Backyard Diplomacy

Yesterday, I was honored with an invitation to attend a casual summer reception for the new Mongolian Ambassador to the United States, Khasbazar Bekhbat. The soiree was sponsored by the DC Area Friends of Mongolia and hosted at the lovely home of the remarkably unpretentious and engaging Alphonse La Porta, a former US Ambassador to Mongolia, and his wife Ann. I felt welcome immediately, since the first thing you see upon entering is this unusually delicate Green Tara thangka, presented to Ambassador La Porta at the end of his Mongolian assignment:

In between mouthfuls of delicious BBQ, I chit-chatted with a fascinating mélange of Mongol ex-pats, part of the diplomatic corps and otherwise, as well as American returned Peace Corps volunteers, importers, embassy staff, and even the son of the first US Ambassador to Mongolia, who said his father was writing a memoir of that historical crossroads tentatively titled Yaks on the Runway.

I was also able to speak a bit with Ambassador Bekhbat, who told me a Very Big Secret which I hope will be not so secret and revealable later this week. We took the obligatory portrait shot...

...after which I conveyed a formal welcome for his American posting from Jetsunma, KPC and our Mongolian Buddhism Revival Project with gifts of Jetsunma’s book on meditation, Stabilizing the Mind, translated into Mongolian; Michael Kohn’s volume on Danzan Ravjaa, Lama of the Gobi; and a wall hanging embroidered with the mantra Om Mani Padme Hung:

Ambassador Bekhbat received the gifts with customary Mongolian grace:

We wish Mongolia's new ambassador a very successful mission and feel confident and happy about the ongoing friendship between our two nations, and humbly grateful that we can somehow play a role.

Comments

[minnie]

dude, have you lost weight?

[Konchog]

Well, I did shave my head...maybe it's the photo angle. As long as they keep making Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip, I'm unlikely to succumb to sudden weight loss.

[Ariel]

Konchog, the Mongolians love seeing you at the DC-area events and hearing more about the great work of the MBRP!!