UNITING THE WORLD

Derzhavnaia Church on Olkhon Island.

We were minutes away from our final stop on Olkhon Island, the biggest of the 22 islands of Lake Baikal, and also considered one of the most sacred places in Buddhist Asia. It was getting late and we needed to get to where we were staying that night before it was pitch dark and there was no one in the street. I called Sergey (our host on the island) to verify the address.

– Yes, the house behind the church. Just come on in! – replied Sergey.

5 minutes later I was knocking on the door of the house behind the gorgeous Russian Orthodox Church overlooking the steep hill cascading into Baikal. "Bon jour!" – was the response of a friendly blond lady, who opened the door and retreated to continue some table game with 2 children and 4 outdoorsy looking adults of different ages.

Emi and Yura with their pikes at the "Turbaza".

To put it mildly, we did not expect to find a house full of French travelers in the middle of Russian Siberia, especially not at this refuge-shack administered by a 30ish year old Russian church guardian. The lovely French found Sergey the same exact way we did – on Couchsurfing.com. I have heard about the site some years ago, when my old housemate (without consulting his roommates) opened the doors of our house to a Finish couple, who turned out to be wonderful and loved Washington DC. I never gave this idea much thought until Emi and I began our expedition. Emi, as it turned out, was registered on the site, but has never used it before. Since Latin America is cheap and with plenty of hostels we never thought of becoming active couch surfers until we got to Russia. Our first intention was to have a place to stay and save money on hotels, but once we had our debut with Ksenya in Krasnoyarsk, we became loyal converts.

Emi, Lisa, Marco and I in Terelj National Park, Mongolia.

It is basically a cultural exchange-meeting place for people who like to socialize. You can stay with people when you travel, you can host people at your home if you stay put, or you can just offer to hang out or show your local sites to the foreigners passing through where you live. At Ksenya’s in Krsnoyarsk, we learned that she loved hosting people just because it gave her a special spice in her daily life and she got an opportunity to practice English. She hosts people in her one bedroom apartment where the guests get the bedroom and sleep on mattresses on the floor, and she and her boyfriend do the same in the living room.  She has very little, but still she chooses to share that little with the fellow travelling souls that came through her nostalgic Siberian town.

Lisa in  our ger.

In the case of Sergey (college educated in Russia and France), he felt that it made him more connected with the world when he received people in his island house, especially if he could practice his French and English while showing them around.  When Sergey moved to the island some 6 years earlier to restore and revive the local church, there was no housing either for him or for any travelers. Little by little, him and his wife built a little log house and began thinking of a guest reception/cafeteria area, which every Russian church is supposed to have. Sergey did the thinking and couch surfers did the action.

Hong Kong - floor 62.

When Sergey began hosting people, everyone felt it was their duty to help with construction. As long as Sergey found building materials, the guest house did not stop to grow. When we were there, the structure was in place and only in need of insulation and interior beautification, to which we contributed almost every day of our stay. We also built a 15 meter long fence to protect the church grounds from the fierce winds ruling those lands. Every day when we returned to our new home after routine explorations of the island we (alongside with our French housemates) Iooked for new improvement projects. Just like at any other country-set household there is no end to activities and chores: there is wood to be split, garden to be weeded, shacks to be built and walls to be painted. No matter how cold it was, or how tired we were we did the work with great pleasure and felt that we were contributing to a common good that will stay and grow.

 Our hutong street in Baidjing

Our Severobaikalsk stay with Yuri was just as different and as fulfilling as the days with Sergey. Yuri, hosted people at his friend’s country camp, where he also lived for the time being. He was the only person from Severobaikalsk to host people, and he tried to accommodate everyone. Besides the excitement of meeting new people Yuri also “used” his guests to help him brain storm about tourism opportunities in northern Baikal where he was starting his travel company. Our contribution to Yuri’s new enterprise was in the form of photos for his website and a presentation video, which travelled to Moscow’s Young Entrepreneur’s competition which Yuri successfully won.

Chris is helping Emi to negotiate some deal in Mandarin.

There were many other stops along our way at the houses of great couch surfers. Liza from Germany, who hosted us in Ulan-Ude, became our dear friend and joined us on a trip to Mongolia where we spent a fun weekend in a ger of a local nomad family. Chris from Canada, “the master of Beijing hutongs”, taught us all there is to know about tea drinking and showed us how to do Chinese-style grocery shopping at the neighborhood market. Ting Yan from Singapore, who showed us the wanders of living on 62d floor in a Hong Kong residential neighborhood. The experiences that really stood out for us were the ones where we could help or contribute in one way or another, which always happened for us spontaneously and unexpectedly.

