Art of Music Night 2: Uzbekistan and Mongolia

A week after opening night, we had our second event. This time we had Elephants with Guns perform a concert. The turn out at the Levantine Cultural Center was again amazing, and I shared stories of traveling through Uzbekistan and Mongolia. Jorge "Tyme" Martinez had put together some beautiful artwork for the Elephants. The t-shirt designs were amazing and everyone wanted one. It was so much fun meeting people and connecting to their stories as well as sharing some of the experience I had as a way of connecting people in LA to the people across the world in Uzbekistan and Mongolia.We even celebrated Jorge's and Medha's birthdays with more cake of course! 

Sketches from Mongolia

 

  

 

  

 

  

Here are some sketches I made in Mongolia last year. The first is a band at an Irish pub in Ulanbataar. The next 3 are Mongolian and Korean musicians playing out in the planes during the Nadam Festival. Then there are two landspaces painted out in the beautiful country and lastly some wrestlers also from the Nadam festival.

Leaving Mongolia

Woke up in the ger, used the outhouse across the dirt road (much nicer than all the public bathrooms), then relaxed and watched the sky. The guys woke up and we had some breakfast. Sola returned to get us. We saw a group of 60 and over Korean women tourists doing some cute little marching exercises, having a great time with big smiles on their faces. We sang all kinds of silly songs in strange voices on the ride back, to amuse ourselves and every now and then Sola too. At the hostel Sola said she was very happy and we all felt a good about the short time we spent together and a little sad to be parting. We got back with Mike who was still sick, as was Andy. We checked out, put the heavy bags in the hostel storage, then got a ride to the State Department Store with the hostel owner (he had some bank business to do near there, regarding the travelers check Andy gave him). At the State Department Store we met up with a Mongolian friend of Andy's who had just returned from Washington after a a few years of not seeing Mongolia. She was really surprised at the rapid expansion of buildings and cars in Ulanbataar.

Omar and I were a little messed up from not eating properly the past few days, so Mike kindly suggested that we go to the one vegetarian restaurant that we had been to a few days ago. It meant Omar and I could eat a much needed, proper meal. I ate two. After, we head back to the State Department Store to look at last minute souvenirs. I picked up a bunch of Mongolian artwork, showing examples of a some different styles I really liked. Andy's friend left to go spend time with her parents, and we met up with Hulga (a talented Mongolian musician we met at the Black Market, who told us about the Naadam Cultural Festival). We sat down in a cafe and talked for a while. He had invited us to a traditional music show the previous night, but three of us were already leaving for the gers. Mike had enjoyed the concert with him the night before. It was good to hear his perspectives on Mongolia and music. He gave us a taste of some demoes he was working on. I hope to hear the finished songs when they are ready. We sat for a couple of hours before he kindly dropped us off at the hostel. We grabbed our bags and the hostel owner offered to drop us off at the train station. I have to say, I really appreciated how nice both these people were to us. They really went out of their way to help us and make us feel welcome, as did several other people on the trip. He even helped Andy get his train ticket, and Hulga came back to give us Andy's camera which he had left in Hulga's car. We thanked them both and walked to the platform ready to board.

After a while, we boarded, and met some new people. Andy wasn't sure if he'd leave with us or later when we bought tickets, so his ticket ended up being in a different car. We had a Mongolian man named Sik with us, and made friends with a guy named Jaigal (or Jack) who accidently sat in our compartment with us for a while before realizing he was in the wrong one. He spoke some english and turned out to be a huge death metal and hard rock fan. He was 38 years old but had the crazed energy of a 16 year old. It was a lot of fun talking to him because he was so excited and kept laughing and explaining Mongolian history, culture and relations with interesting animated hand gestures and phrases. It was hilarious and made the trip so much more fun. He went to his compartment, but hung out with us a lot. Sik was quieter, but polite and smiled. Andy joined us and shared his Khumi (traditional Mongolian throat singing) skills to the delight of all, including an older woman from next door who watched from the hall with a big smile on her face. The six of us sat around talking, laughing etc. They shared some Areg with Andy and Mike and chatted for a long time. It was funny talking about all these bands with Jaigal. I had a headache again and didn't feel too great, so I climbed up and slept on the bunk above. A little later, Andy and Sik swapped compartments, so Andy could stay with us and we all went to sleep in our respective compartments.

