Monday, Sept 1 - UlaanBaatar - Report from the countryside

Lydon Mongoli-Siberia Adventure Update – August 31, 2014

UlaanBaator – Sept 1 Day 11 - 4:00 PM - Best Western Premium Tuushin Hotel -- best hotel in town.

We are staying in this fancy hotel for one night before heading to Siberia.

The view from the Best WesternTuushin hotel - that's Genghis Khan Square - the heart of Mongolia.

  This is being posted after our three-night stay at Lake Khovsgol where we were off the Internet.  I will provide a brief summary of where we’ve been and what we’ve done – but, let me begin by saying that the weather has been wonderful, the group’s health has been good, and the adventures keep coming one right after the other.  I’ll do this in reverse chronology to get us all caught up.

Our window to the heart of Mongolia – Chimgee, our guide, has arranged so many wonderful things for us, it’s hard to list them all. Some of the most touching moments have occurred on our van as she told us of her childhood, living about 12 hours drive from UB to the east.  She is uniquely qualified to explain Mongolia to a group of Americans as her English is wonderful (and idiomatic from spending a year in the US) and she also has a long and treasured early life growing up in the nomadic Mongolian culture and then in urban UB.   One of our favorite stories – and hers – revolved around her childhood chores of gathering dung for the family.

 

 Taking Other People’s Dung –

Our van driver, Khurlee, Chimgeee and Annie Lydon, on the
trail at the Uvgun Temple near Bayangobi.  Khurlee has been
so special to us that we insisted - INSISTED - that he take care
of us these last two days in UB.  He is.  Amazing man, big heart,
but can be a tough driver on the streets of UB.

She and her sister had the daily chore of gathering dried dung off the countryside for fueling the family stove in the ger.  She said that one day she and her sister found a pile of already-gathered dung that they added to their own pile, and then spent the free time available goofing off and playing in the grass.  When they arrived back at the ger, her grandfather approached them asking why they had been playing around when they should have been working.  He then told them that he had seen them take the dung that did not belong to them and told them to take it back out where they had found it.  He had been watching them through binoculars.  His lesson for that day was that you should not take from the work of others.  A lesson that Chimgee now appreciates, though found at the time embarrassing.

 Lake Khovsgol – Aug. 29-31 Toilogt Ger Camp

 We timed this itinerary to take advantage of the short weather window before winter slams it shut, and also avoiding the mid-summer crowds.  School starts Monday, September 2, and we seen a steady flow of trucks carrying the ger gear, headed toward the towns and UB.  Not everyone will move off the land yet, but many of those with kids will move closer to schools.  It also means that the tourist season is nearing a close, and we’ve reaped the benefits of that at the Toilogt Ger Camp on the shore of Lake Khovsgol – we’re just about the only residents at this sprawling camp.  And the weather has been sublime – I’m writing this in our tepee ger, the sun streaming through the open doorway, the lake sparkling about 50 yards away and the sky that famed Mongolian blue.

We stayed in tepees, the style of gers used by the reindeer people
of Mongolia.  Yes, there's a connection with American tepees.

Toilogt Ger Camp, Lake Khovsgol

 

 

This is ranked as the best ger camp here at Lake Khovsgol, and has several levels of accommodations, ranging from tepees, rounded gers, to log cabin-like fancy cabins around the edge.  It rests on a hillside overlooking the lake, and there are communal showers and toilets, and a huge dining room and even a game ger.  They also have their own boat that took us on a lovely tour of the central part of the lake.  Horses, and there’s a resident herd of yaks and cattle that continually come through the gate and a shushed out. 

All of the gers at Toilogt ger camp have a view of Lake Khovsgol.

The lake temperature is a balmy 56 degrees, while the air temperature ranges from 70 daytime to 30s at night.  It can get chilly up here – we’re over 5,000 feet in elevation and almost to Siberia in latitude.  The lakes waters are crystal clear – drinkable they say, though I’m resisting it.

