October 21, 2002

1:36 PM

Jorlon khaan bain ve?The first stop in Oissubke's trip around the online world is the beautiful land of Mongolia. Take a moment to leave the America-centric (not that there's anything wrong with that!) Web and see what the internet looks like from someone else's eyes...

• Mongolia Online
• Mongolian Tourism Board
• Mongolia World
• Virtual Mongol
• Government of Mongolia
• National University of Mongolia
• Mongolia Today
• Gobi Business News
• Mongolian Student Network (nice!)
• Open Web Center
• Montsame News
• Liberal Women's Brain Pool
• Humane Person Center
• Bank of Mongolia
• MN Domain Name Registry
• Netcraft on Mongolia
• Mongolian script (hints of Tolkien?)

I've tried to pick sites that provide unique and interesting insights into the Mongolian internet, not just whatever Google coughed up for "Mongolia". Unless this post particularly annoys people, I'll plan to continue my journey with Liechtenstein in a few days.
posted by oissubke (28 comments total)

anyone seen my saddle?
posted by clavdivs at 1:44 PM on October 21, 2002

How do you say, "Which way to the restroom?" in Mongolian?
posted by mikhail at 1:46 PM on October 21, 2002

Good links, but I do wish you'd pick a more compact format for your links next time.
posted by kickingtheground at 1:46 PM on October 21, 2002

Next time put the bullet links as (More Inside:) oissubke. Nice post. Of course, I never went to Mongolia, being that there was a big wall with all my ancestors inside it blocking the way.
posted by Stan Chin at 1:48 PM on October 21, 2002

Good links, but I do wish you'd pick a more compact format for your links next time.

Yeah, I was wondering about that one. I'll definitely do a comma list or "More Inside" next time.
posted by oissubke at 1:51 PM on October 21, 2002

Looking forward to diving into these after work - thanks
posted by jalexei at 1:53 PM on October 21, 2002

Gobi Desert's Exiled Bear.

Desert. Bears. The mind boggles.

And only two clicks to get there. Good post, oissubke.
posted by dglynn at 2:04 PM on October 21, 2002

Yeah That princess stephanie is so hot.
posted by johnnyboy at 2:07 PM on October 21, 2002

Metafilter : Where we care more about how you link than what you link.
posted by crunchland at 2:07 PM on October 21, 2002

Beware the Mongolian Death Worm
posted by bunktone at 2:08 PM on October 21, 2002

How do you say, "Which way to the restroom?" in Mongolian?

Bi gants bii, ta urgalsanuu?
posted by oissubke at 2:10 PM on October 21, 2002

interesting. In dglynn's link, they refer to a single species as a specie.

Furthermore a Dr. Bataar is mentioned. If Bataar = hero, then we have a Dr. Hero!
I wish I could be so cool.

My info comes from dinosaurs. Go search for Jenghizkhan bataar ;)
posted by firestorm at 2:11 PM on October 21, 2002

Well. "Sheep on a Hill." As much as I love my busy complex interesting life, I'm not so sure I wouldn't rather be looking after a medium-sized flock of sheep on a Mongolian hill under a super-blue sky, perhaps chanting songs of praise to my favorite Bodhisattva at night before sleep.
posted by kozad at 3:20 PM on October 21, 2002

Last night I spent an hour and a half watching a documentary about the life of two young Mongolians in Ulan Bator on Swedish TV. I was so fascinated with my own lack of knowledge about that country and culture that I have been googling Mongolia and Ulan Bator throughout the day. And along comes this post. Brilliant.
posted by FidelDonson at 3:46 PM on October 21, 2002

i remember traveling there as a kid. it was a strange experience, lots of space, and insane winds.. the flattest land i've ever seen (more so than Kazachstan or Argentina). The poor guys are still using Cyrillic for their writing, I wonder why haven't they switched.
posted by bokononito at 4:25 PM on October 21, 2002

bokononito: There is a traditional Mongolian script (see also Oissubke's last link), which I believe is still used in Inner (Chinese) Mongolia; I suspect that there's probably debate in Mongolia about whether to go back to that, move to a romanized transcription (which would presumably render the actual pronunciation better), or stick with the Cyrillic everybody knows. But maybe I can find out more about that somewhere in the plethora of links!
posted by languagehat at 4:58 PM on October 21, 2002

mongolian Hoomii, er, roxors my soxors. (check the sample)
posted by asok at 5:01 PM on October 21, 2002

bokononito, languagehat... from the linked article on Mongolian script:

"In 1990, the Mongolian government decided to restore the Mongolian alphabet to official use."

