Mongolia | Bayankhongor | Camel Festival | Shoovoi

I was sitting at an outdoor table at a cafe in Istanbul enjoying the first appearance of the sun after a Huge  Blizzard. Skimming the news on the internet while sipping a demitasse of Turkish coffee I saw this headline: Camel Festival Takes Place In Mongolia. Clicking on the story I read:

“A ten-year-old male camel belonging to herder Shoovoi from the Shinejinst soum (district) has been named ‘Best camel’ of the year. A total of 22 male camels took part in a competition in which they were rated on their appearance.”

It just  so  happens I know Shoovoi and have even ridden one of his camels. I first met him on a camel trip I did in Bayankhongor Aimag back in 1999. He is married to the sister of my old pal Zevgee (now Deceased), with whom I did Twelve Horse And Camel Trips over the years. Zevgee was born in Bayankhongor Aimag but later moved to Töv Aimag, where his wife is from. He told me that he still had five brothers and a sister in  Bayankhongor and that two of his brothers and his brother-in-law were famous for their camels. Eventually we traveled to Bayankhongor by jeep and hired camels from his brothers Davakhüü and Khaidav. Then both Davakhüü and Khaidav accompanied us on a 124 miles camel trip from near the sum center of Shinejinst to the sacred mountain of Segs Tsagaan Bogd Uul the Chinese border.

 Davakhüü

Khaidav

Halfway through the camel trip south to Segs Tsagaan Bogd Uul we made a detour to visit Zevgee’s sister and Shoovoi, who at the time were camped with their sheep, goat, and camel herds at a tiny spring in an extremely remote area northeast of Ekhiin Gol Oasis.

 Shoovoi, camel herder extraordinaire,  and his wife, Zevgee’s sister

 Zevgee’s sister

We stayed the night and Shoovoi killed a goat and his wife made khorkhog for us. To prepare this classic Mongolian dish an entire goat (not including head and innards) is cut up and put into a big milk can along with rocks heated in a campfire. The can is then tightly sealed. The hot rocks and the steam that builds up in the milk can cooks the meat. After an hour or two of cooking the can is  rolled across the desert floor for twenty or thirty minutes. This tenderizes the meat. Then with great care—quite a lot of steam pressure has built up— the can is opened.

Khorkhog in serving dish. According to tradition you should always juggle one of the hot rocks in your left hand while eating with the right hand.  This allows you to absorb the full essence of the goat.

Over the years I visited Shoovoi and his wife twice more and they always offered to cook a goat for us. On one trip we used some of his camels.

 Shoovoi, on the right, behind the camel, helping us pack a load on a later camel trip to Shar Khuls Oasis in Bayankhongor. This guy knows more about camels than you or I will know in one hundred lifetimes. 

 At the start of the trip to Shar Khuls Oasis. The white camel, which I rode, belonged to Shoovoi.

 Zevgee and his wife at Shar Khuls Oasis.  The two magnificent Bayankhongor camels belonged to his brother Davakhüü. Bactrian camels are, of course, the most noble of all four-legged creatures, and more noble than many two-legged creatures  (click on photo for enlargement). 

 Camels. You can’t help but love them (click on photo).

Camels on parade at the 2017 Camel Festival. Shoovoi’s camel won the “Best Camel of the Year” award (not my photo).

Turkey | Istanbul | Snow Storm

From Antalya I wandered back to Istanbul, where I thought I would stay for a day or two before wandering on. Instead I got caught up in one of the Biggest Snowstorms In Recent Memory. At my hotel there was at least sixteen inches of snow on the ground and reportedly there were 120 centimeters (47 inches) in some parts of the city. All this in a city built on hills (seven of them, like Rome) and not that well equipped for handling snow. Over 800 flights were cancelled in and out of Istanbul’s two airports. This was quite a contrast with Istanbul In January of 2014 when the temperatures reached the low 70s F. and irises were in bloom.

Hagia Sophia in the snow. This was the first morning of the blizzard, when only about six inches of snow had fallen (click on photos for enlargements).

Palm trees taking a beating during the blizzard

Blue Mosque in the distance

For the first time in all my years of coming to Istanbul the famous fish sandwich restaurants near the Galata Bridge were closed.

The fisherman on the Galata Bridge were still out in force. It would take more than a blizzard to drive them off. 

Crampons and iceaxes would have come in handy on the steep streets of Galata, north of the Golden Horn.

View from my hotel

My hotel in Istanbul

 Istanbul’s legendary street dogs were given temporary shelter from the storm at an up-scale mall (not my photo).