At this moment most of the group is out taking a horseback tour – I stayed behind to get our journals caught up.

  Khovsgol Highlights include the place itself, the meals, the boat ride, a visit to a family that keeps yaks and makes yak stuff. 

The charging station at Toilogt Ger Camp - powered by a
sophisticated solar system with plenty of power strips to go
around.

 

 

The meals at Toilogt ger camp were well
beyond your traditional fare - this is beef
with vegetables, mashed potatoes and stuff.

The Flight from UB to Moron – August 29 -Look Ma! Propellers!

Distances and roads being what they are in Mongolia, sometimes it’s just easier to fly – we flew the short 90minutes from UB to Moron (pronounced “Moo Roan”)  in a Huunu Airlines Fokker 50 – two jet powered propeller engines – two rows of seats with an aisle – and mostly locals – there was the 10 of us and  group of 6 Russian fishermen with a mountain of gear. 

The Takhi Horses – August 28  - Hustai National Park

We flipped the itinerary so that we would be passing Hustai in the evening, in hopes that we might see the famous Mongolian wild horses that were once extinct in Mongolia.  With stock from European zoos, the animals have been brought back and turned loose in this huge national park.  In mornings and evenings they come down out of the mountains for water, and we got our takhi fix that evening – beautiful animals, and a feel-good story where, not unlike what has been done with the condors in California, members of a species only living in zoos were put back.  And are thriving.

Viewing the Takhi - left to right, Mary Lynne Donnelly, Pat Loughlin
and Janet Jones.  It was a wonderful moment being able to see these
magnificent horses.



Annie photographing the Takhi

 

Karakorum – August 26 – 27

The iconic centerpiece of this once-capital of Mongolia is the Buddhist temple complex at Erdene Zhuu.  We visited late in the afternoon, and saw the place against a dark, broody sky.  Very photogenic.  This was also the location where we had our own personal mini-naadam – demonstrations of archery, wrestling, and horse racing.  Barbara McCrary had won the archery contest at our naadam in 2007, but this time they gave her a very strong re-curve bow, and thought she did skid an arrow into the target, she was disappointed that she didn’t do better.  She needn’t have been as it took great courage to even attempt it.  She’s still the champion as far as we’concerned.

Barbara McCrary following the flight
of her arrows.

 

Our post-naadam conversation with the neighbors -- they were
very interested in what we had to say.

Bayangobi – Khurlee's Family

Some tours in Mongolia promise some up-close-and-personal time and even a visit to a ger.  In our case, our van driver noted that we would be passing close to his family ger camp, and suggested that we might stop and meet his mother and some of the family members still living there.  This was not a staged visit – it was as natural as perhaps most ger visits are in Mongolia.  We met Khurlee’s mother, several of his brothers, and nieces and nephews.  But it was his 88 year old mother, Sandag, who was the star of the visit – she had born 11 children (10 still living), and her fecundity recognized by the \Mongolian government.  It was  magical morning with the family swirling around as we sat in the gear sampling hard cheeses, soft cheeses, yogurt, salt milk tea, and the Mongolian staple – airing – fermented mare’s milk. Sandag was a bit hard of hearing, but she never stopped working the entire time we were there – stirring the milk, feeding the stove horse turds and keeping the fire going.  She even made – from scratch – a marvelous noodle soup. 

Kurhlee's mother, Sandag, mixing all kinds
of milk-based goodies.  We were invited to sample
them all.

Otganbayar, Kurlhee's brother with child. He
is a famous Mongolian horse breeder and
trainer.

 

 

 

A week of pure magic in Mongolia

Thursday, August 28, Midnight - UlaanBaataar, Mongolia

First off, my apologies as this is going to be brief -- probably tantalizing and I hope you'll come back as time allows me to post things before we leave Mongolia for Siberia next week.

