30 July

some of my recent visitors

suzie wong & friends

are they happy to be on summer break??
when not they have primary school from 8am to 5pm
and my chinese friends wonder why kiwi kis are not very good at maths



and anyone out there need one of these - in small size - any time soon ?

al

30 July

Just about to depart for the onion fields
made me think about the slightly different methods of moving drill core
that I have had to work with with lately
I am not sure which is either the most secure or the safest method of delivery

28 July

It was a scorcher
with a nice surprise call from the skyping canadians first thing in the morning.
No special news however - just heading off for a swim in Stanley Park.

Onions - well here they are :
supposedly such an endangered species as they hold drifting sand dunes down
that there is supposedly a division of Onion Police to stop people from picking them
it seems however, that in this somewhat remote location with abundant onion fields
that are grazed by the cashmere goats and the fat tail sheep
(and there is a small plate of onions on the dinner table every night),
that the law is flouted here - so this is what will happen to your Sonid holiday home if you eat too many of those onions

Dont tell Helen as she would not approve - but the army here has a division called the Gold Army - yes, and I know it to be true as I spied a big derrick type looking drilling rig near our prospect and to confirm my suspicions - a big stack of the mother core trays stashed in the yard of the local barracks .... point proven .... the core boxes were designed to be moved by the chinese army. I am a bit confused though as it looks like it might only drill a vertical hole - and lot of the gold might come in somewhat vertical structures?

And did I mention the internet police, and the TV police ....... after a while it starts to add up why you cannot get certain websites or english speaking channels !

better go in case i get snapped
al

27 July

Life has become quite the routine lately, visit the drilling rigs and logging core and go to bed.
Even the range of dishes in the restaurant has become less attractive - but I have only 10 more days here before starting the long trek home.

With the last two holes in progress, and a big backlog of core logging however - I wont be having much spare time.

There was an intense electrical and dust storm last night but i was not quick enough on the draw to capture the lightning bolts on the little digital camera. The morning is clear and hot already and so am expecting another scorcher.


I wonder how my other new friends made out - probably just turned their backs, lay down and closed one set of their eyelids.

One of the interesting things I have heard on morning report that plays at this time of the day as I am waking up - was the interview with the Isralei filmaker about "China Blue". I could completely identify with the descriptions of the factory workers - I see it in the young people who work at the hotel we are in - all are from villages distant from here and look to be quite an ethnic mix - and they work at least 12 hours a day - they are always in the restaurant - they get a rough time from the "maitre chong" and partake in a mandatory daily exercise program, in all it looks like long hard days and I understand they might be paid equivalent of $100 a month.

I also liked his comment about how in remote rural areas the locals looked at him (a white man) as if he had just landed from Mars - I know the feeling. Just smile and wave - hey I am not the Great White Foreign Devil.

Should be the kind of movie that might make you think twice about buying the pair of levis made in China - or shopping at the Warehouse.

Gone to the onion fields
(explain next time)

Al

26 July
Just to reassure some of my friends
about what was really missing !

Out went the rice bags and in come

Some big pink pillows

sleeping well

23 July
someone wanted to know where is wally
and i just figured it out
hope it helps you out

20 July
Sonid - no special occassion - but am a bit out of contact this week.
The weather is generally hot - in the 30's with some short sharp electrial storms passing through with heavy rain showers, that remind me of other times in the arctic. After all it is the wet season up here and every drop seems to make the steppes greener by the day - the sheep herders will be loving it. Say these are weird fat tailed sheeps and i will catch you one one day.

Work has become a routine with not much scope for variation - i am itching to walk about with my nikon and the day will come - i have been testing the waters by walking after dinner at dusk and see new insights every time. Passing people on the streets gives them a huge source of amusement but no agro, and everyone is polite and i feel quite relaxed about it all. I will figure this town out soon - there are reported to be about 200,000 in the district but this includes the "old" town 10km away although this is quite small - there is evidence of new building construction on every street - of course it has to be maximised during the summer as i imagine it all just closes down in the winter. It is just a slight worry as to what all the new facilities are for.

Photo right residential housing. Photo left the supermarket.

Nothing that stands out except the red brick sameness. Except everyone looks happy - and caring with all the one-family kids together as if they are all one big happy family - but then they are - they have no choice and amazingly they are accepting of it.

hey i am going to miss another big sport weekend

take it easy out there on the other side
al

16 July
In answer to the enquiry about the egg culprit

he is Shi YuLiang our interpreter
Actually a local business man who collaborates with our chinese partner and is filling in to help his friend out for a month. we cant quite figure how he manages to get the time off - it is quiet time - but his company has offices in beijing, hohhut, erinhut and some other place in between and it is an importing business. has brought at least 2 ship loads of cattle into china from new zealand and australia, fertiliser from russia, etc,,,, and every now and again he gets off his mobile phone and says he has to rush back to town to sign some sales contracts by fax and it turns out these are all worth at least 1/4 million dollars a piece. he is a good negotiater for us - and will make sure that my visit to beijing on my way home will be a good one - and i think i can now be assured of a secure trip to the great wall. when he leaves here he is off to egypt and several other countries on an inner mongolia trade mission.

and he doesnt drink beer, or eat pigs - he is a chinese muslim!

tonight he and i are going shopping for mongolian fabric.
you see i have a friend who likes to cut beautiful fabrics into tiny little pieces then switch them about with the other little bits that she gets from her friend who also has this fetish. they then combine to reassemble these thousands of little bits of fabric into one big piece by stiching them all together and sticking them on my hall wall. this is called expensive wall fabricing. but if you are lucky, you get to be warm in the winter and they can also become a clever disguise for covering old worn out furnitures.


