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I am writing this from the Mongolian Stock Exchange. I never even considered there was one here. Benedict and I happened to walk into it by mistake. A security guard tried to stop us at the entrance, I gave him a big grin, said hello sweetheart and strolled straight past. What fun. I am now overlooking the actual exchange room: there are a grand total of 7 people working here, most playing cards or watching TV. I have the feeling the local stock exchange is not as busy as it could be, one nearly expects the brokers to have arrived to work by Yak or horse. I just noticed that the big board containing the times of the cities around the world informs me that it is 15:15 in Ulan Bataar on the 5th of May; either I have been drinking too much airag (don't ask ! I don't know what it is, but it does give you a splitting headache in the morning) or they trade a bit behind everyone else.

Ulanbaatar

Degrubenc
2005-12-09 14:03:55

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I am writing this from the Mongolian Stock Exchange. I never even considered there was one here. Benedict and I happened to walk into it by mistake. A security guard tried to stop us at the entrance, I gave him a big grin, said hello sweetheart and strolled straight past. What fun. I am now overlooking the actual exchange room: there are a grand total of 7 people working here, most playing cards or watching TV. I have the feeling the local stock exchange is not as busy as it could be, one nearly expects the brokers to have arrived to work by Yak or horse. I just noticed that the big board containing the times of the cities around the world informs me that it is 15:15 in Ulan Bataar on the 5th of May; either I have been drinking too much airag (don't ask ! I don't know what it is, but it does give you a splitting headache in the morning) or they trade a bit behind everyone else.

I had, this morning, the most wonderful breakfast at the Cafe de France, in front of the Mausoleum containing the tomb of some great Communist or the other. Marc (the owner) had perfect coffee and the most delicious croissants in the world. What a pleasure after two days of mutton for breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner ! Also a great change from the warm suutei tsai (which is salty tea with yak milk, cooked with mutton fat) which, although interesting at first, is not quite in harmony with my taste buds. I shall learn to appreciate it, as there is no running away from it: it is drunk with every meal, at every spare moment and I am heading to the Gobi for 4 days, where that is all I
will get.

My father told me that, when he first came in Ulan Bataar, the town stunk of mutton. Well, it still does. I went this morning to the train station to pick up Benedict, who was arriving from Irkoutsk. At 0500, the train station is flooded from the arrival of the steppe: people who brought with them thousands of gallons of Kvar, some horrible white ...