Basque Bylines: hats on to Mongolia

Friday, 3 December 2010

hats on to Mongolia

Hats are a big deal in Mongolia. Whether you are

walking around Ulaanbaatar or exploring the Steppe you will find hats, hats and more hats.

They have three purposes:

1. They keep you warm in the crazy cold

2. They keep you cool in the heady heat

3.

They make you look cool

Mongolian men in particular are avid hat wearers. They will rarely take them off even when indoors. During business meetings men will don something upon their bonce. Eating supper in restaurants men will retain a head piece.

In Mongolia there is one act that is utterly forbidden: never ever touch another man's hat. That way certain violence lies. It is a serious business.

Mongolian of the day:- hat :: malgai

Basque Bylines

Traversing the planet is always good for the soul but so is returning home. Following ten months in Outer Mongolia a Scotsman and his wife return from the Steppe. Back in St Jean de Luz the sun still sits high in the sky, Gateau Basque remains as tempting as ever and life in the Basque Country moves forever onwards at its own luxurious pace. Having answered one important question, one remains:

What makes gateau Basque taste so good?

[What made Chinggis Khaan so darned angry? Nothing rhymed with his name which as a budding poet grated heavily and have you ever tried to run the world's greatest ever empire from a ger on the remote Steppe surrounded by camels at -40C?]

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