Looks like the debate ended, and we're back to the lovely script.
posted by silusGROK at 5:03 PM on October 21, 2002

Thanks, oissubke! I'm greatly looking forward to the rest of your online voyage. A couple years ago there was a wonderful article in National Geographic about a Mongolian ethnic minority. I searched the NGS website and googled for it, but no luck. Anyone know where to find it?
posted by hippugeek at 7:26 PM on October 21, 2002

Be sure not to miss the interesting news about the search for the tomb of Genghis Khan, which has been halted by authorities after local opposition grew based on fears that the Chicago-based team (including serious scholars, but financed and run by a well-heeled commodities trader with a Temujin jones) was in it for the money, and that parts of the tomb area were 'desecrated' by their campsite and other activities. Read the team's account and crowing news release of the initial 2001 expedition (and I love the yurt with a City off Chicago flag). A confirmation would be a tremendous retort to early doubts. There's even a movie project in D-hell.

And let me take this moment to remind people that it is not pronounced GHEN-jiss. It's JEN-ghiss. In some languages it's spelled with a J at the beginning, Jenghis, or as in some of these Mongolian materials, Chingiss, which would make a lot of sense for us.

Let's not forget the lasting contributions of the Mongols. The iron stirrup turned bowmen on horseback into true mounted cavalry. They also created a vast and efficient "pony express" communication network to monitor their far-flung empire, which at the death of Jenghis stretched from Korea to Yugoslavia. They also had an advanced military communication system that made sophisticated tactics such as the forlorn hope and tactical retreat a keystone of Mongol success.

Also, a little-known fact: a key 1939 defeat of the Japanese set the stage for a Soviet-Japanese mutual non-aggression pact and turned Tokyo's strategy back toward the South and into conflict with the US. After the Cold War ended, Mongolia quickly developed a strong relationship with the US, and they are one of the few ex-Warsaw Pact states in the region to attain a 2 (political) and 3 (economic) liberty score from Freedom House by 2001, on par with Bulgaria and Croatia (all the XSSR republics but Moldova are mired in the 4-6 range).
posted by dhartung at 9:32 PM on October 21, 2002

I remember seeing a documentary a while ago about Mongol names, which are some some of the most peculiar in the world. According to this site, they are purposefully unusual to "avoid misfortune and confuse evil spirits".

Don't forget the Mongolian blue spots.
posted by hama7 at 11:35 PM on October 21, 2002

Nice post; Bayarlaa!

Also, Mongolian music traditions such as "throat music" and the "long song" (info here) are wonderful, and often have something to do with a horse.

Mongol folk songs "take two basic forms: short songs and long songs. Short songs are more popular and have short tunes, sharp rhythm, originality and vivacity, and are connected with daily life and activities, and combined with beautiful decorations. But the Mongolian long song is of the classic genre, in philosophical style, evocative of vast, wide spaces. It also demands great skill and talent from the singers in their breathing abilities and guttural singing techniques." From this site.

This page offers a list of Mongolian music CDs with links to Amazon pages containing sound clips.
posted by taz at 12:52 AM on October 22, 2002

Nice. I click on a random link on the Mongolian Student Network homepage, and what do i see? A nude pamela anderson.
I guess they're not so cultural different after all...
posted by SoulNoise at 2:07 AM on October 22, 2002

What an excellent post...many thanks oissubke. Looking forward to more countries...
posted by i_cola at 3:53 AM on October 22, 2002

Great post! It should only take me about a week to get through it, so please hold off on Liechtenstein. The last link (for omniglot.com) deserves its own FPP.
posted by teo at 7:10 AM on October 22, 2002

The last link (for omniglot.com) deserves its own FPP.

Funnily enough ...
posted by walrus at 7:47 AM on October 22, 2002

Check out the Modern Mongolia exhibit at the Smithsonian .... show extended into December
posted by gudrun at 8:29 PM on October 22, 2002

Vis10n: Looks like the debate ended, and we're back to the lovely script.

Indeed. The traditional Mongolian script adorns the several Togarog bills in my wallet.

Don't forget the airag, fermented mare's milk wine. The salty tea is also a bit of a trip (I sampled both in a nomad family's Ger this Summer).

If you're travelling to Mongolia, you might want to plan to be in Ulan Bator during the Naadam festival, which, according to the linked article, is "Mongolia’s Meta-Festival".
posted by syzygy at 5:44 AM on October 23, 2002