As you can see from the picture the word ‘Rest Day’ is a misnomer. Mike has spent the entire day under the car and then had to make a trip to a welding shop to weld the chassis. As a result he missed the ‘cocktail party’. He also missed the performance of traditional local music so it wasn’t a complete disaster! And he reckons the car is now in rather better shape than it was in Beijing.

Figure 1 Michael enjoying a well-deserved lie down on the rest day

I’ve done my best to help, doing minor chores during the day. We became millionaires in Mongolia for the first time after I changed a relatively small number of dollars to pay for our fuel. Reminiscent of lire or for the older generation (pre 1958) old French Francs.

Figure 2 Ulan Bator is surrounded by mountains

Ulan Bator is quite a sophisticated city given the general level of development of the country. The mineral wealth has spread around to some extent and there seems to be an urban middle class that has some of the trappings of modernity. I counted 6 coffee shops on the 700 metre walk to the car park. There is even a Bentley agent.

 

But its infrastructure lags behind. Roads are badly and slowly constructed. Road works seem to last for ever – certainly we have not seen anyone actually working on them. As a result traffic is a very slow moving scrum, made more interesting by the Mongolian approach to queueing.

 

There clearly is a lot of mining. We passed a coal mine yesterday with about 50 Chinese lorries queued up to collect. The mining industry would be transformed by better infrastructure. On the other hand the desert, which is one of the world’s major wildernesses, could be damaged. And the third of Mongolians who still practice a nomadic way of life would find that this could not easily mix with aggressive minerals exploitation.

 

Walking to the car this morning we passed a small demonstration. Mike reckoned it was about pollution and the environment. Considering why we were in the country, we decided to keep a low profile as we walked past.

Figure 3 Civic art Mongolian style

The walk to the car takes us past rather a lively sculpture of coloured camels. There are of course plenty of real ones around too, looking slightly more country coloured.

 

Mongolian men have a reputation for strength and it is not a surprise that their Olympic medals are in judo, wrestling, boxing and shooting. They are strong participants in the weightlifting divisions as well. Lord help us if they ever take up rugby. They look to be a race of front row forwards. Given the apparent solidity of the men, it is quite a surprise how petite many of the women look.  There must be some genetic explanation but I can’t quite work it out. All look well fed, even the nomadic people in the countryside who must have quite a hard life, particularly in the winter.

 

At 1,360 metres in altitude Ulan Bator is quite chilly even in mid summer. In the winter it is harsh – Mike tells me of a Malaysian friend who flew in in December and had to face temperatures of -35 celsius before returning to KL where the temperature was 70 degrees higher! Allegedly it is the coldest capital city in the world.

 

Fortunately it is summer!

 

This morning we have to be on parade in the centre square of Ulan Bator at 8am which rather wrecks the advantage of our 11.05am start. Apparently we will beat the traffic by being taken there with a police escort. The Mayor will make speeches and wave flags.

 

We are camping for the next 4 nights so news will be sporadic if at all. Don’t assume that if you don’t hear from us that something has gone wrong. More likely phone coverage is low….