Gandan Khiid

Gandan Khiid is the biggest temple in Ulaanbaatar and (it's my understanding) one of the most important in all of Mongolia (though I could be wrong, so if I am, I'll stand corrected).  Some of my very first posts in this blog are from Gandan Khiid, but here is another picture I took of Gandan Khiid (and the surrounding ger district) from the top of the hill at that very magical ovoo.

The Ger District

I'm too shy to actually go into a ger district in UB (that, and I've noticed dogs on the outskirts of the ger districts, and I'm worried that if they don't know me, they might be unfriendly to a stranger walking through the ger district, and that could be a bad situation), but I do think they are really interesting.  Here is just a pic I took (with my "super" zoom on my camera which I mentioned before) from the top of the hill where the magical ovoo which helped me find my dream man is.

The State Department Store

Lonely Planet describes the State Department Store as worth a visit just to see how much stuff they have all crammed into one building, so I visited expecting an eclectic mix of mayhem, but I was disappointed.  It just had your standard department store shoes, clothes, et cetera, but not even the best selection.  On the top floor, there is a very miniature food court (think, three options) and a bookstore that carries only Mongolian books and a few ESL textbooks.  There's also a stationery shop, which is decent, but much more expensive than the little shops that are everywhere else on Peace Avenue.  There's a gym, too, so if you feel like being pervy, you can stand and watch the buffest Mongols working out.  All in all, the State Department Store kind of depresses me.  And I don't like going there because I always have the impression that the masses of people standing around in front of the store or just inside the entrance are trying to figure out the best method to get into my pockets.

The Library

I'm too shy to ever actually go in here, plus I'm not convinced that there would be any books in there for me to read (ie., books in English or French that I would have any interest in whatsoever).  Never mind the fact that I *never* see people going into this building.  But I like libraries, andthis one always piques my interest when I walk past it.

The Fountain of Bakhchisarai

Tonight, despite the cold outside and the invitingness of my bed and my comfy blankets, and the fact that I've developed an attachment to sitting by my window sipping delicious hot chocolate made with hot milk, I made it to the opera.  Tonight's opera was "The Fountain of Bakhchisarai".  Because of the title, I was expecting a Mongolian opera, but then, when I went to buy my ticket, I saw a notice on the wall that said it was an opera by Puccini, so then I was expecting some kind of Italian opera.  Imagine my surprise!  It was closer to a Mongolian show after all!  So, when I got home, I googled "Fountain of Bakhchisarai" and found that it was actually originally a poem by Pushkin.  But, my surprise didn't actually stop at the fact that it was a Mongolian-type performance.  I was also surprised to find that I was watching a ballet, not an opera.  The poster outside definitely said that the show was an opera, but I adore the ballet, so I was so happy to find that the sign outside was misleading and we were watching the ballet version of this story, instead.  And it was so cool.  It was part classical ballet, part character ballet, part Ukrainian-type dancing, part belly dancing (en pointe), and all beautiful.  This is my second Mongolian ballet that I've seen.  I have to admit that I think I enjoyed the other Mongolian ballet (The Three Hills of Misfortune) slightly better, but really only slightly.  Maybe tomorrow, I'll post some pics from The Three Hills of Misfortune so you can see what I'm talking about, and later on either next week or next month, I'll post some pictures which I took from The Fountain of Bakhchisarai.

The Hi-Fi Music Store

I love this music store.  It's on Seoul Street.  Remember the post in which I talked about finding Time and Newsweek in English and then said that I thought the Mongolian porn was much more interesting and bought some for my brother as a Christmas gift?  Well, this is the same store.  Only, every time I've gone back, they haven't had any more Time or Newsweek in English.  Too bad.  But I still really like this store for some reason.  One day, as I was walking down Seoul Street, I heard Arcade Fire blasting down the street.  What do you suppose was the source of this musical delight?  You guessed it!  Hi-Fi Music Store!  I'm in love.

Buildings in Ulaanbaatar

When I was deciding to move to Mongolia, of course I promptly bought my Bible, Lonely Planet, and I was super excited to see some pictures of what the place actually looked like, but in fact, Lonely Planet only had pictures of the countryside and, while Mongolia's countryside looks beautiful and everything, I get tired of looking at even my own landscape pictures, let alone countless photographs of someone else's landscape pictures.  I tried looking up in the LP for a description of architecture in Mongolia, but there was not much there, maybe a few lines to say that many of the old monasteries had been destroyed during Stalin's purges and that the architecture here was "boring" (my interpretation, not LP's actual words).  One of the building was described as "salmon-pinkish", which, now that I've seen it, is indeed salmon pinkish in colour, but it's much more than that.  It's got big columns (Corinthian? Doric? Ionic?  I'll have to take a closer look next time) and big wooden doors, two big concrete lions, and I think it's a genuinely interesting building to look at, despite its unfortunate colour (there are at least three salmon pinkish buildings in Ulaanbaatar-- maybe they got a big discount on stucco that colour).  Other building features which have caught my eye are the mosaics you will see on the sides of some very old communist-era apartment buildings, like the one in this picture.