23 - 24 July - back to Ulaanbaatar ... onto Beijing and heading to Lhasa, Tibet

23^rd July, Saturday

The super hazy foggy morning

The ger was windy throughout the night, so it was rather chilly.  We ran out of wood in the night.  In the morning though, the fog was thicker.  The sun looked like a ball of red in the sky, making it an interesting photo op.

Most of us had all ordered Mongolian breakfast.  And after the hearty breakfast at 7am, it was time to head out again.  A road was being built from the sealed road towards the Amarbayarsgalant Monastery.  The next time should we visit, the ride would be very different.

The rest stop similar to those in US and Australia

We weaved our way through the mud back to the asphalted road and onto Dharkan.  And at a roadstop similar to ones one find in the US and Australia, we had lunch.  Tem paid for it while we chose what we wanted.  All our meals except for dinners when we were in UB had been included in the tour.   We ordered noodles and a salad with Mongolian milk tea.

Interesting sign for bathroom there

The atmosphere was a little strange because today would be the longest road trip, probably the most stressful and there is a sense of loss as everything good must come to an end.
.

Amra showed us where his grandfather had a summer place by the river.  He said he would be there in the summers and in the mountains in the winter when he was growing up.  He shared a lot of personal information with us. 

We asked him about the west where the falcons are.  1800km away he said.  In the middle there are some really bad roads.  The last 600km are really really bad roads too. 

The haze has not left at all all morning.  It got worse as we approached UB.  At some point, we started to pass the Naadam horse race place.  Amra asked us if we recognise it and we did not.  It looked so different without the crowds.  Then we weave through the industrial part of UB near the power station, the rail station. 

railway engines display at UB station

Before we even were near the urban area, Amrah informed us that today being Sat, everyone was heading out to the countryside.  He also said that opening and shutting times for shops in UB are dependent on demand more than time. 

As we turned into Peace Ave, he pointed out to us where he lives – on the 9^th floor he said.  Then we turned.  He needed to call Gana but his phone kept dying so he asked us to call Gana on our phone.  We were the third car to arrive at the J Hotel after Gonzo and Gana.   

I was almost left behind in the vehicle as my travelling companion wanted a photo with our little brother.  Luckily, she remembered before he left the area and retrieved us.  We gave our Mongolian little brother a good bye hug.  They left shortly after.  Amra said that he had to get a few things done before his next assignment the next day.

The plan for the rest of the day was to attend a cultural show and then to have dinner together as in the morning, we would all start dispersing.  Originally, we had planned to do a shared photo show but that was not so easy to arrange.

The cultural show was very informative.  An array of traditions, dances, songs and music were shown.  There were also some great acrobatics that could rival Cirque Soliel.   We walked to the Cultural Show.  From there we walked to dinner at Blue Fin.  It was an upmarket modern restaurant in downtown UB.  For the first time since we entered Mongolia, we ordered sea food.  :-)  

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel.  The young ones were going with Tem to the club. Just as they were leaving, Amra called and came over to join them.  We hung out with the rest that were at the hotel for a while then retired to our room.  

24^th July, Sunday

We woke up around 8 am and went down to breakfast at 8.30 am.  Brian joined us and we bumped into Lee who was coming up as we were going down.  Jule and Dr had already left the building. 

We packed and the young duo were in and out of our room during that time.  They were heading out to another National Park.  We checked out at 12 and went looking for a cashmere cap for Roy.  We took Roy to the State Department Store.  Here in UB, the prices were more than what the local producers sold them for in the countryside.   We were quite bad with directions and ended up with the scenic route in spite of Map.Me help.

So we wandered around the souvenir section of the State Department Store, then went to Coffee Bene for a bite to eat.  A driver that we had arranged through Lee picked us up for the airport.  The trip to the airport showed how hazy UB can get when it gets really hot.

Chinggis Khan Airport from the air

UB airport check in was a strange system.  We were not allowed into the international area until 2 hr before our flight.  There was already a long queue of Taiwanese passengers in front of us.  Then it was another long wait in the waiting lounge.  We picked up more souvenirs with the last of our Tugrigs.  There were only one or two stores.  The airport reminded us of the airports in Malaysia.

UB from the air

We then boarded the flight for Beijing.  The haze hanging over UB meant that there was not much photography possible.  Chinggis Khan international airport looks like a giant ger from afar.  2 hrs later and setting our clock back in time by 1hr, we were at the Beijing Capital Airport T3.  

The services at Beijing Capital Airport has improved a lot since we were last there in 2009. It was much much more easy to navigate.  Information was most helpful and called for hotel transfer to pick us up at B13 in the parking area.  We think it helped a lot when we identified ourselves to them as foreigners by speaking English rather than Mandarin and be mistaken for a local Chinese.  Beijing was super hot and humid.  We were soaked before we even located information.  The waiting spot in the carpark was equally if not hotter since it was outside the air conditioned area.

We were picked up and brought to the hotel.  Thankfully, a courier package was waiting for us with the original of our Tibet permit.  We were a little worried about that permit in case it was sent to the wrong hotel or something.  But there it was waiting patiently for us.  It was a great relief.  At the hotel there was wi-fi but since we had Android systems, it did not work so well.

Our hotel at the airport was unbelievably tiny.  The air conditioning kept the moisture out but the bed was harder than the bed in the ger camp near the volcano in Mongolia.  Luckily, it was only for one night.  The big plus is that they did not mess up our visa.  For that we were thankful.

We were also thankful that my travelling companion's partner came to spend the last two weeks with her in Mongolia.  She was already missing him. We still have 10 days to travel - Tibet and Zhangjiajie before this adventure would come to a pause for a while.