Episode 13

Well I would love to say I had a good look around Ulan Baatar, but sadly I was considered too much of a handful to be taken around sightseeing, especially when my humans were going to use the busses in Ulan Baatar. It seems that pick-pockets abound in this city so they went off without me so that they could better safeguard their pockets. Seems a pretty poor excuse to me but then I'm only the stuffed toy. So the following is only L’s impression, I have nothing to say on the matter except that I would not have enjoyed getting soaking wet as they did, ha ha! Serve em right!

The 'black market’ is a massive market area where it’s possible to buy just about anything. There is a large area devoted to the motor vehicle. Here you could start from scratch and build your own generic car, and probably not spend a great amount of money. Sadly, our Rangie being 14 years old is quite difficult to get spares so a couple of things D would have liked to get he couldn’t find. Next to the auto market is the ‘Ger" market. Here you can buy everything to build your own Ger. Then there is a large clothes market, a hardware and habadashary area, fruit and vegetables, and even a bulk purchase area where store holders from afar can buy supplies. Much of this being under canvas and that was not altogether water proof, we kept having to dodge big drips when it was tipping with rain.

Further on under permanent cover is a area of lots of small cafes offering good meals at very reasonable prices. For about €2 or $3AUD a good meal can be had. All these little places appear quite clean and presentable. In this area too are some fruit and veggie stalls, some meat shops and a vast array of other supplies.

My humans walked quite a long way so they tell me. As they walked past a crowded bus stop some one pulled open the zip on one of L’s coat pockets, there was only some tissues inside and they were not taken. L’s money was in a more safe place, an inside pocket in her trousers. Still she found it a bit un-nerving. Not far further on someone tried to do the same thing to David. David caught him and according to L damn near flattened him. He’ll be a bit more selective about his victims next time. L had her coat pocket opened a second time but she doesn’t know just when it happened but again the tissue was left there.

This is the worst place for this sort of thing that my humans have come across in all their years of travelling. Three times in the space of a few hours does not sit well with them. Perhaps it was just as well they didn’t take me.

There is still quite a Russian influence to be seen in this Asian city. The big central square is so like those in Russia with large shrubs and plenty of overgrown grass, rubbish, mostly plastic bottles, and a few sleeping drunks. Alcoholism is a really big problem here. Everywhere you go you try to avoid drunks weaving their way along the street, it’s as bad as trying to avoid the traffic.

In the city centre there are new skyscrapers, all glass and steel, blue glass is popular. In the nearest suburbs there are blocks of housing units that look quite smart on the outside, not sure what they are like inside. The main residential district though is the ‘Ger’ district. So named because originally the people flocking to the city looking for work would erect their Ger and live in it:

Now the inhabitants have built small houses to replace their gers and have a garage for their car. There seems to be only one or two houses to each compounded surrounded by a high fence often built of tin with a double gate for the car. Sounds not too bad, a house or two on a small block of land: However there is no running water, a few may have a bore or well but mostly they have to go and get water from a community well and there are only pit toiled of very dubious standards. L got this information about the houses from an American lady who lives in one. This lady, Susan, is married to a Mongolian and has lived here most of the time since 1997.

Today my humans went on another excursion out to the immigration centre that is quite a distance from town and near the airport. They had been told by other travellers that it is best to get any visa extensions as early as they can so they went and got another 30 days, We don’t have to leave until 24th August now, but it’s seems that we can’t have another extension. They were lucky in that Susan the American lady and her stepson gave them a lift out to this centre and assistance with the procedure, they are very grateful to her for this.

It was quite a procedure too; first they had to buy the application form, about 70cents, then fill it out and stick on a passport photo. Then it was back to the entrance to get photocopies of their passports and current visas, about 40cents each, then L had to write a note explaining why they wanted to extend their visas, then they had to go to the bank, (in the same building) and pay for the visas, about €60 ea, and the bank charged another 30 cents for each receipt. Don’t you just love it!. Then back to the right counter where they had to wait while a group of Israelis tried to decide whether or not to get visa extensions. They decided no eventually. When they did get to the counter the man issued the visa extension immediately, they had been told that there would be a wait. After all that they caught the bus back to town. All this without me:

We are staying at the Oasis guest house near the Ger district in Ulan Baatar. L really loves the atmosphere here where there are travellers coming and going all the time. There are many in their own vehicles, some landrovers, some landcruises, a few mobile homes of varying sizes and quality, heaps of motorbikes and a few bicycles. China does not seem a popular destination this year for those with their own transport. Last year when David was here most were coming from, or going to China. The only ones coming from China we have so far met were some Swiss in a landrover. They had got to SE Asia by driving to Iran and they shipping the car from Iran to Malaysia. They then drove up through Thailand and Laos to China. No-one here while we’ve been here is going into China.

Of the bikes most are blokes but there are a few women and one NZ couple, the girl riding pillion, and a Dutch couple on a bike with sidecar. Dimitri whom David met last year is here again now. He is making his way around the world using human power only. Dimitri is riding his bicycle on land.

He has crossed the Bering strait in winter, from icefloe to icefloe, swimming, floating really, to get from one floe to the next. He says one of the most scary things about this was when he was camping on a floe in his tent and ‘led’ would form under the tent. A ‘led’ is when the ice breaks apart. You could very easily end up in ultra freezing water. It is only about 50k’s or so across the strait but because of the movement of the icefloes he worked out, using his GPS that he covered 100’s of k’s. The current is very strong: When floating between floes he carried his equipment on his stomach. He left one bicycle in Alaska and picked up another in Russia. At some point in the future he will be rowing across the Atlantic. His girlfriend, now wife Gulnara, accompanies him when he’s cycling. If anyone is interested to read about Dimitri’s adventures, try googling Nexus expeditions.

© Lynette Regan 1st July 2013