Tsuralg, Mongolia

The next morning, I spoke to an American girl at the hostel in Ulanbataar named Micky. She had been in Mongolia for a while and was now working for the art council.

Andy, Omar and I decided to take a trip through the hostel. The thing with Mongolia is that visiting there is really about going to the other areas and exploring the countryside. We didn't have time on this trip so we focused on Naadam in Ulanbataar, getting the sick well in our group and not getting rest sick. We did want to explore the rest and hope to do so sometime in the future, but for this round we hired the hostel owner's sister in law to drive us out to a beautiful if tourist centric scenic area called Tsuralg. She didn't speak English, so we played her Mongolian music tapes, with genuine interest in exploring local music. We left the city, passing increasingly sparse populations, until it was all open land with gers in the distance.

We drove up a dirt road by some rock formation until we stopped at a cave. Sola (our guide and driver) let us out at the side of the road and the three of us, Andy, Omar and I (Mike stayed home sick at the hostel) climbed up into a cave with some Mongolians. We talked for a bit to the group in the cave then climbed out and continued by car to a huge turtle shaped rock formation.

  

We bought some ice cream and brought back some for Sola, which was reciprocated by her with some choco pies. Up until this point she really did not speak to us, but from here on out she started to enjoy herself and open up more. It's no fun to take someone on a trip and make them feel like they are just there to facilitate you. It's so much better to try and make it fun for everyone involved. We checked out some art shops and the stall of an artist named Chimid. Omar and Andy bought some nice sketches by Chimid of the surrounding landscape and Mongolian ger life. Chimid was very warm and appreciative. By this point Sola had joined us, rather than staying by the car or off somewhere.

We drove further to a spot where Sola pointed out rocks on the top of a mountain that seemed to depict a person reading a book. Thankfully we drove past a fancy hotel with a golf putting range and stopped at a ger camp. Local families rent out extra gers for tourists from inside and outside Mongolia. While that is not the same as getting to know a family and spending time with them in a non tourist area, it seemed a good first taste to suit our limited time in Mongolia. The family rented a ger out to us and brought in some tea and food. We ate, rested, I did a quick watercolor sketch and then a fifteen year old boy came with some horses for us to ride. Sola took one horse,

Andy, Omar and I each got on our own horses. Sola and the boy led Omar and my horse respectively on the way, but Andy managed to handle his. They were very tame horses, if a bit stubborn at times. We went down across a river, then into the woods, slowly making our way over varying terrain. The boy didn't speak much as he led us to his home, where his father and younger brother sat with their cattle. Sola milked a few cows until she had filled a bucket with frothy milk. I wanted to try, but I don't think she understood. She really enjoyed it. Next we sat down in our riding guide's ger with his father and younger brother and were treated to some milk tea and yogurt with biscuits. We asked the family if they knew any songs. Andy and Omar used some Korean which Sola could understand having spent time in Korea to communicate and Omar had also picked up some good Mongolian phrases. We asked if the family knew any songs. They said no, so we just started singing some for them. They smiled and clapped along. After a few, Sola and the shy children started to sing. Sola sang some really beautiful Mongolian songs and the boys giggled shyly and added a word here and there. Finally it was time to return to the ger we were staying in, so we rode back. This time I rode the (very tame) horse by myself, with some prodding from the boy when it would go too slow. On the ride back, we all sang songs. The boy opened up and we even had him and Sola singing parts of Junoon's "Saeen." It was great to see everyone opening up and connecting like that. There's a really sweet feeling in sharing that music together. We heard a number of beautiful Mongolian songs too. Seriously though, we need to work on some new songs.

Back at the ger, we ate some dinner and then sat outside with some Mongolian men waiting for their own food. They were pretty friendly and Andy shared his Khumi (traditional Mongolian throat singing) which they really appreciated. Omar joined in, using a bottle for percussion and I joined in with some singing also. Some people formed around us and it was fun to get people clapping and singing a few verses in languages they did not know as we tried to bridge the gap between their language which we did not know and our own. We asked them to sing, but no one did. I had heard that Mongolians love singing songs together, but no luck. Finally it was time for them to eat, so they all went in their gers and we went to ours to get some sleep. It turned out, the party was just starting for everyone else and we heard lots of singing and talking early into the morning. Though we tried, we weren't really able to connect all that well to most of the people at the ger camp we stayed in. People were amused by our music, but that didn't really connect them to us on a level much beyond just some tourist showing up at a tourist place, but it was a good time.