The group is all tucked into the Best Western Tuushin hotel here in Ulaanbaatar after an astonishing five days of pure magic as we moved across the Mongolian countryside having one remarkable experience after another.  Part of the cause of it all has been our tour guide, Chimgee -- a bright young woman who has helped us see and understand the heart of Mongolia.

We've stayed most nights in traditional Mongolian gers, and have sat in them with families and had round-table discussions with Mongolians eager to know what we think of their incredible country.  A temple hidden in the mountains that barely survived the 1930s purges -- the slaughter of the religious communities all over Mongolia and Siberia orchestrated by Stalin.  We've watched up close and personal those cocky young Mongolian boys as they raced across the landscape...and on and on.

I'll post a few photographs to keep you interested and then will try and fill in some of the blanks.  All's well out here if you're checking in on the health and well-being of family members in the group or friends.

More to come.

Chimgee amazing the History Dude, UB

Ulaan Baatar - as seen from Zaisan Hill -- astonishing building and
development going on here.

Chinggis Khan vodka -- his name and face appear everywhere.

Bayangobi ger camp breakfast.  They're not starving!

Chimgee explaining the intricacies of the Uvan khiid a temple now
being re-born in the mountains of Mongolia.

We road camels -- long enough to get saddle sores.

We watched Mongolian sunsets from our gers.

The group - left to right standing - Mike Donnelly, Barbara McCrary,
Lud McCrary, Mary Lynne Donnelly, Barbara Canfield, Janet Jones, Pat Loughlin, and Joe Jedrychowski.
Front row, left - Sandy Lydon, Annie Lydon, and Chimgee.

Day #4 - Sun.August 24 -- Leaving UB

We’re leaving town for the next four days. After all this talk about the Mongolian countryside, gers, horses and the like, it’s time to take the group out there. We’ll be spending 4 nights out west – 2 in a lovely place named Bayangobi, and then 2 in the area around Karakorum, before heading back to UB to catch our breath before heading up to Lake Khovsgol.


That means no Internet – and no blogs. So, don’t panic – all’s well, we’ll just be off the grid.

Day #3 Sat. August 23, UB

A Changing UB -- incredible economic growth.

Day #3 – Saturday, August 23 – UB

Chimgee – Our Tour Guide for Mongolia
The in-country tour guide can literally make or break a trip. In our recent travels in China, we’ve been blessed with having one of the very best – Tony Lu. Those who have traveled with us when Tony’s been our guide will tell you that he is an incredible window to China both historical and modern. And, he’s fun too.

It’s been a long time since we’ve worked with “not Tony” – so I was apprehensive when first meeting and getting to know our Mongolia guide- Chimgee. She’s a late-20s, dynamic young woman with a great sense of humor and a great feel for the history and culture of her people as well as an understanding of the art of guIiding and teaching. Her English is excellent as she not only studied here in UB, but also spent a year studying at Missouri State College.

Our guide Chimgee and the somewhat incredulous History Dude

She was born and raised a 12 hour drive east of UB, so she is a country girl at heart, and as such represents the overwhelming dynamic of UB’s recent history. The city has grown exponentially as the lure of work and education is sucking the youth out of the Mongolian countryside into UB.

We are very lucky to have Chimgee guiding us. She’s only been doing it for 4 years and has not yet developed that hard edge that more experienced guides usually have. She genuinely wants us to understand and appreciate what it was and is to be a traditional rural Mongolian but also appreciate what it is to be a young 21st century Mongol professional.

After going over the next couple of days itinerary with her, we met the group in the hotel lobby to begin our adventure. But not before Annie had to do a recitation for the group.

Annie’s “Sing a Song for the Group”
I’m not sure where this started in our group traveling, but we have a rule that if you leave something – a camera, jacket, etc. – on a chair or bus seat for example, and walk off and leave it – the “finder” then brings it back to you and you must sing a song, recite a poem, or dance for the group next opportunity. It’s pretty ingenious as it’s a motivation for us to look out for each other’s stuff, and also extract a bit of a giggle now and then. Annie left her coat in the dining room at breakfast, and it was found by Barbara Canfield who gleefully returned it and reminded Annie of the punishment.

