And so It begins.

Ulan Bator, Mongolia
May 30, 2009
10:47 am

12 Women
3 Men
3 bottles of Russian vodka
2 rolls of toilet paper
2 large packs of baby wipes

And Im ready to go! We leave tomorrow at 8:15am,so about 22 hours from the time of this post. After that I will lose contact with the outside world until June 19th as I travel through the vastness of the Mongolian landscape. So for those few of you that read this post I wont have anymore posts until then. I am incredibily excited and can not wait to get away from the city.

My group is pretty great. We have people from all across the world on this trip but as I have mentioned before most of them are women. I dont mind. I guess that women have a more adventurous spirit then men do. We are going to have to dig holes for toilets and not shower until we get back but I am all ready for that. A little dirt never hurt anyone.

I have checked out Suhbaatar Square about a block away from my hostel. It was built during the Russian era and includes a huge open area and a gigantic sculpture of a seated Chinngis Khan at the center of the squares large building. A little later I will most likely head to the National History Museum and after that take it easy and enjoy some of the comforts of the city like tv and maybe a nice meal at a bar.

Ulan Bator is an ok city. You can most definitly see the Soviet influence on the architecture. As well, I have been enjoying the mongolian people. They are very friendly but you can tell that they have a tough composure. Our tour guide was telling us that a famous saying about the Mongol people is that they have the spirit of the Dali Lama and the toughness of Chinngis Khan. From what I have seen this holds true.

I will be able to check email until tomorrow morning but until then thats it. I will talk to everyone soon and see you in the states before you know it.

Coldest capital in the world

Ulan Bator, Mongolia !
May 30, 2009
9:27am

And I can feel it! But I have to say that I am grateful to be in a country that I don't immediately start to sweat in.

I arrived last night after a short plane flight from Beijing but a long layover there. Because of the snow in Ulan Bator they delayed us 12 hours. Luckily I was able to get a free hotel room and food all day long so it turned out to be the easiest layover that I have ever had. My guesthouse is pretty great. It's small but cozy and with a lot of interesting people and a nice staff. If you want to take a look at where I am staying go to YouTube and search for UB Guesthouse. There should be a video that takes you through my accomidation.

I have met some of my group already and am going to go for a wander in a bit and check out the city. From what I can tell so far I really like the city. I will write a bit more when I see more. And just to let you know in advance I won't be able to post pictures here. I just don't have the ability. So you will have to wait until I get back to the states for that most likely. Sorry.