fell into a hole and no one could see me (I'm just kidding, but really!) the street is downright dangerous.  We are on such an adventure everyday when we leave our apartment.

Here's the bigger picture.  Our apartment building is the farthest up the street, the second brown building.  One more big dig up to fix the water pipes that bring heat and water to the buildings in UB and we'll be able to skateboard down this road (not really, but you could skate without falling into a pit or crashing into a big piece of asphalt).  No hot water for the month of August while the digging is going on, but now the pipes are new, the holes have been repaved...and we have hot water!

THE WAY WE LOOK

 This is the way David and I look.  I think we may be a little off center.  He found coke salt and pepper shakers and brought them home to me.  We are the only ones who drink coke in any form, but what is really nice...when we are invited to eat at any of the other senior couples apartments they always have a diet coke waiting for David.

 This is the way the whole mission looks.  That's President and sister Wong in the front row with President and sister Benson.  President Wong is a counselor in the Asia Area Presidency in Hong Kong.

These photos were taken in Sept. 2015, only a couple of weeks ago and already the face of our mission looks different.  Some missionaries have returned home and a few have been added.  All in all, a very small mission right now.  You do the counting!  We love these missionaries and so many more who have returned home before us.

HOW TO CELEBRATE THE 4TH OF JULY IN A MONGOLIAN WIND STORM

 First you have to light the coals on your brand new barbeque grill (maiden voyage).

 While you wait for the coals to heat up you put up the decorations.

While you wait for the coals to heat up you hover around each other as a wind break.

 While you wait for the coals to heat up you try to keep all the dust that's blowing into the other food, out of the food.

 While you wait for the coals to heat up you eat the other food standing up because the wind seems just a little less fierce when standing against the wall of the apartment building.

 While you wait for the coals to heat up you move the other food against the wall hoping that everything else isn't too gritty to eat.

 Ahhhh.  The coals look ready for cooking...but alas the wind takes all the heat away from the burgers that are supposed to be sizzling away and the burgers look half cooked (which they are).

 Girlfriend, some 4th of July celebrations are better than others.  This was my first in a Mongolian wind storm.  What an experience!  It doesn't take away from love of kin and country that we felt in our hearts.  It did make my day when we came in from the windstorm and I had these photos on my computer.  So I enjoyed vicariously the 4th of July being held at home.  Look at all those happy faces.  I love the 4th of July.

GOING TO THE RACES

 We drove for a long time and came to a vast flat plain where the horse races are held as a part of Nadam festivities.  There's a carnival feel and an energy that reminds me of going to the Utah State Fair.  As you can see, the weather was overcast and a cold wind blew but I could feel the excitement of participants and visitors and this man was sure to make some money with his balloon game.

 Here are the racers.  You may be saying to yourself they look mighty young and you are right.  There have been terrible accidents in the past because the age of racers included under 7 year olds.  Now they all wear helmets and must be 7 and over.

These little kids have photos of themselves on a horse being held by their fathers as babies.  I have seen photos of 2-3 years olds on horses by themselves.  This is a horse loving country.

 This is the way the men who have been riding horses all their lives look astride their horses and this is the traditional clothing worn.  Their saddles are wooden and I am told very uncomfortable, but these men don't seem to be bothered.

 The horses are beautiful and people riding them guide them right past people who are walking.  It was kind of scary.

I didn't think I would ever see a real reindeer (I'm pretty sure this one is being trained as one of Santa's relief team).  This is a baby and his antlers are covered in velvet.  He was a gentle creature.  The reindeer are found way up north almost to the Russian border so you don't see them down south near UB.

 People were selling kites while people strolled by on foot and on horse.

 I got this great shot of the Mongolian flag waving in the wind.  We were in the bleachers waiting for the first racers to ride by.

The kids look so small on those big horses and they are going full gallop.

 After the kid race is over riders dressed in their colorful dills and high boots (Your father has some.  Does that mean he needs to become a horseman?  Maybe Trudy will let him walk her gentlest horse.) walk their horses around.

 They look so magnificent on their horses, much cooler than the Marlboro man.

 This was my favorite shot.  Chingiis Khaan warriors in the foreground and the food truck behind. (Just to give you a proper time reference into why this is so funny, CK lived in the late 1100's to early 1200's)

 There was even this guy selling watches.  David wanted to buy all of them.

 I thought these shishkabobs looked so good.  They smelled heavenly but we have been cautioned against buying street food.  We all have had GI distress often enough to guide us carefully away from temptation.

 In the ger behind this tent people are making "booz", not booze, although they make vodka, but not here.  Booz (pronounced boats) are like noodle pockets, filled with meat and potatoes and then deep fried or steamed.  I can eat 2 if I'm really trying.

On the way home we had a flat tire.  Can you see me looking out the window?
It was a great day at the Nadam horse races in Mongolia.

NADAM

Nadam is kind of like our 4th of July.  Its the biggest holiday next to Sagan Sar and is held around the 20th of July.  Every year the date changes a little depending on which Buddhist leader gets to decide when the moon is right.  Here you see Elder Harper, the proud owner of a ticket to get into the opening ceremonies.  A little note about scalping tickets in Mongolia.  Tickets go on sale and people of course line up and wait for hours to buy 4 tickets each (the government's way to deter scalping).  Somehow they manage to collect quite a bundle of tickets.  If you wait in line you pay 8,000T a ticket.  Then the fun begins.  Our tickets this year ended up costing us around 60,000T each.  They were being kind to us.  Some tickets went for over 100,000T.  On our way to the opening ceremonies we came across many elders and sisters just outside of the  arena hoping to get inside, but without money.  Father Christmas (David) showed up just at the right moment and got a dozen sisters in and almost that many elders.  Money talks here and the price goes down as the festivities begin and the sellers can see getting 20,000 is better than nothing.  The elders are sweet talkers (they speak the language) and I think got in for 10,000 each.

 Here are some of the elders waiting to get inside, all dressed up in Nadam wear.

 Elder Harris and McHam look spiffy in their Nadam Dills.  Elder Harris asked me to change the band on his hat to pink to match his tie.

One of us got into the spirit of Nadam and the other didn't.  Actually my hontot top is really hot and scratchy.  David chose comfort over fashion.

There was an evening Mongolian opera performed in the open air in front of the Parliament Palace (you can see the statue of Chingiis Khan all lit up behind us).  It started at 10pm and ended at midnight.  We went with our friend Puje and she whispered to me what the story was.  After the opera was over we asked David if he knew what it was about and he told the whole story.  He doesn't need to understand the language.

This was the set and it was magnificent.  This was really a fun evening.  We thought it was going to rain and we heard thunder in the distance but the rain stayed away and we had a great time.