Ulaan Bataar

Still catching up on my blog from Mongolia and this time it's from Ulaan Bataar which has expanded immensely since my friends visited 11 years ago.

My friend Fiona's accommodation was beside a new fun park with it's roller coaster and wheel acting as good landmarks when walking to and from the centre marked by a towering glass building. From the park Big Ben chimed on the hour which was rather strange.

The city has tightly packed areas of tin roofed houses and gers leading into a more modern and spacious centre with many tall buildings and tree lined streets.  Throughout the city are tall cooling towers for the centralised heating and electricity unless house have their own boilers and generators. With the large mining industry there were many factories producing related equipment/machines. It was surprising to see high mountains and trees surrounding this industrial city.

Fiona whisked us around various squares, statues and buildings in between finalising the 12 day trip to the countryside and finding ATMs which would spit out money using my cards.  We did use some taxis and my friend's driver who took us up to the local monastery with its many prayer wheels, huge Budha, 2 large feet and intricate art work.  We also visited the Black Box a very modern and versitile theatre and centre for producing commercials.

A couple of times we met up with an IWAM group, international women who support various projects in UB. At one meeting we met a Mongolian Mum with her healthy Mongolian toddler  who'd undergone a major op funded by the group and also heard about funding for wheelchairs in Mongolia.

Can you believe we attended 2 Scottish country dancing classes run by an English man in a Scottish pub?  I managed to hold my own with him for Strip The Willow not quite getting him on the floor but then frustrated him by getting sequences of other dances muddled up as soon as the fast music started. Maybe I should have attended the after school club run at South Lodge.

One day we got wind of the driver's daughters' graduation ceremony which turned out to be an amazingly colourful talent show with confident younsters singing solos, dancing and reciting poetry.

We visited an enormous statue of Ghengis Khan on horseback an hour away from UB.  Here we had fun dressing up Mongolian style and an indoor lift took us to the top of the horse's head from where we got stunning views of the green mountains and valleys around. The nearest ger camps to UB were in that area (one with a dinosaur playground had been a favourite when Fiona's family were younger) where we enjoyed some Mongolian flat pasties and a noodle dish in a chalet style restaurant and later visited large rocks in the shape of a turtle. We also had the experience of holding eagles and vultures for photos but as the vulture was heavier than expected my photos were not very flattering.

One evening we had an Indian cookery demonstration and were able to sample the products along with other Indian food brought along by a local restaurant owner who also introduced us to some of  his Indian friends who were interesting to chat to.

Just before leaving we fitted in a Mongolian show at a small theatre featuring music, songs, dances and a contortionist who ended up with her whole body in the air supported by her teeth/mouth gripped round the top of a stand.  It was hard to watch and at times difficult to work out which side of her body was on view.  My performance at yoga hasn't reached that stage and guess it never will.
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Our last meal was in a Mongolian restaurant-a hot pot meal consiting of a selection of meats and veg which we cooked in boiling soup over a small burner.  We had one or two scarey moments when the flames got out of control but it was a fun way of eating and very tasty too although we declined the tripe and penis. Back at the apartment Dylan's (Catriona's boyfriend) famous lemon meringue pie was our tangy dessert.

And so we flew out of UB with my head full of so many new sights and experiences and although the cabin was rather warm I did manage to stay awake and gaze out at the scenes below which became more impressive as we flew over numerous mountain ranges in our approach to Kyrgyzstan.  Next stop Bishkek...