Wharton Journal

Issue date: 10/2/06 Section: Perspectives

Stepping off the plane into the cool Ulaan Bataar morning I was glad my 24 hour plus journey from Philly to Paris to Moscow to Mongolia had finally ended. Mental note, never fly Aeroflot again. I mean I get no-frills airlines, but this takes minimalist to a new level. I should have realized the journey was off to an inauspicious start when I was asked to serve peanuts and give the pre-flight safety briefing myself.

Shaking off the cobwebs, I surveyed the airport as we waited for the shuttle bus. Pretty standard fare. Airbus 340's. Check. Boeing 727's. Check. Small Soviet era warplanes scattered across the runways. Check. Yes, over 15 years after the fall of the Soviet Empire, remnants of Big Red's past influence in Mongolia still remain.

Why were we here? Roger Kojima and I were taking part in the WIVP project for the Turag NGO, an NGO whose mission it is to improve the economic livelihood of the 40 nomadic herding families on Lake Hovsgol in Outer Mongolia. The NGO was started under the direction of Dr. Clyde Goulden, Head Researcher for the World Bank/Hovsgol GEF project on climate change going on at the Lake.

Our mission, if we chose to accept it, was to look at potential markets for some of the herder's goods (livestock, skins, meat and dairy products), propose an efficient distribution strategy for getting their goods to these markets from their remote location, and investigate the capabilities and developmental needs of the NGO.

The trip was a study in contrasts. We spent the first 4 days or so in the capital of Ulaan Bataar meeting with government officials, international aid organizations, and NGO's, learning about the resources available to the herders, potential partnership opportunities and the problems the herders face. Our trip also happened to coincide with the 800th anniversary of the Great State of Mongolia so the capital was packed. The Dalai Lama was in town during our stay which is big in a country that is 80% Buddhist.

And you couldn't go anywhere without seeing Chinggis Khaan's (Genghis Khan to us Westerners) mug plastered somewhere. From the recreation of his epic battles, which took place daily in valleys outside the capital, to his likeness carved into the mountainside, to every other beer, vodka and restaurant bearing his name, Chinggis is the man in these parts. Brother was one bad-ass dude.

However, while he is normally described as a ruthless bloodthirsty world conqueror in Western literature, he is an iconic and admired figure in Mongolia. Kind of like Bush in Texas I guess. In fact I would like to see a celebrity deathmatch between Chinggis and his Holiness the Dalai Lama. Chinngis was one tough hombre but my money would be on his Holiness in Round 3.

Continued...

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