Anyone wants to start an export business: Beidjing-Moscow?

Since the beginning of our trip I have been looking for ways to help in places that we visited. The reality that I have discovered was that many volunteer projects have become an alternative way of travelling, where a volunteer has to pay a substantial fee in order to work for free. Administering volunteer projects takes time and effort and that is what the fee covers (they say). However, isn’t it ridiculous that your efforts to help are rejected if you can’t pay the fee?! It is the first time in my life when I have plenty of time and energy that I can and want to devote to helping this world, and I can’t find places where I can volunteer without having to pay for it.

Not surprisingly, Couchsurfing became for us the way to find people who needed help and who at the same time were willing to host us. It looks like Couchsurfing might become a new way to find real grassroots volunteering where it is still raw and clear cut: volunteering means donating your time and efforts to help those in need.

MONGOLIAN LAYOVER

The endless hills and skies of Mongolia.

Mongolia was a mandatory stop in our itinerary. More specifically, we were heading to Ulan Bator to take a breather on the way to China, and meanwhile to take care of my Chinese visa, which I still didn’t have at that point. The visa business turned out to be easy, but time consuming and very expensive. Heading to UB, it didn’t occur to us to check if the Chinese consulate was going to be open when we got there. Of course, due to the National Day of China, all public offices were on leave for a week! So there we were with 10 days at our disposal and with nothing to do.

Ulan Bator.

Ulan Bator turned out to be a city out of the soviet nineties. It is a strange mix of few awkward modern buildings mixed in between rumbles of half built structures, traditional gers and soviet colorless box-like apartment buildings. Nonetheless, according to a number of people we met there, they say that the city has exploded in the last few years and is now one of the fastest growing cities in Asia. Apparently, it is mostly due to foreign investment and exploration of copper, oil and natural resources hidden in Mongolian hills. Some also say that Ulan Bator is losing its character and is becoming like any other modern city with all of the same name brand shops, restaurants and shopping malls. May be it is true, but from what I can see, the locals are only happy about the development, which is finally giving the city a face lift of a sort. Some peculiar things that we have seen in the streets are the long gone and forgotten public wait stands, where for a penny or two a “wait assistant” is happy to let you know your know current wait category. Apart from these street “wait watchers” there were also mini what-not stalls that offered anything from peanuts to cigarettes, which were neatly arranged around a telephone. I guess that one of the services offered were telephone calls from a land line phone. How in the world was it connected and to what I have no idea, but the phones were not cordless of cellular, and there were a few of them down the main city drag.

The Migjid Janraisig Temple.

Besides the central square and a couple of main streets, there city also has to offer a number of excellent museums and temples. The ones that stood out were the old temple of Choijin Lama Temple, the National Museum of Mongolian History, and the Migjid Janraisig Temple. The Choijin Lama Temple one was special because of its beautiful interior decorations, its textile collection and also because it was the first Asian structure I have seen. The National Museum of Mongolian History captivated us for a few hours with its wonderfully comprehensive collection of historical artifacts and excellent information boards. The Migjid Janraisig Temple was probably the highlight of the three. It was a classical Buddist temple structure with the trapeze white stone bottom level and a dark wood top floor. Inside, there was an enormous 26 meter, 20 ton Budda statue towering in the middle of the temple surrounded by the prayer drums constantly rotated by the belivers. I thought that later on I was going to think of that temple as just one out of hundreds that we were going to see in Asia, but it really is one of a kind and I have not seen anything similar so far. Besides being a tourist attraction and a historical monument  it is also an active temple with monks chanting the prayers at the lowest pitch of their voices, and people kneeling down to warship and meditate.

The giant Migjid Janraisig Budda.

There museums and other sites were great, but there were only so much of them and we were left with nothing else but sitting at the hostel writing our blog. All of a sudden, one evening the hostel door flung open and we heard: “Well, hello, hello there!”. It was Liza, the German student, who was our generous host in Ulan-Ude, our last stop in Russia. It turned out that Liza came to Mongolia to shop for winter clothes to survive the cold season while she was in Siberia for her semester abroad. After the fun night of catching up and befriending another German traveler we all decided to take off to the near by Terelj National Park, where I had found a local nomad family to stay with.

Mongolian gers.