So, in the lobby on our first day, the spotlight shifted to Annie who recited one her favorite couplets – in Japanese – about Mt. Fuji. Not very geographically or culturally germane, but a great way to begin. She liked doing it so much she did it twice.

The Money Stop
Our late arrival last night meant that folks would be needing to change some US dollars into tugriks – the Mongolian currency. It’s impossible to buy Mongolian tugriks outside of Mongolia because they aren’t worth much beyond its borders. Actually, anything. The currency is so volatile that hard-eyed money changers world wide steer clear. Chimgee knew of a good bank – open on Saturday – that had ATMs and also a foreign currency desk.

The exchange rate runs around 1800 tugriks to a dollar, so after even the smaller transaction results in a wad of brightly-colored bills – all of which have the portraits of historical figures – like Ghengis – or historical events. Chimgee often uses the bills to illustrate her history lessons. Clever.

Working the ATM - Mike Donnelly in charge.

So, the group rolled into the bank with some working the ATMs and others lining up to file into a small room – with bullet proof glass and Chimgee sat beside each and helped with the transactions. The Donnellys and Annie worked the ATMs – the possibility of the machine eating your card always looming. The other trick in this is trying to predict how much money to change because we don’t want to have much if any when we leave the country. US dollars are also accepted in some instances here in UB, but out in the countryside, tugriks are preferred.

Zaisan Hill – We began our orientation day by heading south toward the low range of mountains the rise up just beyond the Tuul River. There’s a monument to World War II there and it provide a great view of the city. I’ve been up there several times and always feel that my stay in UB has begun after climbing the steps to the top of the blank foot high hill.



But there is was little familiar as we worked out bus down through the forest of apartment buildings that has sprung up along the river and up the flanks of the hill. An apartment and office building was being built immediately adjacent to the first observation deck where the cars and buses park, and the view north to the city is blocked by steel and concrete. Lots of discussion in the group with Chimgee surrounding the question – “How did you let this happen?” and though she could see the downside of the buildings blocking the view, the economic forces that these buildings represent are also a good thing for Mongolia. It’s the usual dilemma—balancing development with the traditional history and look of a place.

Genghis Khan even looms over traffic jams -- his statue is in the far
distance.

What makes this transformation so startling is that Mongolia has always been horizontal – flat grasslands peppered with the native gers. Ghengis Khan was not a buildings or city guy, and he definitely would not have enjoyed seeing his people encapsulated in these multi-storied egg-carton like warrens. There’s a huge image of him on a hillside just east of Zaisan. He looms over Mongolia and its people, and you wonder what he might be thinking about it all, just as Chairman Mao looms over Tiananmen Square and the Chinese people watching his vision unravel.


The Group - Standing left - Mike Donnelly, Barbara McCrary, Lud McCrary, Mary Lynne Donnelly, Barbara Canfield,
Janet Jones, Pat Loughlin, Joe Jedrychowski;  Kneeling front left, Sandy and Ann Lydon and Chimgee.

The evolution from ger to apartments is apparent – the white gers and the colored smaller houses are scattered like the colored sprinkles you put on ice cream, and then the tectonic weight of all those people is pressing in on the city forcing it upward. There is construction everywhere, but as Joe Jedrychowski observed, you will see gers all around the bases of these buildings, housing the workers. 

We took photographs of the Soviet-inspired monument, chatted a bit and then slowly descended the concrete steps back to our waiting bus.

The Soviet era – good or bad? Chimgee’s view.
We Americans tend to be very opinionated and expect others to be as well. When in China, when the subject of Mao comes up – as it always must – Americans often press on their Chinese hosts – “Well? What was he? A good guy or bad?” The Chinese have developed a sliding scale approach to such questions – usually expressing the answer in a percentage – 30 percent good, 70 percent bad. These kinds of answers, though really a great way of expressing the actual reality of a legacy like Mao’s (he freed them from foreign domination, but starved them), frustrate Americans who are used to a Fox-News approach to history. “Make up your mind, damn it!”

