Ulan Bator

I've been in Mongolia for a day now. It's a great country - fascinating!

Mongolian people and culture are this intriguing hybrid between the East and West, ancient and modern. Every five minutes you think you're in Hanoi, St. Petersburg, the 1200s, or the Twenty-first Century. As the buildings are in dire need of a paint job, they stand contrasted against the shiny and expensive cars that seem to aim for pedestrians as they cross the street. The people are much friendlier than in Russia, except for the extremely high rate of pickpockets that riddle the streets of Ulan Bator (the capital). The weather here is bizarre... one second you're freezing, the next burning, the next feeling rather pleasant. Lonely Planet accurately described Mongolia as potentially going through every season in twenty-four hours.

We haven't taken any pictures yet, for fear of the enormous pickpocket ring. Today, we intend to go out and take landscapes, while tomorrow will be portraits (this way, we won't have our sidebags with us in order to switch lenses). But I promise that Karen (www.thesqueakyrobot.wordpress.com), Michael (www.thetasketernal.wordpress.com), and I will certainly capture and post some great shots - as they're everywhere, calling to us.

Yesterday was a very relaxed day. We spent some time in our hostel, meeting amazing people (Israeli, Argentinian, Austrian, Australian, etc - the Israelis being our favorite here so far), and then we did some souvenir/gift shopping so we can send stuff home from UB, as opposed to carrying a ton of trinkets for another few months. UB's State Department Store has, perhaps, the most reasonably priced souvenirs of any shop I've been in. In the evening, we went to a delicious restaurant right near our hostel, Golden Gobi. The food was spectacular and the three of us couldn't even finish our plates for under 3 USD per person, despite our taste buds yearning for more.

I'm excited to be back in Asia, where you cross streets with nothing but the prayers of making it to the other side, where you order food that you've never heard of before in expectation that it's probably delicious (and it normally is), where that unknown food you ordered looks like nothing else you've ever seen but you try it anyway, figuring that someone eats it and they don't die; where you never have any idea what faux pas you're dishing out, where you laugh at the plethora of "wtf" moments as you walk down the street, and the list goes on and on.

Today will undoubtedly provide a wide array of stories - good, bad, ugly, hilarious, etc - and I can't wait.

I'm further excited for the next few weeks, after booking tours into the country. On 2 June, we will be going to the East of UB for a few days, staying in a national park, living with nomadic, hunting, and Kazakh families; we'll go horse and camel riding, etc etc. We had to switch things around and make some sacrifices, for which I'm incredibly grateful to my understanding companions, so that I can be in UB (and have phone/internet service) on 6 June - my best friend's birthday. On 7 June,we will be embarking for the Gobi Desert in a seven day jaunt into a sandy dreamscape. We'll return on the 13th and leave UB on the same day - arriving at the Chinese border town of Erilian on the 14th, at which point we'll take a sleeper bus to Beijing and arrive at 7AM on the 15th. During those periods of time, I will only have access to the outside world in UB (or if you have a skilled owl, pigeon, or eagle or mastered the art of telepathy).

Ok, time to explore!!!

PS - ...whatever...