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The chaos theory of Mongolia

I returned to Mongolia 15 years ago after an absence of 13 years, save for the occasional 2-week leave from work, and that time I spent a semester and a half at a local university drinking endless cups of brown, watery 150 Tugrik instant MaCcoffee at the cafĂ© strangely, or perhaps egotistically, named "In my memory", writing the first and so far the only book that got us into trouble with the local intelligence who apparently had little else to do than to pore through the ramblings of teenagers to catch the tell-tale signs of drug dealery. But I digress. When you visit a country for a short period, be it home or not, you hardly have time to immerse yourself in the spirit of the country and the city and feel the nitty gritty and dirty shiny of it all. So after 13 years, it took me a while to readjust and finally understand what the hometown of my childhood had become.  The most striking, ubiquitous, and inescapable feature was and still, unfortunately, is the traffic. In 2008,...

Short Rant: Where on earth is Mongolia?

Further to my post "Mongolia : The Greatest Conspiracy of Cartographers?", I now announce that the confusion over Mongolia's geographical location has reached a new low for me. I am at a point where I am seriously contemplating on carrying around a world map with me. Or have a T-shirt made with a print of the map of Asia. Or invent a way to zap geography knowledge into their brains instantly with the use of a Tazor.

So here's the source of my astonishment and exasperation: A Singaporean told me she thought Mongolia was a part of Tibet before she met me. Part of Tibet? Nothing is a part of Tibet. Even Tibet is no longer a part of Tibet! Of course, I do not think she is representative of the general geography knowledge here in Singapore. Well, I hope not. On a second thought, who knows. Sure, a lot of people can't point out Mongolia on a map, confusedly poring over the South Asia section in futile search. But given the press coverage Tibet has received over the years, one would think...

It almost made my ears bleed... There should be a word for that feeling of extreme helplessness where you don't know whether to cry or laugh or scream in horror or do all at the same time while crazy-dancing naked and drunken in the middle of the street. I should refer to the Meaning of Liff, perhaps the ingenious Douglas Adams had already invented a suitable word.

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