My Observations on Mongolians

by Maarten
(Sydney, Australia)

I am an Australian. People in the west (Canada, USA, Australia, Europe) know vey little about Mogolia or Mongolians. I have lived in Mongolia for one year and hope to return there long term (many years) very soon. I am no expert about Mongolia or its people but here are some observations I have obtained during my time there which may be interesting for Mongolians and others,
Mongolians through Australian eyes:
1) Mongolians are practical = if it works it works
2) Mongolians are somewhat critical of each other
3) Mongolians will readily borrow but hardly pay back. This aspect annoys the hell out of Mongolians
4) Mongolians are hospitable
5) They will readily share food
6) Men want you to drink with them mainly because that increases the amount of alcohol immediately available when it comes your turn to order
7) Mongolians love modernity in all its forms
8) Mongolians take their time in sizing up a stranger but when they do they are quite friendly
9) The women are beautiful and the men are often ugly
10) Mongolians are not great correspondents ( writing letters) and once out of sight you are quickly ignored.
11) Mongolians are facinated by foriegn countries and peoples.
12) Thousands of Mongolians wat to leave Mongolia and travel and work abroad.
13) Mongolians distrust anything Chinese, people, goods, food, government policy, anything. And this disrust is lagel unspoken.
14) I have developed a love for Mongolians that is hard to fathom
15)The men love to bullock (work hard physically without thinking too much how to do the job easier)
16) The women are the real "doers" and run must of the businesses.
17) Accuracy and timeliness are not clearly understood concepts. Meet me at 8 means driftig in at 10.
18) Mongolians must be the worlds biggest cell phone users
19) Mongolians feel the cold (-30C) as much as any foriegner and dont mind admitting it.
20) Mongolians are born pick-pockets and are expert at it
21) They are vey sport minded and obey the sporting rules. I have never seen bad sportsmanship.
22) The traffic police will pull you ove for no apparent reason and book you on any pretext. They probably pocket the money
23) High level corruption is a serious problem to society. If Chingis Xaan knew about it he would skin them alive.
24) Chingis Xaan to Mongolia is what Abraham Lincoln is to the USA, a nation builder.
25) The motor car is a siege weapon used to threaten other drivers with.
26) Poverty, street rubbish, lack of piped drinking water and unemploymet are major social problems
27) Mogolians learn foriegn languages very readly and put most westerners to shame,
28)MOngolian language (Mongol Xel) is very difficult to learn

But above all Mongolians are UNIQUE