In reality, I found a Mongolian girl who ran a small scale tourism business, who arranged for us to stay with her family in a village within the National Park, and where she and her daughter spent almost every weekend. The four of us, Daka and her 1,5 year old daughter dressed in traditional clothing, got on the local bus and 3 hours later were in a ger (or yurt) village, hidden in a wooded valley between the mountains. Our ger appeared small from the outside, but surprisingly, once entered it opened up a common space which could host at least 6 people. There were 2 large beds, several linen chest type pieces of furniture and an iron stove in the middle. It gave a cozy feeling and made you want to stay there.

Life inside a ger.

During one of the days with Daka’s family we saw how gers are moved and put back together. The structure is amazingly strong and weatherproof, while at the same time it only takes several hours to take apart and put back together. A typical Mongolian ger consists of 7 parts: wooden structure, interior cover, felt, canvas, exterior cover, crown cover, and ger ropes. You can read about ger assembling and ways to own one here http://www.happymongolia.net/ger-export.html. There are relatively few families in Mongolia that still live like true Nomads, moving their homes every season. Nonetheless, there are still a few that maintain a semi-nomad style of life, moving only once or twice a year, but still living in their gers with their horses, sheep and dogs.

Almost like Chenghis Khan warriors.

Another thing that we absolutely had to do was, of course, horseback riding. They say that a “Mongolian is born in a saddle”, and I don’t think that it is an exaggeration. We saw children as small as 4 or 5 ride horses by themselves, while we barely managed to stay on the horse when it wasn’t even galloping. One reason for that could be the Mongolian saddle. It has a different shape and appears to be shorter than its western cousin, which makes it quite challenging for tall westerners to stay in comfortably. On this trip, however, the more discomforts we had the more jokes we heard from our new friend Marco.

A silent visitor at our ger.

This character is the kind of traveler that you read about in some adventure magazine or a travel novel. Marco moved to California when he was 21 and has not stopped living the free spirit life since then. He has travelled on a bicycle from Alaska to Ushuaia, he lived in Sequoya forests, he has climbed volcanoes in Kamchatka and has crossed practically uninhibited areas of northern Siberia in a tank. It was fascinating to listen to the stories about his countless whereabouts, especially sitting by an iron stove in a warm ger in the middle of a Mongolian National Park. It’s during these moments when you realize that these type of connections only happen when you get out of your everyday routine, leave your home and embark into the unknown.

The guardians.

After several days filled with hiking, drinking coffee, riding horses, hanging out with local kids and eating plenty of wonderfully made mutton dishes we were back to UB, the capital of the Chingis Khan Empire. It was a surprise to my ignorant self to find out about the size of the Mongolian Empire when it was at its prime in 1279. It occupied the territory from Vietnam, China and all of the “Stans” in the south to half of Russia in the north, including Moscow and arriving to Venice in the west. It is the most powerful and extensive empire that has ever existed, and yet now it is one of the poorest and less populated countries in the world. The population of modern day Mongolia is less than 3 million people. Mongolia now might not have too many Mongolians living there, but many of us might be somewhat Mongolian to an extent. According to the National History Museum of Mongolia, one of the 200 people on Earth have some genes from the great Chingis Khan. Apparently, Temujin (the real name of Chingis Khan) had more than 500 wives and thought it pretty important to spread his seed.

The Choijin Lama Temple.

My Chinese visa was ready and it was time for us to get back on the road. Beijing was our next destination and we were on our way. There are many places that we did not see in Mongolia and so there is still plenty to discover one day when we go back there. Mongolia felt very real, authentic and untouched to me and is a place worth exploring.

SERE UN MONGOL?

Casamiento en la Plaza Sukbhaatar

El bus no ceso de balancearse ni un momento desde su partida en Ulán Ude. Las rutas rusas son desastrosas, muchas de ellas muy rotas, y las que no, están muy mal concebidas desde un principio, sin demarcación alguna, sin banquinas y con una preparación del terraplén tan incompetente que poseen ondulaciones tanto transversales como longitudinales, por lo que el movimiento es constante y hasta a veces temeroso. Al cruzar a Mongolia, luego de las formalidades de aduana y migraciones, las carreteras no cambian en lo absoluto. Quizás en Rusia no les presten demasiada atención ya que mas del 90% del transporte, ya sea de pasajeros o de carga, lo realizan en ferrocarril; pero en Mongolia parece que aun prefieren el caballo como en épocas de Chingis Khan.

Pequenio Chingis

Casi la totalidad del país es dominado por la estepa, salvo las excepciones del desierto de Gobi en el sudoeste y las montañas de Altái en el noroeste del país. Estepa desértica, con ondulaciones no muy elevadas y alguna que otra montaña un tanto más alta. Todo completamente verde, con algunos árboles que aparecen cada algunas cuantas decenas de kilómetros. Escasas cantidades de nieve depositada sobre los cerros y a veces en las bases, anuncian la llegada del inminente invierno a Mongolia. En medio del polvoriento y desolado paisaje se alza Ulán Bator, capital de Mongolia y nuestro destino para los próximos días.

