Strange Dreams

I had strange dreams last night of men with large feathers coming out of their heads riding on the backs of giant eagles through the sky.

The basis for this was seeing giant eagles traveling through the country, and then heading with Laura (a fellow traveler) to see the Mongolian Grand National Orchestra, combined with a number of small ensembles, a dance troupe and a contortionist.

We were fortunate to get seats in the middle of the third row (it was a large hall, comparable to the Wellington Town Hall) and it was quite simply one of the most stunning shows I've seen in my life. Photos were prohibited but fortunately somebody else has taken some which I have found on the internet.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sbailliez/7724204086/lightbox/

The flute player was amazing, and had his circular breathing well down. He was able to keep up a continuous note for around 5 minutes (the entire piece he was playing), which on flute is nothing short of incredible. His manual dexterity around the instrument was also incredible, far better than my own.

One of the instruments I really enjoyed the sound of was the Surnai, otherwise known as the Ever Buree. I am thinking about buying one to bring back to New Zealand, but they are very expensive. It is essentially a cows horn, with a clarinet mouth piece keyed like a saxaphone. They are $1500 NZ to buy as a proper instrument in a music shop. Tempting, but expensive.

Also yesterday I went to the Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan. It was like the forbidden city in Beijing, very similar architecture, with the difference that all the artifacts were still intact, I could get up close and personal with everything, and I was the only person there. It was the most impressive surviving temple I have seen in Asia. Security was non existent, I just walked in, and then got given a free ticket by a guy departing (tickets normally cost about $2.50). Of particular interest to me were what looked like stuffed birds from New Zealand and the Antarctic. Included in the collection was a kakapo and a pukeko. I am not an ornothologist by any means, so I am going to go back today and take some photos to confirm or deny the birds are or are not what I think they could be. One of the other amazing things I was there was a Leapord Skin ger, made out of 150 snow leapord pelts. Bogd Khan was a King, and nobody who has ever sighted any of his posessions could ever doubt it.