Mongolia (UPS Pacific Rim Wiki)

Mongolia

From the Blog...

Life in Ulaanbaatar
Cooking with Oko and Erica
Buddhism in Mongolia
Paleo-Developmental Biology in Mongolia
The Gobi Adventure: A Day by Day Breakdown

PacRim Potpourri

Miscellaneous thoughts and lists.

Favorite Restaurants

1.    888 Chinese Restaurant (picture)
2.    Banshni Cafe (outside, inside)
3.    travel kitchen chefs in the Gobi (picture)
4.    Taj Mahal Indian Restaurant (picture)
5.    German Bakery (picture)
6.    Mediterranean Cuisine (picture)
7.    Bean House Vegetarian Café (picture)

Favorite Foods

1.    Tsovan (picture)
2.    Alibi Bars (picture)
3.    Hoshoo (picture, eating)
4.    Fried Tofu
5.    Khoorkhog: the “real Mongolian BBQ” (picture)
6.    Buuz (picture)
7.    Borsh
8.    Fried potatoes

Best Places to go spend Tugrug

1.    Black Market (picture 1, picture 2)
2.    State Department Store (picture 1, picture 2)
3.    Internet Center internet café (picture)
4.    Random merchants who set up shop in the Gobi
5.    24 hour Supermarket (picture)
6.    Morning Glory stationery store (picture)
7.    Hidden shops off of Peace Avenue in UB (picture)
8.    Random vendors on street (picture)

Favorite Buildings/Landmarks in Ulaanbaatar

1.    The “sail” building (picture 1, picture 2)
2.    Gers (picture 1, picture 2)
3.    The Art Museum (picture)
4.    Sukhbatar Square (picture 1, picture 2)
5.    The Trade & Development Bank with the mosaic clock (picture)
6.    Open manholes (picture)
7.    The giant Coca-Cola ad on the post office building (picture)
8.    The “sewing machine” building (picture)
9.    random playgrounds (picture)

Top 10 best memories

1.    Playing with kids in town while waiting for buses to get gas
2.    Taking in the beautiful scenery and enjoying the gentle breezes of the Mongolian countryside
3.    Random dance party at Chinggis Khan University
4.    Playing in the Khongor sand dunes – reaching the top, sledding, and riding camels
5.    Pushing the bus out of the sand
6.    Learning to appreciate life by risking one’s life every time you try to cross the street
7.    Throat singing beatboxing
8.    Waking up to a vicious sand storm in the Gobi
9.    Searching for dinosaur bones at the Flaming Cliffs
10.    Singing Aini Shouvo in unison in a big circle at the end of our Gobi trip

Places we’ve had class

    -Lamrim monastery classroom (inside, outside)
    -numerous gers (picture)
    -Mongolian countryside (picture)
    -Hunting Museum (picture)
    -Zanabazar Art Museum (picture)
    -Natural History Museum (picture)
    -Arhangay Provincial Museum (picture)
    -Bogd Khan palace (ticket picture)
    -Tovshin-2 Ger Camp restaurant (picture)
    -busses (picture)
    -Amsterdam Café (picture)
    -Mongolia’s ancient capital Khar Khorum, and Erdene Zuu Monastery (picture)
    -Ganden Monastery (picture)

Places we’ve slept

    -Zaya Hostel #1 & Zaya Hostel #2
    -gers
    -tents
    -busses
    -class…
    -not-so-nice hotel in Arvayheer
    -nice hotel in Harhorim
    -Arya bal Monastery

Multimedia

Pictures

Pics from Mongolia

Videos

Featured: Tatar (Mongolian Hip Hop)

Mongolian national anthem (modernized, celebrityized?)
Modern Nomads (15-minute documentary piece)
Children Under Ground (made by the same group, 15 minutes)
Haranga (rock group, interesting music video)

Links

If you hope to learn more about Mongolia, here are a few websites that might be helpful.

General and Travel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolia - Wikipedia page, general information on history and culture, links to several other useful pages, some of which are included below
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mg.html - CIA World Factbook, geographical, demographical, economic, and political data
http://www.state.gov/p/eap/ci/mg/ - US State Department page
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/mntoc.html - Library of Congress country study (a tad outdated)
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/mongolia/ - Lonely Planet travel facts, forums
http://www.mongoliatoday.com/ - Online magazine with travel tips
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/mongolia.html - Maps

Language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_language - Wikipedia page
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=Mongolia - Ethnologue, languages by number of speakers, dialect breakdowns
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/mongolian.htm - Omniglot, quick intro to the Classical Mongolian and Cyrillic writing systems
http://www.alphadictionary.com/rusgrammar/alphabet.html - Really quick, effective way to pick up on Cyrillic
http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/mongolian.php - Useful Mongolian phrases from Omniglot
http://www.linguamongolia.co.uk/index.html - Mongolian lessons, grammar

Art - Literature, Fine Art, Music, Theater, Dance, Film, Television

http://www.asianart.com/mongolia/index.html - The Legacy of Chinggis Khan art exhibit, including a comprehensive introductory essay
http://www.mongolart.mn/ - Music, fine art, theater, dance, film, entertainment, museums. Some pages still under construction, but looks very promising.
http://mongolianartist.com/ - News and events related to cultural happenings, artists, and entertainment

Religion

http://mongoluls.net/shashin/monreli.shtml - Collection of articles, pictures, and other information
http://mongoluls.net/khiid/overview.shtml - From the same site, an overview of Mongolian monasteries, a few of which include detailed summaries

Environment, Climate, Geography, Flora and Fauna

http://www.unesco.org/mabdb/br/brdir/directory/contact.asp?code=MON - UNESCO biosphere reserves
http://asia.ansp.org/index.php - Academy of Natural Sciences Asia biodiversity programs, several of which are based in Mongolia

Mass Media

Note that many of these are in Mongolian only, but are nevertheless included for entertainment purposes if nothing else

http://www.zuuniimedee.mn/ - Зууны мэдээ ("Century News"), popular daily newspaper [Mongolian]
http://www.dailynews.mn/ - Daily News [Mongolian]
http://www.mongolnews.mn/ - Өнөөдөр ("Today") [Mongolian]
http://ubpost.mongolnews.mn/ - The UB Post, Ulaanbaatar-based, English-language
http://www.mongolmessenger.mn/ - "Mongolia's first English newspaper"
http://www.tv9.mn/ - TV 9, with link to a live feed
http://www.ubs.mn/ -UBS television, including live feed
http://www.tv25.mn/ - Channel 25, has clips online
http://www.tv5.mn/ - TV 5, also has clips available