Wild East : Travels in the New Mongolia (Summersdale Travel)

A portrait of Mongolia, this book describes a country at once rediscovering its own long-suppressed heritage as a nomadic and Buddhist society, and also discovering both the benefits and dangers of Westernization. 'I first glimpsed Mongolia from the air. The overwhelming impression was of space, beauty and a deceptive serenity; a gently undulating sea of rich grass, flecked with white felt tents, like aspirin scattered over a green bedspread.'For most of us, the name Mongolia conjures up exotic images of wild horsemen, endless grasslands, and nomads - a timeless and mysterious land that time forgot. Under Genghis Khan, the Mongol empire stretched across Asia and into the heart of Europe. But over the centuries Mongolia disappeared from the world's consciousness, over-shadowed and dominated by its powerful neighbours; first China, which ruled Mongolia for centuries, then Russia, which transformed the feudal nation into the world's second communist state. Jill Lawless arrived in Mongolia to find a country waking from centuries of isolation, at once rediscovering its heritage as a nomadic and Buddhist society and discovering the trappings of the Western world. The result is a land of fascinating and bewildering contrasts: a vast country where yaks graze the steppe, teenagers rollerblade amid the Soviet apartment blocks of Ulaanbaatar, the rich drive Mercedes and surf the Internet, and more than half the population still lives in gers, scratching out a living in one of the world's harshest landscapes. Skilfully weaving the humorous and the informative, Wild East is an insightful and haunting portrait of a beautiful and troubled country. Jill Lawless arrived in Mongolia in the late 1990s to find a country waking from centuries of isolation, at once rediscovering its heritage as a nomadic and Buddhist society and simultaneously discovering the western world. The result is a land of fascinating, bewildering contrasts: a vast country where nomadic herders graze their sheep and yaks on the steppe, it also has one of the world's highest literacy levels and a burgeoning high-tech scene. While trendy teenagers rollerblade amid the Soviet apartment blocks of Ulaanbaatar and dance to the latest pop music in nightclubs, and the rich drive Mercedes and surf the Internet, more than half the population still lives in felt tents, scratching out a living in one of the world's harshest landscapes. This is a funny and revealing portrait of a beautiful, troubled country Preliminaries......Page 1 CONTENTS......Page 11 1 Stranger Than Paradise......Page 13 2 The Outsiders......Page 29 3 The Nomad and the Carpetbagger......Page 44 4 Back to the Future......Page 54 5 The School for Scandal......Page 60 6 The Four Seasons......Page 81 7 Young Wild and Free......Page 97 8 The Adventurers......Page 112 9 Sex on the Steppe......Page 120 10 Ghost Towns......Page 134 11 The King of the Tabloids......Page 146 12 A Hearty Meal......Page 162 13 A Stiff Drink......Page 179 14 The Three Manly Sports......Page 192 15 The Space Invaders......Page 204 16 The Falcon and the Parrot......Page 214 17 The Abandoned Monastery......Page 226 18 How the Mongolians Got Their Names Back......Page 236 19 The Border......Page 244 20 The End of the Line......Page 257