Ulan Bator
Door: Peke
09 Mei 2016 | Mongolië, Ulaanbaatar
At the station I tried to find Wifi, so that I could find the way to the hostel I had booked. When I sat in the cafe struggling with the wifi code, a Mongolian girl came to me and asked I if had seen two German people of around my age in the train, no i didn't, and neither in the station. She looked quite stressed and in a hurry but I asked her if she knows a wifi place. I could come with her and then we would find the Germans and she would bring me to a wifi place. I walked behind her to the parking lot and then she asked me if I would get in her car. Alright sure. We drove around UB and she told me a friend from Germany and her boyfriend were visiting her but they had to arrived half an hour ago, so they were maybe walking through town alone. She would pick them up at the train station but she couldn't reach foreign cellphone numbers. And then she had to work in half an hour. So she was in stress. At one moment she got a message at facebook that they were sitting in the waiting room of the station. She was confused because she had already looked there. I thought it would be a very awkward moment, the Mongolian girl meeting the Germans with me behind her. So indeed the Germans where quite surprised and I told them the story that I accidentally ended up in her car because she would bring me to a wifi spot. We all drove to the house of the UB girl, where the two would stay, and there I could check the route to the hostel. In the car we exchanged our stories of course and maybe we would meet up again. My hostel was actually close to the girls' office so she would bring me there.
Ulan Bator has 1,5 million people which makes it a bit less of the half of the populations of Mongolia, which is about 3 million. The city center is not as big as you would expect from a 1,5 million people city, you can easily walk from east to west in one hour, and the most sights of the city can be seen in one or two days. The roads of the city are old and can't stand the amount of people and especially not the amount of people having a car, which is probably about everybody. Every street in the city center has at all time of the day a traffic jam, and all the car drivers are not really patient, which causes that one can hear the sharp and aggressive car horns all the time everywhere around you and the scenery of cars trying to be a little earlier at work which can drive you crazy. That day I walked around and met three people from America in my hostel. A small and tough looking girl from NY named Janette (as I at first thought, she actually was lesbian) a young guy from San Fransisco, named Kris, who had traveled a lot, and studied philosophy with environmental studies, and a 50 year old man form san Fransisco, named Brett, who quit his job as salesman and traveled to the around 200 nations of the united nations, and already was at 55. That night I went out with Kris and Janette to "downtown" UB with its several cafes. We drunk some beers and talked about the environment, maybe some other philosophical subjects and gaybars. Which kris thought that should be a free space, but was annoyed by the sexual moves made in those places. The next day I tried to get to a big view point, a monument laid at the top of a hill outside UB, built when a guy I met at a busstop walked with me to get to the proper busstop, a maybe 60 year old lady started talking to me in english, with sometimes a fiew words french in her sentences. She said I should not go to the monument but with her to a jazz show, the man that helped me to get to the busstop should go to. She was very enthusiastic and seemed nice, and this seemed top me as an opportunity to get in touch with the local people, and of course I love jazz and jazz cafes and new experiences. We walked to that place and the lady, Sarah, called, just kept talking about everything thinkable, she just went from this to there with an incredible energy en enthusiasm. She took us to an ice saloon which she seemed to know (but the shop attendants looked a bit awkward) and managed to let us taste some ice creams without paying for it. The guy from the bus stop did not say a lot, because she was talking in Englisgh all the time and he seemed a bit awkward to. The lady was very uninhibited too and took me at my arm a lot and sometimes pushed me and the busstopguy together a bit and sad "You have to talk to each other!" The was a young guy walking with her all the time without saying anything, by the way, and in think he was just dragged out of the streets by that lady too.
