Foreign Correspondence: Mongolia Is Primitive But Ever Evolving

What's it like to live in a far-off place most of us see only on a vacation? Foreign Correspondence is an interview with someone who lives in a spot you may want to visit.

Jack Weatherford, 63, is an anthropologist who lives in Mongolia, where he has been doing research since 1997. He is on the faculty of Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., and is the author of "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World." He's also helping Far Horizons Archaeological and Cultural Trips with their tours (www.farhorizons.com) with cultural and public service trips in Mongolia. Weatherford and his wife own a home in Charleston, S.C., and an apartment in Ulan Bator, Mongolia's capital.

Q. Right out your window — what do you see?

A. We live downtown, in the highest apartment building in the city. Stepping onto the balcony, I see immediately to the west the Gandan Buddhist monastery. Immediately north is the former Lenin Museum, which is now a giant cell phone store. Immediately east is the main government building of Mongolia and Sukhbaatar Square — their equivalent of Red Square.

This is all from the 11th floor.

We're actually in a valley surrounded by mountains. Going up the side of the mountains to the east are gers — yurts, Mongolian tents. Ulan Bator is one of the few cities in the world where the majority of people live in tents.

Q. Spent much time in a ger? In winter?

A. I used to spend most of my time in country and hated to stay in the city. Outside this main city, gers are the only thing to stay in.

I've spent the night in a ger when it's 51 below, not counting windchill. They have no indoor toilets: You have to go outside. That's the way people live here.

This last winter was particularly fierce: 8.5 million animals died because it was so terrifically cold. This, from a total of 45 million animals! It was the worst death toll in Mongolian history for animals.

Q. People in the capital live in tents. But there's also a cell phone store near your house. How does this play out?

A. For the people? Mongolia is a rapidly changing country.

About 30 percent of the whole population still practices herding for a living; about 30 percent live in gers.

These are highly educated and sophisticated people. Mongolia has a higher literacy rate than the United States, and the people take quickly to computers and gadgets I don't understand. Most in the city don't have running water — but they do have cell phones.

Q. Where do you shop for food?

A. We live across the street from the state department store. It was a traditional old store in communist times. Or I walk about three blocks to an indoor but traditional market that has little stalls. We also get a lot of food direct from the countryside. Every day, friends and relatives and all kinds of people bring us food. Milk, meat.... Dried curd — we have a refrigerator full of it.

Let me take a look.... There's horse milk in here. Also apples. Apples are imported and cost about a dollar apiece. But people bring them because they know my wife likes apples.

Q. Much archaeology going on these days?

A. It's very rich in Mongolia, which has three great levels of civilization. The Huns were from Mongolia, more than 2,000 years ago. All the Turkic civilizations — three Turkish empires were founded here. Then the Uighurs. Then the Mongols. The Mongols themselves left the least, the Turks the most. The Turks actually had cities here; you can still visit the ruins today. The Huns left a fair amount.

Q. Dinosaur digs?

A. Every summer there's research here, and new dinosaurs are found every year in the Gobi. By air, that's a little more than an hour from Ulan Bator. By car, it would take approximately 10 hours in a vehicle. You can't go by regular car. You'd take a Jeep.

This is because Mongolia has almost no roads, no fences and little private property. There are no fields, no signs, no bridges. You just drive in the direction you want to go. People get lost all the time. You just have to work through it and spend the night somewhere. You look for smoke, so you can find someone's campfire where you can ask where you are.

Q. What's the most "Holy cow!" experience you've had there?

A. One was when I first saw what they call the Orkhon Stones. Those were made in the 8th century and have the first use of the Turkish language ever written down. When I saw them, and the inscription with Bilge Kahn's advice, I was moved. It's a part of Mongolian history that's very special.

One of the most moving experiences was when we were stuck in the mud overnight in the Orkhon River basin. We woke up the next morning, and there were thousands and thousands of cranes flying all around is. We were surrounded by them. They were coming in for the spring mating season.

It was fantastic: The birds were not afraid of people. And the people here would never harm a bird. It's forbidden.

This story was originally published June 29, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Foreign Correspondence: Mongolia Is Primitive But Ever Evolving ."