BOO!

Did I scare you?

MWHAHAHAHAHA!

One minute to spare, whew!

Where's my damn candy?

Ganbei-ing to the Grave

BEIJING, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Five Chinese power bureau officials have been dismissed or demoted after an auditor died from a series of banquet binges, the Shanghai Daily reported on Tuesday.

The death of Zhang Hongtao, 25, who worked with the Yanshan County Audit Office in northern Hebei province, was blamed on alcohol after banquets provided in April for auditors by the Yanshan Power Supply Co., the newspaper said.

Instead of working, Zhang did little else but eat, drink, play cards and enjoy massages, the official China Daily said.

"Zhang called his family the day before his death, saying that he couldn't pick up his child because the power bureau had invited the auditors and some other supervision officials to another banquet," the newspaper said.

"That night, Zhang consumed a lot of alcohol and became very ill. When the bureau invited the group to dine again the next day, Zhang's lifeless body was found, which Zhang's family said was due to alcohol poisoning."

China bars auditors from banquets, trips, entertainment events or parties hosted by the company they are in the process of auditing.

Last month, a court in the eastern province of Zhejiang ordered a group of eight friends to pay compensation after a guest they made drink too much at a banquet collapsed and died.

MKB - Recording Supastar!

Part 3, 1:

W: Let's go see the elephants, Bill. I like elephants they are cute and clever!
M: No, I don't like elephants. I think they are ugly.
W: Oh, Bill! What would you like to see?
M: I like pandas, I think they are cute and friendly!
W: I love pandas! I think they are cute and shy.
Q: What does Bill like?

Text 2: I like elevators. We owe a lot of our city's success to elevators. It it weren't for elevators, we would not be able to have such tall buildings....

on and on and on for hours!

Yup, you are looking at one of the newest voices on English tapes to be distributed to schools throughout China! Awesome. I guess that this guy has been working with VIA volunteers for the past five years or so, so one day he just called the apartment and asked if I was the new American VIA volunteer.

So, I went down for a voice check and have been called back several times to record those delightful English dialogues riddled with mistakes. I have a good time doing it even if the sessions drag. I guess that he had had trouble getting good female voices because many are too high pitched and not throaty enough. Lucky me and my throaty (increasingly so with the lovely Beijing air) neutral American accent!

I don't know if I will ever be able to get a copy of my recording work, but if I do, rest assured, you will all get copies of my dialogue brilliance!

New Teaching Methodology

My dear friend passed this along to me as a new classroom technique since what I have been doing in Yan Qing hasn't really been working very well. I'll all for experimental teaching, but I don't know about this....

Is it art? Teacher strips in class
POSTED: 0806 GMT (1606 HKT), September 28, 2006

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- A Chinese culture ministry official has denounced a university professor who stripped naked in front of students and teachers during an art class, a Chinese newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Mo Xiaoxin, a 56-year-old assistant professor at a university in Changzhou, in eastern Jiangsu province, shocked students by stripping during a lecture on "body art" to emphasize the "power" of the body and to "challenge taboos," the Beijing News said.

"There are no taboos in the field of research, but to do this directly in the course of teaching is obviously not appropriate," the paper quoted Tian Junting, a culture ministry official, as saying.

The lecture was part of a course within a newly established "human body art and culture" research institute -- China's first -- at Jiangsu Teachers University of Technology, the paper said.

Mo arranged for four other models, including a man and woman in their 70s or 80s, and a younger couple, to strip naked in front of the class while he lectured, the paper said.

During the nearly hour-long class, Mo also invited students to take their clothes off.

"Professor Mo appeared emotionally excited at the time," the paper quoted a student as saying. "As he was talking, he undid his belt and took off his pants, and stood naked in the middle of the lecture podium."

The naked lecture made many of the 30 or so students feel "uneasy," the paper said. "Some kept their eyes trained on the ceiling, some awkwardly bowed their heads and stared at the ground".

Tian, the culture ministry official, said the course was still in a "research phase" and it wasn't yet known whether it had produced "positive or negative effects."

