Mongolia & Ulaanbattar - The WILD Wild West
Trip Start
Sep 01, 2007
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7
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Trip End
Oct 22, 2007
Ulan Bator, Mongolia
Thursday, September 6, 2007
To make matters even worse the Chinese travel agent decided to change us from our pre-confirmed 4 star Chinggis Khaan to the REALLY terrible Palace Hotel, should be a 0 star! After much discussion between the Geman-speaking guide, the hotel receptionists and the travel agent manager, we were moved to another downtown, supposed 5 star hotel (very questionable!), for that night. For our last night in Mongolia, which would be back in UB, we would stay in our originally booked hotel.
And finally, as "good things come in threes", there had to be one more; I had a pick-pocketing experience! We had read that UB was really bad for muggings and petty crime but we had no idea it would be this bad. We were walking along towards the restaurant we were being taken to for lunch when two men got themselves tangled in my cane. As the one was getting past me he grabbed my (empty) glasses case from my pocket and ran. I shouted and chased him, Annie started screaming at him and went sprinting after him. Crowds gathered and after throwing the case away, the thief gestured to Annie that he had nothing. She had been worried it was my wallet, camera or passport that had gone. A lucky escape! We decided that, while in Mongolia, I should put my cane away and let Annie guide me a bit more. As we would find out, as tourists, I was enough of a target without showing off my white cane!
WOW, what a way to start our Mongolian visit. Not to worry, amazing adventures followed this little interlude :-)
We started with a tour around UB taking in sights such as Sukhbaatar Square, the main square surrounded by imposing buildings along with statues of Ginggas Khaan and his two sons. There are some really beautiful buildings housing the Mongolian Government Palace, the Opera House, Stock Exchange, Post Office and a few big banks. There is also an amazing amount of building going on including that of a Shangri La hotel we were proudly told a number of times. Just to keep the adrenalin going we had another little interlude; while we were admiring one of the statues a man with his wife / woman and baby walked past us ensuring that he actually rubbed, not brushed, right against me. Imagine his disappointment when he found every one of my pockets were empty. We learn quickly! At this stage we were wondering what were we doing in UB, was the Mongolian leg of our journey a mistake? As I am writing this a few days later and having experienced parts of Outer Mongolia I can say that this was definitely no mistake!
Fom there we visited the Gandan Tegchlen Monastery complex, a Buddhist community following the Tibetan Buddhist religion. Then on to the Zaisan Hill war memorial commemorating the Mongolians and Russians helping each other in various wars including against Germany in World War II. Further down this hill we visited the giant Buddhist statue and park donated by the Koreans.
We ended our day by attending the Mongolian Folk Song and Dance Ensemble and eating supper at a Russian restaurant.
With that we went back to the hotel to sleep as we had a 06H10 flight into the Gobi.
Comments
HI, our family is moving to Ulanbataar in August 2010, so your pictures were particularly great to see.
Hi there
Delighted that my photos were of some help. When are you off there and what sort of work takes you to live there? We plan to return to Mongolia some day to see more of the spectacular landscape, next time north to see the forests and lakes.
Good luck and enjoy Mongolia!
Regards
Jonathan