Here we come - Mongolia!!!

Hey, we are getting there!!! Welcome to Mongolia!! It took us about 30 hours on the train to get to Ulaan Baatar from Beijing, including a long stop at the border for the passport controls (again the people wouldn't recognize me on my passport picture...) and for the "boggie change". What is this you are wondering? Well, the Russian and Mongolian rails do not have the same width at the Chinese ones, so they drove our train into huge hall, separated all the wagons, lifted them up into the air (with us inside!!) and changed the wheels! It was quite a experience in the middle of the night!

Now, we are in Ulaan Baatar and the city is a nice change to Beijing. Only about 800,000 people, wide boulevards, very colorful houses, a little bit of sun but not too much heat, surprisingly Western style houses (it's been ages since we saw anything the like!!!), awesome restaurants (who would have thought so), and lots, and lots of kids. Well, it probably helped that we got here just in time for "children's day" but it's amazing how many children are out in the streets here and how extremely friendly and lovable people are with kids. I don't think I have ever experienced a society that was so focused on family and children. It gives the city a very warm and welcoming feeling! Everything here also seems to follow a different beat; people are not so stressed out, they walk and don't run through the streets, and they stop for a chat here and there. Truly very different to Beijing.

We adopted that life-style right away and took our time to go out exploring or just sat around in a cafe looking at the extremely well-dressed and stylish Mongolian women (in contrast to the men who are rather primitive and mostly drunk!!). There is not that much to visit in Ulaan Baatar, but we did look at the main square with all the old Soviet style buildings and the Lenin statue, we visited the history museum and an old palace, and we strolled around the streets for quite a while. You can definitely see that Mongolia is still a very poor country and that there is work to be done at about every corner but no money available. The Chinese and Russian occupations have obviously left their traces and the country is still struggling to get it's democracy and market economy going. However, wherever the people here do try to improve something or try to make something look nice (like a restaurant for example) they show amazing taste and diligence and the results are quite impressive. I have the feeling that this country could go very far within a very short time if they manage to overcome the troubles of the first years of change!

Of course, we did not come to Mongolia to visit only Ulaan Baatar, our motivation was to get out into those wide landscapes, to get lost in the Gobi Desert and to explore the prairies, hills and lake areas! And that's what we did! Together with Ian, a very fun British guy, and Jesper, his very nice Danish friend, and our wonderful driver Shaggar, we went out there for 14 days. The material: a Russian jeep, our dear old tent and cooking equipment, and lots of motivation. The challenge: 14 days without electricity, showers, civilization! How did it turn out? Well, I'll tell you next time! :)

For now, there is one last mystery to decipher and I have to admit that I do not have the answer to it yet. The biggest surprise here in Mongolia has been to find myself surrounded by German everywhere. No, not by German tourists but by German products in the supermarkets and German books in the bookstores! Why do they sell children's books in German here? Or dictionaries to learn Portuguese or Dutch based on German? Why do I find Erdbeermarmelade, Schattenmorellen, Streuselteig, Himbeerbonbons, Pflanzenoel, Diaetzucker, Jodsalz, Guerckchen, Pflaumen in der Dose, Waffelblaettchen, Honig, Leinsamen, Haferkleie etc everywhere? And why do I go into the middle of the Gobi desert and there in a store I do find Gummibaerchen und Doppelkekse??? Anyone up for any suppositions? As I said, I have not found an answer to this riddle yet, but I can assure you that it did perplex me quite a bit to find myself surrounded by "home" all of a sudden!