Mongolia

The day started earlier, around 9 AM today. I didn't sleep well and was awake from around 1.30 AM on and off. We were getting a bus tour of some sights around UB. Traffic wasnt too bad so begin with, so we made it to our first destination just before 10 AM. This was a memorial to a Russian tank as well as a memorial to the Russian and Mongolian Soldiers who fought in several conflicts and against China to gain their independence. This involved a climb of around 150m on what seemed an endless number of steps. The view from the top was worth the walk though.  We stayed up there long enough to catch our breath and then made our way half way down. By this time the shopping mall was opened so we could get a lift to the bottom. The shopping mall was just opening and werent really there to shop. We did stop at a souvenier shop where we saw some seabuck thorn juice. This apparently has some antioxident properties so we thought we would give it a try. It had an orangey honey taste, ...

  EUREKA. I finally have a local sim card for my phone. Now I just hope it works where we are going. It was only 500m from the hotel and is the Mongolian internet provider so I am hoping it is good. We even found a coffee shop with real coffee. Life is bloody good at the moment. After the coffee and a look around the mall we made our way to Sukhbaatar Square. This is where they are having the world championship 3 a side basketball. There was also an international food festival happening although they were mostly closed. Once again, a lot of people in traditional clothes and military uniforms. I am yet to find out what it is about. Military Men with their medals on display Making our way to the art gallery near the hotel, we had to negotiate the traffic that has no rules. When we arrived at the gallery we found it was closed on Saturday and Sunday in Summer. We should have looked yesterday when we had the chance! Now that I have internet access I can find other places of interest. W...