We were riding in the Orkhon valley, along the Orkhon river. The first day there was nothing but prairie, sometimes a couple of trees and fields of black volcanic rocks. But most of all - vastness and a very big, very near sky. I grew up at the north sea, so a big sky without anything below, but flat land is nothing unusual to me. But this was different. This was much bigger. At the north sea you are also used to landscapes without crowds of people. But this was different. Compared to Mongolia, the wet lands of northern Germany are like central stations during rush hour.
And, this is DINOSAUR country. I was all the time expecting to see those giants move along the horizon, expecting them to suddenly appear behind the next hill. This country, this landscape is so huge, dinosaurs are the creatures who fit in more than anyone else. The first night we spend at a yurt camp. The horses were first bend with their reins at the feet, so they could move around, but only slowly. In the night they were staked on long ropes, so the could move around in wider circles. One of the horses managed to escape that night and went home. Fortunately it was in the first night, so Bainar got up early and brought it back.

On the second day we rode on after breakfast and reached the Orkhon river waterfall at noon. This weren't the Niagara falls, but a nice place anyway. We took a rest there, walked along the river and learned that most of the Mongols can't swim. Rivers, or more so the water is holy, so you better don't dishonor it by putting your feet into it! Let alone the rest of your dirty body...







The weather was nice, blue sky, sun shine, best conditions for riding. So, on we rode, but only for about an hour, because Bjanba and Avid were waiting with the lunch for us. So we took a rest at the bus, ate (more about mongolian food later, that deserves an entry of its own!) and took a nap. All of a sudden, dark clouds came down from the distant mountains, it was pitch black and started to hail!!! Hailstones big like rocks, no, ok, they weren't that big, but they hurt. Especially they hurt poor Bainar who had to take care of the horses. The rest of us were sitting in the bus, a goat was sitting under the bus and all together we waited for the end of that hail storm. It took and hour or so and then it was over. But it was still very cold. We put on layers of clothes and rode on.



We were in a nature protection area now, but honestly, I couldn't see any difference to were we came from. We rode on for a couple of hours and stayed for the night at a family, Avid was friends with.
But even without being known to them, Mongols would always offer you food and a shelter, to reject that is inconceivable. Just as well you should always be prepared to offer presents. No matter what it is, if they give you food, you should be able to give anything in return. To leave them behind with empty hands is very impolite. So I was equipped with make up for the ladies, knifes and lighters for the men and tons of lollies, balloons and other toys for the kids.






To be continued...

On the morning of Aug 12 we got up after our first night in a yurt. Behind the yurt the river, where we washed our faces and enjoyed the flow, in front of the yurt willows with horses, sheep and cows. In the background the jakes.
A couple of meters from the yurt the typical two wooden poles with a rope stretched between them. The rope about 2 meters high. On that rope they tied the horses. Our horses!!!

They were 6, one for Isa, Honey B. and me, one for Bainar, the horse guide, one for Khlama, the translator and one for Bjanba, the cook. Bjanba was normally driving in the bus, but in the middle of the tour there would be a section, where the bus couldn't follow, so she would've to change for the horse. At least that was the plan...

After breakfast we were allocated to one of the horses. They were all pretty small, at least by european standards. Tiny, but fast.

A mongolian saddle isn't what we know as saddles. It's smaller, it's made out of wood!!! Mongols don't ride like Europeans do. They ride standing up!!! Therefore they don't care about wooden underground. But we do. We not only care, we cry after one day on a wooden saddle. Especially the bottom cries. For help!

But we had no idea of that on that particular morning. We were excited, happy that the tour would finally begin. So we put on riding breeches, chaps, gloves and boots and wondered about the sheepskin rug on the saddle. Looked cozy, but we wanted the wild adventure, not the cozy rocking horse...

After everyone mounted a horse we took of. Bainar with the sixth horse at tow line. First slowly, so everyone, horses and riders could get used to each other. But soon enough, we were trotting and galloping along the prairie. After everyone has lost water bottle, Base cap or sun glasses, we learned what was possible and what a no, no.

It was amazing!


