September 17

Ulaanbaatar is surrounded by four fairly large mountains and the flight in is quite scenic.  The international airport is nothing more than a Soviet junkyard holding planes, helicopters and even tanks littering the site.  Once all the luggage was unloaded, I was met with only one piece of luggage - the box with the bike trailer.  After talking to the five other people who also arrived to find their luggage hadn't made the trip, I was a little more confident the bike would make it on the next flight which wasn't until the same time tomorrow.


A guy who spoke some English walked straight past security, immigration and customs came to chat to me while I gave details of my missing bag.  He was a driver so I gave in and got a lift to the hotel with him.  The box didn't fit in the boot, so it was a matter of squeezing it and his daughter into the back seat.  His business card has his name, Puujee, contact details and many professions listed as well as a picture of a pristine BMW 523i, a bit of a stretch from the old, beat up Hyundai Excel we were cruising in.  Typically, after arriving at the hotel the price for the journey suddenly tripled and so after some negotiation, it was agreed Puujee would pick up my bike from the airport tomorrow.  I handed him the lost luggage slip and away he went, I couldn't be sure if he'd run off with the luggage or not.


There's not much to see in Ulaanbaatar, the main streets and tourist areas are busy but outside that everyone goes about their business quietly.  I managed to get a half-decent map of Mongolia, some fuel for the stove and surprisingly tons of fruit.  Marty arrives tomorrow, hopefully the bike does too.

Ulaanbaatar main square

Corner store beverage range