The Introduction: by highlight

It would appear to be a good time to produce a piece of blog. Things are serendipitously colourful in Beijing, where I am currently on a working jaunt. The colour here highlights my real life in China’s neighbour’s capital, Ulan Bataar. In Ulan Bataar, I make a TV show. A youth program sharing conversational English, exploring the Mongolian culture, for the benefit of Mongolian people. The conceptual aim is community cultural exchange. The reality is bizarre.

Our program airs on the national station, MNB. It reaches every edge of the disparate and vast country that is Mongolia. I once viewed our program on a TV the size of a tape deck, powered by a car battery in a tepee, in the Khovsgol region, close to the Russian border. We were visiting the Tsaatan people, an ancient nomadic group who still herd Reindeer in a near-to traditional way. The people, smiling ceaselessly, asked us to stay and live with them long-term to teach them English. It was a tempting offer, but three-days horseback from the nearest phone just seemed a little too inconceivable to my Sydney-psyche. The Tsaatan people are keen to modernise their business skills. Their export is handicrafts made from Reindeer hide, antlers and any other periphery that ensures maximum utility of their beloveds. They are keen to learn the language of International Business and safeguard themselves against non-mutual financial arrangements.

Today we are filming a Mongolian punk band, resident in Beijing, specialising in Throat singing and electric Morin Khuur, the traditional Mongolian up-right two-string guitar played with a bow.

Yesterday we filmed on the Great Wall, the historic symbol of the divide between the steppe-lands of the ‘barbaric’ nomads and the sedentary agricultural plains of China.

The day before yesterday, we filmed a stand-up segment on Tiananmen Square. A group 50-strong of Chinese men and brightly dressed Korean women gathered like a proscenium arch, curious about our efforts. The ‘Voice Box’ production team is a double-act, with Mitch, my co-producer, and I co-managing all aspects of the show. As the Presenter, on this day, filming humble dialogue relating the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre to the July 1st, 2008 murders in Sukhbataar Square, UB - I felt like Mao, addressing the people. Somewhat. A 5 foot 8, green-eyed female Mao, sporting multi-directional blonde curls and over articulating my English enunciation. (On a side note, if this TV career fails, I may relocate to Beijing and charge people who want to take their photo with me. I can now empathise with those murals with the cutout space for your face.)

Our primary mission in Beijing has been to purchase new equipment, including camera etc etc. The Voice Box show was conceived three years ago by the Director of an English language school in UB. In exchange for 2 seasons of airtime on MNB, Voice Box agreed to donate its empire of camera equipment to the Mongol Televis Youth Department at the end of the contract. We have just begun the third season, and therefore have been rendered camera less. Until the day before the day before yesterday that is.

This morning we were supposed to catch the Trans-Mongolian 1653kms home. We were 5 minutes late to the station and trains leave and don’t turn around and this train left on time. So, we’re here for another 4 days until the next train, enjoying the balmy -3 degree sunshine. I believe it is currently -23 degrees at home. Winter is ready for us. I am told the Soviet playgrounds, heroing pastel camels and other obscure desert animals, have all been snowed in while we've been abroad. I know that my apartment, layed-out in true Socialist format, will be my sanctuary upon return. The only offset to the incredibly warm heating is of course the heavy pollution across the skyline and subsequently the persistent hint of Emphysema. Still, it’s an interesting real life and for now, I might order another real coffee in this side-story café in Beijing.