Mongolia: Ulaanbaatar

It is Adrienne’s birthday today so we all tried our best to make it a great day for her. We left the ger camp at 7:30 in the morning for our early flight back to UB, and I listened to Green Day’s American Idiot album on my iPod. It had me comparing the positives and negatives of both countries. In Mongolia we find love; love for their traditions, love for their Mongolia, love of friendship and laughter. In America we have pride, sometimes empty based on fear, controlled by hysterics of the media, afraid to love the enemy and neighbors alike. This is, of course, a crude and dramatic contrast, but I feel as if I can see the problem having experienced Mongolia, and now I should do what I can to help.

I felt a great purpose to me, looking at across the rocky Gobi at the mountain-rimmed horizon. Then I saw a rainbow. One wouldn’t have guessed a rainbow to survive the desert, but life is full of small miracles.

The plane ride was uneventful, nice to finally be back in our apartment. We went shopping again, the sun was so bright it in the end gave me a horrible headache. The sun was not the only contributor however. The rest wanted to to buy make-up and go to the salon, so I ended up shopping alone. I was almost robbed, in broad daylight, and when I caught the pickpocket before he found anything he just started walking back flicking me off. It happens everywhere, I know, but it is terrible when young men feel compelled to do this in broad daylight knowing no one will stop them. I did not wish to frighten anyone or ruin Adrienne’s birthday, so I said nothing.

We all went to an Indian restaurant named the Taj Mahal and enjoyed some very tasty food in the evening. We were joking that we were in Mongolia at an Indian restaurant eating a Korean made cake with wine from Australia, later to have a beer at an Irish pub Mongolia’s capital is becoming very diverse like that, and many of its donations for all projects are equally global. Hopefully they will gain the skills to someday be self-sufficient.