Executive Summary - Ulaanbaatar

• Saw: Image of Ghengis Khan x 4,000,000; National History Museum, Gandantegchinlen Khiid Tibetan Monastery and 26.5 m Buddha statue, Sukhbaatar Square, Mongolian cultural singing & dancing performance.

• Did: Witnessed Mongolian monks perform a ritual chanting, waded through ankle-deep flash flooding on the streets of Ulaanbaatar, experienced first case of traveller's diarrhea (er....Train Tummy?? Mongolian metabolism?? UB upset??), searched unsuccessfully through flash flooding for souvenir shops for ankle bones that didn't look like they were just extracted from a carcass, went dancing at a nightclub called 'Westlife', dined in an American chain Mongolian BBQ restaurant (not by choice!)

• Ate/Drank: Horse, sheep's head (sample only! Can't claim I ate the whole thing), dried apple slices in an attempt to be healthy, Gobi beer, Chingis Khan beer, Borgio beer.

• Favourite part about Ulaanbaatar: Hard to pin down, I just loved it! The excitement of being in the first truly non-Western country and the gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous countryside probably sums it up.

• Least favourite part about Ulaanbaatar: UB's water drainage system could use some work. And, I did not travel on a train for the better part of a week to eat at 'BD's Mongolian BBQ Restaurant'!! (Though the food itself was ok)

• Life-altering revelation which has contributed to my search for universal truth: Sometimes the technical sandals just don't cut it. And, Ghenghis Khan is pronounced 'Chingis Han'.