Mongolia Again - The Land of Genghis Khan

The title: I found statues of Genghis Khan in the border town of Dong Wu Qi, with offerings of apples placed before him. Im assuming he is something of a God in these parts.


The precious grass protects holds on to the earth.
Without which , this land would be desert.
(The crudest translation of this stone tablet we found on the wayside)














Border Town of Dong Wu Qi - 50 km from the Mongolian Border.















Day Break - as beautiful and refereshing as ever
















The lonely droopy Sunflower(if this is not a sunflower feel free to correct me)
















The Wall



















Me and my Crew Chief















Erlian Basin - rig in the distance

There and Back Again : Road to Mongolia

This post consists of bits and pieces. Little paragraphs i managed to eke out on the road on my laptop. Might sound a bit disjointed.

On september 14th the client called us for a job, in the Province of Inner mongolia, a two day drive . So we started preparing for the job.We checked out tools, loaded our equipment, and we're all packed up by 9 pm.Next morning after a briefing with my manager and a visit to the bank and phone company to make sure we were fully stocked up, we left for Xi Lin Hot- Inner mongolia


First Stop - Beijing
On the way to Beijing we caught up with what seemed to be a group of very rich sports car enthusiasts driving their Ferrari's and Lambhorgini's and Ford GT's on the Jing Tang Expressway between Tanggu and Beijing. Unfortunately for them the driving was reduced to a crawl since there had been an accident on the way which had blocked the road.













The Wall

We didnt enter Beijing, we took the by pass and headed for Zhang Jia Kou our pitstop for the night. And i was in for a pleasant surprise. The Great Wall. The great wall was built to keep out mongolian invaders, and to get to Inner mongolia(the Chinese province bordering Mongolia) we had to cross the Great Wall. We actually took an easier way. We drove right past the great wall and then underneath it through a tunnel.Even from far, the sheer slopes and height at which these walls were built traversing impossible paths through the hillside, was a magnificent sight. The great wall apparently stretched 13 km(Badaling) at this point. I made a note to visit this place some other time, it isnt all that far from Beijing. One weekend would do. But getting the weekend off is the hard part. We hurried past this Wall and continued onward to reach our stop for the night by sundown.
















Xi Lin Haote
We left very early the next morning. We were to leave Hebei province where we had spent the night and cross into the Grasslands of inner mongolia. We were heading for Xi Lin Hot.

The grasslands built up gradually. First we passed through some barren hills. And slowly the land got flatter and flatter and soon we were in the real grasslands. We met our client in Xi Lin Hot and after a quick lunch procceded on to the wellsite which was another 200 km away. Miles and Miles of grasslands in between, no towns no cities, and the villages also thinned out very quickly. We did see the occasional "Yurt". The traditonal mongolian nomad's dwelling complete with a mongolian horse. But I hear most of them have taken to motorcycles now. But many of the mongols still live away from the cities, grazing their sheep and catttle and selling the meet to the cities dominated by the Han - Chinese. And very soon my crew chief was telling me that we would have to travel 100 km on the grasslands itself. There was no road to the rig. But until then the road was smooth and thhe view of the sun bathed golden grasslands of inner mongolia(Xi Lin Haote) was just perfect. It was almost exactly the same as the Praeries were in Alberta almost exactly a year ago.Atleast now I can let go of the regret for not having a camera back then. Well anyway, the title for this post is there and back again, simply because im on my way there, back for another job. And we managed to stop at the Wall for 15 mins. More pics coming up soon.

A veena in the dust

The fascination continues. More Bharathi...

nalladhoar veenai seydhae - adhai
nalangedap puzhudhiyil erivadhundoa

solladi sivasakthi - enaich
chudarmigum arivudan padaiththuvittaay
vallamai thaaraayoa - indha
maanilam payanura vaazhvadharkae
solladi sivasakthi - nilach
chumaiyena vaazhndhidap puriguvaiyoa

visaiyurup pandhinaip poal - ullam
vaendiyapadi seyyum udal kaettaen
nasaiyaru manam kaettaen - niththam
navamenach chudar tharum uyir kaettaen
thasaiyinaith theechchudinum - siva
sakthiyaip paadum nallagam kaettaen
asaivuru madhi kaettaen - ivai
arulvadhil unakkedhum thadaiyuladhoa

Source: http://www.musicindiaonline.com/lr/26/6316/

நல்லதோர் வீணை செய்தே - அதை
நலங்கெடப் புழுதியி லெறிவ துண்டோ?