Resting and the Lemons

 

With two of us sick and rough traveling behind and in ahead of us, we decided to take it easy. I updated my blog and relaxed until evening. We walked to the State Department Store, where I replaced my stolen camera. We stopped at the pharmacy where I was very entertained by Omar and Andy miming their symptoms and the medicines (motion sickness pills and antibiotics respectively) they wanted to a non English speaking staff. Lucky for them, a Korean Air hostess walked in and helped them out with her perfect English and Mongolian.

We walked around looking for traditional music performances, but could not find any. Instead, we checked out a fun Mongolian band called the Lemons at the Grand Irish Pub. It was fun and I managed a sketch. The set was short, but I managed to sketch two members, before the place closed and we walked back to the hostel.

Naadam

 

Next morning we went to the Naadam Festival. We wanted to go to the opening ceremony, but the hostel wanted to sell them together. So we went to the stadium, figuring we would take out chances there. Along the way, most places were closed. We met some tourists from Holland and walked with them to the Naadam Stadium. Along the way I photographed some interesting graffiti and old trains. At the stadium there were many people all around. We managed to get all 4 of us tickets to the opening for a good price by bargaining just before it began. We quickly rushed into the stadium, and I realized that someone had likely picked my pocket and my camera their own. I felt crummy about it, but I still had my video camera, so I shot some memories with that and tried not to think about it too much. Being there was more amazing than owning a camera. There were lots of acrobats, dancers and parades of archers, wrestlers, horsees and performances with Buddhist masks and music. The crowd was excited and you could tell there was a lot of pride and love for their own culture. The crowd dispersed considerably once the preliminary wrestling began.

We watched for a bit and then walked outside the stadium, looking at stalls. Andy and Mike drank some Aireg (traditional fermented Mare's milk drink) and we hopped on a bus to the valley outside the city where the horse racing and cultural exhibits were taking place. Out the window, the cityscape turned to green hills and gers in the distance and after a little over an hour we were there.

Mike got in a long line for food. Omar and I sat down in the grass and a soon a couple of teens on horses dropped by to say hello. We traded broken English back and forth. They were nice kids and after a bit said goodbye and rode on down the hill. Andy joined Mike (still in line) while Omar and I walked off to look for the cultural area we had heard about at the market. As we approached a circle enclosing a bunch of stalls, we heard a man calling for us to come over. We went over and a Mongolian man and his wife and mother or mother in law asked if we were Muslim, then invited us to join them. They offered us some food, though we had to decline as it was not vegetarian. We talked for a while with the couple. The husband worked with a lot of Muslims in Malaysia and he mentioned that there were some Pakistani businessmen in Ulannbataar who imported second hand Japanese cars which were put to use by the Mongolians in their capital.

His brother had just finished up some beautiful paintings of horses along the circular enclosure for the Naadam Culture Festival. Suddenly people started walking to the trail below to watch the young horse riders race past. The crowd cheered and we watched for a while before walking back to Andy and Mike. They were still in line, but understandably frustrated and angry at this point. They had been cut many times and once by a family where the father wanted to fight with them for being upset that they were cutting on front of them in line. Fed up, they left the line and walked with us to the Culture area. We missed the two live traditional music performances, but managed to check out booths for traditional games, felt art making, traditional music where Andy sang with a Tuvan singer. At the felt art making booth, I spoke to a young Mongolian girl who suggested I should make a piece. As an artist I really wanted to try it, so I purchased some tokens and came back to do just that. While we were waiting, the girl asked how I liked the event, and my only problem was I could not find any food I could eat. She walked over and grabbed a bag of chocolate from her stuff and gave it to me. We talked for a bit while waiting for the felt artist to be free so she could show me how to make a piece. Then when the artist was free, the girl kindly held on to my bag for me and I went to work with this artist. The girl provided some translations between me and the artist. The artist was a really nice woman. I suggested we make flowers, so she started making one on one side of the wool sheet and I made one next to it.

