Inner Mongolia
We had been passing through big sky country for about three hours. We were in what is called Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region. It is still controlled by China. All there was for miles and miles was grasslands. Occasionally we would pass a traditional Mongolian tent. The poles to these tents are made of birch branches formed into a lattice framework and held together by horse hair rope. In the center of the ceiling is a hole where the chimney pipe sticks out and is connected to a stove in the center of the tent. The outside of the tent is covered with white felt that is made by the Mongolian people and is tied into place with leather or horse hair rope. The herdmen in this country still follow the lifestyle that has remained unchanged from the time of Chinggis Kahn.
A Ger
We could still see an occasional Chinese house but they were not so close to the railroad tracks anymore. They are usually in large fields in the distance. We also saw sheep herders with their sheep and a few horses that are wandering around by themselves.
Livestock breeding and crop farming make up the economy of this country. Most Mongolian farmers in this region are very poor. They live in poorly built houses made of stone, cemented together with mud. They toil all day in their fields hoeing corn, millet and other crops. The larger farms are owned and supported by the Chinese who were sent into the country to populate it and dominate the Mongolian people. Only about one percent of the land is used for grain production.
As we got closer to the Gobi desert the terrain became more desert-like. There were no longer mountains along the horizon. It was more and more becoming vast steppe land.
Mongolian is the official language of the Mongolian people. It is a member of the Ural-Altic family of languages which includes Finnish, Turkish, Kazan, Uzbek and Korean. While under communist rule the Mongolians were forced to learn to write their language in the Russian Crillic alphabet. The origional Mongolian writing was in a downward flowing script as seen below.
Mongolian Writing
As the liquid sun slowly started to sink into the western horizon we all settled into our cabins in excited anticipation as our journey unfolded. Around midnight we arrived at the border of Outer Mongolia. We left the train and walked single file in the pitch black darkness to a large building where workmen were changing the grade of the wheels of the cars of the train. It is commonly called 'changing the bogies'. During World War one and two, in an attempt to thwarf their enemies the Russians made their trains and tracks wider then every other country so in order to enter Russian territory the gauge of the wheels had to be changed. This would take several hours we were told. When we got to the place where they were changing the bogies we stood around and watched for a while. First a car was released from the wheels. This was done by jacking up the car with a hydrolic jack, the wheels were rolled out from under the car, then raised by a crane and turned around and put back under the car and reattached. After they finished our car we were allowed to go inside our cabin and go to bed.
After a few hours some Chinese custom agents in green uniforms came around. I was awakened. We had to fill out some papers and show them our passports. After this we were able to go back to sleep for a few more hours.
We had been passing through big sky country for about three hours. We were in what is called Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region. It is still controlled by China. All there was for miles and miles was grasslands. Occasionally we would pass a traditional Mongolian tent. The poles to these tents are made of birch branches formed into a lattice framework and held together by horse hair rope. In the center of the ceiling is a hole where the chimney pipe sticks out and is connected to a stove in the center of the tent. The outside of the tent is covered with white felt that is made by the Mongolian people and is tied into place with leather or horse hair rope. The herdmen in this country still follow the lifestyle that has remained unchanged from the time of Chinggis Kahn.
A Ger
We could still see an occasional Chinese house but they were not so close to the railroad tracks anymore. They are usually in large fields in the distance. We also saw sheep herders with their sheep and a few horses that are wandering around by themselves.
Livestock breeding and crop farming make up the economy of this country. Most Mongolian farmers in this region are very poor. They live in poorly built houses made of stone, cemented together with mud. They toil all day in their fields hoeing corn, millet and other crops. The larger farms are owned and supported by the Chinese who were sent into the country to populate it and dominate the Mongolian people. Only about one percent of the land is used for grain production.
As we got closer to the Gobi desert the terrain became more desert-like. There were no longer mountains along the horizon. It was more and more becoming vast steppe land.
Mongolian is the official language of the Mongolian people. It is a member of the Ural-Altic family of languages which includes Finnish, Turkish, Kazan, Uzbek and Korean. While under communist rule the Mongolians were forced to learn to write their language in the Russian Crillic alphabet. The origional Mongolian writing was in a downward flowing script as seen below.
Mongolian Writing
As the liquid sun slowly started to sink into the western horizon we all settled into our cabins in excited anticipation as our journey unfolded. Around midnight we arrived at the border of Outer Mongolia. We left the train and walked single file in the pitch black darkness to a large building where workmen were changing the grade of the wheels of the cars of the train. It is commonly called 'changing the bogies'. During World War one and two, in an attempt to thwarf their enemies the Russians made their trains and tracks wider then every other country so in order to enter Russian territory the gauge of the wheels had to be changed. This would take several hours we were told. When we got to the place where they were changing the bogies we stood around and watched for a while. First a car was released from the wheels. This was done by jacking up the car with a hydrolic jack, the wheels were rolled out from under the car, then raised by a crane and turned around and put back under the car and reattached. After they finished our car we were allowed to go inside our cabin and go to bed.
After a few hours some Chinese custom agents in green uniforms came around. I was awakened. We had to fill out some papers and show them our passports. After this we were able to go back to sleep for a few more hours.
posted by THE REAL MIKE BAILEY at 2:25 PM
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