Hungary | Zsa Zsa Gabor | Csoma de Körös

Zsa Zsa Gabor, arguably the world’s most famous Hungarian, has transmigrated at the age of ninety-nine. Born Sari Gabor in Budapest in 1917, the former Miss Hungary (1936) was one of the first celebrities to become famous for being famous. “If there had been no Zsa Zsa, there probably would be no Kim Kardashian,” intones USA Today. But let’s not hold that against her. Gabor was famously married nine times, once to Conrad Hilton, Paris Hilton’s great-grandfather. Another of her husbands was Jack Ryan, who is credited with designing the Barbie doll for toy-maker Mattel. Draw your own conclusions. The tart-tongued temptress liked to brag that she was a great housekeeper; after each of her divorces she got to keep the house. After slapping a police officer, for which she got a 72 hour jail sentence, she explained,  “I admit I have a Hungarian temper. Why not? I am from Hungary. We are descendants of Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun.” Another famous quote: “Personally, I know nothing about sex, because I have always been married.” She was also a pop culture icon immortalized in Dion’s 1963 hit “Donna The Prima Donna”:

She wears diamonds and pearls galore
She buys them at the five-and-ten cent store
She wants to be just like Zsa Zsa Gabor
Even though she’s just Donna next door.

Zsa Zsa (1917–2016): Descendant of Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun

The second most famous Hungarian, in my opinion at least, is Csoma de Körös (1784–1842). He was a full-blown eccentric who devoted his entire life to the pursuit of arcane knowledge. As the Russian theosophist and New Age Fairy God Mother Madame Helena Blavatsky noted, “a poor Hungarian, Csoma de Körös, not only without means, but a veritable beggar, set out on foot for Tibet, through unknown and dangerous countries, urged only by the love of learning and the eager wish to shed light on the historical origin of his nation. The result was that inexhaustible mines of literary treasures were discovered.” Among the written works unearthed were the first descriptions of the legendary Buddhist Realm of Shambhala to reach the Occident.

See Eccentric Hungarian Wanderer-Scholar Csoma de Körös and the Legend of Shambhala.

Uzbekistan | Bukhara Oasis | Khwajagan | #1 Ghujdawani

 According to Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani:

The designation of the Naqshbandi Golden Chain has changed from century to century. From the time of Abu Bakr as Siddiq [573 CE–634 CE, a companion and father-in-law of Muhammad and the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad’s death] to the time of Bayazid al-Bistami [804–c.874] it was called as-Siddiqiyya. From the time of Bayazid to the time of Adb al-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani it was called the at-Tayfuriyya. From the time of  Adb al-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani to the time of Shah Naqshbandi it was called the Khwajaganiyya. From the time of Naqshband through the time of Ubayd Allah al-Ahrar and Almad Faruqi, it was called Naqshbandiyya . . . And today it is known by the name Naqshbandiyya-Haqqaniyya.

It is the Seven Khwajagan, or Masters of Wisdom, all of whom were born in the Bukhara conurbation, who concern us here. These are:

1. Al-Ghujdawani (d.1179)
2. Arif ar-Riwakri (d.1219)
3. Mahmud al-Injir al-Faghnawi (d. 1315)
4. Ali ar-Ramitani (d.1315/1321)
5. Muhammad Baba as-Samasi (d.1354)
6. Sayyid Amir Kulal (d.1370)
7. Muhammad Bahauddin Shah Naqshband (1318–1389)

The Bukhara Khwajagan were buried in the Bukhara Oasis and today their tombs are pilgrimage sites. Ghujdawani was born and buried in the city of Ghujdawan, twenty-seven miles northeast of Bukhara. 

 Tomb of Ghujdawani with the Ulugh Beg Madrassa behind . . . For more see Seven Saints of Bukhara: The Khwajagan, or Masters of Wisdom.

 (click on photo for enlargement)

Mongolia | Mongolia’s Got Talent

Listen to Amarillo By Morning.

Mongolia | Chingis Khan Rides West | Update

An updated version of Chingis Khan Rides West: The Mongol Invasion of Bukhara, Samarkand, and other Great Cities of the Silk Road, 1215-1221 is now available. See a free excerpt: Jochi’s March Down the Syr Darya and the Flight of Temür Malik.

(Click on photo for enlargement)

Turkey | Hasankeyf | Update

The NYTimes has an disturbing story about Hasankeyf, which I visited back in June of 2014. See Dam Project Threatens to Submerge Thousands of Years of Turkish History. Sound like the town itself could be submerged. The fate of the ancient ruins above the town is uncertain. Glad I got there when I did.

The town of Hasankeyf, on the banks for the Tigris River, from the ruins of the ancient city (click on photo for enlargement)