The Golden Eagle Festival and the Black Lung

Warning - Course language has been avoided somewhat so its not as funny anymore :(

The Eagle Festival, Bayan Ulgii trip was a while back now (28 September to 6 October 2010). I was dreading having to come up with a concise story to summarise what has been the best trip so far. Instead I made a video about the festival (see below), which you can start downloading while you read this:

The trip to Bayan Ulgii was the last proper holiday for 2010. It was also the last time I was healthy. Since then I have had 4 colds (one of which I have right now) and stomach "issues" (no details required). This has all led to less exercise and therefore weight gain. Even worse is this information I was sent from a friend courtesy of the World Bank blog:

"In Ulaanbaatar (UB), annual average particulate matter concentrations (PM10, i.e., particles that cause damage in the lungs when inhaled) have been recorded at as high as 279. To put this into perspective, the World Health Organization’s recommended PM10 level is 20. This means that UB’s PM10 levels are 14 times higher than the WHO’s recommendation."

Why is this? Many Mongolians still live in gers. Coal or whatever else they can find is used in the ger stoves to keep the ger warm all day and night long. There is also the waste and pollution created at the power stations - you may recall from an earlier post that heat is centrally turned on for all homes and buildings in Ulaanbaatar. Also, cars. Too many stupid cars. The only cars allowed should be formula 1 cars. Incidentally how much did the final F1 suck!! Vettel is one lucky prick.  

Back to the badness of the pollution. I wear a mask when I go outside and to minimise the strange looks and laughter I put a scarf over it. Though I am getting better at Mongolian language, I can't always tell if the packs of young Mongolians are actually laughing at me but I think its a safe assumption. As a result my anger levels are hitting all time highs since I arrived here. I think to myself as some loser looks at me perplexed as to why I don't want to breathe in toxic fumes, "Do you want a smack in the face you dumb truck!". Sometimes I mumble under my scarf, "Truck off you trucking shunt."

Partying hard isn't really helping with maintaining good health. While I have managed to avoid alcohol for the most part, parties like these end up either at a tacky night club or Karaoke, both of which are right across the road from where I live. A little too convenient to stay out until 3am. Ok its not that late but I am running on empty being sober all the time these days - geez I sound like a recovering alcoholic, which I am certainly not.

Halloween Party - Chilean miner among a few other costumes

[Photo by Prancis V Boom Boom]

On top of everything else, its now freezing, literally. Temperatures will occasionally reach -10 degrees C and drop as low as -20 degrees C at night. The cold is ok though. Its been an unusually warm Autumn. If it weren't for breathing in death and the dry air the winter would be a wondrous experience. Also, I have already had a tussle with the ice and it won.

Positives - work is great, I love my colleagues and I can officially declare them the best Mongolians ever, I am getting better at the Mongolian language and I am starting to converse with people on a very basic level, I discovered Mongolia's answer to the Choc Top except you can buy this baby straight from the convenience store two seconds from my home, I am getting better at avoiding blows from my kick boxing instructor, I finished my research paper and will now hopefully graduate (if I pass), and finally, I am still having fun!

Straight from Russia this icecream can be purchased from all good corner stores. It comes with no wrapping so its great for the environment. Confused? Well yeah there is no wrapping. I stick my hand into the freezer at the shop and take it out as you see it. It might be unhygienic but it tastes great!

Let me tell you about a time back in September/October when the air was clear and the weather was beautiful. It was in Bayan Ulgii, a far west province in Mongolia where the Kazak people live. Nine of my friends (oh yes, I have at least nine friends or more) plus our guide/friend, driver and cook all squished in a Russian van, a ger and basic housing. There is no running water at the homes in the country side or the town centre. When we made it to town we showered at a bath house for a small fee to give the baby wipes a rest.

Toilet talk was rife but that's how it is when everyone has to go out in the open all at once. Everyone stumbles out of the car searching for a rock or private place to go. Going to the toilet out in the open is actually preferable to a drop toilet except when its windy.