She took her time and very sweetly explained by example how it was down. We used soapy water to make the fluffy wool manageable. She shaped an fiery flower with some great color mixing. During the process she was a little uncertain at my flower. Without the stem it looked like a colored blob. She said "This one my flower, that one yours." and I couldn't deny that it looked pretty strange. I managed to pull it together once I added the stem and she could see where I was going. Then she complimented it and asked which I liked better. I felt that they were both best together. There is nothing like the connection you feel when you create art together. It is such a beautiful and joyous experience to just enjoy creating something with someone in such a free manner.

We both had so much fun working on it together, we exchanged emails and I asked my Mike to take a picture of all of us together. That experience is what traveling is all about to me. Connecting with people all over the world is simply amazing. Andy, Mike, Omar and I walked around some more as the booths closed down one by one. We bought tickets for the evening music show and just hung out, talking to event organizers from the Mongolian Arts Council etc. I did a quick sketch of the beautiful sky and hills. Living in the city it is easy to forget how amazing it feels to be surrounded by such beauty and to breathe such clean air. Andy, Mike and I walked to the traditional Mongolian games stall, which had long since closed. An old Mongolian man in traditional dress with endless patience played a game where he flicked a plastic disc off a rectangular piece of wood to try and hit two tiny ankle bones on a chest across from him.We watched for a while as he kept getting closer. After each try, he walked over and picked up the disk, only to return to the tiny stool and try again. Finally, he invited us to try by motioning to us. He replaced the ankle bones with a larger target of a row of plastic cylinders. Without any common language he patiently showed us how to do it. Andy tried, then Mike. I watched and learned from each. Surprisingly I managed to hit it within a few tries and then Mike and Andy tried again until they got it too. We thanked our host and walked to where the concert would take place later. We met up with Omar and bought tickets.

 

The concert began as the long Mongolian sunset began. We sat in front and I knocked out some sketches of solo and collaborative Mongolian and Korean music performances. We talked to the organizers a bit afterward then hopped on the performers bus back to the city.

Ulanbataar

 

  

Took it easy today. A slow start to regain som energy for the Naadam festival which begins tomorrow. We walked toward the National Musical Instrument Store. There were some interesting buildings along the way, met an Indian American from Berkley named Jaspal while passing the parliament building, shortly after my encounter with the Duracel (yes duracel) bunny. He was working on medical research in Mongolia, helping people to make use of technology in remote areas. We ate at a Ukranian restaurant where vegetarian means big pieces of meat.

It's hilarious to try and explain to cab drivers how to take us back to our hostel. It is by the train station, and we usually say choo choo, and then Omar drew a train. It cracks up even the most serious cab driver every time. So far we keep making it back to the hostel using that method.

I lost my photos from this day because my camera was stolen the following day and I had not downloaded them, so here are photos by Omar of our adventures that day.

Ulanbataar Arrival

Day started with us still on the train to Mongolia, but now on the Mongolian side. Flat desert land changed to flat grass land over time. We could see some horses, sheep and a few gers and shacks along the way. It wasn't until we approached Ulanbataar that we saw some small buildings. Little Chengaiz dropped by a few times and Andy played some Sepultura for him on my ipod and headphones. He liked the headphones. As we neared our destination, he sat looking very pensive out the window and shied away when I took a photo. We spoke to the Mongolian ambassador to Turkey (or maybe he just worked for the embassy there, not sure) along the way. Eventually we reached there, and I felt a bit better. We were all relieved after the 30 hour ride.Mongolia is fascinating. As far as I know, Ulanbataar is the only city and there is diverse scenic beauty to be had all around. This city is in the middle of gorgeous grassy mountains. We washed up at the hostel as the rain died down. After we walked around waterfilled potholes with a girl from the hostel. We grabbed some food at a vegetarian restaurant and then took a trip to the Naran Tuul Market, which was like a Jumma Bazaar (Friday Market in Pakistan). We had been warned by the Mongolian Ambassador to Turkey not to bother going there because of pickpockets and it was dirty, but we went anyway. It was interesting, with all kinds of household goods, clothes etc. We saw a traditional street performer singing, and Andy tried out some of the Mongolian Fiddles (he actually has one at home so he knows how to play it). It was fun to see him play and to see the surprise and delight of the people selling the instruments. They were happy to tell us about the instruments. On the way out, we were very lucky and ran into a group of people promoting Culture Naadam, Nomad Arts Festival. We are here in Mongolia to check out the Nadaam Festival, which is the biggest cultural celebration in Mongolia. There are many related celebrations going on throughout the town and many people from all over the world are here to enjoy it. It starts on July 11th. The people we ran into were promoting an arts and music focused Nadaam event where there will be horse racing, archery and perhaps wrestling, but there will also be tons of musicians and painters..I can't wait!We walked back to the State Department store; a 7 level shopping mall and checked out some things there before grabbing some food across the street and taking poor sick Andy home to the hostel. The taxi ride home was pretty entertaining. Omar ended up drawing a crude looking train after we spent about five minutes saying choo choo to try and explain that we wanted to go near the train station.Finally we got home, checked some email and crashed.The people here are interesting. My first impression is of a sort of macho attitude and at first people did not seem to smile, but then some did later on. There seems to be a strong connection maintained to their culture, though pop and hip hop is a strong influence here as well. The weather is cool and the scenery is breathtaking. The traffic is very slow, but people do seem to stop at lights, and there is a better chance of a car stopping for a pedestrian here than in China.

