Ulanbaatar Arrival

We arrived in Mongolia on a freezing Monday morning and were met by our honcho Gerlee (pronounced in an impossible way using lisp sounds that only Hanna has managed to master). She was very fashion conscious wearing skinny jeans, ugg boots, an abercrombie hoodie, burberry scarf and fur coat. Gerlee (Mongolian for flower and light) was the sweetest person in the world and we plan on keeping in touch. She was 23 years old, married and mother to a two year old girl. Hand warmers were essential to withstand the cold and since they do not exist in Mongolia, Gerlee decided to import them and start a business. A scary thing about our lovely honcho was that she had undergone plastic surgery to make her eyes look "more like ours". The sketchy doctor she visited had made one eye larger than the other and left her with scars on her eyelids and endless eye infections.

Gerlee and a Mongolian Man

Anyway... we drove straight from the station to our luxury hotel. This was a three story building off death street with a sign outside reading "VIP Rooms". Exhausted after our long journey we collapsed onto the beds in our double room, they were possibly even firmer than the train beds and every single spring was felt through what they call a mattress. The floor had white specks of paint all over it from where the ceiling was crumbling down and the corner wallpaper was peeling off. The bathroom had a leak in the ceiling leaving a delicious brown stain. The toilet looked as though it had previously been used by 50 builders after consuming seriously strong curry- in other words far from sanitary. After a long shower and three rounds of shampoo we started to feel clean.
We set off for some breakfast (Hanna and I had to plead with the group to go for food as they are not "breakfast people" -or lunch or dinner people for that matter, and we are constantly starving). Gerlee led us to restaurant after restaurant after restaurant and everything was closed. Close to collapse from hunger we finally found a small place tucked away down an alleyway and enjoyed a massive cheeseburger each. Satisfaction.

After this delicious meal we headed off to do some sightseeing. We managed to cover the entire city in under 4 hours! Ulanbaatar is a very polluted and grey place. There is a layer of smog that covers the city making it seem quite dreary.

The day we arrived happened to be a national holiday so most people wore traditional Mongolian clothes. We took a taxi to the temple and saw a 25 metre Buddha statue (largest in the country). Hailing a cab is incredibly easy as you simply hold your hand up and any random car pulls up and gives you a ride. In other words you might be on your way to pick up the kids from school but feel like some fast cash so pick up a stranger and give them a ride. Crazy. Mongolian Temple

Mongolian Children (Hanna wanted to adopt them all)

After a day of hardcore sightseeing we went bowling. This was loads of fun... until Snorelax won.