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Published: September 14th 2006
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Money! Money!
a sad sight to see in any country...UB was no exception. It was like saying goodbye to family members at the Ulan Bataar train station. After spending 30 amazing hours with Franck, Christelle and Yafeh, it was time to part ways (for awhile at least) and meet my UB host. Uli, a young German guy working in UB for an NGO, met me at the train station and we made the short journey back to his apartment. Glad to have ridden myself of my backpack and even content with a freezing cold shower at Uli’s, I set off to meet up with the Frenchies again for a little sightseeing before the sun set.
We met up at the Gandan Monastery, which was one of the ONLY monasteries in Mongolia to survive the communist regime. Its official name is “Gandantegchinleng Khiid”, which roughly translates to ‘Great Place of Complete Joy’ or ‘Great Way to the Cosmos’…or so says the monastery’s brochure! Gandan is said to be the largest and most important monastery in all of Mongolia, with 400 monks still working on the premises daily. We walked around for a good hour, chatting with the locals and snapping pictures. There were tons of young children around trying to sell us
seeds, nuts etc. They were actually really cute, but again, we knew if we bought from one kid, we’d have to buy things from all the kids! Next, we headed off for dinner. The choices for dinner selection were becoming painfully slim; my whole vegan experience might be going on hold for a while. We ended up having dinner at a Mongolian BBQ restaurant, and after 5 months of no meat, it happened…I succumbed to it. I’m not even going to get into how my stomach felt the next day. Oh LORDY!!!
Also staying at Uli’s place that night, was a really sweet, young couple from Holland named Willemijn and Arjal. It was nice to meet some other travelers, also taking advantage of the ‘hospitality club’ scene. The next morning, the two of them took off on their trek and I went to the UB guesthouse to meet up with Yafeh. We went to the National History Museum and spent a couple hours exploring the Genghis Khan era, rein, territorial occupations, war tactics and clothing. It was actually quite interesting, not to mention educational! Yafeh managed to take several pictures of all the relics, which you can see
below.
The next stop on our sightseeing tour was the black market. The owner of the UB guesthouse gave us the lowdown on the black market and told us to leave all our bags, cameras, money belts etc. at the hostel and just take a little cash in our pockets. It worked perfectly, and no own bothered us at all. The only drawback was that without my camera, I couldn’t capture the incredible scene with all the vendors. In the huge outdoor arena of this black market, you could find anything under the sun that you could possibly need for life in Mongolia. From fake North Face jackets to handmade tapestries from Kazakhstan. It was amazing to walk through the whole place and just observe the Mongolian people going about their everyday shopping.
That night, Yafeh and I had a planning meeting for our upcoming trek. We met the German couple, Olaf & Sabine who would be joining us, and decided on our route through the countryside. We also explored the mysteries of Korean-Mongolian cuisine that night and it was very yummy! (Yes, another night of meat…)
When I got back to Uli’s place,
I met yet another couple staying at his place. A young French couple named Agathe and Clement (don’t you just love French names). I used my extraordinary origami skills to impress them while we chatted the night away.
The next day was our last in Ulan Bataar, and that meant PREPARATIONS. Yafeh and I spent the whole morning walking around trying to buy train tickets OUT of Ulan Bataar for when we returned from our trek. When we finally found the proper International Ticketing Center, the conversation with the ticketing agent went something like this:
Me: “Hello, we’d like to book two tickets from UB to Beijing on the Trans-Mongolian train on September 1st please.”
Attendant: “Uhhh. No.”
(Yafeh & I exchange glances)
Me: “What do you mean? You won’t sell us the tickets? Or is there no train?”
Attendant: “Uhhh. No.”
Me: “What? Do you even speak English? Where do I go to buy train tickets to Beijing?”
Attendant: “Uhhhh. Here.”
Yafeh: “Ah! Mon Dieu!”
Me: “Is there a train on September 1st to Beijing?”
Attendant: “Well…yeah.”
Me: “CAN WE BOOK TWO SEATS ON THAT TRAIN!!!???”
Attendant: “No.” (This is the 3rd “No” I’ve heard all
with a “couldn’t give a shit” expression on her face)
Me: “Stop saying ‘No’ to me, and tell me how to leave your country! Can we take a train to the border? A bus? Can we roller skate out of Mongolia for heaven’s sake?!”
Attendant: “Well…you could take a train to the border, and then a bus…”
Me: “Thank you! How much is that?!”
Attendant: “Umm…I don’t know. Go to room 109”
Me: “Oh what the %#$@*!”
And the same dialogue occurred three more times in three separate rooms, leaving me QUITE frustrated! For those of you who haven’t seen me mad…it’s not a pretty sight. I think I managed to even scare Yafeh who was just as mad as I was.
After 3 hours, we managed to get tickets for the train from UB to Erlyan (on the Chinese-Mongolian border) and then a sleeper bus from Erylan to Beijing the following night.
Yafeh and I met back up with Christelle and Franck and we had a goodbye lunch, as they were leaving for Russia that afternoon. Another sad goodbye, I felt like I was leaving life-long friends! It was nice to know though
that I would be seeing them shortly back in France. (That is if I get into Grenoble!)
After three days in Ulan Bataar, we were more then ready (and excited) to get into the countryside and really take in the countryside.
Off on our trek we GO!!!
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Feroze
non-member comment
I can't keep up
Hi Krysta, Another series of great blogs, stories, adventures, pictures and more. The way you present the whole thing really makes it come alive, I'm thoroughly enjoying your adventures as I travel along with you. U really should look into creating a travel book, or ebook or all your blogs and emails. I'm sure it would be a best seller. U seem to be having so much fun too, which is what makes all the difference too. Keep on travelling, can't wait for the next installments. Feroze