Beijing to Mongolia

The next morning we got up too early and head over to the train station to catch the train to Ulanbataar, capital of Mongolia. The diverse scenery of China along the way was fascinating. There were all kinds of small industrial and farming communities. As we traveled further, the landscape transformed from grassy fields and rocky hills to flat, barren desert with sparse vegetation and back again. The wait staff on the train was horrible. One guy, my friends had nicknamed "pork rind face" kept messing with us. The staff in the dining car were always hanging out refusing to serve food (at least whenever we went there) and coupled with the 30 hours of travel it made for rough going. Andy and I felt sick. My head really hurt and I felt weak. All we could eat was ramen and chips etc. We made sure to stock up, but after a while you really want something with more substance. 

There was this hilarious little Mongolian kid who spoke some English, Mandarin and Mongolian on the train. He'd come by and visit, and each time we'd wonder which split personality would be on exhibit. Sometimes he was really nice, and polite, saying sorry, as he squeezed past other passengers hanging out in the hall. Other times you could say something to him and he'd get this adorably evil look on his face and just keep telling people to shut up (not so cute). That's when I'd worry that little Chengaiz would lunge forward and drink my blood at any moment.

Apparently the tracks are different on the Mongolian side versus China. So once we reached the last border town in China, we stopped for 5 hours, going through Chinese customs, and a lovely train wheel replacement process that involved lots and lots of ramming. Most of the passengers were let off before this began, while those of us who were foreign to China or Mongolia were forced to stay on the train as our passports were scrutinized by customs outside. No one told us anything as we waited, My friends and I were the only ones in our car left with "Pork Rind Face" who slept in his room and told us we could not get off the train. The cars were disconnected as the laborious process of replacing wheels took place. I felt pretty miserable at this point, and we were all pretty irritated.Eventually, they were letting some people from other cars (we could see out the window) out. "Pork Rind Face" tried to tell us we still could not leave and by this point we realized that this jerk was trying to give us a hard time for nothing, so we just got off. We walked over to the general store at the station in the middle of the night. It was all pretty surreal. All the foreign passengers were emerging from the cars at last as the rest of the passengers re-boarded with bags full of food from the store. We stumbled to the general store with Celine Dion blaring from speakers all over the station.

We grabbed a whole bunch of food and sat outside in a daze with all the other foreigners. Finally, it was time to re-board and we got back into our "cells". My head hurt really bad and I felt weak so I tried to sleep. The guys for some reason thought it would be great to play cards with the neighboring Mongolian girls so they all squeezed into our compartment, woke me up and scrunched me up into half the bed. I tried to keep sleeping...but it was pointless. They played for a little bit then decided to call it a night. Just long enough for me to be wide awake as the lights went out and they were all ready to sleep. I was really angry and let my frustration out on the guys. My head pounded pretty bad, and I really wasn't in the mood to be anywhere at that point. It probably wasn't the best time to get mad, but sometimes that's just how goes.

On the plus side, I did my first watercolor sketch of the trip today, before I started feeling terrible.