The Coldest Asian Country
After telling Edward goodbye this morning it was a little strange to be back on my own at the airport. By the time I finally boarded my incredibly delayed flight to Ulaanbatar, Mongolia he was all the way back home! The flight was a few hours and when I arrived it was, as I had been expecting, really, really cold. I had a few layers on but that didn’t help too much when there was snow on the ground! After going through immigration I met Khangarid from Best Western Gobi’s Kelso where I will be staying for the night. He drove me into the city which took about thirty minutes.
He was so great to talk to! I was able to learn a ton about Mongolia and complain about how my delayed flight meant that I wouldn’t be able to see anything. But he definitely has me convinced to come back! The weather does supposedly get much nicer in the summer and I would love to visit then. There was not a lot to see on the drive in until we all the sudden were in the heart of Ulaanbatar. I was amazed with how many people were out and about at 2am!
When we arrived at Best Western Gobi’s Kelso I met Tsolmon, Khangarid’s wife. She was very kind and helpful with getting me all set for the night. She also gave me some scissors to un zip tie my suitcase. Long story short, I accidentally left an external battery charger in my checked luggage, and China does not play around when it comes to confiscating them. I was just confused as to why they had to zip tie my suitcase back! It was quite the relief to find that nothing else was missing and that my suitcase still works as normal. I guess I’ll never know but I’m just glad to have everything!
My room was so nice and very warm which was much appreciated. I cannot thank Best Western Gobi’s Kelso enough for sponsoring this night of my trip! Even though I was only able to get about five hours of sleep before Khangarid had to take me back to the airport, it was a very restful night. The timing was quite unfortunate, as I really wanted to see Mongolia but flight delays struck again. While it was quite cold I was very impressed with how nice everyone was and can’t wait to come back someday. I got some pictures of the Ghengis Khan airport (very appropriate name) before heading out and then got on my flight back to Beijing to connect to my next country - Taiwan!
104 countries down, 92 to go.
To learn more about Best Western Gobi’s Kelso click here.