When asked about her general assessment of the 70 some odd year Soviet period in Mongolian history, she gave a balanced answer – the Soviets brought education, healthcare, and some economic advancement. And then she shrugged and admitted the huge loss of human life during Stalin’s purges of the 1920s and 1930s. This theme of assessing the impact of the Soviets will continue to follow us through Mongolia and, obviously into Siberia. Mongolia is still dealing with the history and legacy of the purges. There’s a powerful and simple monument outside the historical museum in UB dedicated to them.

The Battle of Halhgol – August, 1939 remembered outside our window, August 23, 2014

We had lunch in a restaurant in the base of the Blue Sky tower – our window facing north onto Genghis Khan Square. Buffet lunch was a bit pricey, but the room was nice. (Used to be Sukhbataar Square but has been re-named for Genghis as the sands of historical perception change in Mongolia – Sukhbataar is still astride his huge metal horse on the square – he helped lead Mongolia out of their Chinese-dominated era in the early 20th century.) There seemed to be an inordinate number of brown-suited soldiers marching on the square, and then Chimgee remembered that there was going to be a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of what some historians believe to be the first real battle of World War II.

 

View from the window - note troops gathered on the right.  That's
Genghis Khan Square and the Parliament Building on the right.

 The historical set-up – the Japanese occupied Manchuria as part of their Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and there had been some discussion in Japan about driving troops across Siberia and linking up with their Nazi allies. They had pushed as far west as the Halh River and Mongolian troops engaged them in several skirmishes that ballooned into a huge battle when the Soviet forces under General Zhukov entered the fray. This was Spring of 1939. By August, there were tens of thousands of Japanese and Soviet forces engaged in aerial combat, tanks, the whole nine yards joined by a small number of Mongolians fighting alongside the Soviets. Eventually by the end of August, thousands had been killed on both sides, and the Japanese were defeated. 

So, what does this mean to you? Thwarted in their desire to move west via the northern Siberian route, the Japanese shifted their efforts to Southeast Asia, eventually resulting in the attack on Pearl Harbor and the US entry into the war in late 1941.

And what did this mean to us this day? They were holding a commemoration on Genghis Square to mark the 75th anniversary of the battle of Halhgol. We hurried out of the restaurant and into the square – past the troop trucks lined up and headed over to the steps of the Parliament House – where there’s a very imposing statue of Genghis looming over it all. A group of musicians – the government Ensemble –with their traditional instruments resplendent in their blue-sky uniforms – was posing for pictures and getting ready to play – we had other things to do, so we couldn’t wait for them to actually play, but we got a bunch of great photographs.

Chimgee then lead us on a quick historical loop around the square before we walked northwest to the historical museum.

The Historical Museum - I usually last about 20 minutes in any museum (yea, I know, the History Dude and all that) and this one, lacking air-conditioning and still stuck in the “glass-cases” era of museumdom, I rarely get past the first floor. But with Chimgee’s wonderful explanations, for the first time I got out of the Stone Age, before collapsing on a bench, joining many group members. So we finally called a halt to it – we’ll go back, maybe, during our later UB days next week, and took the group back to the hotel for a chance to rest and recuperate before the evening’s festivities.

Day #2 - Sat., August 23 - UlaanBaatar, Mongolia

The Time and Place Machine - Korean Airlines SFO to Seoul (Incheon Airport) to UlaanBaator
  
     Mongolian Spellings and UlaanBaator Once and for all
          The name of the city that the sunrise is presently revealing to us from the 12th floor of our lovely hotel is spelled many ways.  Grammar school geography taught UlanBator and there are all sorts of variants.  Local residents use a shorthand -- U.B. -- pronounced "you-bee" - accent on the first syllable -- YOU-bee.  Rhymes with "newbie" which is what most of our group is at the moment.