The first day on the horses


Honey B. on "Oskar"


Me on "LeiMa (lame horse)". Honey B. and I changed after two days, because "Oskar" was too wild for a bloody beginner


Our saddles


Tired boys, Bainar, the horse guide and Avid, the driver on top of him

After an entire day on horse backs, we reached a wonderfull site at the Orkhon river, with a couple of guest yurts. But we set up our own tents.




Me, Bjanba, the cook and Honey B. In the background swans, very seldom in Mongolia, therefore extremely holy animals. The picture was taken because of them!


To be continued...

So, we spend our first night in a yurt, which was great. The interior of a yurt follows a strict adjustment:
The door is always to the east, where you can greet the morning sun. When you step inside opposite to the door is the place of honor (which is at the same time the bed of the eldest). To the right side is the place of the men and the guests (also a bed), and to the left is the women's place.
To step inside you always have to go in head first (bowed, because the doors are so low), then with the right foot first. That is very important. Same goes for monasteries, btw. Yurts as well as monasteries you leave with the left foot first.
You never step on the threshold, because that's the place where ghosts live and you should never annoy ghosts!
In the middle of the yurt between two wooden posts there is the fire. Holy fire that is. You never throw dirty stuff in it. Putting plastic in the fire isn't dirty for Mongols, but very strange for Europeans. On that fire the women prepare food all day long. Food, that is everything you can produce out of milk (butter, milk tea, yoghurt and booze) or meat.
The two wooden posts represent the man and the woman that live in the yurt. They are holy as well. You never walk through them, but around. You even don't pass things through them.
If you pass along a cup of tea or dishes, you will always do that with both hands or with your right hand (supported by the left hand under the elbow), never with the left one, which is the dirty hand. (So, I assume that you masturbate only with your left hand, but I never dared to ask that). When you take something from somebody, you always take it with both hands or at least with the right one, supported by the left. If you give something with one hand, it means that you want it back.
The nomads are very hospitable. Whenever you ask for shelter or food, you will get that. At the same time, it is always expected that you give something in return. No matter what, but it should always be a trade.




Lkhama (translator) and Bainar (horse guide). In the background the wooden pole that represents the man


Isa, Bjanba (the cook), Honey b. (on the place of honor),Bainar and Lkhama


In the yurt of Bainar's parents. Bjanba, Bainar and Lkhama on the place of honor. To the left the family altar and left of that the family pictures (including horses)


"Brandy shop". That woman was making booze out of mare milk. Tastes very sweet and innocent, but is a real killer


A yurt's roof on top of the stove. In case of rain it can be closed

To be continued...

The next morning, when we woke up to find ourselves still in one piece, not eaten or robbed or abused by any of the nightly by-passing animals, we bundled up our tents and the kitchen stuff and drove on. On our way to the Orkhon valley, where we were to meet with the horse guide and the horses, we passed Karakorum, todays name Kharkhorin.

Karakorum was once the capital of the Great Mongol Empire.
The Mongol Empire existed in the 13th and 14th century.It is the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world. It grew through invasions, after Genghis Khan had been proclaimed ruler of all Mongols in 1206. At its greatest extent it was covering about 33.0 million km² (in 1279), one fifth of the Earth's total land area, and held sway over a population of over 100 million people at that time (The invasion started with only 200 000 Mongols. Today there are not more than about 2,6 million Mongols).
In 1218/19, Genghis Khan rallied his troops in Karakorum, but the actual foundation of a city is usually said to have only occurred in 1220. Until 1235, Karakorum seems to have been little more than a yurt town, only then, after the defeat of the Jin empire did Genghis' successor Ögedei erect walls around the place and build a fixed palace. Under Ögedei and his successors, Karakorum became a major site for world politics.

After the collapse of the Yuan dynasty in 1368 Karakorum became the residence of Biligtü Khan in 1370. In 1388, Ming troops under General Xu Da took and destroyed the town. Saghang Sechen's Erdeni-yin Tobči claims that a khuriltai in 1415 decided to rebuild it, but no archeological evidence for such a venture has been found yet. However, Karakorum was inhabited at the beginning of the 16th century, when Batu-Möngke Dayan Khan made it a capital once again. In the following years, the town changed hands between Oirads and Chinggisids several times, and was consequently given up for good.

