Some Progress

Sorry for posting all out of whack again! :D

From Leah:

I recently played with some pen and ink. I set my sunglasses on a piece of paper, and then drew them out with a pencil and touched it up with Millennium Zig pens! I'm hoping to do some stuff for "Inktober" next month too!

This watercolor may look boring, but I'm planning on adding a letter art Bible verse to it! I am still learning how to do watercolor. The colors blended nicely even though I overworked it as usual. Oops. It didn't show up well in this picture though.

From Sarah:

I have been quite slack in the art department of late, haha...

This unfinished watercolor was still wet when I took the picture, in case it looks extra odd to you:

And this is a screenshot of part of something I had started drawing on my phone during the plane trip a few weeks ago, inspired by an airport worker I saw lol

(fyi, French braiding is really hard to draw. I had actually braided a handful of Leah's hair while she was sitting next to me, so I could have a better reference, haha)

A good weekend to all! :)

Ulaanbaatar

Capital of Mongolia

After a not-so-long train ride, comparatively, but with extra long border stops for getting papers and luggage and compartments checked (“Do you have any drugs?”), we started seeing yurts along the tracks, mixed in with the small wood houses and sheds we had been seeing.

The capital city is somewhat in the middle of the country, so we still had a ways to go. The capital used to move from place to place, like the Nomads that populate the country, but in the 1920’s it settled in Ulaanbaatar. The country’s last king and queen reigned to that time.

Then in the 1930’s, some alliances were made with Soviet Russia to get their help to get out from under the rule of the Chinese. No love lost between those two peoples (Mongolians and Chinese). The Mongolians also helped the Russians in their war against the Japanese. So, for a time, until the early 1990’s, Mongolia was communist, but they remember it as an improvement. Under the Chinese, their people had been reduced to only 100,000 souls, mostly elderly, women, children and monks. The Soviets improved their health, their fertility, their wages, their standard of living, building up the infrastructure, reducing crime and trash and hopelessness. So, the first thing we were taken to see was a huge monument to the Russian-Mongolian alliance and war dead of that time.

The center ring represents the sacred fireplace in the middle of the yurt. The mosaics are of native rocks.

Below shows the Mongolian astronaut who accompanied the first Russian astronaut into space. They are very proud of him.

The country has three million inhabitants, of which half are in this city. The majority of the rest still live as nomadic herdsmen, with their horses, cattle, yaks, Bactrian camels and sheep. 

Though they use motorcycles to do some of their herding now, most is as traditional as it was, with the addition of plastic thermoses for their tea, trucks for transport instead of oxen on carts, usually, and the same mall clothes as you wear. 

Above is taking milk tea at the yurt (called a ger = home) of a native family. This is always drunk from a bowl. It is served with dried curds, in the silver footed bowl, and various kinds of breads, usually fried, which you see below. That is breakfast, the beginning, after which came bone broth soup with seaweed and tofu, then eggs, sausage and tomatoes. Soup is with every meal.

The blog site is being annoying again so this will have to do. Train to China tomorrow.

Irkutsk

Siberia’s Chief City

This area has gold, diamonds, top quality marbles, and about every natural resource possible. This city has been the center of governance for the area for centuries. In fact......

This building was the capital of California. And Alaska. Besides Siberia, when Russia owned them all. They tried for Hawaii, too, but the US wanted it and had the stronger army and will to war.

The city was founded, as is typical here, with a fort on the bend of a river in the mid 1600’s. 

Only the original church is still surviving. It did not get destroyed by the communists. 

Bells are rung by hand here.

Photos are not allowed, of course.... Though a wedding was going on in one with a photographer snapping all over the place.

Today is “The Shining of Russia” day, something about celebrating the Orthodox Church.

This church did get destroyed. It was huge and beautiful, but only 40 years old, so had no historical value. 

Now this stands in its place, a communist government building, with the war memorials and school children getting the honor of guard duty after special training.

This old church, with oriental influences in its architecture, is called Siberian Baroque style. It was gutted in Revolutionary Times, then restored recently. It is notable for honoring the now-sainted murdered czar’s family. 

The internet is getting difficult again. So here are few more interesting sights. The city is noted for its historic center consisting of log construction.

I will maybe try to do a post later on the “Decembrists.”

Tomorrow is the train again, to Mongolia, then China. I have no idea about internet availability. So until next time....

Blessed Sunday.

Continuation of Lake Area

Shore

The internet seems to working better in the bigger city, so here is the rest of yesterday’s tour.

We took a chair lift up to a scenic point. There is skiing here in the winter. As you see, the majority of tourists here are Chinese. They have more money than Russians now. 

Then we went to see a “beach” - a narrow, stony strip at the edge of the one street of a strip town on the side of a ridge - and a market, the latter filled with stall upon stall of dried, smoked fish, and souvenirs, including gem stones found only here. 

This market stall had pine nuts. Ooooodles of them. Everything has pine nut or pine sap or pine something flavor, honeys, ice cream, drinks, foods, and it is the local favorite snack: grab a cone, pull off a piece, crack out the seed, , spit out the shell, repeat steps two through four.

Now, let’s see if this works to post.

By the way, please excuse the lack of editing on yesterday’s post. I couldn’t touch it again.

Nope. Try again.

Lake Baikal

This Weekend

Let’s see if I can get this to accept a post this time. Last one took a half dozen tries. People here do use internet though.

Our train took us though a glowing sunrise, and dropped us off in Irkutsk, a little northwest of the southern tip of the lake.

Sorry about picture through a window.

A model of the lake.

We spent the day touring first a research museum of the lake......

Lots of wildlife lives here, including the world’s only fresh water seals, and “ too many wolves,” bear, lynx, reindeer, wolverines, and lesser folk. Remarkable aquariums showed native fish, all protected now, after over fishing.

......then an open air museum of re-positioned structures from up to 300 years ago, when Russians first explored, exploited, and settled this area, to get furs from the indigenous people. The official policy was to disturb and displace as little as possible, so military battles were kept to a minimum (unlike, we were told, in the US west, which took 150 years to push west in bloody conflict.) The Russians gained their western territory in fifty years. The natives also had the incentive of protection from the Russians against the Mongolians, who were even worse rulers. Also, they were very inbred, unhygienic (guide’s words), with high infant mortality, so enjoyed alliances with the Russian men. When Russians had “too many children” (appalling thought), they sold them to the natives, who treasured them. The native peoples were and are Shamanic or Buddhist. They eventually traded their yurts for round log houses on exactly the same plan.

Mica windows in the three hundred year old chapel.

Model of the original fort here. 

A government office of the 1960’s, on the same model as the ancient fort ones. Note the sacred corner in the upper right. Every dwelling has one: icon and embroidered shawls.

A Russian trotter

A  native woman’s dress, with traded coral beads, which were used as money, as were salt and furs.

There is more, but this is not working well, so let’s try to post......