UB Happy to B Gone

Sunday 3rd October

We are now on the train out of Mongolia and not a moment too soon, Ulaan Baatar is a very dangerous place indeed! I had read that there was violence against westerners, however I figured that it had been hyped up and that it was limited to a specific area, however I didnt feel that safe from the moment we got back from the Ger camp. Then yesterday we ran into a German couple who we had met previously on the train and he had been punched in the face whilst they were walking down the street (this in itself was no mean feat as he was well over 6 foot tall and built like a brick shit house). He then continued to relay stories of other people in their hostel who had similar experiences including a woman who was standing outside the department store and was kicked in the back and then one that was mugged in the middle of a packed market.

Needless to say we didnt stick around, we had bumped into them at the Natural History museum and up until that point we had been enjoying a plesant day in the capital sauntering from street to street until finally we had managed to end up in the main square. They had a demonstration of Tae Kwon Do that we sat and watched for a while and then decided to check out a few of the museums. However after meeting the german couple we looked around the museum in under a minute, grabbed a quick bite to eat and then practically sprinted back to the hostel where we settled down for the night (at precisely 4pm).

The thing is that out on the street we stuck out like a sore thumb wherever we went and all eyes were watching us, not in a casual way either but a mixture of intrigue and resentment. It was very intimidating but I guess that we were lucky this time! Its a shame because the experience up until then had been very nice, the Ger camp was amazing and in stark contrast to the hussle and bussle of UB.

We are now on the final leg of our planned itinerary which is the train through to Beijing, after which we are on our own and need to come up with a plan pretty soon. Also just to add we met up with the scandinavian couple again and they loved UB so it looks as though the others were just unlucky and hopefully the previous paragraphs will not taint anyones view of the capital. We are sharing our compartment this time with a Mongolian lady and obviously told her how much we loved the place, sometimes its OK to lie, so long as you dont give out your blog site :-)

As we approach China I am experiencing a mixture of excitement and trepidation that the unknown normally provokes, however we have arranged to meet up with Tyler's friends so that waylays some of the uncertainty.
Also as a side note, so far on this trip I have lost a camera, a wash bag and half a tooth, but whos counting?