I'm not going to continue to type UlaanBaator any more -- UB it shall be for the duration.  The name suggests some possible pastoral and exotic origins, but it means "Red  Hero" and represents the long and sometimes painful 20th century relationship of Mongolia with the Soviet Union.  The historic name was Urga (rendered phonetically variously).  Most Mongolians are trying to forget their Soviet interlude, so putting such a clunky, political name into an almost disdainful two-syllable toss-off -  UB- hurts no one's feelings.  Unlike the poor visitor who tries to truncate San Francisco into Frisco or even SF.  UB it is.

 Chingiss or Ghengis or?  While I'm at it, let's get this out of the way too -- The name of the guy whose presence is everywhere in Monogolia -- his name is the first thing you see in neon over the funky, wonderful, old-fashioned airport, and you walk past his face after going through immigration down to retrieve the luggage on a carousel that is soooooo retro.  Anyway, I'm going to use the more popular spelling of Genghis.

Janet Jones with book. Seatmate appears
to be reading Janet's book and weeping.

The Flight -- On-time, smooth and uneventful.  Korean Air is a classy airlines -- great service -- here, have another meal!  In flight entertainment is right in front of you on the seatback - movies, games.  The cabin attendants are really marvelous, reminiscent of JAL 25 years ago.  If you get a chance, fly Korean. 

Front to back - intent group - Barbara and Lud, Mary Lynne and Mike,
Barbara Canfield - pink top of head, and Janet

I love these air-progress maps -- we're getting closer!

 One short stop to UB - We are flying Korean both ways on this unusual itinerary because they were the only ones flying one-stop SFO to UB, and Irkutsk

When we checked into our first long leg – SFO to Seoul – the Korean Airlines check-in woman said that there were 13 total folks on the flight who were checking through to UB.  I knew of 8 of them  (we would meet or Pacific Northwest travelers Pat and Joe in Seoul), but who could be the other five?  I thought we were being pretty unique and crafty, but apparently not.

About 11 hours after taking off from California, chasing the sun, we landed at the new Seoul airport.  Another one of those amazing steel and stone monoliths, with the wings stretching off as far as one can see, lined with every imaginable store – bright, clean, inviting.  Of course we had to go through security again in transit, but we then hurried to our gate to meet Joe Jedrychowski and Pat Loughlin, our two group members from Oregon/Washington.

We were easy to spot as were they – we have distinctive luggage flagging – and we had sent them a mugbook with our photographs and they obviously had studied them because as we shook hands and greeted each and other, they already knew us by name.  We had a chance to chat a bit before boarding the second leg of the trip – Seoul to UB.

The flight was absolutely jammed, and we were among the dozen or so non-Asians aboard.  An amazing collection of humanity – including a large number of men dressed to the hilt in climbing/trekking gear – carabineers hanging from their backpacks, hiking books, knee-high hiking socks – a combination of Tyrolean mountaineer and REI catalogs – they were amped and determined-looking as if they were ready to charge off the plane in UB and climb a mountain right away.  Not likely as our flight landed at 10:00 PM.  And we were finally in UB.

 The Chingiss Khan Airport – Talk about your wonderfully-funky old-fashioned airport.  Hasn’t changed a bit since we were last here in 2007.  No steel and marble and shopping arcades.  And, immigration was the group’s first introduction to Mongolian Time – things move a little slower here – not like Hawaiian-time or Santa Cruz Time where everybody just naturally shows up late – this is an oozing kind of thing – milling around time – organization not too crisp – the immigration and customs folks appearing a bit bewildered.  And it is a bit of  puzzlement.

Chingiss Khan Airport - one version of the spelling

The puzzlement is that Genghis Khan’s armies were the epitome of organized – thousands of warriors on horseback wheeling like a living creature – like a flock of birds – across the plains – perhaps the most organized military machine the world had ever seen.  But they don’t seem to give much thought to organizing lines and queues.  It’s really OK, but it’s just a puzzlement.

