I awoke around 8:30 am to a brilliant sunny day in the Gobi Desert. Looking out of the train window there was nothing except sand for miles and miles; flat, endless, sand. I made myself a cup of the 3:in:1 coffee I had bought for the train in Beijing and stood outside the cabin drinking it and chatting with others as Ray and Nary were still asleep. We were due to stop in Choyr at 9:04 for 15 minutes but it was closer to mid-day when we eventually did stop. The station building was lovely in blue and white, and a bunch of young kids were selling stones on the platform along with 2 or 3 vendors selling snacks. Then we were back on the train hurtling towards Ulaanbaator. As the scenery became more undulating grassland, peoples' energy levels rose, and many passengers got up out of their cabins and lined the corridor windows taking pictures of the front of the train as it wound around the bends ahead of us.
We arrived in Ulaanbaator around 4:00 pm, packed up our stuff, and transferred to our hotel, Kharaa Hotel, by van. UB (as Ulaanbaator is affectionately referred to by tourists) has a population of about 800,000. It's not a particuarly attractive city, but it is busy! It's Nadaam Festival time, and energy levels are high!!
We hurried into the hotel, took a quick shower, and scuttled along the road on foot to a small theatre to see a traditional Mongolian song and dance show - The Blue Sky Melody of Great Mongolia by the Moon Stone. It was quite different; it included throat singing which we had last seen in Labrador pereformed by an Inuit girl. The style of dance and movement also reminded us of the Native bands in Canada. Costumes were amazing and I got to see the "horse fiddle" played!
After the show, we went to a Mongolian restaurant for a Mongolian barbecue. We chose our food and watched it cooked on a huge round plate by a very skilled chef whose showmanship with the knives was eye-catching. Then it was back to the hotel, internet, and bed.
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