Templo Megjid Janraisig 

Ulán Bator no es nada pintoresco ni mucho menos. Desprolija, un tanto sucia, extremadamente polvorienta, aunque con un crecimiento que denota las oportunidades de negocios que arrastra un país en crecimiento y virgen, a pesar de tener historia milenaria, siendo asediado por inversionistas extranjeros que ven en sus tierras la posibilidad de un avance veloz y fructífero a corto plazo. Es increíble como un territorio habitado por sino la más fuerte dinastía de la historia, como fue la de Chingis Khan logrando una expansión que llegaba hasta Europa y el sudeste asiático, hoy tenga una población de apenas 3 millones de habitantes. Para tener una idea en esas épocas de la magnitud del Imperio Mongol, leímos en el fabuloso museo de historia que hoy en día, uno de cada doscientos hombres provienen de antepasados mongoles, más específicamente de cromosomas del mismo Temudjin (verdadero nombre de Chingis Khan). Quién sabe si mi achinado en los ojos no provenga de estas tierras.

Megjid Janraisig

Como decía anteriormente la ciudad no tiene demasiado encanto, aunque cabe destacar que si tiene varios sitios para visitar, y más de uno vale la pena no perdérselo. El Museo de Historia, como citaba anteriormente, es una verdadera recopilación de reliquias milenarias y claro está, donde se puede aprender mucho sobre la historia de este gran imperio. En lo que respecta a religión, abundan los templos budistas y si hay uno del que vale la pena hablar es el Templo Megjid Janraisig. El aire comienza a cambiar con solo acercarse al Monasterio Gandan; monjes con túnicas bordo y cinturones amarillos pasean sus cabezas rapadas por las calles mientras un grupo de mujeres gira las enormes ruedas de oración tibetanas que se encuentran en la plaza frente al templo. A la derecha, como en cada santuario se ubica la gigantesca campana de loto y a la izquierda el no menos importante tambor del dharma. Voces en tonos tan bajos como puedan existir, recitan oraciones que retumban en el interior del recinto donde se alza el símbolo del templo. Un enorme Buda de 26 metros de altura que araña el techo con su cabeza dorada, no hace más que dejarnos callados, inmóviles, pacíficos en la contemplación de una imagen de semejante tamaño. Relleno en su interior con hierbas medicinales y miles de mandalas, este gigante alcanza las 20 toneladas de peso. La gente ingresa, se inclina frente a la estatua, enciende un incienso y respira de su humo, para luego girar alrededor, siempre en sentido horario, mientras hacen rotar las cientos de ruedas de oración que rodean a Megjid Janraisig.

Cabalgando la Estepa Mongoliana

Como miles de años atrás, gran parte de la población de Mongolia todavía habita sus ger; una especie de carpas circulares con estructura de madera, con las cuales esta comunidad de nómades viajaban no solo por el país sino también en sus conquistas. Queríamos pasar alguna noche en uno de estos, por lo que nos dirigimos al Parque Nacional Terelj, donde nos encontraríamos con una familia de mongoles que nos hospedaron por unos días. La experiencia es genial. Entre el crudo frio del inminente invierno, adentro dormíamos perfecto, ayudados claro por un poco de leña y una estufa. Por el día caminábamos las estepas y montañas o para sentirnos mas parte aun, las cabalgábamos cruzando ríos y bosques. Por las noches la familia nos acogía en su pequeña casa, donde nos ofrecían de su comida, como así también algo de yogurt casero y una de las especialidades de Mongolia; el airag: leche de caballo fermentada. El extremo de lo agrio expresado en una bebida que si no sos mongol, difícilmente puedas más que apenas degustar.

Ger Mongol

Mongolia es un país grande, que supo ser muchísimo más grande. Es un país cuya población habita en los genes de pobladores de todo el mundo aunque hoy en su territorio haya unos pocos. Es un país que aún conserva culturas y formas de vida de hace mucho tiempo atrás, acompañado por ritos religiosos que se ven a lo largo de todo su territorio. Es un imperio que obligo a los chinos a construir una muralla de más de 8.800km para poder frenar sus ataques. Es un país que, a pesar de no tener el tiempo necesario para recorrerlo en toda su extensión, nos dejo una sensación especial, unas ganas de volver y de aprender en más detalle la historia de este milenario imperio que pocos admiran hoy en día.