UlaanBaatar
Trip Start
Aug 24, 2007
1
8
43
Trip End
Feb 26, 2008
Ulan Bator,
Mongolia
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
UlaanBaataar is a sprawling city which grows every year as nomads move into the city to try and make some cash. It is heavily polluted and dimension-wise very small. We were staying right in the middle - which was good because it was freezing so walking wasn't something I wanted to do more than was absolutely necessary! That night we went to the "steakhouse" and we were not disappointed - it was excellent. We basically spent 2 days eating all the Western food we were missing. UlaanBaataar is amazingly westernized and there is quite a lot of English spoken in restaurants and shops etc. While there we tried to get as many of the touristy things done but we only had one day and also wanted to make sure we also had a chance to sample some of the local beer.
The Mongolia Nature Museum was on the list as there are a lot of dinosaur bones there. I have to say that I think after going there that I could in fact be a believer!!!! The museum of Public Persecution was quite a shocker which showed all the people who were tortured and murdered during the time of the Stalin purges. All in all, a good and interesting city...but it was now time to head off on our jeep trip for 17 days.
