The first impression of the capital city of Mongolia is hardly the best. Sue summed it up with one word, ‘drab’. We had caught the train from Beijing which is so richly beautiful and thriving and this was a let down. Let down? Well, not really. For the city began to grow on us pretty soon, despite the biting cold and the miserable ambience. Sue had bought a map at the Mongolian Government Map shop located near the State Department Store. Not knowing the local language, Sue said, the map was going to fill in some ‘vital knowledge gaps’.
We took up accommodation at this rather cute place called Gana’s Guesthouse which is not too far from the railway station. It was better than staying at a ‘ger’ or a traditional tent or a dorm. We had a spacious double room to ourselves with toilet and shower. Very clean and comfortable. It was at night that we felt the bite of chill, ooooh! But the warmth of the staff more than made up for the chill. They were even kind enough to help us organize our tours for us. Ulaanbaatar being a small town we were able to undertake most of our excursions on foot. Our first visit was to the post office, a beautiful building with a lofty tower touching the clouds in one corner of the famous Sukhbaatar Square. We wanted to send off some postcards to friends and family and we found such a wide range of stamps and postcards that it boggled our minds!
We also took a tour of the National History Museum near the square which was quite informative. I particularly liked the huge skeleton of a dinosaur.
To try authentic Chinese food we went up to the Ulaanbaatar Hotel not too far from the Drama Theater. Both Sue and I loved the pineapple chicken with steamed noodles and rice. A ‘must try’ surely.
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