Last night’s meal in the hotel’s restaurant was delicious. It was said to be authentic Mongolian cuisine; I had a soup with an unpronounceable name consisting of chunks of mutton, tomatoes, pickled gherkin, onion, peppers and some other vegetables I couldn’t identify.
Ulan Bator is one massive traffic jam. We got a double-decker bus from a stop conveniently located across the road from the hotel and 8 kms (and 45 minutes) later we reached Suukh Bator Square, where there is a huge statue of Genghis Khan. Three things were happening in the Square: it was university graduation day and there were many young men in dark suits and girls in beautiful clothes accompanied by proud parents, a number of wedding ceremonies had taken place and the happy couple plus relatives were in the square to celebrate (with some of the older men wearing traditional Mongol costumes) and some sort of basketball competition was taking place which, judging by frequent roars from the crowd, Mongolia was winning. We then decided to look at the Bogd Khaan Ormon Muzei, a museum based on the last Mongol emperor’s winter palace (in summer he lived in a yurt out in the steppe) together with a Buddhist temple. Getting there was an ordeal. It seems Ulan Bator doesn’t have taxis and a young man showed us how to flag down a passing motorist. In fact he flagged down some poor soul for us who agreed to take us to the museum. We got stuck in a massive traffic jam and it took him 2 hours to drive 4 miles. The museum is on the southern edge of the city at the foot of the highest mountain we have seen in Mongolia. It had some beautiful tapestries and golden buddhas as well as items from the last emperors home including his throne and collection of stuffed birds.
Last night’s meal. My soup and Jennifer’s buuzy (dumplings), 18 of them stacked in three containers. She ate 5 of them and we got boxes to keep the rest.
The hotel very thoughtfully left a “Love Box” in our room complete with a vibrator. There was also a complimentary johnny.
The traffic lights were bust, just like everything else in Mongolia. This policeman is trying to direct the traffic.
Statue of Marco Polo who served Genghis Khan’s grandson Kublai Khan in Beijing for 13 years. Hard to believe that the Mongol Ming dynasty ruled China for 362 years
Genghis Khan
Kublai Khan.
The Government Palace. We are not supposed to take photos of it and although a policeman watched me intently, he didn’t do anything
The History Museum
This little boy is learning English at school and was terrorised by his mother to come and talk to us.
University graduates
Some bloke at a wedding
More folk at a wedding
Golden boddhisatvas at the Emperor’s Winter Palace
The temple
This yurt was the entrance to the museum
Water containers in case the temple caught fire.
The Emperor’s winter palace.
The last Emperor sitting on his throne, next to his wife.