Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
4:19 PM
Yes readers, that's right. I've just got back from Mongolia.
In late Jan, work decided that there is simply no limit as to how far they'll send me to check out the books of mining companies and with that mindset, decided they weren't satisfied with sending me to the middle of the West Australia desert and promptly decided that Mongolia would be next on my list of exotic locations.
Left Perth on Jan 29th and flew overnight via Singapore and Beijing to Ulaanbaatar (UB), the capital of Mongolia. At this point, i'm going to remind you that it's January, which means middle of winter in Mongolia. For those whose geography is lacking, Mongolia is located near Russia, China and Siberia. Ulaanbaatar is the world's coldest capital city and has a population of about 1.5m people. Suffice to say, the 40+ degree temperatures i'd had the weekend before flying out were vastly different to the -20ish it was when I got off the plane.
After donning every item in my suitcase in an attempt to beat the cold, we were taken by our driver, Jiggi, to our hotel and then to the office. The next few days passed without too much impact with our morning walk to the office undertaken at around -25 degrees, work being done for most of the day, then out to dinner and home again. Food was surprisingly normal but then again, we probably went to THE most western restaurants in all of Mongolia.
Saturday we worked briefly in the morning before being taken out to the Gobi Cashmere factory, the local shopping centre, visited the museum of natural history, then out for a traditional Mongolian performance. Let me tell you something, the Mongolian contortionists are friggin awesome. I had five girls, folded over backwards on themselves with their heads between their legs (poking through from the back of the leg through to the front) holding themselves up on their hands and smiling at the crowd. At this point, my jaw had detached and left a hole in the floor where it hit. Good lord...
Sunday we again got taken around by our translator Zolo and driver Jiggi to a traditional Mongolian temple, went out to a hotel where you can stay in traditional style Gers (Nomadic huts), did some archery (it was freezing by the way), then took a quick trip up to a lookout to get a view over UB. One more day of work came on Monday then we flew out Tuesday, overnight flights again back the way we came.
And so ends another chapter. Pics are up at photobucket site http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e
Where to next?
In late Jan, work decided that there is simply no limit as to how far they'll send me to check out the books of mining companies and with that mindset, decided they weren't satisfied with sending me to the middle of the West Australia desert and promptly decided that Mongolia would be next on my list of exotic locations.
Left Perth on Jan 29th and flew overnight via Singapore and Beijing to Ulaanbaatar (UB), the capital of Mongolia. At this point, i'm going to remind you that it's January, which means middle of winter in Mongolia. For those whose geography is lacking, Mongolia is located near Russia, China and Siberia. Ulaanbaatar is the world's coldest capital city and has a population of about 1.5m people. Suffice to say, the 40+ degree temperatures i'd had the weekend before flying out were vastly different to the -20ish it was when I got off the plane.
After donning every item in my suitcase in an attempt to beat the cold, we were taken by our driver, Jiggi, to our hotel and then to the office. The next few days passed without too much impact with our morning walk to the office undertaken at around -25 degrees, work being done for most of the day, then out to dinner and home again. Food was surprisingly normal but then again, we probably went to THE most western restaurants in all of Mongolia.
Saturday we worked briefly in the morning before being taken out to the Gobi Cashmere factory, the local shopping centre, visited the museum of natural history, then out for a traditional Mongolian performance. Let me tell you something, the Mongolian contortionists are friggin awesome. I had five girls, folded over backwards on themselves with their heads between their legs (poking through from the back of the leg through to the front) holding themselves up on their hands and smiling at the crowd. At this point, my jaw had detached and left a hole in the floor where it hit. Good lord...
Sunday we again got taken around by our translator Zolo and driver Jiggi to a traditional Mongolian temple, went out to a hotel where you can stay in traditional style Gers (Nomadic huts), did some archery (it was freezing by the way), then took a quick trip up to a lookout to get a view over UB. One more day of work came on Monday then we flew out Tuesday, overnight flights again back the way we came.
And so ends another chapter. Pics are up at photobucket site http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e
Where to next?