சொல்லடி சிவசக்தி! - எனைச்

சுடர்மிகு மறிவுடன் படைத்து விட்டாய்,

வல்லமை தாராயோ, - இந்த

மாநிலம் பயனுற வாழ்வதற்கே?

சொல்லடி, சிவசக்தி! - நிலச்

சுமையென வாழ்ந்திடப் புரிகுவையோ?

விசையுறு பந்தினைப்போல் - உள்ளம்

வேண்டிய படிசெலும் உடல்கேட்டேன்,

நசையறு மனங்கேட்டேன், - நித்தம்

நவமெனச் சுடர்தரும் உயிர்கேட்டேன்,

தசையினைத் தீசுடினும் - சிவ

சக்தியைப் பாடுநல் லகங்கேட்டேன்,

அசைவறு மதிகேட்டேன்;- இவை

அருள்வதில் உனக்கெதுந் தடையுளதோ?

Having crafted a wonderful Veena - will thou

spoil and consign it to dust?

Tell O' Goddess - I have

been created with wisdom by thee,

Won't you give me the strength - for me

to live a life fruitful to this land?

Tell me O' Goddess - will thou

make me live as a burden off this land?

Like a swiftly thrown ball - a body

ready to spring on brain's command I ask.

Spotless mind I ask - a life

born anew daily I ask.

Even when the skin is on fire - a heart

that sings thy praise I ask.

Unshakeable wisdom I ask - Is there

anything that stops thee from bestowing these?

The translation was from here

Bambooze

Chicken Feet and Bamboo shoots
Turtle Blood and Dog Meat
Horse Meat and Baiju
A meal. Oh!What a meal.
From a nightmare does come.
Strange are the ways of others.
As are our's to them.
Some like it hot.
Some like it not.
Bamboo shoot.
I sure can eat.
Where it comes from
Where it goes.
It all goes back to ground.
Beneath our very feet.

It was scary.
He was reading something without registering it, he couldn’t put his mind to it. And when he did, he couldn’t follow it. For the first time in a while, he had no clue what he was reading and more importantly why he was reading it.
What do you do when there are people around you who discuss the same thing like it was the English alphabet?
It was scary.

Was listening to this song and felt like putting it up. Havent read any interpretations of this song on the web. Just gonna put down my own version of whats being said, just for the record. Now, dont asks me who's keeping the records. This song is both heart and record breaking. :). Now dont ask me which record. Cos like i said, who's keeping record?

This song he sings about missing his love and he'll be home soon. After a long time. A war possibly. Or maybe he just ran away, and now he is back. He knew this girl for a long time and then he went away, and now he wonders why he went away. He's been gone a long time and he's now close to dying and he wants to see her again. Slow down my bleeding heart. Slowly.. Slowly.. love.

In a little while
Surely you'll be mine
In a little while I'll be there

In a little while
This hurt will hurt no more
I'll be home, love

When the night takes a deep breath
And the daylight has no end
If I crawl, if I come crawling home
Will you be there

In a little while
I won't be blown by every breeze
Friday night running
To Sunday on my knees

That girl, that girl
She's mine
And I've know her since

Since she was a little girl
With Spanish eyes
Oh, when I saw her
In a pram they pushed her by

My, how you've grown
Well it's been
It's been a little while

Slow down my bleeding heart
A man dreams one day to fly
A man takes a rocketship into the skys
He lives on star that's dying in the night
And follows in the trail
The scatter of light

Turn it on
Turn it on
You turn me on

Slow down my bleeding heart
Slowly, slowly love
Slow down my bleeding heart
Slowly, slowly love
Slow down my beating heart
Slowly, slowly love