Defending Lady Day

So, 30. Rock on! I didn't tear it up or anything over my birthday, but hopefully will be able to do some things this weekend. I did get to go to a great, new Indian buffet with Matt, Adam and Naree and that was good. I stuffed my face with pakora and had my birthday kheer. So, all good. Didn't really do much anything else though. Saturday was kinda grey and Matt and I were BUSY with class stuff all weekend. So, we postponed birthday activities.

Anyhow, teaching has been going better. My Yan Qing Monday is getting a little better. The combination of kicking kids out of class and making sure they understand that attendance is not required, has cut some of the classes down a little bit to the people who want to be there. Even if it just a few people missing, those are usually the ones who are causing the problems.

So, I have been doing a series of lectures related to racism and the Civil Rights era in the United States. The most recent lecture was on songs of protest - past and present. One of the songs that I shared with them was "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday (if you have not heard this song, please do! It will give you chills). She has a very distinctive voice and I have loved listening to her for many, many years. But not something that my kids were used to hearing, so they laughed. A lot. Yeesh. So, I had to school them. I can't force them to like her music, but I can try to get them to appreciate the artist. Anyhow, who are they to judge, have you heard Beijing Opera?

Now I just have to find some more pictures of people being lynched to drive it home. The shock tactic seems to work well with those kids. But I am happy that they have at least attempted to do the homework that I have given them and even happier that some of them are choosing not to come to class.

Anyhow, not much else going on. I have started my time with Hui Ling. I think that will be good. I don't know if I will be able to do exactly what I would like to do with them, but I'll try. If any of you have any good ideas for craft/art projects that don't involve the use of sharp objects, please let me know!

So, I will be throwing some other random things up soon, so keep checking back in!

Getting Older. Ugh.

I'm still sick, but at least the computer is feeling better. Had to bring it to the emergency room, but now back up and running.

No real reason for this post, but I will turn 30 this weekend. Scary. 30 always seemed so far away. Anyhow, now it is nearing and I plan on drowning myself in raita and kheer at a newly opened Indian restaurant, which will be, conveniently enough, having an Indian lunch buffet on my birthday!

So, this milestone will be celebrated in China, my 21st was in Indonesia, so where should 40 take place? Eeek 40! Not quite ready to wrap my head around that one yet!

Anyhow, 30. 30. 30. Not so bad. I plan to be mid way through a block of cheese and on my second Dr. Pepper around this time in about 3 days. My birthday wishlist for this year? Cheese, Dr. Pepper, a Snapple, and a box of Post Selects cereal. Ah, the simplicity of my birthday wishes, stemming from my base desperation amuses me. I guess I'll throw in a pendant (from an awesome bookstore!) that I have had my eye on just for good measure and so I will have a little keepsake from this milestone.

I guess that about wraps it up for me right now - I have some other random things I will be posting up soon - a little more from Mongolia and some other brain tidbits.

30.

30.

30.

Ah-ah-ah-choo!

Hello everyone. I'm sick. Kinda a little welcome home gift. If you email, I will be a little slow to respond as I am not the only one with a Chinese virus. Yes, my trusty laptop has come down with a nasty one too.

So, if any of my computer geek friends have any advice on how to get my little silver friend up and running again, I would be most grateful!

The problem: I can't access my desktop. All of my antivirus programs are blocked. All of my system functions are blocked can't do anything in safe mode either. Can't roll back my computer, can't do anything! ARRRGH!!! I can still get to my program files, but that is about it. I spent some good time with a support person on the phone, but, alas, no luck. I can't access the internet anymore either.

Any advice?

The Reno of Asia

Gerbils - check
Sand - check
"Recreation" of Invading Mongol Horde - check

Alrighty, so, these post are things that I was writing out long hand during our trip to Mongolia. Enjoy!

So, speeding back from Mongolia on the train and I wish I was still there, but the train is pretty cool so I'm happy about that. It is strangely liberating to not be afraid of the toilet facilities and therefore able to eat and drink however much I want. The time in Mongolia went way too fast and I didn't get to see nearly enough of the country! We were both really tempted to play hooky from school and continue on over to Moscow. But, alas, we are still responsible (more or less).

