The Major returned
Mike Major had ventured out to the countryside to visit friends in Erdenet and Khuvsgol. He travelled by train to Darkhan to be with his son, wife, and her family. After that he took a microbus to Erdenet and met up with former
co-workers. He stayed in Erdenet for awhile and then travelled by furgon to Moron. He called me one night from Moron to get Serdamba's phone number and to find out Serdamba's location. I told him that Serdamba doesn't have a cell phone but that he is in Khatgal. Mike ended up finding Serdamba. Mike called yesterday during one of my classes and I said "Mike, can you call me after 6 PM?"
So I found myself travelling at 7PM to the Buddhist Stupa cafe. The Buddhist Stupa/ Cafe is near where the old Millie's was back in 2000. the taxi driver I rode with was an ok guy. sometimes I'm a little leary getting taxis in UB after dark. It can sometimes be a fairly iffy propisition. But this guy was cool. When I entered, Mike was meditating. I ate the buuz I bought from Zochin Buuz 999 and had a black coffee. Mike had a tea. They close up at 8. After that we crossed the street and went to Nayra cafe where one of my students works. She is a former student from Tarialan. They close at 9 so we stayed there and talked about various topics for an hour. We still wanted to do something as it was early so we walked towards State Department Store. there's a cool bar/ restaurant called Alaska. So we went in there. Mike called a friend named Ganbold. He's a body building trainer and aerobics instuctor at a gym. He's a good guy because he doesn't drink to excess and he has a good character. it was time for me to go around 10:30 pm as sometimes the building jijuur (watchperson) locks the entrance to the building in which I live. That can be annoying. After that I returned to my apartment after stopping off at an internet cafe and reading an email from my Dad.
Overall it was a good night out and about. Mike says that he's leaving Mongolia on December 17th.
co-workers. He stayed in Erdenet for awhile and then travelled by furgon to Moron. He called me one night from Moron to get Serdamba's phone number and to find out Serdamba's location. I told him that Serdamba doesn't have a cell phone but that he is in Khatgal. Mike ended up finding Serdamba. Mike called yesterday during one of my classes and I said "Mike, can you call me after 6 PM?"
So I found myself travelling at 7PM to the Buddhist Stupa cafe. The Buddhist Stupa/ Cafe is near where the old Millie's was back in 2000. the taxi driver I rode with was an ok guy. sometimes I'm a little leary getting taxis in UB after dark. It can sometimes be a fairly iffy propisition. But this guy was cool. When I entered, Mike was meditating. I ate the buuz I bought from Zochin Buuz 999 and had a black coffee. Mike had a tea. They close up at 8. After that we crossed the street and went to Nayra cafe where one of my students works. She is a former student from Tarialan. They close at 9 so we stayed there and talked about various topics for an hour. We still wanted to do something as it was early so we walked towards State Department Store. there's a cool bar/ restaurant called Alaska. So we went in there. Mike called a friend named Ganbold. He's a body building trainer and aerobics instuctor at a gym. He's a good guy because he doesn't drink to excess and he has a good character. it was time for me to go around 10:30 pm as sometimes the building jijuur (watchperson) locks the entrance to the building in which I live. That can be annoying. After that I returned to my apartment after stopping off at an internet cafe and reading an email from my Dad.
Overall it was a good night out and about. Mike says that he's leaving Mongolia on December 17th.
posted by Dean at 9:08 PM
2 Comments:
Good to know you hooked up with the Major again. For a while there he was sending me e-mails saying "Yeah, I guess Dean was here for a while, but I think he went back to the States..." I was surprised he went out asking for Serdamba -- was it that he just wanted a contact out there to facilitate his trip to Khuvsgol? Because he hadn't he only met the guy like one or two times prior to this trip? How did he even remember Mike? So you walked into the cafe and Mike was meditating? Typical Major --always the Buddhist! I actually went over to the REALLY awesome Buddhist Temple they've got out here in Poolesville, MD -- kind of a trek if you don't have a car, but they had a scholar named Glenn Mullin talking about the famous Mongolian Buddhist lama and poet/playwright Danzan Ravjaa (from like 150 years ago or something) -- and served buuz afterwards -- and I went out to their stupa park and did a little prayer at "the BIG stupa." Mike would like it, we might go one day. Is he still planning on actually coming back...?
Dean-O!!!
What's up, man? Just figured I'd see where the further adventures of Marzanbaatar had lead to...
Laters!!
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