We came at the jazz place, and hour before the music would start and then a mongolian guy with dreadlocks and an other guy with a hat came to the lady and to our table. The deadlock guy, With the nickname Rabbit, was surprisingly well at english. We talked a bit (of course also because Sarah asked us to) and it became clear that they just had met Sarah a day before and were here because she asked them to meet her. The were nice and friendly guys but stayed before anything especially cool. Rabbit told me he learned his english just by watching English movies a lot, and I was amazed to hear this (because he spoke fluently) and he said he had a talent for languages. Sara had there actually an appointment with a German man who was leading a jazz school program in UB and she wanted to have contact with him for some development jobs she did. She told us to talk to each other and left. The busstop guy turned out to be actually 21 one and stayed with us all the time, where Rabbit sometimes talked to him in Mongolian. At ten we left and Rabbit and his friend led me to a dunur place and to my hostel and they really admired my traveling and never had thought that a white guy could be so cool. The next morning I wanted to buy sunglasses (I left mine behind in yekaterinburg) because the sun in Mongolia is really harsh. It it a lot brighter then in the netherlands and I was walking all day with my eyes half close like when you have the sun in front of you (and like the actual narrow eyes of the mongols). I asked a random young guy on the street where I could buy one and he led me to a glasses shop, and after that to a cheap street market. He told me where I wanted to go and that he had no school, so we both went to the national museum, I paid his ticket and we walked both around and he explained me about all the historical dresses. After this he really had to do his homework and I went to the central square. Then Rabbit called me and asked where I was. We hang out all day, he showing me several areas of the city and we talked about the cultural differences, prejudices, and a lot other fun and interesting stuff. The most surprising one I learned was that almost all Asians wanted to be like the black Americans and acted that way because they think they are really cool. They see and learn about them in the movies (because i saw only one tall, black and completely misplaces black man walking in the streets) Basketball is their second national sport, just because of that culture. He took me to a little dining place where I ate some national food and after that we bought some beers and drunk them at a playground. We talked some more about music and he told me some very important personal stuff, of which I was really surprised to hear, and made our contact more like a friendship-like bond.Then we bought some vodka and drunk it on the streets, he became actually easily drunk, and me too (probably because we hadn't eaten anything) and were pissed that we bought an 18 percent vodka (yes that exists) and then bought a real one. We did a crazy photo shoot, both quite leveled then, and he talked a lot more enthusiastic and energetic than the mellow cool flair he had before about some girls he had slept with and etc. Then around 1 when I was already quite drunk, I tried (for some reason I have forgotten) to get some money from a ATM and my card didn't came back. This felt as a real big problem but I was far too drunk to do something about it and worry about it that much. Rabbit helped me and wrote a text message for me for the next morning and brought me to the hostel. The next morning I woke up and remembered the credit card thing (which was actually big trouble stuff) and then found out that my ring which my sister gave me and was me really precious of course, was gone. I thought one of the pickpockets had taken it while i was drunk or I just lost it somewhere and after looking in and around my bed and the toilet i gave up searching and felt really bad and sat. Then finally a cleaning lady found it Ad I was extremely happy. I called
Rabbit about the credit card because I had totally forgotten where the ATM was, and he guided me from my hostel to the exact place (now he had an surprising memory too). The bank worker there gave me my card back fortunately.
I forgot to0 tell that the day before, with rabbit, Sarah called me and explained me I really should go to another guesthouse, because there via the owner, which was her friend, I could find a couch surfuing host, which I told her I was looking for for the last couple of days. At the other guesthouse UB guesthouse, the owner told her Sarah was actually not her friend anymore, because she came a few years ago to her hostel because she had no home she could go to (she came back to UB from several years living in Europe). She could stay at the hostel for free but then began to tell all the other guests that she was one of the staff. She told them all different of wrong rules and information, and at last slapped one guest in her face because she was making too mach noise with watching TV. At that time the popularity of the hostel declined because everybody was talking about this crew member called sarah. So then sarah had to go to another place. I was there at UB and the owner told me she didn't know anybody who could help me with couchsurfing. So sarah appeared to be a some times nice, but foremost at least a little crazy lady, telling stuff which doesn't existed. Her strange inhibited behavior matched this news. That hangover day I received a message from an english guy that he had my notebooks I left at Irkutsk and that we should meet up. The I just walked into him in the guesthouse. We arranged that we would drink a beer that night. So we did and we talked about different stuff and fore mostly about the weird and interesting stuff of England. The next day I went to a huge monastery and the view point and later that night drunk again some beers with William, the English guy and talked again about Brittan and stuff like it coins and billets. He had a real British accent and talked fast, so used to the American it was sometimes hard to understand him.