So, I have a lot to tell, so I'll get to it!

First the beginning...

The train ride up. We got stuck in Beijing traffic the last 200m or so to the train station, but were told we couldn't get out in the intersection. The time we needed to catch the train was whittling down, so finally, seeing that we really needed to go, the cab driver gave a little nod and we bolted from the cab into the jammed intersection. Poor civil planning! All of the traffic going to the train station has to make a U-turn into oncoming traffic. Being that there is not a dedicated turn light, this is nearly impossible. Ah, yet another Chinese feat in half-baked planning!

Anyhow, we were expecting the mad rush and frantic "queuing" like other train experiences, so we booked it to the station waiting area. To our surprise, it was very easy. Shockingly easy. Uncharacteristically Chinese easy! We were right away directed to the first class waiting lounge and international train transit lounge and then only a quick ticket check (no line, no shoving) and we were on the platform! Not only were we on the platform, but we could board the train immediately - no waiting! I do think that the mad rush to the gate is merely to entertain some sort of sadistic party paper stamper in the back office. Anyhow...(stay on track, Molly).

So, on the train we go!

We stowed all our stuff (once we figured out the storage places) and were really pleased with the cabin arrangements - only 4 beds per cabin on a hard class sleeper ticket! Thank you Russia! I never thought that I would have so much praise and adoration for Russian engineering and products, but Хорошо сделанный! The cabin was nice! LOTS of room and a heavy, lockable door. We settled into our bunks and I was suddenly overcome with how quiet it was. So, so, so quiet. No bad pop/shrill flute music or electric piano versions of Celine Dion and Whitney Houston. There was some soft (emphasis on "soft") music in the corridor, but not in the individual cabins. Ahhhh, I found a little slick of heaven on a Russian train.

We had the cabin to ourselves for a few hours. Matt checked out the facilities, came back and informed me of a real-to-life toilet in the WC. Having that mobile toilet was liberating! We could now eat and drink as much as we wanted! When I visited the toilet, I was so happy. I think a "happy Russian toilet" song might have escaped my lips. It even smelled clean! And then, push a lever and, flush! Onto the tracks! Bye waste! With the bathroom facilities checked out, I felt confident to eat, so I did. We both got some food from the dining car - not great, but tasted better and better as we sped farther and farther away from China.

Eventually, a couple of Mongolians joined us in our cabin. They were great cabin mates! Sure they played with their phone, but did so quietly. Eventually we went to sleep. It was nice. Each bunk had its own light so we could determine our own bedtime. It was quiet. There was no one trying every single ring tone on their phone, no one yelling/singing loudly, no one sitting on you, no one using said cell phone as a flashlight to see who you are... Ahhh... solace! I was able to sleep. Sleep well.

We reached Erlian (boarder in China) where the wheels of the train had to be changed because the tracks were of a different gauge. So we got off and went to the little duty free shop - it was madness! People were grabbing and buying up cases of fruit and just throwing elbows left and right. We had about a 2 hour lay over before heading on.

Immigration and customs was really easy (especially as the official came to us - i.e.: no lines). The Chinese officer looked at Matt's passport picture and called him "fat". We all got a good laugh at that! I was a little scared to fork over my passport, but just got the nod, and I was good with that. The official on the Mongolian side gave us each a quick once over and stamped our passports. Hooray! Land of Kahn, ho!

We all went to sleep. I think I must have slept until 9 or 10 AM. No shrill flute music to wake me at 6/7 AM. Thus no swears. This overall was a pretty swear free vacation for me - with an exception for the multiple mental and a couple of vocal "hot-damns". Around brunch our cabin mates started eating the Mongolian man was very friendly and funny. He sliced off some excellent Mongolian sausage for me to try. YUM! He told me that it was Mongol with a big happy face and thumbs up. Oh, sooo tasty! Then he sliced off a little Chinese sausage and made sure to make the distinction with a big frown - he was right, not too good.

