before i start - not all these photos are mine, the good ones are kelly and anika's :)
We arrived back in the afternoon and met up with Anika, who had flown from Koln, via Moscow into Ulaan Baator. When we got back to our hotel we discovered that our apartment had actually been rented out to someone else in our absence, despite a booking - when in mongolia, and we were moved into a space with three 2-bed rooms, and a toilet and shower about the size of a large broom closet.
tight security at the khongor guest house
That night we went for dinner, and ran into our would-be guide for the next two days, Paja. Paja helped us order at a chinese restaraunt after our colorful hand gestures failed to communicate that we were after a few vegetarian meals. The food was really really good, only cost $26AUD to feed 6 people, and desert was something id never tried before - baked potatoes covered in a hot toffee, with a bowl of water beside. the instructions were to dip the potato in the water, to harden the toffee, giving a crunchy sweet shell over a soft potato interior.
The following day we met Paja early and crammed in a whole lot of sight seeing.
GangDanTegChenLing Temple - A Buddist temple with a massive 26.5m high copper guilded buddist statue, surrounded by a few hundred handsized statues. We also got to see a buddist ceremony - chanting, throat singing, and lots of drums and cymbals at particular moments.
Shukhbaatar Square, the central square in Ulaan Bator, with statues of Chingis Khan, and some minions
Chingis Khan
Chingis' Gerneral
Palace of the last Bogd Khaan - mongolias last monarch. He didnt have any kids, and apparently enjoyed a good joke, including zapping his servants with wires attatched to his car's battery. In the palace were heaps of cool statues and tapestries, but we couldnt take any photos. Among the Bogd Khaans collection of weird and wonderful things was a ger made from 150 leopard skins, a pet elephant, and a variety of stuffed animals.
From here we went to the natural history museum (no cameras) - dinosaur bones, a whole lot more stuffed animals including an adult kangaroo, a few bears and deer, a llama, and baby versions of any animal they could find. Then went to see a performance at the Mongolian National Song and Dance Company. Folk dancing, Drawling (a chant like free-time call sung only by the women, highlight of the night), lots of horse-head fiddles, and some throat singing at the end.
For a view of the sunset we went to the Zaisan Russian monument, and a nearby Bhuddist statue. To the left and right of the statue were a bell and a drum that we hit for good luck.
the bell had chinese and mongolian scripts on it
The Zaisan Russian monument was built in memory of russian soldiers killed in WWII, and depicts several scenes (couldnt get any good photos of them though) of national pride and friendship between russia and mongolia.
Me, Anika, Kent
Bec, Ash, Paja, Paja's boy XinNe
The next day we met Paja again, who had invited us to her house for lunch.
Paja's Mum, Ash, Me, Bec, Paja, Kent
heading back home for a farewell dinner for Ash
showing off our farewell gifts from ash, kelly got a glue stick
The following morning we shed Ash and a few tears, jumped in out ex-military russian van and began the long-awaited horse trip.
