Also, I am still plodding away at my Life of Zanabazar, although usually I give up writing for the summer when the temperature hits 80ºF like it did the other day. Anyhow, here is a photo of Zanabazar’s retreat and workshop in Ovorkhangai Aimag where he created many of his world-famous art works.

So what am I reading now, you have no doubt been wondering. Actually I am on a Crusades kick, the eleventh and twelfth century Crusades, not the current one, although what happened in the first series of Crusades provides a lot of food of thought on the latest sally by George “Hulegu” Bush. The classic work on the Crusades is A History of the Crusades: Volume 1, The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem by Steven Runciman. For another viewpoint see The Crusades Through Arab Eyes by my man Amin Maalouf, currently my favorite writer (more on him later). The parallels between the former Crusades and the Bush Crusade are astounding. We have the same conflicts between the Shiites and the Sunni, the same double deals with Moslem generals selling out their leaders, the same terrorist threat (Hassan Sabbah and the Assassins then, Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda now); the same die-hard fundamentalists and scumbag opportunists on both sides then as now; in short, nothing whatsoever has changed, except perhaps that now there are lots of Moslem blog sites. Back in the twelfth century they used carrier pigeons. The mid-East Moslems, if I am not mistaken, invented the use of carrier pigeons. (I am sure some carrier pigeon expert – I know you're out there - will soon be firing off emails to correct me on this.)

For those depressed by the last story see This Will Make Your Day.

What is going on in Germany? They're at it yet again. See German Wife Gives Husband's Penis the Chop. It's a helleva world we live in when a guy can't go out for a beer and bratwurst without stumbling over a severed penis.

This quote is about Iraq but it could be about Mongolia:

"'Americans only in the sky,' one man told me, grinning as a chopper rumbled overhead. 'No problem.' Down on the ground, meanwhile, the new imperial class are the NGOs. They shuttle across the globe, mingling with their own kind--other SUV users--and bringing with them the values of the mother country, or the mother bureaucracy. Like many imperialists, they're well-meaning: they see their charges as helpless and dependent, which happy condition has the benefit of justifying an ever-growing aid bureaucracy in perpetuity. It will be very destructive for Iraq if the tentativeness of the American administration in Baghdad allows the ambulance-chasers of the NGOs to sink their fangs into the country."

If you see some big SUV with tinted windows roaring around the streets of Ulaan Baatar you can be almost certain it belongs to some NGO involved in the poverty industry. If you want to see a dozen or so of these NGO SUVs assembled in one place try Millie's Cafe at lunchtime. For the whole story see Come On Over the Water's Lovely.

They're at it again in Berlin, Germany!

I think today is the first day it went above 80ºF this year in Ulaan Baatar. Summer is here.

The New Moon occurs this afternoon at 1:16 pm Mongolian time. I must say it has been a very interesting lunar cycle. Now I am gearing up for the Summer Solstice on June 22, 4:11 pm Mongolian time. I am sure all of you pagans are aware of the significance of this . . .

On this day in the year 1057 Tax protester Lady Godiva made her famous naked ride through the streets of Coventry. Sorry, no photos; they didn't have digital cameras then.

And for all you PA-ers, also on this day was the famous Johnstown Flood of 1851. Here is the start of the New York Times story about the Flood:

"Pittsburg, May 31 -- An appalling catastrophe is reported from Johnstown, Cambria County, the meagre details of which indicate that the city of 25,000 inhabitants has been practically wiped out of existence and that hundreds if not thousands of lives have been lost.

A dam at the foot of a mountain lake eight miles long and three miles wide, about nine miles up the valley of the South Fork of the Conemaugh River, broke at 4 o'clock this afternoon, just as it was struck by a waterspout, and the whole tremendous volume of water swept in a resistless avalanche down the mountain side, making its own channel until it reached the South Fork of the Conemaugh, swelling it to the proportions of Niagara's rapids."

This is still the only thing Johnstown is famous for (excluding scumbag accountants). Curiously Pittsburgh was mis-spelled in the dateline: seems the NYT was flubbing even back then.

For all of you who have been wondering what the date is according according to the Coptic Christian Calendar: today is the 21th day of the month of Pachons, in the year 1719. According to the Viking Calendar - for you die-hard Vikings - it the 26th day of the month Gaukmanabr, in the year 1049.

"Hey, Belgium, you lookin' at me?"

Newly Carved Statues near Terelj, north of Ulaan Baatar

Mongolian Countryside

Message to Big Al: Don't put the word "nookie" in the subject line of an email. Many junk mail filters will reject it. Fortunately your message and attached photos did get through. I'm impressed!

Have just returned from a weekend jaunt to see my friend Zevgee and his family on the upper Kherlen River in Khentii Aimag, a roundtrip of 264 miles. I have now traveled a total of 24488 miles by jeep through Mongolia . . .


Zevgee, right, and his son Sanja


Zevgee's wife, right

Back in Ulaan Baatar but still digesting my European wanderjahr: here is a photo from the Egyptian Museum in Berlin (Germany, not PA).