Hello from Vietnam! I feel out of touch with you all since I have been unable to access my blog while in China. So here is a post that I wrote in Mongolia, and I will post again soon to tell you some about my time in China and Vietnam.
Lately Kara, Sarah and I have defaulted to flipping through hotel and airplane magazines to find inspiration for our blog post titles. On Air China, flying from Ulaanbaator, Mongolia, to Beijing, China, the following title fell to me: "What is Moments?" As I thought about this, it led me to ask another profound question: "What is history?" And here, when one is part of a group of 6 young travellers, one can never be too sure! Sometimes, when we are tired, we just make it up for fun. Sometimes, when people are too convincing, we aren't sure if they are telling the truth or not! What is history? Here are some possibilities!
History 101: Lesson 1
Our guest house room in Ulaanbaator displayed a picture of a Mongolian shooting an arrow as he galloped along on his steed. The other day Sarah was lying on the floor looking at it, and she thought it was very unrealistic. The bow had no string, there was no arrow on the picture, and who would keep up that pose for so long after the arrow was already gone?! Goodness, this lifestyle was part of an era far before flash photography!!
Kara, being tired and hence in the perfect mood for making up history, was also lying on the floor gazing at the picture. "Well, Sarah, if you weren't so judgmental and took a moment to hear the real story behind this, you would understand..." And thus began another 'history lesson.' Apparently, a blind man had painted this picture. You see, it was a "Mongolian tradition" to take blind men to their battles. And this blind man received his sight for all of a couple seconds, whereupon this is what he saw. Then afterwards, he received sight just long enough to paint the picture for posterity to admire. So, really, one can't be judgmental because one cannot argue with what he saw! Also, as a side note, one can tell the importance of a battle based on how many blind men are present. The battle that this blind man was part of was a six-blinder, meaning there were six blind men present. A one-blinder is a mere tribal raid, and a seven-blinder is like World War II reenacted!
History 101: Lesson 2
This lesson takes place a couple days later. This evening we took a taxi to a place in Hanoi, Vietnam. We fit all six of us into a five-person taxi with our driver. It was quite the experience--a truly historical moment. Plus, it saved us $3! On the way back we all piled into one taxi again. However, this time the driver wouldn't take all of us at once. So Eric, Kara and I rolled out into another taxi, where the driver kept looking at us and laughing. Apparently we went even beyond native expectations of space efficiency :) And this last lesson is True Story! Moral of the story: there are limits!
Lately Kara, Sarah and I have defaulted to flipping through hotel and airplane magazines to find inspiration for our blog post titles. On Air China, flying from Ulaanbaator, Mongolia, to Beijing, China, the following title fell to me: "What is Moments?" As I thought about this, it led me to ask another profound question: "What is history?" And here, when one is part of a group of 6 young travellers, one can never be too sure! Sometimes, when we are tired, we just make it up for fun. Sometimes, when people are too convincing, we aren't sure if they are telling the truth or not! What is history? Here are some possibilities!
History 101: Lesson 1
Our guest house room in Ulaanbaator displayed a picture of a Mongolian shooting an arrow as he galloped along on his steed. The other day Sarah was lying on the floor looking at it, and she thought it was very unrealistic. The bow had no string, there was no arrow on the picture, and who would keep up that pose for so long after the arrow was already gone?! Goodness, this lifestyle was part of an era far before flash photography!!
Kara, being tired and hence in the perfect mood for making up history, was also lying on the floor gazing at the picture. "Well, Sarah, if you weren't so judgmental and took a moment to hear the real story behind this, you would understand..." And thus began another 'history lesson.' Apparently, a blind man had painted this picture. You see, it was a "Mongolian tradition" to take blind men to their battles. And this blind man received his sight for all of a couple seconds, whereupon this is what he saw. Then afterwards, he received sight just long enough to paint the picture for posterity to admire. So, really, one can't be judgmental because one cannot argue with what he saw! Also, as a side note, one can tell the importance of a battle based on how many blind men are present. The battle that this blind man was part of was a six-blinder, meaning there were six blind men present. A one-blinder is a mere tribal raid, and a seven-blinder is like World War II reenacted!
History 101: Lesson 2
This lesson takes place a couple days later. This evening we took a taxi to a place in Hanoi, Vietnam. We fit all six of us into a five-person taxi with our driver. It was quite the experience--a truly historical moment. Plus, it saved us $3! On the way back we all piled into one taxi again. However, this time the driver wouldn't take all of us at once. So Eric, Kara and I rolled out into another taxi, where the driver kept looking at us and laughing. Apparently we went even beyond native expectations of space efficiency :) And this last lesson is True Story! Moral of the story: there are limits!
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