Ulaanbaatar

We arrived in Mongolia's capital city of Ulaanbaatar by mid-day. It's the largest city by far in the country, with almost half of its 2.6 million people living there. As we entered the city, we noticed that the image of Ghengis Khan, the founder of the historic Mongolian empire in the 12th century, was marked on the hillside beside the town. We were met by our tour guide, Ariuna, at the station and taken immediately to our B&B. One of our first impressions was of the traffic - it seemed like there were four lanes of cars trying to drive down two lanes of street - everybody was cutting everyone else off, and pedestrians were walking right in front of cars. It was CRAZY!!! After dropping our bags at the B&B, we were taken to the National History Museum, where we learned about the long history of the Mongolian peoples. After that, we drove to the top of a nearby mountain where we could see the city from above. It was the site of a huge monument to the Russian soldiers who had defended Mongolia against Japanese aggression in the 1930s. While we were there, we encountered a Mongolian man from the far western part of the country, where they still train eagles to hunt. A couple of group members, including Susie Kununak of Gjoa Haven, accepted the challenge of holding the giant predator. The next day, we went to the university and met with a small group of students there. First, we were given a lecture on Mongolian culture by a retired professor.Then we had our first chance to hear, and see, a Mongolian throat singer, who performed songs while playing the traditional horsehead fiddle. We all found it fascinating to hear him throat sing!
We then did some performing of our own for them.After the performances were done, we had fun answering their questionsand letting some of the Mongolian students try on our amautis.In the afternoon, we visited the National Museum of Fine Art and then did some all-important SHOPPING! before flying to the city of Moron, a two-hour flight northward.