So I went to the steppes for the first time this weekend. It was pretty incredible. I'll try to get some pictures up but they certainly won't do it justice.
As we were sitting around, a van pulled up and out pops this investor, an eccentric millionaire from Kentucky living in Singapore. He had something in his hand and was waving it excitedly, and as he walked up, we saw that it was a thighbone of a horse. Everyone jumped up and yelled "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?" and so on. Turns out he was hiking around a sacred mountain, found this bone under a sacred thousand-limbed tree, and thought it was cool so he took it. But the last guy they knew who took a bone from a sacred mountain (a horse skull) was bucked off his horse fifteen minutes later, and on the way to the hospital, his ambulance got hit by a car. So you don't want to mess with the mountain gods. Everyone in Mongolia knows that.
So they gave him an endless amount of grief, avoided him for most of the day, and made him return this bone to the mountain god on the way back, and in my luck I had to ride in the car back with him. Having spun the prayer wheels the day before, I figured I had enough good karma to get me through the trip. We bumped and lurched down these dirt roads in a van packed with this guy's entourage of Mongolians, until we finally reached the sacred mountain. You could tell it was angry. We hurried up the mountain and he performed the bone-returning ritual, which involves putting back the bone, apologizing, and flicking three spoonfuls of vodka and three spoonfuls of milk onto the mountain, which represent your past bad actions and your future good actions. The mountain looked appeased as we piled back in the van, and a guy in the back seat started throat singing as we pulled away and bumped back to the city.
Apparently this is a typical day in the countryside.
So they gave him an endless amount of grief, avoided him for most of the day, and made him return this bone to the mountain god on the way back, and in my luck I had to ride in the car back with him. Having spun the prayer wheels the day before, I figured I had enough good karma to get me through the trip. We bumped and lurched down these dirt roads in a van packed with this guy's entourage of Mongolians, until we finally reached the sacred mountain. You could tell it was angry. We hurried up the mountain and he performed the bone-returning ritual, which involves putting back the bone, apologizing, and flicking three spoonfuls of vodka and three spoonfuls of milk onto the mountain, which represent your past bad actions and your future good actions. The mountain looked appeased as we piled back in the van, and a guy in the back seat started throat singing as we pulled away and bumped back to the city.
Apparently this is a typical day in the countryside.
I have been following your adventures with relish John. I will pray to the great blue sky and the spirit of the Wolf that they protect you and bless your many offspring. Try to get to the 100 square mile "forbidden zone" where Temudjin was born.
ReplyDeleteDude I'm totally going to find his secret tomb and the mounds of gold and magical powers inside and then rule all of Asia. That's the plan. I thank you for your prayers.
ReplyDeleteForget about that stuff. I'm just glad you posted a picture of a yurt! Um, that is a yurt isn't it?
ReplyDeleteYes it is, but yurt is actually the Russian word. In Mongolia they call it a ger (pronounced gair).
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the bone is back where it belongs
ReplyDelete(that sounds dirty) and you got to hear some throat singing. Perhaps you too will learn to do this, yes?
So when can we see a picture from inside a yurt, errr ger?
ReplyDeleteMethinks eshelmo can throat sing.