Darkhan Photos

The first and only suspension bridge in Mongolia, lit up in pink and purple (for some reason!)

Removal van!

Old Darkhan under blue sky.....

......And in a dust storm.

By the giant construction worker on the road into Darkhan.

On the way out of Darkhan - on a fine day in May!

A ger in Khongor, near Darkhan.

A herder in Khongor.

More Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/chris.guinness

Floods and Snow - A Fine Day In May!

Thursday night saw the first proper rain of 2009 in Mongolia. It bucketed down / heavens opened / rained cate and dogs / p*ssed down / etc. Despite my love of the continual Mongolian blue skies and sunshine, the rain actually made a nice change.

I woke on Friday morning to snow (and I thought winter had left us ages ago).

Looking out my kitchen window I could see that road (pavement, playground, school....) was flooded.

My short walk to work was to turned into an assault course, followed by wading across the road when we realised that we couldn't walk around the flooded road.

First, getting out of the apartment: luckily some good soul had put some broken breeze-blocks down as stepping stones. Next: climb over the small wall next to the building entrance and walk across the 'garden' (patch of mud), up onto the steps of the entrance to an art shop next door and onto the pavement. Then: with the road and pavement ahead flooded, walk carefully along the raised curb (and make it quick before the car comes).

And then we found that the only way across was for me to take my shoes and socks off, roll up my trousers and carry the girlfriend!

The Mongolian attitude to rain is a polar opposite to the British. As people arrived in the office, everyone was in a great mood, enjoying the rain and not really minding the flooded roads, soggy shoes, and leaking roofs.

A nice change, I guess, but can I have my blue skies back now please?

Improving Capacity

In April Nyamka, my counterpart in Chingletei, was away on a volunteer project management course in the Philippines. The course was organised by the VSO office there and was open to people involved in National Volunteering who worked with partner organisations of VSO. The course was in English and the organisors demanded a high standard of English from particpants.

The course was perfect for Nyamka and would help in developing his skills and improving the project. However, his English needed some improvement and the course was fast approaching. It took a lot of work to inprove his English to a standard so he could particpate effectively, but he was keen and his English improved substantially.

On the last day of his course he had to write a plan and present it to his group. He emailed me the plan for my comments, and I was so pleased (and somewhat relieved, as I recommended him for the course) to see a good plan in English! Part of my objectives is to improve the capacity of my counterparts and I feel as though I have made real progress in that area.

Dusty Darkhan and a Spot of Rain!

April involved a few trips back and forth to begin working with the Health Department in Darkhan. My first visit back in September involved a 3 hour taxi ride sat next to a drunk. Luckily the journeys this time around have been less eventful, although the shared-taxi system baffles me still. When you arrive at the station, drivers fight over you to get you into their car, and then you wait for it to fill up - leaving a situation where several cars are all waiting for one more person. The wait can vary tremendously, and when the car is full there is still no gaurantee that the driver will leave immediately. Mongolia has taught me patience!


Darkhan is a dusty town devided into two parts - the old town and the new town. I have been staying the new town - its "pride and joy" (to quote the Lonely Planet guide) being a 16-storey apartment block - and working in the sand-paved old town. The walk between the the two is pleasant and makes a nice change from UB. The walk takes me past the new Buddha, a statue of a horseman playing the Morin Khuur (horse-head fiddle), and Mongolia's only suspension bridge that links the two (and which, for some reason, is lit up be purple lights at night).

Did I mention that Darkhan is dusty? The old town is paved with sand, which they sweep into neat piles and wait for the wind destroy the hard work.

And when the wind comes it whips up the dust and throws it straight in your face.

While in Darkhan I felt my first rain drops in seven months. I have heard stories from longer serving volunteers about actually missing rain and standing out in the first rains of the year. I wasn't that impressed, although Mongolia could certainly do with it.

My work there has been successful, if interrupted by a couple of trips back to UB. The manager of the health volunteering project I am working with is extremely keen and I'm confident we can make some positive changes quite soon. I will be returning to Darkhan this week to work there until the end of May. I have organised an apartment for myself, which just happens to be next door to my counterpart (the project manager), so I imagine my spare time might be taken up with teaching her son English.

I will take up running while in Darkhan. A group of VSO volunteers are planning to take part in the Gobi half-marathon in September. I'm looking forward to it already - it should be a fun trip, but my exercise while in Mongolia has been fairly limited, so I better start training!

More photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/chris.guinness