The Erdene Zuu Monastery is probably the most ancient surviving Buddhist monastery in Mongolia.
It was built in 1585 by Abtai Sain Khan, upon the introduction of Tibetan Buddhism into Mongolia. Stones from the ruins of Karakorum were used in construction. It is surrounded by a wall featuring 102 stupas. The number 108, being a sacred number in Buddhism, and the number of beads in a Buddhist rosary, was probably envisioned, but never achieved. The monastery was damaged by warfare in the 1680s, but was rebuilt in the 18th century and by 1872 had a full 62 temples inside.

In 1939 the Communist leader Khorloogiin Choibalsan had the monastery ruined, as part of a purge that obliterated hundreds of monasteries in Mongolia and killed over ten thousand monks.Three small temples and the external wall with the stupas remained; the temples became museums in 1947.
Erdene Zuu was allowed to exist as a museum only; the only functioning monastery in Mongolia was Gandan Khiid Monastery in the capital, Ulaanbaatar. However, after the fall of Communism in Mongolia in 1990, the monastery was turned over to the lamas and Erdene Zuu again became a place of worship. Today Erdene Zuu remains an active Buddhist monastery as well as a museum that is open to tourists.

On a hill outside the monastery sits a stone phallus. The phallus is said to restrain the sexual impulses of the monks and ensure their good behavior.

(Some of the above are quotes from Wikipedia)











After visiting the Erdene Zuu Monastery we drove on through the Orkhon valley, where we reached our goal, the yurt of our horse guide in the early evening. It was too late to have a first ride, darkness was soon to set in. But we were looking forward to the next morning, when the riding trip was finally to begin!

To be continued...

On monday morning, after one night in the hotel, we were picked up by Lkhama, our translator, our driver Avid and the cook Bjanba. They came to the hotel with Avid's old russian mini bus.
It was rusty and the windows didn't really close, but after driving what mongolians dare to call roads, we loved it. It was incredible, we mastered deepest holes, drove through the river several times and more than once the bus was banking like hell, I thought we would topple over and land on our back like a bug. But we never did. Avid rode his steel horse blindfolded (I mean, he did not, but he could).


We were headed for the Orkhon valley, where we would meet our horse guide and the horses the next day. It was only about 280 miles from Ulaanbaator, but due to the fact that the road was only paved the first couple miles, but the rest were dusty dirt roads, so we were driving all day long to reach Mongol Els.


Mongolian road.

Side note: How to take a leak in the steppe
When you drive all day long and the only thing to do is watching out of the window and drinking water, there will without fail come the moment you gotta pee. So you tell the translator, who tells the driver, who stopps the bus. And as far as the eye can reach: steppe without any stone or bush or tree. That is to say: no place where you could hide your pale ass. The first time we walked and walked and walked and walked, but still were in the plain open steppe. First we sat down with our asses in direction of the others, trying to hide where hiding was simply impossible. Ridiculously. LMAO. Later we learned that it is far more hidden, to not turn around, but sit down facing the others. And, you are far more sheltered if you sit down right beneath the bus instead of running into open fields.


First break on first day's drive.

Mongol Els were sand dunes halfway between Ulaanbaatar and the Orkhon valley. We pitched our tents there for the first night under the huge mongolian sky. It was overwhelming. A dark and cold night with millions of bright stars above, the tents surrounded by herds of animals, horses, sheep, goats, cattle and yaks were passing by, snorting, grinding and snickering all night long.


Evening at Mongol Els


Sundown at Mongol Els


To be continued...

So, the flight was delayed from Aug, 07 to Aug, 09. Same with the flight back. Instead of returning Aug, 28 we would come back on sunday, Aug, 30. That would leave no time for regeneration before going back to work. With jet lag and all, that would be tough.

