Monday 13 July and Tuesday 14 July 2009

Monday was a packed day - it was our last day in Seoul before taking off for Mongolia.Washing, packing and buying those last minute things we needed before going off into the unknown.Washing was a challenge in Seoul because we were staying with Hayley in her tiny apartment where washing is dried indoors.When the clothes airer is up there is no floor space! And we had to pack too.

Mission accomplished (almost cos we did leave a few things behind that we should have taken) we made it to the airport, a 90 minute bus ride from where we were staying.It was only a 3 hour flight - preceeded by a 20 minute taxi before takeoff - to Ulaan Baatar and a totally different world.

Mongolia only has a population of between 2.5 and 3 million and is almost the size of Queensland.We landed at Chinggis Khaan airport.The name is bigger than the building ( well almost).The size of the airport reflects the size of the population but they still had an airbridge for disembarking.We were last through immigration but first to collect our baggage and out through customs.We were met as arranged and transported to our Guest House accommodation - a room the size of a double bed and a bar fridge (but it did already have a washing line installed).

We slept well and awoke to the second part of our adventure.We ventured out and found the ATM (Mongolian money is not available outside the country) and tested the currency by buying ice creams.Great ice creams here and such a variety.Next stop was the DVD shop to find Mongolian Heavy Metal CDs (a request from a friend).Mission successful, lunch of Indian lentils, beans and roti over, it was off in search of a Mongolian SIM card so that I could communicate with my friend, Ariun.After much redirection we found a whole 4 storey building of mobile phones, accessories , after sales service, repairers and on the ground floor, Mobicom, the telecommunications people in Mongolia.Successfully purchased a SIM card for $8 with $5 included calls but 'oh no' my phone was locked to Telstra.Easily dealt with - up to the 4th floor and after sorting out the system it was successfully unlocked for $3.We were on the air!

Caught up with Ariun, a quick familiarization tour, an introduction to the new home for my 19kg of medical books brought from Australia and off to the Amsterdam Café to catch up and make plans.