Saturday 18 July and Sunday 19 July 2009

Since getting back from the countryside we are staying at Ariun's Grandmother's apartment, about 40 minutes walk from downtown UB.It is really comfortable and about 4 times the size of Hayley's apartment in Seoul.It even has a 'real' bathroom with a bath.Hot water is a problem at present because the summer is used to do pipe work and whole districts lose their hot water at the one time.It seems that the hot water comes from a central location possibly the coal fired power stations that are around UB.

Ariun to the rescue again - she took us on a famarization tour of the local market , more like Preston Market with its little shops inside a large single storey building, than like the markets in Asia. We then walked to downtown and Zoe and I installed ourselves in the Stupa Café for the day.They have good wifi internet there as well as good vegetarian food.Zoe found out about her uni classes for next semester, talked on MSM with a few friends from back home then read for the rest of the day while I tried to conquer Off Exploring web site.I won some but lost some so things are still rather messy.I think I have finally sorted the best way to do the blogs but there is only about one more week of internet access before we head off into the countryside again.

We took a slow walk home and visited the market to purchase the makings for dinner.That is the great thing about staying at Ariun's Grandmother's place - we can do our own cooking.We had bangers and mash!The sausages are great but do come with a 'plastic' skin that has to be removed after cooking andbefore eating.Zoe was a bit sus about the carrots and sausages to start with (carrots are really dark orange and come with dirt) but once she tried them the plate was quickly cleared.

Today, Sunday, we are having a lazy day while I sort photos and write blogs (this recording stuff takes up lots of time).We will head off shortly for downtown and maybe a bit of culture.