Day started with us still on the train to Mongolia, but now on the Mongolian side. Flat desert land changed to flat grass land over time. We could see some horses, sheep and a few gers and shacks along the way. It wasn't until we approached Ulanbataar that we saw some small buildings. Little Chengaiz dropped by a few times and Andy played some Sepultura for him on my ipod and headphones. He liked the headphones. As we neared our destination, he sat looking very pensive out the window and shied away when I took a photo. We spoke to the Mongolian ambassador to Turkey (or maybe he just worked for the embassy there, not sure) along the way. Eventually we reached there, and I felt a bit better. We were all relieved after the 30 hour ride.
Mongolia is fascinating. As far as I know, Ulanbataar is the only city and there is diverse scenic beauty to be had all around. This city is in the middle of gorgeous grassy mountains. We washed up at the hostel as the rain died down. After we walked around waterfilled potholes with a girl from the hostel. We grabbed some food at a vegetarian restaurant and 
then took a trip to the Naran Tuul Market, which was like a Jumma Bazaar (Friday Market in Pakistan). 
We had been warned by the Mongolian Ambassador to Turkey not to bother going there because of pickpockets and it was dirty, but we went anyway. It was interesting, with all kinds of household goods, clothes etc. We saw a traditional street performer singing, and Andy tried out some of the Mongolian Fiddles (he actually has one at home so he knows how to play it). It was fun to see him play and to see the surprise and delight of the people selling the instruments. They were happy to tell us about the instruments. On the way out, we were very lucky and ran into a group of people promoting Culture Naadam, Nomad Arts Festival. We are here in Mongolia to check out the Nadaam Festival, which is the biggest cultural celebration in Mongolia. There are many related celebrations going on throughout the town and many people from all over the world are here to enjoy it. It starts on July 11th. The people we ran into were promoting an arts and music focused Nadaam event where there will be horse racing, archery and perhaps wrestling, but there will also be tons of musicians and painters..I can't wait!
We walked back to the State Department store; a 7 level shopping mall and checked out some things there before grabbing some food across the street and taking poor sick Andy home to the hostel. The taxi ride home was pretty entertaining. Omar ended up drawing a crude looking train after we spent about five minutes saying choo choo to try and explain that we wanted to go near the train station.Finally we got home, checked some email and crashed.The people here are interesting. My first impression is of a sort of macho attitude and at first people did not seem to smile, but then some did later on. There seems to be a strong connection maintained to their culture, though pop and hip hop is a strong influence here as well. The weather is cool and the scenery is breathtaking. The traffic is very slow, but people do seem to stop at lights, and there is a better chance of a car stopping for a pedestrian here than in China.
Mongolia is fascinating. As far as I know, Ulanbataar is the only city and there is diverse scenic beauty to be had all around. This city is in the middle of gorgeous grassy mountains. We washed up at the hostel as the rain died down. After we walked around waterfilled potholes with a girl from the hostel. We grabbed some food at a vegetarian restaurant and 
then took a trip to the Naran Tuul Market, which was like a Jumma Bazaar (Friday Market in Pakistan). 
We had been warned by the Mongolian Ambassador to Turkey not to bother going there because of pickpockets and it was dirty, but we went anyway. It was interesting, with all kinds of household goods, clothes etc. We saw a traditional street performer singing, and Andy tried out some of the Mongolian Fiddles (he actually has one at home so he knows how to play it). It was fun to see him play and to see the surprise and delight of the people selling the instruments. They were happy to tell us about the instruments. On the way out, we were very lucky and ran into a group of people promoting Culture Naadam, Nomad Arts Festival. We are here in Mongolia to check out the Nadaam Festival, which is the biggest cultural celebration in Mongolia. There are many related celebrations going on throughout the town and many people from all over the world are here to enjoy it. It starts on July 11th. The people we ran into were promoting an arts and music focused Nadaam event where there will be horse racing, archery and perhaps wrestling, but there will also be tons of musicians and painters..I can't wait!
We walked back to the State Department store; a 7 level shopping mall and checked out some things there before grabbing some food across the street and taking poor sick Andy home to the hostel. The taxi ride home was pretty entertaining. Omar ended up drawing a crude looking train after we spent about five minutes saying choo choo to try and explain that we wanted to go near the train station.Finally we got home, checked some email and crashed.The people here are interesting. My first impression is of a sort of macho attitude and at first people did not seem to smile, but then some did later on. There seems to be a strong connection maintained to their culture, though pop and hip hop is a strong influence here as well. The weather is cool and the scenery is breathtaking. The traffic is very slow, but people do seem to stop at lights, and there is a better chance of a car stopping for a pedestrian here than in China.