Slightly nervous we drove to the airport on sunday morning. Schedule was to take off at 2 pm. When we arrived at the airport in Berlin Tegel at 12, the line in front of the check in counter was a mile long. Probably all the people for the regular flight plus all those who weren't informed about the canceled friday flight. Should I mention that I hate crowds of people? People who for whatever reason aren't able to not pile-drive their luggage into your legs with every tiny move the queue made. I loved it.
At 2:30 we could finally board. The flight was going via Moscow. Approx. 3 hours to Moscow and then another 6 hours to Ulaanbaatar. In a plane that was so narrow I didn't know how to fold my legs to fit into my seat.
But, we were there. Finally! On board of the plane and on our way to Mongolia! What a luck!

At midnight CET we arrived Ulaanbaatar, local time 6 am, so our night has volatilized into nothingness. At the International Chingis Khan Airport in Ulaanbaatar there were lots of travel agencies picking up their guests, but not Nomadic Ways, the agency we'd transferred roundabout 2 and a half thousand USD some weeks ago. Did I mention that after we transferred the money the communication with Durzii, our travel agent was a bit scarce? What if this agency doesn't really exist? What if Durzii was already on the Bahamas? Aren't the Bahamas what every Mongol dreams of? A lazy life with sunny beaches, spending the money of stupid german tourists on cocktails and women? Did I mention that I can get very paranoid on some occasions?

Anyway, no Durzii at the airport, but a mongolian woman, who asked me, if I was Honey B. That was Iggy, the wife of Juergen.
Who is Juergen, you might wonder?
Juergen is a friend of Honey B. who about 7 years ago had an affair with a mongolian woman and after she got pregnant, he, partly for responsibility reasons, partly because he is an adventurous bastard, went to Ulaanbaatar and lives there since then. He is a lawyer (criminal law) and so he now earns his money with consulting NGOs and trying to reform the mongolian criminal law for juvenile court cases.

Iggy and her sister were at the airport to pick up the german husband of Iggy's sister and Juergen had instructed them to look out for two women who appear like...us. So, they took us and our luggage, shoved us into their car and off we drove to the center of Ulaanbaatar. While driving, Iggy's sister tried to reach Durzii, finally got his sister Gana on the phone and she picked us up on the parking lot of a restaurant. Gana told us that Durzii was at the airport, but not for the Mongolian Airline flight, but for a Russian Aeroflot flight (for reasons that were beyond our understanding), then he lost his cell phone and couldn't be reached. But he existed! Fancy that!

Durzii's sister took us to our hotel. Not that we could already check in, no, not after 12 hours of traveling with a night that went up in smoke. It was only 7:30 am and check in not until 2 pm. But, we were aloud to take a shower and could store our luggage at the reception. Hallelujah!

After the shower, suddenly Durzii materialized in the hotel foyer and took us to a French bakery for breakfast. At that time we were beyond good and evil. It was 8 in the morning, the sun was shining, the food was good and Durzii turned out to be a very nice guy. After breakfast we went back to the hotel, were we met Isa, the third party of our riding group and Lkhama, our translator. More about Isa later. Lkhama was a girl in her early 20s, who lived 1 year in Germany as Au Pair and learned german back then. She was very nice and I liked her a lot.

Lkhama took us to the Gandan Monastery, the center of Mongolia's present Lama Buddhism. More about Buddhism during the soviet regime later.

After a short break in the hotel we went to the theater, to watch a compilation of mongolian mask dance, traditional throat singing and some wonderful performances with the very special horse head fiddle. Amazing stuff.
We called it a day with dinner at an italian restaurant, together with Isa, Durzii and his german wife Julia. After that we went off to bed immediately. The journey to the Orkhan river valley should begin the next morning.

To be continued...





Durzii with his son Nomo

The idea to go to Mongolia and ride with horses through the wide mongolian steppe was born two years ago. The girlfriend of Honey B.'s brother had been doing that riding trip in Mongolia and told us about it.
As a kid and young adolescent I was riding a lot. So I knew how to do it. When I was a kid, my parents had a couple of Time-Life photo books and in one of those there was the picture of a shepherd who was riding on his horse through the big steppe of Kasachstan, surrounded by his sheep herd and a dog. I looked at this picture a million times and dreamed of being that shepherd.
So, when the idea of going to Mongolia was born, it was like a childhood dream becoming true. Still, I was only dreaming, because I knew that Honey B. has only been riding on a horse once in her life and she was afraid of horses. So I was sure that such kind of a holiday would not be what she would like to do. But I was wrong. She was interested, too and we were seriously thinking about doing our next vacation in Mongolia.

