Museum mania

I started the day at what I thought was the Museum of Mongolian History, but it turned out to be the Natural History Museum. The locations were incorrect in my Lonely Planet (LP) guidebook. The Natural Histroy Museum is a hodge podge of flora, fauna, reptiles, and huminoids. LP's description is more colorful: "a serious throwback to the Soviet era...The general impression, however, is that you've stumbled into a warehouse of a long deceased taxidermist...Some of the animals have been fixed with puzzling expressions, as if they remain perplexed as to how they ended up in such an unfortunate state." You can't make this stuff up! The description is accurate, but LP forgot to mention the floor-to-ceiling orange valour curtains, my personal favorite.

I left the museum with the intention of visiting the art museum on the next block, as well as the Federation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition, a Buddhist Cultural Center across the street. Unfortunately, I could find neither, and this was after looking for them yesterday, too. Maybe I'll try them again when Max gets here. Instead, I opted for lunch at Khaan Buuz, Mongolian Fast Food. It is not even close to what we think of when it comes to fast food, but these little restaurants are very popular with the locals. I managed to order, eat, and pay without uttering a single word. I had Khuushuur, fried meat pancakes. You may know I have an aversion to pancakes, in the traditional sense, but these are more like stuffed (mutton) sopapillas. I also had shredded carrot salad that was mighty tasty. I thought I got a great deal yesterday, but all together, with a cup of tsai (tea), I paid $1.30.

After lunch, I walked to the Victims of Political Persecution Museum. That was a downer. During the Communist purges of the 1930's approximately 25,000 were killed. Of those, about 17,000 were monks. The walls were filled with pictures of the victims, written convictions from trials, and memorabilia. The last room is saved for the icky stuff. They had a display of about a dozen skulls, which had been discovered in a mass burial site of 600 monks. The skulls were lined up and almost all of them had a visible bullet hole in the front. It was horrifying to think the USSR could have been so scared of a belief. I guess it hasn't really changed much, given China's recent "purge" of their own in Tibet. The museum got me interested in following up on the history of the Communist purges when I get home.

I left the museum for another. On the way, I noticed on the hillside a gigantic outline of Genghis Khan. On the hill to his right, there was gigantic script writing. I think it said, "Go Mongols" but I'm not sure.

I topped off the afternoon at the Choijin Lama Temple Museum. The grounds consist of five temples, none are actively being used. The Temple of Peace was my favorite. The ornate decoration and variety of buddhas was impressive. It was small on the scale compared to the main temple. The main temple was a little over my head. Something about "violent, protective deities" and being punished severely in the next life. Throughout the temple artwork depicts men being disemboweled, skewered, tongues cut out, arms cut off, heads and legs severed, etc., as well as demon-like creatures eating little people. I was happy to recognize a few things, including a large garuda mask.

I fly to Olgii tomorrow. It will be a completely different experience, as it is much more rural, the people are nomadic, and the majority religion is Muslim. I guess I can take pork off the menu!Les mer