Nice to know that some things are still sacred
such as the Mongolian reverence of their traditional annual festival of Naadam, this year celebrating the 800th anniversary of Chinngis Khaan's rise to power. Big deal.
So big in fact, that the Mongolian border office in Zamiin-Uud is closed, preventing any tourists (ie., me and Jen) from crossing into China until the 14th. We were planning on getting on the train this afternoon, which would have deposited us at the desolate border town tomorrow morning, stuck for two days with nothing to do but dodge the local drunks. The new plan is to leave UB on the train on the 13th, winding up in Beijing on the morning of the 15th.
Originally, we wanted to leave to avoid the hassle of dealing with accommodation and crowds during the festival. Instead, with no effort on our part, we're getting sucked in. Examples:
Our guesthouse is a great find. Four fellow travelers let us in on their secret spot in UB on our way back from Tsetserleg. Helena and her husband opened their 8 bed guest apartment a few weeks ago. She speaks English fairly well and is an eager host. The place is quiet, spacious and in a nice neighborhood near the train station. A big improvement over the crowded, noisy and impersonal UB Guesthouse.
Helena was working on buying our train tickets today when she found out about the border closing and wisely decided to ask us before proceeding. We didn't have much choice but to stick around for the festival, but her guesthouse was booked up starting tonight. Ready to help with our predicament, she offered her parents' apartment for us to use for the next two days, since her family has moved out to their country home for the summer. There's no beds available in town due to festival overbooking and Jen and I are about to move into our own private apartment. Not bad.
Next thing, Helena's aunt calls. She has extra tickets for Naadam's opening ceremony tomorrow morning, would we like them? At $30, she's making a tidy profit on us, but again, we're all too happy to get a chance to sit in on the best part of the biggest celebration in recent Mongolian history-- all without having to plan anything in advance.
Walking around UB last night, after a most luxurious meal at the bizarrely classy Indian/Mexican restaurant (sipping a margarita while nibbling samosas, chicken tikka and nachos), we realized that this is a pretty cool little city. We hung out with the locals in the enormous Sukhbaatar Square, enjoying the late sunset light and energetic atmosphere heralding tomorrow's fete. We were getting ready to leave today but lamenting that we wouldn't have a better chance to explore UB's cozy corners.
Not twelve hours later and it's all the opposite.
So big in fact, that the Mongolian border office in Zamiin-Uud is closed, preventing any tourists (ie., me and Jen) from crossing into China until the 14th. We were planning on getting on the train this afternoon, which would have deposited us at the desolate border town tomorrow morning, stuck for two days with nothing to do but dodge the local drunks. The new plan is to leave UB on the train on the 13th, winding up in Beijing on the morning of the 15th.
Originally, we wanted to leave to avoid the hassle of dealing with accommodation and crowds during the festival. Instead, with no effort on our part, we're getting sucked in. Examples:
Our guesthouse is a great find. Four fellow travelers let us in on their secret spot in UB on our way back from Tsetserleg. Helena and her husband opened their 8 bed guest apartment a few weeks ago. She speaks English fairly well and is an eager host. The place is quiet, spacious and in a nice neighborhood near the train station. A big improvement over the crowded, noisy and impersonal UB Guesthouse.
Helena was working on buying our train tickets today when she found out about the border closing and wisely decided to ask us before proceeding. We didn't have much choice but to stick around for the festival, but her guesthouse was booked up starting tonight. Ready to help with our predicament, she offered her parents' apartment for us to use for the next two days, since her family has moved out to their country home for the summer. There's no beds available in town due to festival overbooking and Jen and I are about to move into our own private apartment. Not bad.
Next thing, Helena's aunt calls. She has extra tickets for Naadam's opening ceremony tomorrow morning, would we like them? At $30, she's making a tidy profit on us, but again, we're all too happy to get a chance to sit in on the best part of the biggest celebration in recent Mongolian history-- all without having to plan anything in advance.
Walking around UB last night, after a most luxurious meal at the bizarrely classy Indian/Mexican restaurant (sipping a margarita while nibbling samosas, chicken tikka and nachos), we realized that this is a pretty cool little city. We hung out with the locals in the enormous Sukhbaatar Square, enjoying the late sunset light and energetic atmosphere heralding tomorrow's fete. We were getting ready to leave today but lamenting that we wouldn't have a better chance to explore UB's cozy corners.
Not twelve hours later and it's all the opposite.
posted by Scottley at 10:22 PM
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