Mongolia

Arrived at the airport to find that I was an hour early, and its still 530, the flight which i thought was at 730 was actually at 830...and to top it off, theres nothing open and i really wanted a cup of coffee.

Got the boarding pass and made it like a breeze through immigration. Again having to catch the tram to the terminal and walking an additional 15 minutes to get to the gate, why do i always have to fly out of the last possible gate in a terminal...

Once at the gate the flight monitors provided a pleasant suprise, the flight that was scheduled to leave at 830 was now leaving at 1920....11 hours delayed due to weather in Mongolia...At aroudn 9 they finally coralled all of us that were still at the gate and bused to a hotel to that we could not mill around the airport, once at the hoel, we were told that we had to share a room with a random stranger form the light or pay 200 Yuan for a seperate room, I ended up with a German named Jurgen, a nice chap who worked a little on his computer and slept until it was time to go. The bonus was that we got a free lunch at the hotel, this was nice considering i was starving from the long day and early morning start.

The flight delay didn't bother me, it was the fact that we were prisoners in the hotel, they told us we couldn't leave as the flight might be leaving early once the weather cleared, i had it all worked out that i was going to go back to Tianemen square to see what i wasn't able to the night before.

Oh well, a nap instead was my actual events for the day, not that this is a bad thing as i was beat, but it still would have been nice to get out. Back to the airport, wihtout delay, rushed through immigration and security and off to the gate to hurry up and wait. The flight boarded on time, and they even apologized for the delay, nice touch i thought.

Arriving in Mongolia, the airport pick up that I though i arranged was no where to be found, so i ended up with the cab driver that didn't know Ulaanbaatar very well. Arrived a the guest hour around 11PM and straight to bed, only to be woken at 4AM by two things, my alarm that apparently turned on in my bag, and a huge dog trying to knock down the door to get let back inside. Good thing for me, falling back asleep was a non issue!

Woke to a fantastic shower and great breakfast of Eggs, bread, jam, tea, and cheese, was also graced with the great conversation from two swiss travelers who had just traversed Mongolia by Horse. Very adventerous individuals and quite the adventure from the story they told.

Ulaanbaatar is a very nice city, not much for developed sidewalks, but the overal archetecture is nice, as are the people that I come in contact with. thats not to say other people have not had similar pleasantries with the locals. The lovely swiss couple i met were mugged in the black market, as well as the german travelers, whom were followed by a pick pocket for many blocks, and were unaware until they were notified by a shopkeeper.