They ride horses, don't they?

First things first - Mongolia's capital of Ulaanbaatar is not going to win any city beauty contests. It won't come second either. In fact I would bet with supreme confidence that even the Miss City Congeniality title would be well, well out of its reach. On initial impressions the whole place has a very run down and unattractive feel to it, with crumbling or half finished buildings, lots of roadworks, plenty of smog and pollution, and a depressing lack of green. Worst of all, there is a state-enforced rule that alcohol is not to be served on the first of each month. We arrived on August 1. We were not pleased.

But UB (as the locals call it) - and indeed wider Mongolia as a whole - is very much a place that reveals itself in layers, and Jen and I had the pleasure of peeling off those layers in three particular experiences:

Firstly - Carl McIntyre, an Aussie expat currently living and working in UB (thanks for the hookup Steve) doing international development work with the Mongolian government with a subset of AusAID. A top bloke, and a very smart one too, he gave Jen and I a fascinating insight into life in Mongolia today, the economic and social developments going on there and the kind of projects that he and other expats have had the opportunity to be involved in. There's a sense of real accomplishment behind what the local government and the expat community are working together here to achieve and it was fantastic to get a first-hand account like we did. Hell, I even feel inspired to get into something like that myself. I mean, they pay the same in developing nations as they do in London, don't they?

Secondly - Our delightful run-in with a couple of locals at a restaurant. We'd finished dinner and drinks and were about to leave when the very large man at the next table, who had clearly been drinking since about the previous Wednesday, beckoned loudly for us to join him and his much, much more sober female companion, who was very usefully also a translator. We learned that this great big bear of a man, by the name of Aruka Ariunbold, was a former Provincial Elephant - the second highest title in the very prestigious world of Mongolian wrestling (seriously, it's a huge deal here). He then trained special forces at the Police Academy and is now security officer at a gold mine working 8 weeks on, 2 weeks off - and by God he was enjoying his two weeks off. He also introduced us to a very smooth Mongolian vodka, before his lovely companion who wasn't in any way his wife took him back to a hotel, presumably to attempt to sleep with him. If that actually happened - he took at least five minutes just to stagger his way out of the restaurant - I have new respect for both of them.

Thirdly - Our trip to Terelj national park for a couple of days in the Mongolian countryside (under the expert guidance of "Bik") where we got to see the raw beauty of the country up close and personal. A particular highlight was our 3-hour horseriding expedition - compulsory really, given that Mongolia is famed as a nation of nomadic horsemen. The latest figures tell me that the current population of the world is 6,860,158,644. Of that number I am pretty sure that approximately 6,629,182,755 are better horse(wo)men than I am, and the remainder are under the age of 1. And if they could actually pull themselves up onto a horse then I'd back them to be at least be roughly on my level. That being said I took to it with as much gusto as I could (Jen's enthusiasm was infectious) and it was quite exhilarating galloping through the Mongolian countryside and up mountain trails to survey the gorgeous plains and valleys below. When you think about it I was pretty much just like Genghis Khan* without the sheepskin coat, cool manicured beard, vast empire and ability to ride a horse. And at my current rate of recovery I am hoping to be able to sit down without pain again by mid-September. 2013.

My (Jen's) turn. Things I will remember:

• Mongolian Barbecue made by placing hot stones into a pot with the meat, potatoes, salt and water and left for an hour on top of the fire until totally yummy!
• Traditional Mongolia games played with the ankle bones of sheep. Sides are named sheet, goat, horse and camel and you can flick two matching pairs to win - most wins wins. Or horse race where you throw 4 bones like dice and if a horse comes up you can move your other bone on one place along the track. Or another game essentially of pick up.
• The dodgy Indiana Jones style bridge to get to the Buddhist monastery.
• Drinking horses milk.... hmmm....
• Sleeping in a 'Ger' - a traditional little tent like thing that loads of families here still actually sleep in. More spacious on the inside than they look on the outside, but still pretty small for a family of 8. Made out of a wooden circular frame, animal fur insulation and felt and cotton outer layer.
• Yaks - they're fluffy.
  

* known locally as Chinggis (meaning big sea/ocean) Khan. Regardless of name Jen says the way the Mongolians love this man reminds her of that song from Wicked where the Wizard of Oz sings "a man's called a traitor or liberator.... it's all in which label is able to persist"

BT7_Ulanbaataar 1 - 5 Aug 2010