date-line Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia

Hey, when we said "keep the home fires burning", we didn't mean the whole damn county! We are getting somewhat mixed messages about the current state of things, but it sounds most like FOR NOW the homes of people we know (including our own) are safe. All praise and gratitude to what here in Mongolia is known as "Blue Sky", the dominant force behind it all.

As we returned yesterday to UB from a 4-day jaunt around one of the valleys of Terelj National Park with an organization called "Ger-to-Ger" (horses and ox-carts being the modes of travel, dairy and starch {since, to the bafflement of locals, we eat no meat} being the foods), we had lunch and sat out the afternoon's rain in a ger that had a tv (oh, yes) and we saw that UB was demonstrating and rioting! Here's what I have gathered so far:

There was an election Sunday. The communists were (re?)elected. During the vote counting, the electricity went out several times and the opposition figures that means a perfect opportunity for election fraud was thus created. They also say that votes are bought. Therefore, the party that has the most money can buy the most votes. And which party has the most money? The communists. And why? Because they accept donations from the communist parties of China and Russia..BIG donations. Why would such donations be mad? Because Mongolia has many untapped resources, mostly minerals (copper, coal, gold) that those 2 countries want access to. The donations would buy them deals with the government to come and extract these resources, thus ruining the countryside, the traditional way of life, and taking the wealth away from the people who would lose so much that they hold dear.  So, much protesting in the main square in front of the parliament building as well as attacks on the communist party headquarters. On the tv in the ger we saw riot police beating some protesters and hauling others away. Last night, 2 buildings were torched..one burnt to the ground. One had something to do with China.

More news as it breaks. (Photos, too, of our excursions since last blog)

We fly to Beijing Thursday to try to get visas for Pakistan, so that we can bus/train to western China, thence over the Karakorums via the only land route south to Pakistan, thence to India.

We'll keep you posted. Keep those cards and letters coming (that would be emails in this electronic age) 

love through cyber-space from

ChaCha and BoomBoom