ARRIVING IN ULAAN BATOR DURING THE STATE OF EMERGENCY

3 July, 2008, Ulaan Bator

We have arrived today safe and sound in Ulaan Bator, the capital of Mongolia.

You might have heard that the Mongolian Government declared a State of Emergency on the 1st July. Well, it is still a State of Emergency, but it is safe. There is a curfew for all. You cannot be on the streets between 10pm-8am and alcohol is banned in all shops and restaurants. Apparently, there were huge demonstrations a few days ago and modern buildings were burnt down. It was Parliamentary elections on the 29th of June (I think) and everyone expected the Democratic party to win, but the Communist parties won the most spaces in the Government. People were shocked at the results and many claim that it was a fraudulent election, hence the demonstrations. There was a lot of violence on the main square, but everything is sort of calm now. So nothing to worry about. We did not know any of all this - since we had no access to news in China. We tried going on the BBC website, but that website is blocked in China! All we knew, was when Amit spoke to his Dad yesterday evening, and his Dad said that there had been some political problems in Mongolia.
Then when we arrived this morning, the owner of the guest house where we are staying, filled us in on all the news.

We are staying in a family-run guest house. Our hosts are Mongolians Gan and Oyuna. They picked us up from the airport and they are so friendly and talkative (especially Gan - the husband) .We are paying US$16 for a room (that only has beds and a small corner table) with breakfast. We have an outdoor shower room and an outdoor toilet (which is a normal toilet seat but goes into a hole in the ground). There is a shared kitchen where you can cook your own food if you want. Gan is very good at planning tours and is eager for us to book a tour with him, but we are still deciding on the route and we are planning to start touring Mongolia on the 5th July. We have to choose whether we want to see the North of Mongolia (which is the best time to visit weather-wise) or the South - Gobi desert. No time to see both. I always wanted to see the Gobi desert, but the North is supposed to be stunning at this time of the year. We are probably
going to head north.

We have not seen much yet, but from what we have seen, Ulaan Bator looks very poor. The buildings are old and shabby and although the roads are clean.....ish, it seems run-down.
We saw one of the burnt buildings from the demonstrations. There seems to be a lot of poverty. We have seen a few street children begging and one in particular came in to the cafe where we were eating and kept grabbing Amit and trying to take his food. Even after three "NO"s and firmly telling the child to leave us alone, he kept bothering us. It was unpleasant.

To me, the Mongolians look like the Greenlanders. Their faces are wide, they have high cheek bones and many are golden-tanned. Some are very fair and have brown hair.