 

The Luggage River It's not a large oval carousel like you're used to -- it's a conveyor belt that pops out of the wall through a screen of the those heavy plastic floppy things, and then winds around like a river, looping back and around before finally disappearing back into the space where I could hear the luggage handlers grunting and hollering -- every now and then a local would go up and lift up the floppy thing and peer back to where it was all happening -- shake his head and resume standing and waiting. Eventually all of our luggage popped out and was accounted for. Amazing when you think about it -- on the belt in San Francisco and out a bazillion miles later in UB.  

We finally got through it all and out into the brisk 50’s night air and onto our small bus that we’ll have for the duration.  But not before the bus drive had to use his flashlight to find the key to the bus that he had dropped onto the dark parking.  Mongolia is like that. 

One of the nice things about UB not having built a new airport is that they probably would have put it out in the Gobi somewhere requiring a 4 hours drive into the city – like Narita in Tokyo.  As it is it took less than 30 minutes to get us through the very quiet city streets to our hotel – one of UBs top-rated – Ramada City Center.   The group was very patient as I worked with our tour guide – Chinge – more about her to come – to get the room keys squared away – again, a bit disheveled with almost an element of surprise –oh, you’re here! 

Yes we were and we’re going to hit the city with a vengeance. Everyone’s fine and healthy.  We have a late start this morning – 11:00 AM we’ll be meeting in the lobby to dissect this place and the people who once struck fear into most of the world.

Siberia Adventure 1986 - Mongolia? Manchuria? They both start with "M"

Sino-Siberia Adventure – Summer, 1986

The Proposed Adventure – Another Lydon original

When I approached our big-time travel guru in San Francisco about setting up an itinerary that began in China and then, boarding a train in Beijing, went up through Mongolia into Siberia and then east to Khabarovsk and to Japan, he laughed.  “Who would want to take such a trip?” he asked.  I had already researched the trip – pre-Internet – and believed that the schedules might just connect, and we began advertising the trip through Cabrillo’s study-travel program.

This was the route we had planned.  Boarding in Beijing, north through Mongolis into
Siberia and then west to Irkutsk before boarding the east-bound Trans-Siberian
Railroad from Irkutsk to Khabarovsk.  We would have gone to Vladivostok, but this was 1986, and the
Soviet government was not allowing Americans to travel to Vladivostok.

We studied not only China, but also Mongolia, Siberia and Japan.  It was a long trip – over 3 weeks, and before long we had 65 people signed up.  Nobody would want to go on such a thing?  Hah.

 We had a nice long visit in China (Tiananmen, the Wall, etc.), and then we boarded the train in Beijing’s incredible main train station in late afternoon and headed north.  Well, what I thought was north.  I had scoped out the train route, had seen where the Trans-Mongolian passed through the wall at Badaling.  I knew where we were going.  Or thought I did.  I kept telling group members that we’d be passing through the Wall very soon and to be alert for it.  Have those cameras ready, I suggested.  But no Wall.

 

The route we took, going eastward and then north through Harbin and Manchuria.
The Soviet Customs and Immigration folks in Manzhouli were not accumstomed to
having a group of 60+ Americans cross the border from China into the USSR.  So, they
took their time and worked us over pretty good.  I found out later that the Trans-Mongolian
Railroad was not open to American groups in 1986, so we couldn't have traveled that way anyway.

As the sun began to set behind us, it was obvious we were traveling east, away from Badaling,  and one of our group members, Dr. Robert Millslagle, came out of his compartment and pointed at a map he was clutching and announced “I think we’re going the wrong way!  We’re going through Manchuria!” 

