Demystifying Mongolia (Part 3): The Rest of Ulaanbaatar

- May 21-23, 2015, Thursday-Saturday.

- On the morning of the 21st, I had to pack my things and check out from Chinggis Khan Hotel, the 5-star hotel where half of the participants of the XIII Asian Youth Council General Assembly was housed, and where some of the panel discussions took place. (Click here for my experience in the assembly.)  After checking out, I had to move back to my first hotel, Ulaanbaatar Hotel. Ulaanbaatar Hotel is a 15-minute walk from Chinggis Khan Hotel; Ulaanbaatar Hotel is a 3-minute walk to the Sukhbaatar Square, the center of Ulaanbaatar City. (Click here for a more detailed description Ulaanbaatar Hotel, and places I've gone to on my first day in Mongolia.)

- After checking in my hotel again, I set off to explore more of Ulaanbaatar. Starting that day, the temperature in Mongolia had risen to an average of 24-26 degrees Celcius. It was a warm day despite the occasional cool breeze, and it just seemed like a colder day in Manila during the late "-ber months" or January. Knowing me and my body's refusal to tolerate warmth, I preferred the colder temperature in Ulaanbaatar during the previous day. (It was so cold before Thursday that I could see my breath when I was outside.)

- I first visited the Mongolian Theater Museum, located just behind the Cultural Centre Palace. The Mongolian Theater Museum contains posters of old films and theater productions, old photos, puppets, costumes for plays and theater performances, traditional instruments and costumes for folk theater, and old film equipment used to shoot Mongolia's early films. As a graduate of Communication, an enthusiast of cultures, and someone involved in youth theater since high school, the Mongolian Theater Museum was one of my instant favorites. The museum is owned by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture.

Old cameras.

Horse-head fiddle.

Other traditional instruments.

Another old camera.

Diorama of how temple theaters were done.

Cham masks/costumes.

For cham performances.

Old instruments.

A really fiery ballerina costume.

Old scores used for productions.

The costume was used in the old black-and-white film in the photo.

Other traditional costumes used in old films.

Imitating the puppet.

Old puppeteers

More puppets!!

Got to play with a puppet. The puppet was heavy!!

A poster of a classical concert.

Former actors.

Russian-style ballet costumes.

Posters of old films and theater productions.

- I thought of going to lunch after visiting the museum, and thought of lingering around the Sukhbaatar Square for a few minutes to take some more photos of the seated Chinggis Khan in front of the Parliamentary House, and probably some interesting people I'd see in the square. Apart from a wedding, I discovered that the Parliamentary House has a museum called the "Statehood History Museum." There is no entrance fee, no photography; the museum is closed on Mondays. I found it strange that I was not able to encounter this museum while I was planning for my trip prior to my departure to Mongolia.

Saw a wedding photoshoot (and a graduation photoshoot behind them.)

Can't get enough of Chinggis Khan.

A closer view of the face.

- Knowing that I had much time to spare, I checked out the museum. Apart from artifacts gathered during the different eras of Mongolian history, contemporary items such as clothes worn by generals, a replica of the presidential podium, and a collection of gifts to the president of Mongolia by other leaders and diplomats. While photography is prohibited in the museum, as mentioned earlier, I saw a group of pre-school children having a field trip with their teachers. They took photos inside the museum "legally," as one museum attendant was with them. I followed them around and so I was able to take a few photos before the museum attendant told me that I couldn't take more photos.

Inside the Statehood History Museum.

Replica of the stone turtle found in Karakorum, the old capital.

India's gift to Mongolia.

Happy preschool children after their field trip at the Statehood History Museum.

- After finishing my visit to the Statehood History Museum, I had lunch in another branch of Modern Nomads, so I could have some more buuz (Mongolian dumplings) and butter tea. The large dumplings were good enough to make me feel full.

Partially-eaten plate of buuz and a mug of butter tea. 

Hand for scale. Buuzes are quite big.

- Later on I visited the National Museum of Mongolia, located at the left side of the Parliament House. The museum is also called the "National Museum of Mongolian History." Interestingly, this was the first ever museum in Mongolia. The museum not only features their collection of ancient artifacts, the museum also devoted a section of it to exhibiting Mongolia's ethno-linguistic diversity. The majority of Mongolians are Khalkha Mongolians, and the standard Mongolian language used in Mongolia descends from the Khalkha Mongolian dialect.

National Museum of Mongolia.

Xiongnu Map.

Xiongnu rug. 

My favorite part of the museum - the gallery of Mongolian costumes.

Ancient deel.

