Halloween in Mongolia?
Yes, the Halloween tradition is taking root in Mongolia of all places! In my first visits to Mongolia between 2010 and 2012 I rarely saw any Halloween costumes or decorations, but as of the past couple years that appears to have changed. I first noticed it in 2016 and 2017...
(Click on the images to see them full-sized)
A modest display and selection of costumes at the Ulaanbaatar E-mart
A Carved Jack-O-Lantern display at the produce aisle
And this year is no exception, with E-mart expanding their costume selection and adding more decorations. And just off to the right edge of the photo there's even a Halloween-themed photo cutout board where one can put their face through to take pictures. The irony is that E-mart (and most stores here in Ulaanbaatar I've been in) doesn't like or allow customers to take photos inside the store... they wouldn't even let me take a picture of a Christmas tree in the store last year. So given that, who's supposed to use the cutout boards?!? :P
Taking a steady picture while sneakily pretending to be doing something else is not so easy...
The Shangri-La Shopping Center in Ulaanbaatar even had some Halloween festivities last weekend for the kiddies, with decorations throughout the mall...
My daughter would have LOVED it if I could have taken one of these big boys home
... as well as actors in full costume wandering through the mall, giving adults opportunities for photos and some younger kids a big fright.
American kids tend to be jaded and unimpressed with such costumes, but some of the Mongolian kids there were FREAKED OUT
Mongolia's popular culture seems to be inundated with American pop culture and traditions, and Halloween is yet another example. Even my daughter's kindergarten had a Halloween costume day! Interestingly enough, a few have adopted another time-honored American tradition... denouncing Halloween as a day of evil. Some government official in charge of the public schools made a statement telling Mongolian children not to celebrate Halloween because it's a 'day of ghosts' or something like that (my Mongolian is terrible but I think that was the gist of it). The more things change, the more they stay the same, huh? ;)
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NOTIFYi wonder why they dont let shopper take photos, it's a good advertising for them especially when influencers share the photos on social media.
It's common in some of the big stores in Mongolia, and I think it has something to do with them not wanting people taking photos of the merchandise and the prices. On some level I think they're trying to discourage shoppers who are doing price comparisons yet are not buying things. But I suspect another reason is they're trying to make it harder for other stores and shops to catalog all the prices for their goods and then undercut them by selling theirs cheaper. Business, especially retail, can be quite competitive and cutthroat here in Mongolia. I've been told any successful business idea, model, or strategy introduced here can expect to see copycats pop up very quickly, so one has to move quickly and slow down the copycats any way you can. Sometimes I think some of the people in this former Communist country are better free-market practitioners than my fellow Americans back home ;)
Anyway, the store employees typically aren't too rude about it and won't grab for your phone or camera or anything... they just ask you politely to not to take any more photos.
oh now that you mentioned it hmm if i dont take photo, i can just write down and type in my phone the price =) haha
copycats are good for consumers as it make product/services more competitive but there can be those large conglomerate that have various 'disguise' brands offering the same thing.
That's one of the things I love about my Galaxy Note phone.... it makes it so easy and quick to scribble down the name and price. Very helpful when I'm shopping for components for building my mining rigs. :)