We spent today sightseeing and visiting outlying areas. First we went to Men's Mountain behind town and got a good overview of the city where almost 50,000 live. It is spread out along the river for over 5km. The power station is at one end of town pumping black smoke into the atmosphere and further out is the coal mine. At the other end are disused Russian apartment buildings and monuments dating back to 1939 and 1990. There were many Russians living here until 1990 when 100,000 of them left in one day They left on mass and literally left everything behind - just went in what they were wearing. Russians are well liked here, one of the main reasons being that they helped drive back the Japanese from invading Mongolia at the beginning of WW2. It is amusing to us that we are often mistaken for being Russians.
We came back down to the centre of town and visited Buddha Lake, so named because of the statue in the middle. This lake freezes over in winter and people ice skate on it. Craig thinks it would be perfect for 'ice' blokarting.
Boldoo was very keen for us to meet the Mayor so we went off to the Council building. Unfortunately she was out, so no success there, but we looked around the council chambers.
We had lunch at a new restaurant that served traditional Mongolian food - we had dumpling soup and coke!
A visit to the bank en route proved to be totally unsuccessful. Craig needed to exchange some American dollars for local tugriks but for whatever reason the beautiful new notes were rejected by a special machine there and the teller refused to oblige. Not sure what they were thinking but we will have to visit another bank tomorrow and try again. We can only assume they thought they were counterfeit notes. Not good for the reputation of an elder from the Presbyterian Church!
Next we picked up a couple of church workers and headed out to District 5 crossing the river on a Russian-built concrete bridge. This is out east towards the Chinese border. The area also houses a number of vacant Russian apartment buildings. A number of Mongolians live in this area and have cattle. We met an Australian woman from Northern Territory who is working here in Education with VSO. She and Boldoo have set up a daycare in two adjoining gers for local children. It only opened last week and it was amazing to see such an organised well-set up place with cute little children so happy and settled in bright surroundings.
Boldoo has a friend, Billy (our abbreviation) who lives with his wife on a number of hectares of nice farm land inherited from his father in this district. He's an extremely warm friendly guy and very keen to know about Shin Zeland. He has turned the land into market gardens and produces the best crops we've seen here. He has a well for irrigation and employs 5 people. The garden is extensive and we toured every corner, following him around as he proudly displayed the work of his hands. After some time we ventured into his farm house, sat on the floor (usual custom) while his wife made various trips laden with milk tea, tomatoes, cucumber, bread, butter, cheese and candy. Next the photo album was proudly brought out (common occurrence on our visits) and we saw photos of his two sons who board in town when attending school. Boldoo was very keen for Craig to present the gospel to him and his workers and in a natural way Craig was able to talk about God's garden and creation. They were interested and Billy said he thinks about life while out gardening. So the seed was sown. We trust it has fallen on good soil.
We were there for hours - time is not an issue in this place. Billy was keen for us to stay longer and have dinner, but we had another appt. So we left laden with gifts of produce and as good friends with an invitation to return.
We had a nice curry dinner with Margaret, the Australian, at our hotel, and enjoyed being able to chat with nothing lost in translation!
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