Costumes of different ethno-linguistic groups.

More hats.

Khalkha woman.

Khalkha man.

Some ornaments, which I assume to be heavy. 

Earrings and other ornaments.

Extent of the Mongolian Empire.

Soldier's costume.

The 4 Great Khans: Temur, Kublai, Chinggis, Ogedei

Queens of the empire. They all look alike. (The original portraits are in the National Palace Museum of Taiwan in Taipei.)

Ger.

Inside the ger.

Replica of the thrones of the last Bogd Khan and his wife.

Manchurian flag during the Qing Dynasty.

- I ended my museum tour quite earlier than expected, so I walked back to my hotel to rest for the rest of the afternoon. Once again, I passed by Sukhbaatar Square. This time, I saw new-graduates taking their photos in front of the Chinggis Khan statue. The female graduates wore colorful modernized deels.
\

Could it be her birthday??

Graduates with their colorful modern deel.

Happy graduation!!

This kid is just too adorable. Haha (Her parents allowed me to photograph her.)

- For the early evening, I went south of the city to attend the performance of the Tumen Ekh Ensemble. The ensemble was formed in 1989, and since then, the ensemble made it their mission to entertain tourists by performing different aspects of traditional Mongolian performing arts. Just like the museums, A hefty price needs to be paid for the photo or video permit.

Tumen Ekh Ensemble.

Inside the lobby.

- The Tumen Ekh Ensemble performs various sets of performances, so performances in the past are not necessarily similar to what they are performing these days. However, I think that the ensemble generally presents what is expected of them: ensemble performances, long-song and throat singing performances, traditional dances (ex. courtship dance, shaman dance, cham dance, etc.,) and contortionist exhibitions.

Mongolian long song.

Courtship dance.

Throat singing.

Shaman dance.

Song-and-dance number.

Another courtship dance.

Mongolian tenor.

What's the gossip??

Pretty skirts.

They got together!!

Song number accompanied by an ensemble.

Modernized traditional dance.

Group singing.

Work it!!

She was an amazing contortionist.

A reaaaaaaaaaally long horn.

Cham dance.

Curtain call.

Embroidered Chinggis Khan outside the theater.

-  The whole program lasted for an hour, but the performance did not feel short. I enjoyed the whole performance, and I think I got my money's worth (including the hefty photo permit price.) I was so happy with the performance that I seem to have smiled while walking all the way to the supermarket to buy my small (and inexpensive) dinner, and all the way back to the hotel.

Found this guy on the way back to the hotel.

- I fixed my things that night because it was my last night in Ulaanbaatar. Since I had to go to the airport late at night, I had another full day in Ulaanbaatar before leaving.

- On my last morning, I had an early trip to the Choijin Lama Monastery Museum, located at not-so-far southern side of Ulaanbaatar.  The Choijin Lama Monastery Museum used to be the residence of Choijin Lama Luvsankhaidav. He was the younger brother of the Bogd Khan (click here to see the Bogd Khan's winter palace,) and was the state oracle. The monastery was used in the early 1900s, but was converted to a museum in the 1930s by the Mongolian Stalinist government. Previously, only visitors of the state could enter the museum, but was opened to the public in the 1960s.

In front of the Maharaj Temple inside the Choijin Lama Monastery complex.

- The monastery complex is home to one main temple, and several other shrines, each dedicated to a certain deity. Despite paying for the photo permit, there was one shrine where photography was still not allowed: The Temple of Great Assembly. Photography was fine everywhere else.

- The museum had a large collection of cham masks and ritual paraphernalia. For those scared of dolls and masks, this might not be an ideal place to visit, as many eyes from angry masks and daunting statues will be staring at visitors. I, on the other hand, fancy the masks and the statues, as well as the calm and mystical ambiance of the main temple.

Inside the main temple

Cham masks.

A full cham costume.

Another cham costume.

Coral bits decorate the face.

Other masks.

I really liked the main temple.

Thangka paintings.

Other cham masks.

One of the many statues in the yab-yum position.

The Choijin Lama's oracle throne room.

The room was full of  dead people motifs. 

They kinda scared me.

Leopard-skin-coated deer head.

On the ceiling.

More thangka paintings.

Instruments for rituals.

Skull-shapred masks.

The main temple from outside.

- The other shrines were quite small, but also had interesting statues. As with Tibetan or Tantric Buddhism, gods in the "yab-yum" position are prominent. Another noticeable feature is the presence of wrathful gods. These gods destroy evil, and are supposed to lead people to enlightenment. They are not devils as a common person might think.

