notes comments on Days 227-229: Ulaan Baatar

"Days 227-229: Ulaan Baatar": comment by Billigflug

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:56:55 PDT

I have been to Ulan Bator as well and it´s just amazing there. The people, the untouched nature around. Just great.

"Days 227-229: Ulaan Baatar": comment by jocelyn

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:29:02 PDT

hey baby,
do you want to have sex tommarrow?

"Days 227-229: Ulaan Baatar": comment by Poet Horton

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:18:35 PDT

Anywhere that you find a large group of people that are all mixed up with language barriers and pockets full of a variety of currencies, you will encounter this type of criminal behavior unfortunately.
No barbecuing in Mongolia – interesting tid bit to be filed away.
Playing tourist can be frustrating to be sure, and to be stuck on the phone with Mom during the whole episode is just too much!!!
Shiny Up,
Poet Horton

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Fri, 4 Apr 2008 05:56:50 PDT

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"Days 227-229: Ulaan Baatar": comment by Ponczochy

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 01:41:40 PDT

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"Days 227-229: Ulaan Baatar": comment by Mauro Alexandre

Sun, 15 Jan 2006 22:57:12 PST

Hi my nephew, I have sent you an email, let’s stay in touch !
Your uncle Mauro

"Days 227-229: Ulaan Baatar": comment by Gardner McKay

Mon, 12 Dec 2005 22:00:36 PST

I was wondering what happened to you! You’ve been incommunicado but I’m glad to hear you’re back online.

Your last few posts have had me cracking up. Everything from the Chinese man pleasuring himself above your friend’s bunk to the bus ride with the Russkis.

Did you see Donald Rumsfeld’s horse while you were in Mongolia?

"Days 227-229: Ulaan Baatar": comment by John Frey

Sat, 10 Dec 2005 11:39:44 PST

Heya QL,

You must be kidding, putting up that kind of shit. I always knew you were a cool togh guy. More about that when you get to OZZI .

"Days 227-229: Ulaan Baatar": comment by brent

Thu, 8 Dec 2005 05:32:24 PST

Hey dude. How you doing… guess what. The lady who hit on you a long time ago came tonight and pointed me out saying “Are you Erik?” pu hahaha… talk to you soon

"Days 227-229: Ulaan Baatar": comment by Mariza Petrick

Tue, 22 Nov 2005 19:24:10 PST

Kinho,
I’ve been anxiously waiting for your page. My oh my, your adventures in Mongolia sound like Raiders of the Lost Ark! You were so damn cool on the phone… but again what would have been the use of freaking out? That would only make them feel in control. Somehow, it reminded me of that old
?Dustin Hoffman movie- the professor with his beautiful wife slowly but progressively cornered by a small town bunch of hillbillies and how he defeats them by standing cool and using his intelligence. And after all this, my mother’s heart says: Filhinho, que e que voce foi fazer ai?
The word mongolian and its derivatives like mongolism gained a new meaning after your descriptions;
Down’s syndrome, slanted eyes…nope. It’s a pervasive state of mind, found in different geographic areas of our planet, that makes Cro-Magnon look civilized.

"Days 227-229: Ulaan Baatar" by erik

Sat, 29 Oct 2005 11:34:00 PDT

Hi Mom!

Remember when I called you from the post office in Ulaan Baatar? The conversation was short, and I probably sounded distracted. Here’s why:

day 227

Mongolains are a pretty friendly lot, kind of subdued for the most part, and not particularly prone to forming hordes, as far as I could tell. But just like any society, there’s a lower crust, and Claudia and I met a number of its representatives late one evening at the Ulaan Baatar post office, where we were making a few last minute phone calls before heading off to the Gobi.

Remember during our phone conversation when I said, “Actually, hang on a sec…” and put the receiver down?

Claudia had felt something, looked down, and saw an arm up to its elbow in her bag, searching for goodies. She yelled “HEY!” and I looked up just in time to see the guy attached to the arm spin around and duck into the adjoining phone booth. I dropped the receiver, looked over into the next booth, and saw him banging numbers on the keypad, with the receiver still on the hook.

“Check your bag.” I said to Claudia, following the guy out into the lobby.

She was on already on it. “Everything is here as far as I can tell.”

He had nothing in his hands. I came back into the booth and picked up the phone. “Yeah Mom, we’re having a wonderful time here!”

Another two of the guy’s friends walked up to us, fully baseball capped and bandana’d. At that same moment you said, “And what about the Ukraine? Did you reconnect with your ancestors there?”

“Yeah uh…”

They stopped at arm’s length, looking first at Claudia’s bag, then up at me.

“Kiev was… nice.” I cracked my knuckles against my waist and stared back. “Really friendly people there ah, much more open than Russia.”

They stood there for a few minutes while I told you about Kiev and asked how the dogs were doing. They spoke to eachother in Mongolian, I think trying to decide if they could take me on. Then they walked away, and a moment later the phone card ran out.

So, sorry if I sounded distant! Next time I’ll call from a less distracting place, and I’ll not call so early. You sounded sleepy.

day 228

Claudia and I visited Naran Tuul (the “black market”), the wildest, loudest, most lawless flea market I’ve ever seen. Here’s what the Lonely Planet has to say about Naran Tuul:

The market is notorious for pickpockets and bag slashers so don’t bring anything you don’t want to lose.

Oh, good! All we brought were bags, a high-end Nikon camera, money, credit cards, and passports. Disembodied hands kept snaking out of the crowd and reaching for Claudia’s camera. She held onto it tightly.

Don’t carry anything on your back, and strap your money belt to your body. If you feel a group of men blocking your way from the front, chances are their friends are probing your pockets from behind.

Well, that certainly explains the big guy who kept annoyingly stepping in front of me, and how immediately after I got past him, the 4000 togrog I had in my pocket were gone.

Some travellers have had rocks thrown at them for taking photos at the market.

I occasionally found myself playing the “Oh, how much is that?” game while Claudia Candidly Clicked from a Corner.

Sometimes people yelled at Claudia for taking pictures, but sometimes people smiled.

Also, we went on a Sunday.

Try to avoid Saturday and Sunday afternoons, when the crowds can be horrendous.

Oops.

Quick Overview of Traditional Mongolian Cuisine

Greasy mutton
Dough
Rice

Combine the above in many exciting ways! Wrap dough around mutton and you have buuz, a sort of Mongolian dumpling. Cut dough into thin strips, drop into water left over from boiling the rice, add mutton, and you have shool, Mongolian soup.

Put little bricks of refuse plant parts into the same dirty rice/mutton water, add a dollop of yak’s milk, and you have tsai, Mongolian tea: not too bad once you get used to the floating globules of fat.

FUN FACT: Mongolian barbeque doesn’t exist anywhere in Mongolia, except for one tourist restaurant in Ulaan Baatar that caters to folks who step off the plane and proclaim, “Hey hey, show me the Mongolian barbeque!”