A Summer's Night at Zaisan

The silver lining of these 37C days is the warm summer nights. Perhaps it reminds me of wandering the empty streets of Pullman growing up, but there’s something about an evening of warm, unlit air that fills me with joy.

So, in an effort to take advantage of such an evening’s pleasure three friends and I ventured up to Zaisan, a large Soviet monument on the hills south of UB. I visited the monument before last August with SIT in mid-day when the vast view of UB and its borders were clear.

We grabbed a taxi out from the State Department Store to the base of the hill (or mountain, for the Rockies deprived). Up several hundred stairs I broke a sweat, but a satisfying breeze blew atop. Several families, teen groups, couples and even a group of guardsmen were enjoying the evening as we wandered around.

There is a large basin in the center of the monument that holds what I hear is supposed to be an eternal flame. The guardsmen had gathered around the basin, several of their ties loosened and shits unbuttoned with vodka bottles in hand. One of them pulled out a box of fireworks, set it on the basin and lit the fuse with his cigarette. Sparks suddenly flew into the air through the center of the monument ring and burst into an explosion of pinks, blues and greens.

Granted I think fireworks are awesome in the most literal sense of the word, albeit unnecessary, but I tend to find the setting off of fireworks in public, under the influence of vodka no less, a little disturbing. With personal experiences in Berlin over New Year’s and endless stories of roman candles gone wrong, I decided to watch this show from afar. And rightly so, as several rockets were faulty and blew just a few feet above everyone’s faces. The first of which led to the all nervous families’ departure. Several of the guardsmen were carrying duffel bags which I suspect either held more fireworks as the supplies for a continuous show kept appearing.

Despite these few instances of failure, the families cheered in awe of the explosions lighting up the night sky. In personal observation, it seems anything that shines with bright colors is beloved to Mongolians. Light up razor scooters, bouncy balls and helicopter toys can be seen all over the city at night. Neon signs, glowing toys and fireworks are perhaps a flashy and fun symbol of modernity.

In any case, we stayed atop the hill for about forty minutes before descending back down. We also paid a visit to the giant golden Buddha statue on the way back. And I returned home in time to catch the exciting second half of Korea versus Uruguay.