Finally made it to Mongolia. I’ve cat-napped a little on the journey but nothing substantial. Ready for sleep. I couldn’t believe some of the turbulence we encountered. A bit intense at times. Flying into Ulaanbaatar, I was sitting next to a little Korean lady who barely spoke English, and definitely couldn’t read it. Which is important because the Mongolian customs forms were in Cyrillic and English type. Had a heck of a time with pointy-talky trying to help her out. Oh, that’s one more thing about Korea. I get to feel so TALL there! I’m like a freakish girl-giant!

Today we went to a tantric monastery which featured a 26m golden Buddha. Amazing. (I opted not to attempt pictures here, out of respect.) I can’t describe the feeling of standing before it in the temple, suffice it to say it was a powerful moment. We visited another temple for a god with 4 faces and 24 arms, whose name I cannot remember. I was a little disappointed by that temple and the grounds in general. There was a certain grubbiness to everything, which felt like a holdover from the old Soviet bloc days. The same can be said for Ulaanbaatar at large, although there is a noticeable effort in some areas to generate cleanliness, pride, and tourism. The history of Mongolia is fascinating and I should really study it more.

They had us try milk tea today. I didn’t really like it. It is basically hot milk with salt. I don’t like milk. I apparently also do not like soft goat cheese, but the hard stuff is okay. Oh, one other random thing happened. The president of Myanmar is in town and staying at the Best Western. I just watched his motorcade drive past my hotel. It was too random not to mention! Also, the entirety of Mongolia is dry (no alcohol) on the first of every month. Spoiled my dinner plans a little, but no big deal really. Different, though.