That was 2007.

Sometimes in spring 2008 we tried to book flights to Mongolia and became aware that it was too late, flights were rare and now too expensive. We were disappointed, but agreed on not giving up. It was only a delay.
So in Dec 2008 we booked two flights from Berlin to Mongolia from Aug, 7 to Aug, 28 and we booked the horse riding tour with a mongolian agency, called Nomadic Ways.

2009 was coming and running by, very soon it was summer and our preparations took on. We bought lots of stuff (riding equipment first of all) and became very excited.

Since we were waiting for that vacation for so long, we got a bit paranoid. Every second day I asked Honey B. if she was sure about the flight dates and in the first days of August we checked our e-tickets several time a day, just to be sure. Then, on the eve of leaving, we were so anal, we wanted to assure ourselves that the time schedule of MIAT (Mongolian Airline) has been retained unchanged. So we went online to look it up, to find....nothing. No flight to Mongolia was listed for Aug, 07.... We tried to reach the airport, nothing. It felt like dying. I was in deep shock, I couldn't believe, what was going on. Too shocked to get mad, I was more like being paralyzed, petrified with horror. Not only the flight was gone, the tour we've had booked was starting on monday, 10th of August. So there wasn't much time.

After a sleepless night we called MIAT the next morning. The friday flight had been canceled a long time ago and they had simply forgotten to inform us about it. Fortunately, we managed to get another flight on sunday, so we would reach Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, right in time to catch up with our riding tour.

To be continued.....

At least a little bit...
I had lots of health issues to deal with.
But everything's going to be fine :-)

Went to PJ Harvey on Thursday and Laurie Anderson on Friday. What a great experience to have them both one after the other. Such great women, totally different, but equally wonderful personalities.

My basketball team Alba Berlin reached the play offs as best team.

Life is good!

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes.
You might not believe me, but I really missed you!!!

In December I was watching the first 4 (or better 3.5) seasons of Battlestar Galactica and I was hooked instantly. This is so good, I don't know why I haven't watched it earlier. But now I have to wait until June to be able to see the rest of it. And that really sucks. Especially since my US friends can watch it on TV currently and I hear nothing but praise and excitement.

I managed to watch only two movies on the Berlinale so far. That's really a pity, but I have too much work and other duties.
I've seen Ghosted, which is a German/Taiwanese co-production about a lesbian love and ghost story. I was a bit disappointed. The ghost story did not work out and and the actors were a bit stiff (some of them I have already seen much better). I also couldn't stand the German director and her colonial attitude.

The other movie was again a Taiwanese production and called Yang Yang. This film was about an Eurasian girl in Taibei. It was very touching and finest story telling. It was produced by Khan Lee, the brother of Ang Lee, who founded the production company "Pushing Hands", which is named after Ang Lee's first feature film.

Via Honey B.s connections to the Taiwanese "embassy" in Berlin, we were invited to the Berlinale party of the Taiwanese ambassador. Good food, lots of drinks, and many celebrating actors, directors and other film crew members. Funny!

Besides of the Berlinale I've seen only two other movies this year.
Revolutionary Road, which was really a hell of a movie. Go watch it, if you haven't already!

And The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. I liked it. I couldn't stand the Forrest Gump parts of it (if you've seen it, you'll know what I mean). And I don't get, what makes Brad Pitt an Academy Awards Nominee. For make up, ok, but for acting... Not that I think that Brad Pitt is a bad actor. No, it's not that. I just think that others were better than he was as Benjamin Button.

Last week I attended again at the 1. Berlin Filmtablequiz and we ended up being 8th!!! Which is great. Especially since the questions were really demanding this time. Our only goal was always to be under the last 10. I can die happy now :-)

Merry x-mas everybody! I hope it's a good one!