And so we were. The stop in Shenyang, and then the next morning in Harbin clinched it.  We’d studied Mongolian history for nothing.  Hey, from an historical perspective, Manchuria wasn’t chopped liver what with the Qing Dynasty, the Japanese occupations, etc. etc. But  Robert Millslagle has never forgotten it.  It was a challenging (no air-conditioning, no refrigeration – no cold beer) trip.  From crossing the border at Manzhouli into the USSR (and being worked over by the Soviet Customs and Immigration folks while the train was suspended in mid-air so they could change the bogeys) to crossing eastern Siberia on the Trans-Siberian Railroad and then flying to Niigata, Japan, it was an amazing trip.

 A note in my defense:  I found out later that, in 1986, the USSR was not allowing American travel groups to come through Mongolia, so we couldn’t have done it anyway. 

 When we returned from the trip I confronted our travel guru and told him that we went to Manchuria instead of Mongolia to which he responded, “Manchuria!  Mongolia!  They both start with ‘M’!  How much difference could there be?”

 So, 28 years later, we’re going to finally take at least part of the Trans-Mongolian Railroad from UlaanBaator to Ulan Ude and revisit Lake Baikal and Irkutsk. 

Siberia, USSR, 1986

 These photographs are from the collection of Robert and Lindy Bixby who were members (some of the younger) of the group.  We even had a t-shirt designed for group members.

 

The Gang of Four - Sino-Siberia 1986 -- Left to right:  Annie Lydon, Lindy Bixby,
Robert Bixby and the History Dude.  Look at all that hair!

Luggage – This group did not travel light, and we had over 100 pieces of luggage for the group. 

The group with its tons of luggage.  The gentleman in the right front in the
bomber jacket with the shades is Dr. Robert Millslagle, the guy who
has never let me forget that we went to Manchuria and not Mongolia.  Many of
Santa Cruz County's finest in that group -- can you find Joe Trent?  Jess Tabasa?

 The Group – There are several group members who were not in the group when Lindy Bixby took this picture (that’s why she’s not in it), but this was an amazing group of local folks.



Ah, the 80s.  Look at all that curly hair!  Even the History Dude (front right)...

 The Irkutsk Railway Station – We went west to Irkutsk from Chita, and then re-boarded the Trans-Siberian and headed east to Khabarovsk.

Irkutsk Railway Station.  Note Lindy Bixby's curly hair in the lower left. 
And this was BEFORE she went into Lake Baikal. (See below.)

Irkutsk, 1986 – Irkutsk was a busy place, and group members had a number of interesting shopping experiences. 

Downtown Irkutsk, 1986.  Busy!

 

There wasn't much to buy, though what
there was was displayed artfully.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Baikal –Lose Twenty Years!  Then as now, Lake Baikal was the jewel in the itinerary.  We had heard from someone that the Siberians believed that the lake’s water has curative powers.  That if you washed your face and hands in Baikal water, you could erase 10 years from them, and if you went all the way in, you would take off 20 years.  

Lake Baikal, 1986 looking toward the south end of the lake.

 Lindy Bixby had stashed a bathing suit in her gear and after changing into it in the back of the bus surprised us all, including her husband Robert, by dashing down the ramp and into the lake.  If you know Lindy (Dr. Lindy Bixby, DDS) you now know why she looks like a teenager.  It obviously worked.  There were some other consequences as well, but you’ll have to ask her about those.

Lindy Bixby emerging from Lake Baikal (damn cold, that water!) after
dropping twenty years.

 

 

Many Changes in Siberia since 1986 – We were very restricted in where we could visit and what we could do when we were in Siberia in 1986.  But, since the collapse of communism and the Soviet Union in 1990, there are few restrictions.  We suspect that the passage of 28 years has wrought considerable change in Irkutsk and Ulan Ude.   But, I’m going to see if I can find some of that silky, dark brown vodka that we discovered in 1986….

Russian Orthodox church outside Irkutsk

 

Village east of Irkutsk on the way to Listvyanka.  We could
stop along the way in 1986, but we couldn't wander.  Things are much
more open here in 2014.  We're looking forward for the chance to explore.