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1997
Route in China (MONGOLIA)
Bec2004-09-19 16:43:48
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Sukh Baatar
Sukh Baatar train station on the Mongolian side of the border.
The train took 24 hours to cover the 450 kms between Ulan-Ude and Ulaan Baatar! That's only 19 km/hour or 12 mph! Anyway, I slept from here to Ulaan Baatar which was reached very early in the morning.
Ulaan Baatar
When I got to Ulaan Baatar, I met a mongol lady in the station who got on the phone and helped me choose an inexpensive hotel. I also met Eskil, a middle aged danish primary school teacher who suddenly decided he needed a month of adventure in Mongolia after 25 years without moving from his small village! He had less than an hour before his train but he decided to show me how to get here by trolley bus. People are wonderful!
Ulaan Baatar is centered on the huge Sukh Baatar Square with the House of Government on the north side and a mounted statue of the national hero Sukh Baatar in the middle.
The House of Culture and the National Opera and Ballet theater on the east side of Sukh Baatar Square.
My hotel was only about one km further east so I said goodbye to Eskil and went on foot.
I had a decent room in the Negdelchin hotel for 12 US$ a night. The staff did not speak English but they were friendly and helpful. The restaurant staff and I had unforgettable sign language sessions that left us in stitches! The menu offered only variations of meat and potatoes but vodka came in 100 ml shots!
The three internet contacts I had in Ulaan Baatar were all busy on my first day there so I started my sight seeing by myself.
These buildings were previously the Chojin Lama Monastery which has become a Museum.
This unmistakably russian Drama Theater is just across the street from the museum the Bolsheviks built in honor of the Mongol writer and poet Natsagdorj who served the communist cause well but who nevertheless disappeared
...
See photographs from:
Mongolia Gallery