I got a postcard from Rex Gildo today.
Freaky christmas! Thanks a lot, my friend. You know my secret sins :)

( On your own risk )

Yesterday I went to a reading, where Honey B. read from the book she wrote about her year in Taiwan. It's called "Zwischen Geistern und Gigabytes" ("Among Ghosts and Gigabytes").
If you can read German, it is a must do. You can order it at amazon. It also works as a christmas gift :-)



At the reading a guy told a joke, he heard on the radio that day:

If a person with a fat belly tattoos a thin belly on the fat belly, does he have a thin belly then?

I fell off my chair laughing. Yes, it's funny! Isn't it?

First snow this year. Nice!

Tilda Swinton will be jury president of the Berlinale 2009. That's really good news in my book.

I've been to the Mogwai concert in Berlin yesterday and it was amazing! This band is so good, the mixture between silent parts and furious, brute sound walls with up to four guitars - brilliant.
Thanks to adgy, who has been to their concert recently, I was warned about the loudness. adgy said it was one of the loudest concerts he has ever been to. Since I know adgy's taste in music, which can't exactly be described as chamber music, I was really concerned about that. So I prepared myself with ear protection. After a while I thought, hey, it's not THAT loud, right? And lifted one of the earplugs. Big mistake, it kind of blew me away.

Mogwai btw are named after the film Gremlins in which the little creature is a mogwai.



Mogwai is chinese. On the band's homepage it says that means Ghost.

I asked Honey B. who speaks chinese, to confirm that:

"Honey B., what means ghost in chinese?"
"It depends." (That's the standard answer, whenever I ask something about China or chinese.)
"So, give me an example for a word that means ghost"
"Gwai"
"Uh huh, we're getting closer. Then tell me what is a mo?"
"Mo? It depends!"
"So, what is a mo-gwai?"
"Er...it depends. But it could be a demon. It is definitely no good ghost, but an evil ghost. Kind of a devil."

It seems, there are as many words for ghosts in China as there are ghosts. Must be thousands.

Belated but very happy birthday wishes go out to my friend and brother adgy.
You are very good people! I love you, man.

I'm so nervous about the elections next week. I wish I could vote, maybe that would make me calm down a bit. What if Obama doesn't win? What if not all of those skinheads are utterly stupid? What if McCain wins the elections? What if McCain wins, dies a year later and Palin gets President of the USA?

Please, my american friends, please vote, vote for Obama, make your brother, your mother, your father, uncle, aunt, sister, grannies, friends and enemies vote for Obama.

Last week I for the second time attended at the Berlin Film-Table-Quiz, which is organized by one of the city's magazines "Zitty".

We are the team Medienhuren and this time we ended being # 11 out of 30 teams. And believe me, this isn't bad. We played against teams like the Zitty Film Editorial Staff and other real film nerds and professionals. But it's always such fun! We knew a lot and after the first round we were on the legendary second place. We've never before been second! After that we fell from 9 to 10 to 11. Too bad. But there were lots of questions about Humphrey Bogart, we couldn't answer correctly.

The head and by far the best member of our team is Ulla "the media brain". She is the wandering TV guide. Incredible. I'm better with movies than TV and we complement one another in a good way. Teams can have up to six members. We were 5. The Zitty team beat us with only two players. Sad, but true. The winning team was "Channel Four News Team". in front of team "Fünf Zombies hingen am Glockenseil". The Zitty team played noncompetitive.

Since I am a big fan of The Wire I started watching the early 90s show Homicide: Life On The Street which is based on the book of David Simon, who created The Wire.

Homicide is like The Wire located in Baltimore and the more I see of this city, I'm on the one side in love with it, but on the other side not sure if I would ever want to set a foot into that place.

In season two the Homicide policemen arrested a nazi (played brilliantly as always by Steve Buscemi) and during interrogation the Buscemi character rambles about black people being less intelligent, having a lower IQ and the likes.
Three cops were watching him through those windows which are mirrors on the other side (I wouldn't even know how you call them in german) and the following dialogue made me laugh my ass off:

Giardello (black lieutenant): "That crap again. Anything to make a loser like him feel superior."

Bayliss (white detective): "If Hitler had got into art school, who knows what would have happened"

Munch (jewish detective): "Probably painted the camps in pastels!"