So, we coasted on into to Ulaan Baatar - the UB, the capital city of Mongolia. Matt and I realized that we didn't have any Mongolian money for a cab, so we were happy to find a guest house representative who offered us a free shuttle to his guesthouse
which was close to a money changer and ATM. On the shuttle we met some other travelers who told us about a couple of SE Asian countries we were looking to visit this winter.

The UB Guesthouse. Owned and operated by a South Korean man and his Mongolian wife. We decided to just dorm bed it for the night (well, that was decided for us as there were no private rooms available - so dorm bunks it was!) The guesthouse was crowded but cozy. We all got our stuff settled and went to go get some togrog (Mongolian currency). After, we decided to check out a monastery, the Gandantegchinlen (Gandan) Khiid (roughly means, 'the great place of complete joy') which is Mongolia's largest monastery. We were joined by 2 guys, Robert, American student studying Chinese in Beijing and John, Australian who had been traveling for the past 7 months. We got out to the temple to find out that it was closing (of course, we find out after they take our admission). So, we saw one chapel.

We decided to head back to the guesthouse and try to find a place to eat. While walking to the restaurant, many homeless boys approached us for money or food. One even latched onto my arm and wouldn't let go. Many of the children live under ground in the winter as it is the only place warm enough. In our LP (Lonely Planet, for those of you not in the know), it mentions that many of the kids are abandoned or run away from abusive homes. Many of the girls get sucked into prostitution. Initially we thought that by giving them food, that would encourage them to ask for more or latch onto you. Nope. They were just hungry. I gave one my half full 7UP and he took it and ran. Same with some leftover food I had.

Anyhow, we all went to a place called "El Latino" (Cuban food) for dinner. Matt and I weren't too hungry as we had a late lunch at a fabulous Greek Restaurant (feta, mmmmmm!) But we enjoyed the company and native speaker rate of English conversation. So, after dinner, we all headed back to the guesthouse to pack or figure out excursions. On the way back Robert was remarking how he thought that the city looked like Reno. The rest of us, who have never been to Reno, had to go on his word. I wound up chatting with John (the Aussie). We were both pleasantly surprised to find out that we were both in school in Indonesia at around the same time! He was in Yogya and me about 3 hours away in Salatiga. Tried speaking in really rusty Bahasa, squeaky but still functional. His was a lot better than mine, but he admitted that he was just there and was able to embarrass himself (practice). So we swapped stories about the archipelago and talked about our favorite cities. Great fun! He had been traveling around SE Asia and told me a little about Vietnam and Cambodia (really excited about going there over winter - fingers crossed).

Matt and I decided to tour around UB on Monday and take a trip out to Karakorum (Genghis' - "Chinggis" old hood) the next day. We visited some museums and shops - Mongolia was more expensive than we thought it would be (almost US prices). We went to the Winter Palace of Bogd Khaan. We snapped a couple of photos outside before being taken down by the photo taking enforcement squad - err, woman who helps clean the compound. We assumed that the photo fee was just for taking photos inside the buildings but we were wrong and had to shell out $15 USD! to appease the descendants oh Khaan. So we took a lot of retribution photos. With flash. Indoors. Take that (concentrated flash of UV) Bogd Khaan! What a dork revenge, but mwahahahahaha all the same!

Anyhow, we went to a couple of art galleries which were cool and the Victims of Political Persecution Museum which was interesting. We enjoyed looking around town. I enjoyed the consistently clean bathrooms (not smelly, pedestal toilets, toilet paper and sink with hot water and soap)! Later, we reconfigured our packs so we could just take one pack on the road trip.

Okay. Enough for now. How 'bout y'all take a quick break, get some water and I'll continue a little later.

Jerboa-con 2006! Hooray!

Yeah, yeah, Chinggis Khaan (blah, blah, blah), Kublai Khaan (blah, blah, blah), Golden Horde (blah, blah, blah). The real reason for our Mongolian excursion was...

...to see us some gerbils in the wild!

Mongolia has several species of jerboa. For me, I have wanted to see where my childhood pets came from. We were not disappointed. Because of the time limit, we couldn't go down to the Gobi. Oh, well some other time.

