Haven’t posted in a while because I took a trip to Mongolia last week. Of course nothing casts a pall on travel plans like political protest that ends with the burning of the leading political party’s building and sacking of the nearby Culture Palace. Assured by my friend in Ulaan Baatar and by various Mongolian blogs that the protests were a one-time deal and that the streets were safe I went ahead and got on the plane anyway.

Of course it says a lot about Mongolia that people get upset enough to riot when the opposition party wins only 20 seats in Parliament out of 75. Compared to other Central Asian states where the opposition parties are outlawed, or win 1 or 2 seat out of hundreds, Mongolia’s alleged vote fraud is pretty mild. Of course unlike Central Asia, Mongolia was never a part of the Soviet Union. As in Eastern Europe, Mongolia’s Socialist Party–the same party that rules now–was elected in following a revolution. The Socialists and the Bolshevik army were seen as the best chance for Mongolia gaining independence from China at the time, and the horribly depressing History of Mongolia by Baabar that I am reading now seems to confirm that.

Like Kazakhstan and other Central Asian states, Mongolia is a nation with a strong nomadic past. It is after all the home of Chinghis Khan and 50% of the population are still nomadic or semi-nomadic. 50% of the population also live in yurts. In Kazakhstan living in a yurt is seen as synonymous with backwards and poor. Many Mongolians living in yurts are indeed poor; Ulaan Baatar is filled with yurts inhabited by people who can’t afford an apartment or can’t find an empty apartment. But they do not see themselves as backwards. Modern-day yurts have electricity and even satellite dishes and radio phones. Many of them lack the carpets on the floor and the walls and other old-fashioned touches for plan white walls and cheerily orange furniture. Not to mention the thousands of ger camps/motels where tourists can sleep in a yurt (provided with college dorm style beds, desks and chairs) and then eat in the cafe, take a hot shower in the shower room and visit the gift shop.

This modern yurt style is a sign of what Mongolia is doing with its culture. It is neither clinging to the past conservatively and denouncing any deviation from the lifestyle of Chinghis Khan as corrupt, nor is it greedily absorbing Western culture and doing everything it can to modernize. Instead it is fusing modern life with traditional culture and this fusion does not seem to be imposed from either the intelligentsia or the government. It seems quite natural and organic. So fashion designers are making long felt overcoats decorated with ancient rune designs. Bands are using traditional instruments to create a hip-hop beat they then rap/throat sing over. Sure, there are heavy-handed traditionalist moves such as the banner of Chinghis Khan that suddenly comes down in the middle of a concert. And there is modernization in the form of high-speed Internet and pierced and tatooed teenagers in combat boots, spiky bracelets and black T-shirts. But overall it feels like the culture is evolving rather than being frozen or repressed.

Which leads me to the downside of the riots. While the tourists were not detered by fears of political unrest and the city was not shut down (except for the 4-day curfew), destruction did occur. When the rioters had finished ransacking and torching the MRRP Party headquarters, they moved to the Palace of Culture, probably because it was next door. Sadly they ended up destroying unique artworks and a lot of musical instruments. Including almost the entire stock of the National Mourin Khour Orchestra (Mourin Khoor are traditional horse-hair violins). It says a lot that the government, banks and private donors stepped in to compensate the victims of the riots–including the Orchestra. Only one week after the riots, the Orchestra was playing to a sold-out audience in a theater next door with brand-new instruments. The set, perhaps predictably, included ancient folk songs, Chinese influenced traditional music, Western classical pieces and even John Lennon’s Imagine, vocals by a famous Mongolia pop-star. A truly Mongolian cultural experience.

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I plan to post more on my experiences in Mongolia as well as catching up on all the Kazakhstan news.