Aside from the actual festival, highlights included checking out the glaciers and Tavan Bogd mountain, near the borders of Russia, China and Kazakhstan all at once.

One of our host families preparing milk tea and food. Really welcoming people even though we could only communicate with them through our guide.

The guys didn't really have to crouch so much. Oh thee who have little faith.

These kids were freaked out by how funny we look. They cried and cried and cried and I just laughed and took pictures. They are so adorable!

Hogoh, our cook, was dishing out some sheep brain with an ax. There are some things in life I am ok with missing out on.

Apparently some very old carvings called hieroglyphs. It was lost on Warren and I who started pretending we were hosting a documentary "See here the man is hunting the wilder-beast...". So ignorant, so insensitive.

Another one of our hosts. His family was very lovely. We stayed in their Kazakh ger. Kazakh gers are larger and more colourfully decorated than Mongolian gers. This trip really was the best.

The finest Eagle Hunter of them all. After some time in the fresh air of the country side, we finally made it to the dusty pit of the Eagle Festival. It was brilliant! The Eagle Festival is not traditional but designed specifically to attract tourists. Its a fine idea though as these dudes get to go out and show their mad hunting skills.

Gold coast horse. Ok so these hunters compete for prize money I believe. They all get paid to be there anyway but there is also pride at stake. Some hunters are as young as 14 years old and some are very old and wrinkly (probably in their 60s). The fastest to call their Eagle (they each have their own) to fly down to them or catch (fake) prey wins.

Some Kazak girls in the crowd - they look very different from Mongolians and most of them are Muslim so they also have different cultural practices. They still drink Vodka and unfortunately I had to accept a few nasty shots from my hosts so I wouldn't look like a sissy.

Nice pony tail, hehehe get it? "Pony" tail. Gosh I'm funny.

Out in the town where we stayed for the Eagle Festival. They have this great Turkish restaurant there in case you get sick of eating fatty mutton. What! In case??? Sorry, I mean when you do get sick of fatty mutton. Apparently the sheep's tail is a delicacy. Its 100% fat. Our guide pointed out that our Mongolian driver wasn't eating the sandwiches for lunch - apparently its not a real meal. He joked that the driver still has the sheep's tail sitting in his stomach from the night before so he wasn't hungry. Funny story: An American friend of mine speaks fluent Mongolian and she asked for meat without fat at a market in Ulaanbaatar. The seller threw her a piece of fatty meat and said, "If you want to speak Mongolian you have to eat like a Mongolian". Fair enough.

Most of the hunting in the festival involves bait but for some weird reason at the end of the festival they have a live hunt display where they release a fox and wolf for the Golden Eagle to hunt. The animals are then killed. Apparently they don't like risking their Eagles so they maim and probably muzzle the fox and wolf before they get hunted. I didn't like that part of the festival much. This little baby wolfie lost out in the end. So sad because he was so cute and some morons were throwing rocks at it. I hate people sometimes.

This was awesome fun and dangerous. Two contestants play tug of war with animal fur on horseback. They were running into the crowd a lot. I freaked out a few times and accidentally grabbed onto a few strangers but not too much pride was lost.

Now for live footage. Prepare yourselves...I made this video all by myself. Are you proud of me mum?.

So if you liked the look of this, you should consider going next year. Its a great place with lovely people and the festival is so much fun. You can even hunt marmots while you are there. Some people eat them but its not advisable as many have rabies.

Bye for now.

Ok so this has nothing to do with the Eagle Festival. The picture was taken after a "Murder Mystery in Egypt" party a couple of weeks ago. When it was all over Warren decided to replace his Arabian guide outfit to wear Anna's wig. Does he remind you of someone? Unfortunately Warren will be leaving us soon to hold down a job and relationship with his fine woman. [Photo by Prancis V Boom Boom]