Zuu Temple.

Sridevi, a wrathful goddess.

A close-up of Sridevi's dead. 

Sakyamuni.

Amitabha, I think.

Yadam Temple. 

Some of these sculptures and paintings were by the monk Zanabazar (more on him later in this post.)

Plenty of gods in the yab-yum position.

Almost all statues in the Yadam Temple were this way.

Temple of Great Assembly. Sorry, no photos inside. This temple was decorated by Zanabazar himself. The walls, for example, were in intricate papier-mache. 

- After going around the old monastery, I went to the nearby Museum of Mongolian Costumes. The entrance to the museum is located beside a bank, but mannequins with Mongolian costumes are located at the ground floor. The main museum is located inside a small room at the second floor. The second floor functions as a photo studio where customers can dress up in Mongolian costumes. I wanted to have a professional photo of me wearing a grand Mongolian costume taken, but they weren't able to accommodate me for some reason. (I had my own photoshoots in Ulaanbaatar anyway, so I did't feel bad.)

Can I have them all??

A noyan, or Mongolian nobleman.

Chinggis Khan and his 4 wives.

Costumes and instruments.

Loom.

Ritual garb for monks. Very similar as the ones used by other Tibetan-Buddhist monks. 

Sutras.

With the big man himself (referring to Chinggis Khan, not me.)

- I rushed back to the hotel afterwards to finalize my packing, and check out from my hotel, but letting the hotel store my luggage for the rest of the day. Then, I went to the far north of the city to eat lunch at the highly-recommended Sri-Lankan restaurant named Ceylonta. Ceylonta has a reasonable lunch buffet for 10,000 tugrik (around 5 USD), although a la carte dishes are also available. On top of the lunch buffet that I availed, I also ordered some coconut milk rice, as it is a famous delicacy in Sri Lanka. (I've often seen or heard about it in travel shows about Sri Lanka.) I couldn't finish my coconut milk rice so I had my leftover packed for take-away, as I thought of saving my leftover for dinner.

My first encounter of Sri Lankan food.

I like the color of the restaurant.

The chef preparing the dishes for the lunch buffet.

My lunch.

Coconut-milk rice.

- For the afternoon, I decided to visit the Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts. I originally did not plan to visit this museum, but because I ran out of places to go to in central Ulaanbaatar, I opted to visit the museum. I had no regrets!!

Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts.

- The museum was named after Monk Zanabazar, the first monk to be the head of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia. He lived in the 1600s. While the ground floor had more arts from the 7th to 12th centuries, the second floor was dedicated more to Zanabazar's contribution to Tibetan Buddhism, painting, music, and sculpting. Zanabazar created the Soyombo alphabet, and the Phagspa alphabet (square alphabet,) and improved techniques for bronze sculpting and thangka painting.

Puppets from the 7th century (if I remember correctly.)

A larger puppet of a guard.

7th century paintings.

A painting of the Naadam festival.

Hair sheath.

A really long painting.

The painting of the dragon is quite faded.

A paper-cut of Zanabazar.

A statue of Zanabazar.

The Soyombo alphabet that Zanabazar created.

Soyombo symbol.

White Tara.

Gods in yab-yum position.

Green Tara 1.

Green Tara 2.

Thangka of the Green Tara.

Bhairav.

Kalachakra.

Cham costumes and instruments.

Old man mask for the cham dance.

Cham masks.

Kalachakra in 3-D.

- I finished my museum visit around 4 in the afternoon, and leisurely walked back to my hotel with some window-shopping too. I had 6 hours to spare anyway. When I arrived at the hotel I just stayed in the hotel coffee shop to rest; I even had a nap. I figured that I needed some time to sleep, because I don't think I could sleep comfortably inside the airplane. I later ate my leftover coconut milk rice for dinner, and waited until 10pm for my driver Unuruu to come and drop me off at the airport.

Saw them on the way back to my hotel.

-  My flight to Incheon, South Korea from Ulaanbaatar was at 1am, and had a 4-hour layover before flying from Incheon to Manila. As I got home at noon of the 23rd, my "pregnant" luggage seemed to have exploded after one tiny poke. My mind, however, was bursting with stories to tell about a "road-less-traveled" country. I might not have fully demystified Mongolia, as there are other interesting places outside Ulaanbaatar to visit, like Karakorum (the old capital,) or the Gobi Desert, but being in Ulaanbaatar for a week still seemed surreal, as I never thought that I'd reach the great land of Chinggis Khan in this lifetime.

My last purchase before leaving Mongolia.