Indiana Jones and the Consulate of Mongolia

Where to begin?

            There is a Consulate to Mongolia in Comfort, Texas.

            And the man that brought it to the unincorporated community of under 2,500 people has lived a life straight out of pulp novels.

             Ed Story is the President / CEO / Co-Founder of Pharos Energy PLC, a Consulate to Mongolia, avid fisherman, Asian elephant lover, and one of the most interesting men in the world. I was fortunate to visit with Mr. Story about his life and came away from our interview only wanting to know more.

How did you become a Consulate to Mongolia?

“I started going to Mongolia in the early 1990’s as some of the younger Mongolian rebels peacefully formed themselves a democracy following the dissolution of the Former Soviet Union. As I have been accused of being the Indiana Jones of the independent oil and gas industry, there are very few places I would not go in the search of oil. An alleged shared likeness with Harrison Ford and the gun and whip, may added to that moniker.  As we were among the first in Russia, why not be “the first” in Mongolia. From a creature comfort standpoint, we were light years too soon but we made good friends with the young revolutionaries that had overthrown the communist regime. At the time of the Republican Convention in Houston in 1992, I was asked to entertain the delegation from Mongolia which caused them to develop a great fondness for tequila and become life-long friends. On subsequent visits they would come to our ranch outside of Center Point to shoot guns, ride horses, eat grilled steaks and do all of the things we Texans like. The President of Mongolia persuaded me to open the first Mongolian consulate in the United States in Houston. The consulate ultimately migrated to Comfort where the hearts of Mongolians reside.  By the way, we found oil in Mongolia and have made a significant impact on the energy supplies of the land-locked country. Just to be good neighbors, we have a penthouse condo in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia where there are two seasons—three months cold/nine months very cold.”

Have you ever performed any official consulate work in Comfort?

“In actual fact, we have become well-known among international travel agents for our rapid turnaround of visa requests for entry into Mongolia. Over the years, other consulates have been added in the U.S. but they do not come close to the visa turnaround of Karen Letz who does all of the heavy lifting in that respect. Accordingly, we issue visas for people of all nationalities around the world who have somehow found their way to Comfort.  All of that should come as no surprise as we live just outside of Center Point—“Center of the Universe.”

In actual fact, a Mongolian friend held a musical performance in Comfort that Dinah Zike sponsored. I had the opportunity to introduce my Mongolian friend Ganna and his performers.  On occasion, I have represented Mongolia in events in Austin and the odd school that is curious about that unknown country.”

Wild guess…what is the percentage of people in Comfort that know there is a Mongolian Consulate in Comfort?

“I guess you could say we maintain a low profile in Comfort.  Nonetheless, we are always happy to answer questions about the country and even a bit of the Mongol language, e.g., How are you- Sain Baino?

Everyone typically responds Sain, Sain Barrala—fine thank you.  Mongols in the steppes describe their wealth by the number of animals they have.  Without fail, they will always invite anyone into their Ger or mobile tent like dwelling which is perfect for the nomadic people as they move four to six times per year.  There nomadic culture is based on horses, the occasional camel and livestock. In some respects, the Texas culture of old and that of Mongolia are similar in terms of animal husbandry.”

Tell us a little more about Mongolians and your adventures in country.

“Mutton forms the heart of their diet.  Once I offered a Mongolian a salad to accompany his steak that I grilled. He declined saying “animals eat vegetables, we eat animals.” On another occasion we were camped on a lake where I discovered the fishing was phenomenal. When I took the fish and then prepared to cook it, the Mongolians looked dumbfounded saying they never ate fish.  It turns out Mongolians traditionally did sky burials on a platform where vultures ate the remains or on water rafts where the fish did the same.

Once we crashed an old Russian helicopter in the middle of the eastern steppe lands.   Eventually some guys discovered us while hunting wolves and drove us in to a deserted Russian military base town for a rather long stay until we could get new parts for the helicopter flown out. There is a saying about the self-reliance of the Mongolian people; two Chinese leave China, fly to New York and agree to meet the weekend in China Town while two Mongolians fly from Mongolia to New York, walk off the plane and say “goodbye.””

Tell us how you and your wife began The Elephant Story?

“Strangely, elephants had a spiritual connection to Mongolia. During the Stalinist repression years when they controlled Mongolia, some 35,000 Buddhist monks and lay Buddhism practitioners were killed by the government. Anyone found with a Buddhist image was executed on the spot.  There is a belief that Buddha entered his mother on the back of an elephant, which is a bit difficult to comprehend, but the elephant is symbolic to Buddhism.  Therefore, the image below was a stand-in during the communist repression years for Buddhist to recite mantras. 

One short block away from the Mongolian Consulate at 622 High Street is The Elephant Story at 725 High Street, both of them representing one of a kind places most anywhere in the world. I spent many years in Southeast Asia and have a very active oil business offshore Vietnam with the state oil companies of Thailand and Vietnam which can be frustrating at best.  Therefore, Joey, and I sought weekend refuge by going to northern Thailand to interact with elephants in The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant refuge. Some ten years ago we began The Elephant Story to sell indigenous crafts and textiles from Asian elephant countries.  The gross margin of all sales is in return gifted to The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation to underwrite native-speaking English teachers in a small village on the Thai/Cambodian border.  The village of less than one thousand people is home to some 300 elephants. Since we began our efforts, we have gifted on the order of $400,000 to this endeavor. In the meantime, the English test scores of the students in this remote village have soared to enable the students to enter college, improve their lives and those of their elephants. We also support an elephant veterinarian in the village which has the largest concentration of domesticated Asian elephants in the world. Sadly, there is very little “wild” remaining so our efforts are to protect the species and support them in the most natural setting possible.”

This piece first appeared in the Fredericksburg Standard.

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