I had no intention of traveling or doing any big trips this year. This was going to be a low-key year where I took care of some issues. My plan was to stay close, do little traveling, take care of some things, and, if possible, pay off my car or at least get the loan down. No, I would not be traveling outside the country. It was a good plan. But mid-August I found myself at the airport getting ready to fly halfway around the world. So much for that good plan.

My good plan lasted through April so it was a solid four months. Then somewhere at the end of April or the beginning of May a new plan emerged. Puje, a church friend who is native Mongolian, was talking to a group of friends after church. She had come to the USA right before COVID hit and became stuck. Literally. Mongolia’s borders shut down and she couldn’t return home. While she waited here in the states, she married an American. When the borders finally opened back up she needed to return home to “close up shop.” Her plan was to return to Mongolia in May for five months. She needed to pack, sell her apartment and car, and say goodbye to her friends and family before returning to the states to live.

As she was explaining her story to a group of church friends, I jokingly said I was going with her. She said I should come. I said I can’t go for 5 months. She said I should take advantage of the opportunity. I thought about it and she was right. Maybe I could visit. You should come for a month, she said. I can’t go for month but I could go for two weeks. Two weeks is not enough time, she said. Two weeks is what I could get off from work though. She told me I should come during the summer months because that would be the best time. After going home and looking at airfare and figuring out my work schedule, I decided the best time would be August 19-31. I already discussed the actual trip and how long it took to travel in last week’s post. You can read it here.

Now, I’m going to skip to when I exited the plane in Mongolia until the time I boarded the plane to head back.

Despite the rush at the Frankfurt airport and the obvious (thankful) delay, my plane arrived a little early in Mongolia. I had let Puje know when I boarded the plane and told her I expected to be arriving late in Ulaanbaatar. I was wrong. Since it was only 5:00am I planned on waiting at the airport until she arrived. But she was already there when I picked up my luggage. I asked her if she had been waiting long and she smiled and said no but I have a feeling she had a bit of a wait.

The airport is actually outside the city and it is a city with over 1 million people. Our commute to her apartment was about an hour. Now, I am from Wyoming so I liked to tell the people I met that there are more people in the city of Ulaanbaatar than in my whole state. Nearly twice as many in fact. So no, I am not used to the city atmosphere.

My first introduction to the city was in the early morning. Traffic didn’t seem so bad then. Puje even commented on the lack of traffic. We arrived at her place downtown and carried my luggage up the five flights of stairs. This was an older building with no elevator so I was on those stairs quite a bit. I always thought of the the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory (2007-2019) whenever we were on them because it was a similar set up. Up, turn, up, turn or down, turn, down, until we reached our destination.

I am not an experienced traveler but even I know the most basic rule. No matter how tired you are you don’t rest when you arrive. If you rest you will sleep. If you sleep you won’t acclimate to the time zone. So once we dropped my luggage off at her place we descended down all those stairs again.

The first stop was to an ATM to withdraw some cash. I am horrible at math and the Mongolian Tugrik has too many zeros for me. I withdrew $200,000 and even though I had checked the currency rates I worried how much I actually had withdrawn. In case you are wondering, with the service fee included my withdrawal translated to about $78.

The first place we went to was a Buddhist Monastery in downtown. The bright colors stood out amongst its surroundings. Monks were worshipping and walking around the grounds.

We also went to a couple of historic sites located in town. It was a fairly low key day since I had been traveling for over 24 hours. On our way back to the apartment, we stopped and got massages. Of course, I could not stay awake and fell asleep.

Due to the population, the city has has attempted to minimize the traffic problems. On certain days, cars with license plates that end with an odd number can’t be driven downtown. Even number plates can’t be driven on a different day.

The next day, Puje could not drive her car so we walked. We walked downtown Ulaanbaatar. There is a new Chinggis Khaan Museum that opened while my friend was stuck in the states. She waited for me before she went so that we could go together. It is an impressive immersive building. Each floor was a certain era in Mongolia’s timeline. The thing that got me though was when my friend said over and over, “this is not the history we were taught.” She was quite moved by the experience and planned to return when she could spend more time going through the timelines. I should explain, when she was a young girl going to school being taught history the country was under communist rule. The curriculum was dictated and the students learned a perspective that was perhaps written by another country and not entirely accurate.

It is a beautiful museum and if you find yourself in Ulaanbaatar at some point it really should be a stop. You can spend as much time as you want to spend but there are several floors so plan to set aside a decent chunk of time.

Also in downtown we went to the Cashmere store. Puje couldn’t believe I didn’t want to purchase anything while there. Sure, it would have been cheap to buy but it wouldn’t be cheap to maintain once I returned home. I’m not really a dry clean only type of gal. Rather, I’m a see how much I can fit in one load type. If I had made a purchase, it wouldn’t have made it past the first wash.

