Hello Mongolia!

We have arrived in Mongolia, our first stop. We are spending two nights in Ulan-Baatar, the capital of the country.

We landed very late at night, around 11:30pm, and were met by a man from the hostel we are staying at. So glad we ordered airport pickup, as getting to the hostel on our own would've been a bit crazy. We first noticed how black the night was here; very few lights, big open skies, short buildings. The second thing we noticed was how dusty the roads were; I suppose that goes along with the barren steppes and desert topography of the country. The third thing we noticed as we were driving from the airport into the city was the lack of street signs. There was NOTHING on the road to tell you where you were going; north? south? towards the city? The cars passed each other like there were no rules (and we later found out there are none). We got to the hostel late at night and went to bed in our room.

The next morning, we woke up around 7:30am and enjoyed a very nice breakfast (haven't had Nutella in forever!). We booked a tour for the Gobi that will depart tomorrow, and headed out to explore the city. Like I said before, UlanBaatar is short. There are very, very few tall buildings and many of them are run down. It's like 20 years ago there was a big boom to industrialize and roads were paved and buildings were built and monuments were erected, and then after that they decided, "eh, we're finished". Things are old and dusty, but also have a romantic appeal to it. It's decidedly country with a modern twist. But it's also where Chinese, Russian, Mongolian, and Korean cultures intermingle. We've seen so many Korean restaurants here, just from walking around for a few hours!

We went to the State Department Store which is like a low-end Shinsegae Department Store. There are no famous brands, but lots of things to look at: makeup and cosmetics, jewelry, cashmere, clothing, toys, Mongolian souvenirs, shoes, and electronics. We looked at the beautiful, 100% cashmere goods on sale that felt amazing and also fetched a very reasonable price. After an hour of shopping, we went upstairs to the food court and had our first Mongolian meal. Noodle soup with lamb, and fried lamb with peppers.

It was so yummy! We don't get much lamb in Korea, so it felt like such a treat to be eating it. After stuffing ourselves full, we headed out and walked around the city. We visited Sukbaatar Square, the center of the city with the main Government Building.

There were two couples there getting married; the bride and groom and presumably their wedding party headed up to the giant statue, bowed and kissed it, and then headed back down the stairs for photo ops.

After that, we walked over to the Sky Department Store and Altai Cashmere shop (Rich really, really wanted to buy a sweater). We looked around, found a nice green, cable-knit sweater for Rich, and headed out again. In the morning the weather was quite cold, almost freezing, but by mid-day we were sweating in our winter jackets. We took a look around the Wrestling Center, the Circus building, and finally the UlanBaatar Department Store, which had higher end brands like Chanel makeup, Tommy Hilfiger, and Clinique. No Shinsegae, but still very fun. The entire city seemed very relaxed, no rush and enjoying the sunlight.

By this time we had traipsed around the entire city in about 4 hours, so we decided to rest in a bar. We tried Chinggis Beer and fried lamb dumplings that were the size of Emily's hand! Very, very good.

In all, UlanBaatar is a very nice city to visit for a day (but don't come on Sundays; many of the museums are closed). It's interesting to see a place that doesn't want to rapidly modernize and become part of the global world; it still retains it's 'country' charm. There are no rules on the streets; people jaywalk wherever and whenever they desire. Women are fashionable, but life is simple. Consumerism has yet to take hold of the city, and it's refreshing to be someplace that is small and relaxed.

Tomorrow we head out for the Gobi Desert, a truly desolate place filled with nature and nomads! We'll be gone for 9 days!