Mongolia & Bejing

Mongolia & Beijing Snaps - Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3

For 10 days in October/November, I volunteered to assist some friends preparing for an exhibition on the "Treasures of the Monguls" for touring in the USA.

After a brief stop in Singapore (the first time I have actually been out of the airport and into the city), to meet the director of the Singapore Heritage Museums, we headed north on an overnight flight to Beijing. After a quick shower at our hotel we rushed off across town to get our Mongolian visas before our meeting with the director of the National Place Museum (Forbidden City).

As per the photo to the left, you may note a very rare sighting of me photographing in a suit. Even our interpreter Rachel (below) seems to be quite amused or was it just my impressive chopstick work and finishing all the food on my plate, including the soup.

We had a brief time to photograph some elements of the Forbidden City before another meeting with the Ministry of Culture. Afterwards we raced back to the hotel to assemble a brief virtual digital tour for presentation to the Ministry over breakfast the next morning before our flight out to Mongolia. We did take a break late that evening for "the anything on a stick" street market, east of the Forbidden City in a newly developed section of Beijing northeast of Tian'anmen Square. Here, Stuart Bromley, of the International Museum, and myself try out a mysterious but tasty crepe affair.

After a much delayed departure we headed for Mongolia, I with a drunken Mongolian paraolympics physio "mate" (after 3 months in Oz) chatting to me for two hours between drinks - his.

We had a brief time the following day in the capital Ulaanbaatar with various meeting with ministry officials along with some photography in one of the Museums. After much provisioning by our Mongolian colleagues (ample Vodka) we headed south west into a snow storm to the ancient Mongul capital of Khara-Korum.

The smiling gentlemen to the right are camped beside their truck which has a blown engine.

During one of our "Vodka Stops" I was able to get some photos of a herdsman, herding his goats in a scenic sunny landscape. Shortly after this we crossed the narrow strip of the Gobi desert (below) and on past a travellers' roadside shrine to Khara-Korum.