I did get to dune romp in the little Gobi, so, that filed the sand void for now. I like the desert. But I'm getting ahead of myself once again.

Gerbil town #1: We stopped off at a place for lunch. I went around to snap a few pictures. When I walked back I saw Matt staring at the ground. Gerbil town spotted! They were so cute! Poking their heads up from their little holes and scampering around. Perfect! I was so happy! As far as I was concerned, I could go home a happy girl. So, we (Matt, Temple and Reuben - fellow teachers in China and I) all had lunch at the little roadside diner. The food was good, but we were all surprised by the food presentation. The plate at this little roadside stop had a very eye appealing arrangement. Rice was molded with decorative ketchup dollop on top, and the vegetable salad was nice and colorful. The noodles were al dente and the meat was tender - not too bad! I finished eating quickly so I could go out on the gerbil watch a little longer before hitting the road once again.

Part way to the little Gobi, our driver met up with some friends of his. This was cool by us, but when they pulled out a bottle of vodka, not so cool anymore. So were all watched to see what he was doing (y'know, watching, but pretending not to really watch). But our driver just dipped his right ring finger in the glass that was offered to him and flicked a little once to the sky, once in the air (to the wind) and once to the ground. Then put the glass to his lips, but didn't take a chug.

Next Stop: Little Gobi. So, I needed a little desert fix so the little Gobi was pretty perfect for that! Kicked off my shoes, rolled up my pants and ran out to the mini dunes with Roy Chapman Andrews on the brain. I didn't discover any dinos or anything, but found plenty of broken glass (shoes back on), plastic bottles, poop and animal bones. So no great adventuring excursions through the Gobi on camel back, but making my way through the mini dunes, tripping on the sand, dodging poop is basically the same thing, right? Didn't stop me from striking some nerdy poses in my Beloit College gear (er, vintage T)! Ah, ol' Roy would have been so proud! Especially with this Beloiter! So, I was kneeling down on the side of a dune to take a picture and I started to tip over. My planted foot was deep in the sand. So, well...I just kinda went with it and log rolled down the side of the dune. Another proud moment was running on the sand and tripping on, well, nothing. Another, squatting in a prickly bush and all of this is a span of less than an hour. Ahhhh, good times!

So, after the dune fun, it was back in the car for bumpy road. The trip out to Karakorum was about 7 hours one way, most of that time was dodging pot holes - I think there was more hole than road. I remember looking out longingly at the dirt trail next to the asphalt. Anyhow, we arrived at our ger at about 5:30/6 PM. Dinner was to be served at 7:15, so we had some time to walk around the old Khaan stomping ground. We all made use of the cleanest pit toilet we had seen in quite awhile and set off! Temple and Reuben set off in one direction toward the flour factory and us in another.

We, of course, went out on the gerbil hunt. We saw many holes, but, alas, no gerbils. A gerbil ghost town. So, we got to work and bad-assed up a one of the gerbil domiciles we happened upon. Yup, grande nerds of the steppe. Then, um, "reenactment" time - I'll post that up later. Feeling satisfied with our lame wrath we unleashed, we headed back to the ger.

Dinner was small but good - buuz (dumplings) with mostly vegetables and just a little meat. Not quite enough for everyone, but quite tasty. Eventually one of the ger owners came and started a nice fire for us and we settled in for the night, swapping China stories. My favorite, "honey, I think I just ordered a prostitute." The stars were amazing at night and I slept pretty well, especially after I covered my head.

In the morning we had biscuit cookies for breakfast and I bought some hand sewn camels from the woman who ran the ger (who had one of the cutest daughters with huge cheeks). The little girl was all smiles and super happy as she toddled around with a box of Toblerone. Hey, I would be pretty too if I had some Toblerone! We left the ger and headed off to see Erdene Zuu Khid (first Buddhist monastery in Mongolia). Sooooo cool! It is in the middle of nowhere - just so neat to look out on nothing and see this huge, walled monastery. I was just drawn to the starkness of the area. We looked around the complex for a little bit and headed out to walk with the Great Khaan. Driving out to a turtle rock marker, I saw what looked like an excavation, but wasn't too sure, it looked like a foundation. We stopped over at penis rock. Guess what it looks like? Legend has it that the rock was placed here in an attempt to stop frisky monks, filled with lust by the shapely slope, from fraternizing with the local women.

