In Mongolia

Last night I made it into Ulaanbaatar. It's definitely an interesting city, but not what I would call attractive. It looks like it's pretty well past its prime, but at least trying to make a comeback. Most of the buildings lack character, but they are putting some highrise buildings in, which look almost out of place in comparison.

This morning I headed out for a walk around 8AM. My hotel was right next to the main square, Sukhbaatar Square and I headed there first. It's a huge square and has a really neat monument to Genghis Khan at the northern end. He's flanked by his relatives that ruled Mongolia after his death and the size of the statues is pretty impressive.

From there I checked out the natural history museum, which was more comical than anything else. My guidebook described some of the stuffed animals as having such a surprised look on their faces that it seems they wonder what they're doing in a museum. It turned out to be dead on, as it looks like you just scared the living hell out of them. I guess I'd probably have a funny look on my face if you killed me, stuffed me and charged $2.50 to see me. The museum did have one highlight and that was the dinosaur skeletons they found in Mongolia and displayed here. This is a big area for paleontology and many dinosaurs have been found here.

Most of the rest of the day has been spent wandering around and getting familiar with the city. I visited another buddhist temple today and actually was allowed inside. The statue of Buddha was pretty incredible as it was a few stories tall.

Tonight I meet up with my GAP group and head to dinner to start our 15 days together. Tomorrow we're off to the main Buddhist monastery in Mongolia, about 300 km north of UB. I don't know when I'll be able to check in again, so someone please make sure none of my family members contact the embassy and pass out the "Save Todd" ribbons....again.

Oh, and one more thing, I'd like to apologize to the residents of Seoul. For those of you that know my history, I tend to attract social disobedience and this time it happened in Seoul. Apparently there were a lot of protests and riots about overturning the ban on US beef imports. I'd especially like to apologize to those who got the water cannon turned on them by the police, my bad.