Days 25, 26, 27

I met a guy from Mississippi at the Chinese embassy who has been living in the Mongolian countryside since 1997, working on an agricultural aid project. He lives with his American wife and his five (!) kids. Four of those kids have been born in Mongolia. The Mongolian countryside, he says, is "home" to his kids - moreso than America, even.

That's such a wonderful life, I think. He's taking his family back to the 'states soon, but those kids should grow up into very unique, worldly adults. The oldest is twelve - all of them have spent their entire lives as residents of this place. They'll have great stories to tell as adults, but also have a more complete perspective on how the world operates than most of us dolts. And they get special insight for being the children of aid workers, rather than the kids of mining company executives.

So, anyways: I'm on the train to Hohhot now. That's in China. I'm stuck on a top bunk, and accordingly, I fear that when I fall asleep, I might roll over to my death. There's no railing on my bed, you see...

But the railway operation here is so much nicer than in Russia. The train is cleaner, the staff is friendlier, we get an "in flight meal," and best of all, we don't have to pay an extra two bucks for clean linens. It remains to be seen if there are any bloodsuckers in my matress, but the lack of any visible bloodstains is a good sign.

Really tired at the moment, but because it's been days since I last wrote, I'm going to soldier on...

First, I'll write the final word on Mongolian history. This will be my last history essay, since those are sort of self indulgent, I think:

(this is from memory, rather than from notes, so the dates might be wrong)

Mongolia remained a territory of imperial China for 150 years. This didn't come to and end until Imperial China came to an end. With the overthrow of the emperor by republican forces, the Mongolian people proclaimed thier independance, and threw out thier Chinese bosses. Curiously, at this point Mongolia became a theocracy - the "Boghd Khan" (eight time reincarnated leader of Mongolian Buddhism) became head of state.

Things didn't work out so well for the new Mongolian state. The Chinese came back in force. But the White Russian army (the guys who were fighting against the Bolshevik takeover of Russia) came to liberate the Mongolians. But, not suprisingly, the White Russians had an agenda of their own, and turned out to be just another occupying force.

And then came the Bolsheviks.

The Russian commies "saved" the Mongolians from both the Chinese and the White Russians, and in 1922 Mongolia became the world's second communist state. Of course, this state proved to be little more than a puppet plaything of the Soviet Regime. When Stalin came to power things got really bad, and people started dissapearing. The purges hit Mongolia full on.

As the Soviet Union twisted and turned throughout the second half of the twentieth century, so too did Mongolia. Communism went away at the same time in both countries. But not really - the "former communist" Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party has dominated the free elections since communism fell in 1990. Acussations of corruption are common. The thugs who managed the dictatorship of the past so well have been very skilled at "managing" the parliamentary system of today. If the situation sounds similar to Russia of today, that's because it IS similar.

But, like in Russia, the people aren't taking this garbage lightly. The 2004 elections produced a parliamentary tie, and historic coalition government, shared between the Democrats and the Thugs. This lasted two years before the thug party made a powerplay, achieving a majority by purchasing the services of a few Democratic members of parliament. But when this happened the Mongolian streets filled with angry protestors.

The angry voices didn't really accomplish much, but they were a sign that things are quite so bad as they were in the past...