Um, after that...we went up to one of the turtle rocks. There are 4 turtle rocks and they mark the boundaries of ancient Karakorum. The turtles act as protectors of the city (turtles are considered symbols of eternity). It was just cool to be standing where, perhaps The Man stood. The man of the millennium. Awesome!

Then, steppe fun was done, so we piled back into the car and headed back to UB. We had fun watching the wildlife and domesticated animals. Lots of cows, sheep and goats. Also, horses, a fox, golden eagles, vultures, camels, and course, gerbils! We only hit one animal scurrying across the road - a little gerbil :( But it was fun to watch then run across.

On the way back we stopped for breaks more at one place there was a most excellent gerbil town with the little cute gerbils that looked like my childhood pets (shout out to Slick, Scooter, Pita and Repita). So cute! One stared at me for a long time and some others kept on popping their little heads up out of their holes - like a miniature whack-a-mole game. I could have watched them for hours! But I had to pull myself away.

Along the ride home, we met up with some other travelers, form a mix of places, but wound up talking with a couple of guys from Israel. Sounds like they had been traveling for awhile (made their way to Mongolia from Russia) so they told us about some of their experiences from the road. They got hassled a little bit in Moscow (police officers wanting to get paid) and were hoping to pick up a little work in China. I think Matt and I are more interested in going to Russia than ever before, but have heard from many people (who we met on this trip) that it is a difficult place to travel for independent travelers, i.e. not on a tour.

*Sigh*

Maybe someday we'll hop the train again and go all the way to Moscow. Someday...

Lap-Dino

So, back to UB - we arrived in the late evening and checked back into the UB Guesthouse. This time we didn't stay at the main guesthouse, but a smaller apartment like place. We went to eat at the Greek place again. Baked feta! Greek Salad! Stuffed grape leaves! Moussaka! Lovely!

After dinner we met our roomies for the rest of our time in Mongolia - Nadia and Antonio. There were so awesome! She was a French Moroccan and he was a Spaniard. They both had been living in London, working for a big company. They got tired of it, so they quit and have been traveling, looking for a new place to live and work. Both of them were so laid back and interesting we had a lot of fun chatting with them!

*Oooh! I just saw 2 camels! I'm have been working on these posts as we make our way through the Gobi Desert. Pretty desolate, but I like it! Gets me thinking about the 1920 Gobi expedition and Andrews' excavation. It's really a crap shoot if you'll find anything. Kind of like, "um...well, shit, I don't know. How about digging here? Just as good as any other place." Anyhow, back to the travel log.*

On our last day in UB we had a lot to do! We talked a little more with the Aussie, who was just back from his trip out to a nature reserve - sounded like they all got a little sick. We wanted to go out to a reserve too, but no time. He highly recommended the Monastery-Museum of Choijin Lama (which was good as I was prepared to bump it if we were slim on time). The first stop though was the Mongolian History Museum.

The MHM was a really nice place - they took a lot of time with the exhibits and signage. I was really impressed with the good English signs. Pretty straight to the point and not a lot of over description. Nice! After the MHM we walked to a restaurant called, "Modern Nomads" - not quite authentic, traditional Mongolian food, but clean, plague free food which was more of what we were going for. Even with a ped toilet, we were hopping a 30 hour train the next morning.... It was good but a lot of food! I had them wrap up my leftovers so I could give it to the street kids later.

BTW (by the way), we did not eat Bodog - authentic Mongolian BBQ. First, the innards get pulled out of the goat or marmot through a slit in the neck. Then, the carcass is stuffed full of scalding rocks and the neck re-closed with wire. Then the animal is thrown on an open fire or blowtorched to burn the fur off the outside while the meat is cooked from the inside. Oh any FYI, the bubonic plague - the great Black Death can be passed by handling marmot skins. Whoohoo! Extreme eating!