It was probably the most unusual request made of the mongolian traditional costume makers shop this decade - could i please get a selection of your scraps of fabric so my wife can make a quilt from them - they parked up their peddle sewing machines and after i made an initial selection from a HUGE pile of neatly folded fabrics - they pulled out all the good stuff and i got the rest - oh well it was a start - and it cost $20 for a big bag of material that i bet no other quilter in nz has seen the likes of. probably all fall apart once hit by the scissors.

see ya - i am happy to answer any of your interesting enquiries!

15 July

The cook,






The dish &







The culprit.










mud eggs.
end

12 July
Well today i got the message that my tour of duty is going to be extended by 2 weeks - subject to getting a visa extension. Apart from the additional suntan it will help pay for the hot stuff in the tub and the flat stuff on the floor that has mysteriously appeared at Tuapiro in my absence. Not to mention the package of garage coming soon.

Have had a couple of kind of laid back days - one really laying back while the stomach cramps passed, and two, gave the core logging a break and did field work out on the grasslands and keeping a check on the drilling blokes. They seem to think I am a big joke - maybe too over exuberant with my sign language, but they did give me one of their very crisp nashi.

Then we get invited into a farmers house - all brick and not much timber - he just added a new extension and it has burned down and now living in 2 small rooms at one end with 2 teenage kids home form boarding school for the holidays - but i notice a big new pile of bricks deliverd nearby this week so i guess he is going to start again. Every farm house has at least 2 wind generators (well they dont call this windy city for nothing) and it is surmised that perhaps these are all gifts from the Chinese goverment. These rural folk live in a very different environment to the city slicker i see in town, where everyone has at least one cell phone, some kind of motorised bike, are dressing modern western style, some are driving fancy cars, and having lots of parties and drinking lots of wine and beer in our hotel restaurant.

But there are not very many oldies out walking or attending the parties - you get the feeling they are just not around and I am wondering why and if I should get worried about it.

Always something unexpected here.

I signed up to Skype tonight - so once i get a microphone can call the bear for 2 cents a minute -compare that with my vodofone at $5.50 a minute !! And although I am just about in Outer Mongolia I am on broadband that connects in a millisecond - but I am afraid the technology is just too much for poor old Teressa's mob at Telecom NZ as thay can't even manage a connection 400m off SH2 on one of NZ's busiest highways ! (Hey Morgan can you get me her email address - funny how telecom dont have a "Contact Me" link.)

OK its time to find a photo for the day....

Cheers Big Ears

9 July
Another day another story
did you hear the one about the chinese egg
probably not quite 100 years old
but it was caught and coated in a layer of mud - uncooked -
then stored in a big jug, probably with some kind of marinade
and when it appeared on my plate it was
black in the yoke centre
and the white was crystal clear transluscent looking like some kind of gelatin
and it tasted just like a fresh egg
and i hear they are good at embalming.

Hot day
just had another big dinner with the competition
english speaking filipino geologist who lives in perth
nice change.

This is the entrance to the motel and our very own great wall of china.

catch you later
al

7 July
Somethings missing.

And its not just the springs in the mattress.

Or the bed bugs that bite. I could do without the rice (husk?) filled pillows - they are a little clunky - but rural ethnic I suppose.

My room - show you the other side another time !!

No Waiarapa floods here either

al

6 July
Three pajero loads of china army looking blokes just rolled up at the motel - if you don't hear from me again you will know why.

The photos today are related - no prizes to work it out.
The mongolian man might have a russian heritage rather than canadian.

All good up here and the desert is greening up to the grassland the tourist books say it is suposed to be. Early morning wild onion gatherers are reported to get about 20 cents a half kilo - and the local meat is supposed to be of special flavour because the animals graze on these same onions - green leaves like a chive.

Got some plotting homework to do tonight so catch you later

Al

5 july
hey i made some new friends tonight
students end of exams or graduation - not sure which
wheres wally
al

4 july 2006
After 3 days I am just starting to get the hang of this drill logging of rocks i have never seen before (because they are chinese and talk funny). Hot and the feet are tired - but i have worked out how to get a good lunch - there is always so much left over from the round table from the night before that i get a doggie bag made up and it appears from the kitchens fridge wrapped with napkins and chopsticks - bingo.

Today was going to be a challenge with 3 new recruits to a local contractor coming in to start sampling drill core - it started with them digging a big hole in the middle of the courtyard to take the cuttings from the 2 brand new diamond saws that have yet to turn. I got them moving the mother core boxes around and that was a great relief - especially at it comes in from the field in 3 wheel trucks that sound like a diesel motor scooter (vespa) that has to be hand cranked to start - I worry about their centre of gravity and steering capability especially coming downhill on a dirt road with a ton of rock in behind. It will be time intensive to teach them how to do the job required, to properly cut the core and sample the broken rocks representatively - I haven't even gone to the stage of what happens then, as the assays are done somewhere between here and Beijing.

The place was a hive of activity today since it seems we share the space with a couple of cashmere dealers - trucks, cars, bikes all bringing in wool to bargin, weigh, and dump in a huge pile for hand sorting in the half dark - hope they get paid well but i guess not. Someone mentioned that Inner Mongolia producers 40% of the world's cashmere ?

Probably the biggest breakthrough today however was the shower - I learned you have to run it for half an hour before the heat starts to seep in - and it worked - so first shower in a week. Now figure this: we are in a desert where there has been a drought for the last 4 years - and it is OK to run a shower for half an hour. I think we are sitting on a very good artesian bore.

see ya