Because of our trip to the Gobi, I had no internet access and have fallen behind on posting. You will see several posts, one Friday and one for each of the days of our time in the Gobi.
On Friday morning, we had our last breakfast at the Comfort Hotel - they have a set schedule and Fridays are hotdogs (on a roll with cucumber slices, cherry tomato halves and mayo), chicken soup and tea. We set out around 9:00, but instead of heading straight to Ulaanbaatar, our driver Baagii is very proud of his home town. So we drove to a hilltop where we had a panoramic view of the city. Habitat Darkhan has built more than 500 homes in Darkhan since opening in 2002 - in fact, that section of town is known as "Habitat Town." Of course, there was also the Buddhist memorial that we circled three times and added a rock for good luck.
Here is a video that shows a panoramic view of Darkhan.
After our hilltop stop, we set out for Ulaanbaatar. After about 10 km, we passed the turn for the road to Khutul where we had been building. After about two hours, we stopped so people could have a bathroom break.
As before, we reached Ulaanbaatar in a reasonable 3.5 hours - but then it took another 90 minutes to get across town to our hotel. This gave us a couple of hours to rest before heading out for a cultural event - The Torgo Mongolian National Fashion Show. Other than the high heel shoes worn by the women, the models wore what are representative of traditional Mongolian outfits from the two dozen regions of Mongolia. Sometimes, they just strutted down the runway as models; other times, there were dances and songs. My understanding is that they are very famous and have traveled the world with their show.
To give you an idea how tall the models are, that is me in the back row, fourth from left - standing on my toes. Yes, the women wore high heels, but with the head dresses they were tall.
Here are some videos of their musical performances.
After the show, we went to Hazara Restaurant, famous for its Indian food. We had plenty of naan, curry, tik-tik chicken, chickpea salad, soups, noodles, etc. It was our last time together. Grace had to leave - from Singapore, you can only get a 14 day visa so after dinner, she left for the airport. Kim and Susan left for Australia on Saturday and Karla returned to California on Sunday. Peter went home to his flat here in Ulaanbaatar. The remaining eight of us went to the hotel and went to bed - we had a 4:45 a.m. pick up for our trek to the Gobi.
On Friday morning, we had our last breakfast at the Comfort Hotel - they have a set schedule and Fridays are hotdogs (on a roll with cucumber slices, cherry tomato halves and mayo), chicken soup and tea. We set out around 9:00, but instead of heading straight to Ulaanbaatar, our driver Baagii is very proud of his home town. So we drove to a hilltop where we had a panoramic view of the city. Habitat Darkhan has built more than 500 homes in Darkhan since opening in 2002 - in fact, that section of town is known as "Habitat Town." Of course, there was also the Buddhist memorial that we circled three times and added a rock for good luck.
Here is a video that shows a panoramic view of Darkhan.
After our hilltop stop, we set out for Ulaanbaatar. After about 10 km, we passed the turn for the road to Khutul where we had been building. After about two hours, we stopped so people could have a bathroom break.
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| Interesting statue |
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| Interesting sign for the bathrooms - only 100 MNT to use the facilities, and you would get toilet paper if you asked |
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| Super market |
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| 24 hour restaurant |
As before, we reached Ulaanbaatar in a reasonable 3.5 hours - but then it took another 90 minutes to get across town to our hotel. This gave us a couple of hours to rest before heading out for a cultural event - The Torgo Mongolian National Fashion Show. Other than the high heel shoes worn by the women, the models wore what are representative of traditional Mongolian outfits from the two dozen regions of Mongolia. Sometimes, they just strutted down the runway as models; other times, there were dances and songs. My understanding is that they are very famous and have traveled the world with their show.
To give you an idea how tall the models are, that is me in the back row, fourth from left - standing on my toes. Yes, the women wore high heels, but with the head dresses they were tall.
Here are some videos of their musical performances.
After the show, we went to Hazara Restaurant, famous for its Indian food. We had plenty of naan, curry, tik-tik chicken, chickpea salad, soups, noodles, etc. It was our last time together. Grace had to leave - from Singapore, you can only get a 14 day visa so after dinner, she left for the airport. Kim and Susan left for Australia on Saturday and Karla returned to California on Sunday. Peter went home to his flat here in Ulaanbaatar. The remaining eight of us went to the hotel and went to bed - we had a 4:45 a.m. pick up for our trek to the Gobi.
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| L to R: Kim, Susan, Baagii, Thai, Minh, Lara, Jeanie, Franz, Billy, Peter and Susan (Peter's wife who works in Ulaanbaatar) |
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