Next stop, The Natural History Museum (let's see me some dinosaur)! So, the NHM was basically a creepy taxidermy affair, lots of those not quite right glass(?) eyes staring at you from posed animals that are never really quite right. There was this baby penguin that was, well, um, its neck was craned real strange like. Creeped me out. But had to go through the museums to see the Protoceratops Andrewsi!

Now, I didn't exactly know what to expect as I hadn't researched the dino before going - was leaving that to be surprised. So, I was expecting something large and fierce, further fueling this thought was that the LP mentioned that the museum had a rare preserved example of Andrewsi and a velociraptor locked in mortal combat (probably were buried alive when a sand dune collapsed). Needless to say, I needed to check this bad ass out! We walked through the main dino exhibit hall with all of the large specimens and, hmmm...no Protoceratops Andrewsi. Then, anticipating wanting to get a photo picture of the 80 million year old baddie, I paid the photo fee and took some other pictures while Matt wandered into the next gallery. Matt called out, "hey, Molly! He's in here!" Ooooh, so excited! I can't tell you how excited I was walking in to the next hall - goose bumps!

So I entered the next hall and Matt motioned, "it's over there". I look over to where Matt was pointing and walk up to it and finally was face to face with the Protoceratops Andrewsi! The bad ass dino. Um, the little bad ass dino. Err, the little, vegetarian, bad ass dino. Okay, the little, vegetarian, a little chubby, probably pretty cute bad ass dino. Let's see, so, um, the Andrewsi would kinda be like the ankle biter of the dino world. A sort of "lap-dino", if you will. But, hey, I have to give lil' lap-dino Andrewsi props as it looks like it was kicking the velociraptor's ass! That is before a bunch of sand killed them both. Oh well, go Andrewsi, go!

But the dino skeletons were really neat and pretty complete. I also really enjoyed the paintings. Y'know the paintings at natural history museums that recreate the dino/animal/what have you in their natural environment? Well, Andrewsi looked like a happy little playful tyke, all chubby and content. Definitely for the baddie I was envisioning but cute! And, hey, do you have a dinosaur named after you? I didn't think so.

After hitting the history museums we set out for the monastery-museum of Choijin Lama. It wasn't an active monastery anymore though and hasn't been since the late 1930s. I am really glad that we didn't scratch it 'cuz it was really interesting! The Mongolian's Tibetan Buddhism seemed to focus on the feminine deity - the one with all of the skull and disemboweled and tortured people. Don't know why, but it just seems fitting. All over the chapels were depiction of people being tortured and ripped apart; embroidered entrails terracing the tops of the walls. It was great! Quite different from the other temples we saw in Tibet.

Next, shopping! I think one of my new favorite animals is the camel. I bought a plush herd. We didn't make it out to the open black market though, which we were disappointed about (didn't get to experience the experienced pick pockets) because we had a cultural show to get to!

Usually cultural show are a bit disappointed and cheesy-lame. But this one was awesome! The music was wonderful and the singing was unbelievable - I shot some video and will post it up later. The throat singing was just amazing. Hard to believe that those sounds were coming from a person! The dancing was lively and fun and they even had contortionists! They were, um, flexible. Whoohoo! Kick ass! Seriously, really cool! I could have easily watched for another couple of hours.

So, after the show we went for our last meal in Mongolia. We wound up going to the Sands restaurant - Arabian and South Asian food. Mmmm-mmm-mmm! Then back to the guesthouse to pack up for the train back to Beijing :(

We were ready to go before 7 AM - I walked over to the main guesthouse to get our key deposits back. When I got outside, snow! Mongolian snow on our last day, last hours in the country. How great is that? The people at the guesthouse were very helpful with our departure and the Mongolian owner was even down at the train station just in case there were questions or problems! They were really great to stay with!

Anyhow, sunset over the Gobi, I want to try to get some "through the dirty window pictures". Talk to you later!