Honolulu-Beijing-Ulaanbaatar (4/77)

Stop over in Beijing

Sunrise in China

The old familiar decor

Welcome to Ulaanbaatar

AQI worse than Beijing, ouch.

Downtown from the air above the airport

Our new front door

Tugriks, about 2,000 Tugs to the dollar

Air masks, Dr. says we must wear

Street waste, surprised this is not making soup

Two ply felt slippers, love these

Our apartment has a playground

Frozen aarts, milk solids, basis for drinks, or other foods.

Thursday - night depart 11:00 pm

Friday - we crossed the international dateline. I used the fleece around the neck trick and a lorazapam and I slept most of the 12 hour flight.

Saturday - Arrived at 6:00 am in Beijing. Walked around wondering why I did not pack my yuan a little closer to the top of my bag. We bought treats and tried to figure out how to transfer internationally. Turns out you must go to a small help desk and get a boarding pass to your next flight, then through passport control, to baggage, then through customs to have your bags groped, then re-check them. We had plenty of time, and the airport was nigh on empty. it all went off without a hitch.

Three hour China Air flight to Ulaanbaatar. We were just about the last ones to get bags and make our way out to the collection point. We were met by the Linfords. We drove into town, it was about a hour. we saw the coal fired power plants belching out massive amounts of smoke. The combined with the fires heating all the small homes and yurts (gers) which are off the gas grid. It all adds up to a whooping 500-900 PPM at 2.5 microns. Way worse than Shanghai or Beijing. The good news is it is only bad in the winter.

The Linfords helped us up to our apartment, we had 15 minutes to freshen up and then met outside. We walked up the street to a Ukrainian Restaurant. I got the Ukrainian borsh, unfortunately it was not like the Russian Borsh, lots more veggies in a thin broth. Nice place not too expensive.

Sunday we got up early and got ready for church, and went. We found a translator and enjoyed three hours in Mongolian monoglotland. Really nice building. We went over to the Francoms for dinner, very nice couple just a few doors down from us. Off to bed early.

Monday - A fellow from the Service Center took us to have Blood Work done at the hospital. I nipped home to get a Lorazapam to deal with the needle. We catch a "taxi" which is just a regular car willing to give us a ride. It cost about 1500 Tugrugs or less than a buck. The hospital looked a little lower on the scale, very third world. We had two Mongolian escorts, one went upstairs and made appointments. We went to get our TB tests first in another building. Turns out we bought the right test results, easier than taking the test, we had already had the test in the US so I did not feel bad about going around the second test.

The drug was kicking in and I was ready for the needle. We got back and went right into the office. I went first and had blood drawn. There was a fair amount of irony about being checked for HIV Hep A,B & C in a country rife with all these things and famous for dirty needles. The phlebotomist was good, I made it with out incident. Katy went next, always a trooper.

Another taxi ride back to the office and we were promised no more needles. The drug started kicking in and after lunch I took a three hour nap. Part Jet lag, but mostly drug induced. About three we went back to the office for a few hours.

We went to Sky Market across the street from our apartment. Amazing products from around the world, Korean, German, Russian, American and many others. Not many Chinese products, they are not well liked in Mongolia. Oddly they really like the Russians who controlled the country for years and then left taking almost everything with them when they went. Not clear how they formed their near universal opinion, but they have.

The prices are so much better than the City Shop in Shanghai. The import duties must have been sky-high to get the types of prices they were charging. Here in Mongolia the selection is much higher and the prices much lower. Great combo. The food is more expensive than at home, but better than we thought.

We had dinner with the three senior couples at the Dr Lewis' home, it was over on Beijing Street. They moved out of the apartment they we just moved into. They wanted something begging and nicer and they rented a home, very nice but further from the church. Big rooms and controllable heat, no steps up to the toilet.

Tuesday - After a quick breakfast we headed into the office. We setup shop in the library, the missionaries were in and out all day. they use material from the library to prepare for their English lessons. It was nice to get to know several of them but they needed more space and we needed desks to get stuff done.

Midmorning we went on a tour of the building with Tsegy the accounting office person. She showed us all the people in all the offices, So much going on. 6 floors, the basement has the Francoms in the Self Reliance Center, also down there is the Family History Center and the BYU Hawaii computer Lab for distance learning.

