Welcome to Mongolia. I can't believe I'm in Mongolia! Now what? I had no clue since I didn't arrange any tours or trips, I figured I could join a group tour once I got to the Khongor Guest House in Ulaan Baatar, the capital city of Mongolia.
Ulaan Baatar (UB) is an enormous city that stretches out for miles from the main business district to millions of ger tents expanding out to the countryside. It has all the positive and negative aspects of a major city - flourishing commerce, heavy traffic, nightlife scene, and construction everywhere. The city is built in typical Soviet style - lots of ugly concrete apartment blocks (most guesthouses are in these apartment blocks), large brightly colored (now faded) theaters and gigantic government buildings. Today, the city is booming with new buildings built on any available patch of land but their infrastructure needs a massive upgrade (paved roads are only in and around major cities/towns).
What? No tickets to the Naadam? After all the trouble I went through, I found out that tickets are sold out but there may be a group of people going to see the horse race tomorrow. This blows...
I had no clue where to go for lunch, Khongor folks just said go outside and walk around as there are plenty of restaurants along Peace Avenue. I couldn't find any restaurants open since today was Mongolia's Independence Day...the only spot that looked open was a Korean restaurant. It seems there's a huge Korean business community in UB and lots of Korean tourists too! So lunch was at a Korean restaurant (Sangi) across from the Khongor Guest House...ironic that I traveled all the way to Mongolia and my first meal was Korean.
I'm in a dorm-style room with 8 beds and I have a top bunk. I haven't slept on a (top) bunk bed since I was a child!
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Location:Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia
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