The next late afternoon I took the bus To Murun. A bus ride through the night were my seat was too short for me and with all the stops in between it was very cold in the bus. I could sleep al night unfortunately.
Ulan Bator has 1,5 million people which makes it a bit less of the half of the populations of Mongolia, which is about 3 million. The city center is not as big as you would expect from a 1,5 million people city, you can easily walk from east to west in one hour, and the most sights of the city can be seen in one or two days. The roads of the city are old and can't stand the amount of people and especially not the amount of people having a car, which is probably about everybody. Every street in the city center has at all time of the day a traffic jam, and all the car drivers are not really patient, which causes that one can hear the sharp and aggressive car horns all the time everywhere around you and the scenery of cars trying to be a little earlier at work which can drive you crazy. That day I walked around and met three people from America in my hostel. A small and tough looking girl from NY named Janette (as I at first thought, she actually was lesbian) a young guy from San Fransisco, named Kris, who had traveled a lot, and studied philosophy with environmental studies, and a 50 year old man form san Fransisco, named Brett, who quit his job as salesman and traveled to the around 200 nations of the united nations, and already was at 55. That night I went out with Kris and Janette to "downtown" UB with its several cafes. We drunk some beers and talked about the environment, maybe some other philosophical subjects and gaybars. Which kris thought that should be a free space, but was annoyed by the sexual moves made in those places. The next day I tried to get to a big view point, a monument laid at the top of a hill outside UB, built when a guy I met at a busstop walked with me to get to the proper busstop, a maybe 60 year old lady started talking to me in english, with sometimes a fiew words french in her sentences. She said I should not go to the monument but with her to a jazz show, the man that helped me to get to the busstop should go to. She was very enthusiastic and seemed nice, and this seemed top me as an opportunity to get in touch with the local people, and of course I love jazz and jazz cafes and new experiences. We walked to that place and the lady, Sarah, called, just kept talking about everything thinkable, she just went from this to there with an incredible energy en enthusiasm. She took us to an ice saloon which she seemed to know (but the shop attendants looked a bit awkward) and managed to let us taste some ice creams without paying for it. The guy from the bus stop did not say a lot, because she was talking in Englisgh all the time and he seemed a bit awkward to. The lady was very uninhibited too and took me at my arm a lot and sometimes pushed me and the busstopguy together a bit and sad "You have to talk to each other!" The was a young guy walking with her all the time without saying anything, by the way, and in think he was just dragged out of the streets by that lady too.