One the first floor is the chapel, which is unique among LDS chapels that I have seen. The front woodwork and Podium come off and can be stored, leaving an area for performances or games. A true multi-purpose room. There is also a guard stationed 24/7 with video surveillance. Our DIC office is just behind that station. A few other mystry offices finish the floor. Second office is for the Stake and 3 wards in the building. 3rd floor has the service center.

Wednesday - was a quiet day at the office, lunch at home, we had a Christmas dinner over at the Lewis' home. we popped into Sky Market, no big Christmas rush in a Buddhist country. The senior missionaries had a meal and then exchanged gifts. We thought it was one gift per couple. It was supposed to be a gift from us to each couple. Dang. We got our name in ancient Mongolian, a nice Mongolian drawing, a silk scarf and tie, some long wool socks and a few other things.  We brought a box of chocolates and shared it out to all.

Thursday Christmas day. We woke up early, we had been asked to be on a Mongol TV program. Their was a young missionary sister who sang several song and chatted with the hosted in Mongolian, she was amazing. The YSA crew put a choir together and sang several numbers. They were very good, singing in both English and Mongolian. The station was quite small, we entered and walked across the studio to get into the Green Room.

Katy and I had two segments. The first was a cooking session where Katy made a fudge recipe passed down from her grandmother. We chatted with the hostess as we made the recipe. This fudge uses only chocolate, butter and sweetened condensed milk. The segment was good and we left for a bit, the fudge cooled in the refrigerator as the next segment aired. We were brought out with the same translator from teh first segment. We sat on a long white couch and chatted with the hostess. She was wearing a red backless evening gown pretty amazing. All the microphone packs and batteries hanging off the back of her gown. We ate the fudge and talked about Christmas, traditions and family. It went well enough.

When it was over we stayed and watched the choir sing their last song. After the show was over we walked to the State Department store. 8 floors of very similar products. Lots of hats, coats, scarves and blankets. Top floor has a food court with a Cinnabun, smelled good, but I don't care much for their product.

We walked through several souvenirs shops, not much we wanted. We did go to Mary and Martha's a store that offers Kazakh handicrafts. Katy bought some nice Christmas ornaments. They seem to have several nice products, we will visit again.

About noon we were back to the building, there was a party for all the missionaries, there was a program by different folks , singing, talks, music numbers. It was fun. The mission President spoke between numbers. At the conclusion the missionaries stayed and chatted for sometime. I met with Elder Memmot who I have follow on face book for sometime, he is a friend of Steve Vistuanets. It was fun to finally meet him.

Friday we worked in the DIC Center in the morning and then had a great party hosted by the Service center. we had a meal cooked by Tushins husband. it was good. We played some games that involved one person perfoming and trying to get a correct guess though verbal or physical cues. It was fun. We were supposed to meet with the president at 2 but the party lasted til 4:00. We said we would try to connect the next day.

Saturday we borrowed a car and drove to a few stores near the State Department Store. the first was good Price. the irony was the real prices were very high. May products which would not be available at the other stores. Very well oriented toward the Expat community, I've heard there is one here, but not seen much evidence other than this market. Mercury was a store halfway between the Zackh and Sky Market. It was clean and well ordered but very much a local market.

We put our things away and then walked over to the Black market. It was called this since during Russian times it was a real non-authorized market place. Now it is a large outdoor market open all year long. It was not too cold for this time of year. As we walked along it was fine. Once we stopped walking it became very cold. I did not wear warm enough clothes and began to feel very cold, Katy was also feeling it, so we sought refuge in an indoor market across the street. We saw the right one but missed the entrance, fortunately we found another place and warmed up then got a call from the Francoms and Hills to let us know where we could meet them.

We went over and had lunch. Katy and I shared a plate of noodles, meat and veg. we had had a similar dish Christmas eve when Tsiggy took us to lunch with several sister missionaries. It is a local dish which seems to be inexpensive and delicious.

Katy hopped a taxi home with the Francoms. I stayed with the Hills and walked the market. It was similar to a Chinese market but fewer shops open and fewer shoppers. I do not yet have a good eye for fakes furs and real. We were offered some leather coats from Turkey, not sure if this was up or down from Monglian leather. I know Turkey is renown for good leather, but not sure of how to tell good sheep from second rate, or just fake. I would like to buy a sheepskin hat, but most of the hats I've found are definitely fake fur. After a look, around we took a taxi home.