I easily met my daily mile goal on this day. We walked about 6 miles.

The next day we took a little road trip. Originally, the plan was to go for a few days. But Puje’s little red Toyota was not doing so well after sitting in a garage for three years. She didn’t trust it to get where she wanted to go and back. Instead, we headed east where she was able to visit some places she cherished and needed to visit before she left.

This was my first experience in a ger. One thing that I learned after visiting several museums is the meaning of Mongolia actually means felt dwellers. The original abode of the nomad tribes. While there are many aspects of the ger I appreciate, the sleeping mats are not one of them. The cots or mats are not comfortable especially for those bodies over a certain age.

We stayed the night and made our way back to the city the next day. After returning, we went to a spa.

The next day was more city sightseeing which included me walking up about a million stairs. At the top is a monument for those who lost their lives during WWII. That night I attended a cultural show that showcased Mongolia’s history.

That weekend, a good friend of Puje’s wanted to take her on a picnic since she’d be leaving for the states to live. I was included in the invitation. But, since it was the end of August, the no-drive rule was extended to accommodate the increased traffic due to school children returning to the city for school. Puje couldn’t drive her car on Saturday, Monday, or Wednesday that week.

Which means her friends had to come and pick us up for the picnic. The friends spoke limited English except for the teenage daughter. She happened to be attending an American school because her goal is to move to NYC after she graduates. Her and I were able to carry on a conversation while the rest of the adults spoke Mongolian. Unfortunately for her, she was relegated the role of babysitting the American. She had to inform me when we were at a stop picking up food that I was actually being rude by not allowing them to buy me snacks. I told her that mooching off people’s hospitality in America is considered rude. The family ordered pizza and wings at a Pizza Hut in the store. In an effort not to be rude, I ate two slices of pizza but I could not bring myself to eat wings in a car. I reserve that messiness for when I am in the comfort of my home.

After driving for over an hour, it was discovered that where we were heading for a picnic was near where we had already gone camping. Instead of continuing, the car was turned and we headed west. It took another hour to get to the other side of the city.

Once finally outside the city, we stopped and watched a horse show. Then continued to a National Park. It was late afternoon when we arrived so it was decided we would do another camp out in another ger.

I was treated to a real Mongolian barbecue with the stipulation that I let people know what a true Mongolian barbecue actually is. Long story short, the BBQ we call Mongolian here in the states is actually a misnomer. The Americanized Mongolian BBQ actually originated in Taiwan and has no ties to Mongolia itself. I ate the mutton but I could not bring myself to eat the fat. Even though there were assurances that the Mongolian sheep are fed completely natural with no added chemicals or any such nonsense and the fat was healthy and good for you I could not do it. Plus, I was full from having pizza on our road trip. It was not my intent to be a rude American but my belly could not be persuaded to eat as much as was on my plate.

After dinner we went deeper into the park to see the Takhi, also known as the Przewalski wild horses. We found a herd just before dark.

We all slept in the ger which was a little weird for me as an American introvert but what was I to do? The next day we went back to town and had to stop at the friend’s place because of the driving restriction. They live in a very nice home overlooking a part of the city. We had more mutton. After lunch, we switched cars and they took us back to the city.

By the next day, we were beginning to run out of things to do. Due to the driving restriction, we were again on foot. We spent the day walking around downtown. I went to a couple more museums. That night there was a church function in which Elder Neil A. Andersen from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spoke. We took a taxi to the church and then walked home afterward.

The next day, another group of friends invited us to a summer home. I spent the afternoon not being able to follow the conversation and playing Uno. You don’t need to speak the same language to play Uno. I appreciated the fact that I was in the countryside of Mongolia on a late summer Tuesday afternoon.

My final day in the city, was another walking day. We walked a little bit more in downtown. Plus, we snuck in one last massage. But we returned fairly early so that I could pack. I agreed to take a suitcase for Puje when I returned home. It really was the least I could do after she showed me so much warm Mongolian hospitality.

The next morning I woke up at 4:00 to begin the longest Thursday in my life. And just like that, my vacation was done. Mongolia was never on my list of spots that I needed to visit. In fact, I had to look it up on a map more than once. I tried to cram a little history in before I left but all I could find was a junior reader on Genghis Khan (anglicized version of name). Turns out, that is the history I heard a lot about. With good reason. He was responsible for uniting the nomadic tribes and expanded the empire to its most impressive glory.

The summation of my trip is it is a wonderful place to visit full of history and a rich culture. If you ever get the chance to go, I say go.