We came at the jazz place, and hour before the music would start and then a mongolian guy with dreadlocks and an other guy with a hat came to the lady and to our table. The deadlock guy, With the nickname Rabbit, was surprisingly well at english. We talked a bit (of course also because Sarah asked us to) and it became clear that they just had met Sarah a day before and were here because she asked them to meet her. The were nice and friendly guys but stayed before anything especially cool. Rabbit told me he learned his english just by watching English movies a lot, and I was amazed to hear this (because he spoke fluently) and he said he had a talent for languages. Sara had there actually an appointment with a German man who was leading a jazz school program in UB and she wanted to have contact with him for some development jobs she did. She told us to talk to each other and left. The busstop guy turned out to be actually 21 one and stayed with us all the time, where Rabbit sometimes talked to him in Mongolian. At ten we left and Rabbit and his friend led me to a dunur place and to my hostel and they really admired my traveling and never had thought that a white guy could be so cool. The next morning I wanted to buy sunglasses (I left mine behind in yekaterinburg) because the sun in Mongolia is really harsh. It it a lot brighter then in the netherlands and I was walking all day with my eyes half close like when you have the sun in front of you (and like the actual narrow eyes of the mongols). I asked a random young guy on the street where I could buy one and he led me to a glasses shop, and after that to a cheap street market. He told me where I wanted to go and that he had no school, so we both went to the national museum, I paid his ticket and we walked both around and he explained me about all the historical dresses. After this he really had to do his homework and I went to the central square. Then Rabbit called me and asked where I was. We hang out all day, he showing me several areas of the city and we talked about the cultural differences, prejudices, and a lot other fun and interesting stuff. The most surprising one I learned was that almost all Asians wanted to be like the black Americans and acted that way because they think they are really cool. They see and learn about them in the movies (because i saw only one tall, black and completely misplaces black man walking in the streets) Basketball is their second national sport, just because of that culture. He took me to a little dining place where I ate some national food and after that we bought some beers and drunk them at a playground. We talked some more about music and he told me some very important personal stuff, of which I was really surprised to hear, and made our contact more like a friendship-like bond.Then we bought some vodka and drunk it on the streets, he became actually easily drunk, and me too (probably because we hadn't eaten anything) and were pissed that we bought an 18 percent vodka (yes that exists) and then bought a real one. We did a crazy photo shoot, both quite leveled then, and he talked a lot more enthusiastic and energetic than the mellow cool flair he had before about some girls he had slept with and etc. Then around 1 when I was already quite drunk, I tried (for some reason I have forgotten) to get some money from a ATM and my card didn't came back. This felt as a real big problem but I was far too drunk to do something about it and worry about it that much. Rabbit helped me and wrote a text message for me for the next morning and brought me to the hostel. The next morning I woke up and remembered the credit card thing (which was actually big trouble stuff) and then found out that my ring which my sister gave me and was me really precious of course, was gone. I thought one of the pickpockets had taken it while i was drunk or I just lost it somewhere and after looking in and around my bed and the toilet i gave up searching and felt really bad and sat. Then finally a cleaning lady found it Ad I was extremely happy. I called
Rabbit about the credit card because I had totally forgotten where the ATM was, and he guided me from my hostel to the exact place (now he had an surprising memory too). The bank worker there gave me my card back fortunately.
I forgot to0 tell that the day before, with rabbit, Sarah called me and explained me I really should go to another guesthouse, because there via the owner, which was her friend, I could find a couch surfuing host, which I told her I was looking for for the last couple of days. At the other guesthouse UB guesthouse, the owner told her Sarah was actually not her friend anymore, because she came a few years ago to her hostel because she had no home she could go to (she came back to UB from several years living in Europe). She could stay at the hostel for free but then began to tell all the other guests that she was one of the staff. She told them all different of wrong rules and information, and at last slapped one guest in her face because she was making too mach noise with watching TV. At that time the popularity of the hostel declined because everybody was talking about this crew member called sarah. So then sarah had to go to another place. I was there at UB and the owner told me she didn't know anybody who could help me with couchsurfing. So sarah appeared to be a some times nice, but foremost at least a little crazy lady, telling stuff which doesn't existed. Her strange inhibited behavior matched this news. That hangover day I received a message from an english guy that he had my notebooks I left at Irkutsk and that we should meet up. The I just walked into him in the guesthouse. We arranged that we would drink a beer that night. So we did and we talked about different stuff and fore mostly about the weird and interesting stuff of England. The next day I went to a huge monastery and the view point and later that night drunk again some beers with William, the English guy and talked again about Brittan and stuff like it coins and billets. He had a real British accent and talked fast, so used to the American it was sometimes hard to understand him.
The next late afternoon I took the bus To Murun. A bus ride through the night were my seat was too short for me and with all the stops in between it was very cold in the bus. I could sleep al night unfortunately.
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