JUL 30, 15 .. ULAANBAATER .. ONE VERY SPECIAL BUILDING ..

“So that is it Deegi?” .. “Yes Cap.” ..

“WOW! How do I thank you DEEGI (DAY-ghee) for this absolutely enormous favor of taking me by-the-hand and having you and your son drive me here to this most special building?”

Because Deegi’s first two languages are Mongolian and Russian and her third language is English .. When I comment back to Deegi at a rapid pace she is often a little challenged to reply instantly and fluently because she has to process my language English into her third language. So she smiles and does her very best to reply.

Deegi could reply instantly to the below ..

“Thank you Deegi.” .. “You are welcome Cap.” .. Just remember your acronym KISS Captain ..  Keep It Simple Superman ..

I have to remind myself and you that it is NOT always raining here in Ulaanbaatar.

The above building is now one very hallowed and special place for me.

Ulaanbaatar is an absolutely enormous city of one million plus people that seems to be widely spread out. At this point in my Mongolian experience Ulaanbaatar is simply unfathomable to me.

I AM NOW GOING TO SHOW YOU MANY RANDOM PHOTOS THAT I HAVE TAKEN OF ULAANBAATER ..

My stay here in the city of Ulaanbaatar began at the Erin Hotel.

My room was absolutely acceptable in all respects.

This acceptability of my room was not true for several of my other compatriots! Some had to switch rooms several times for small things (picky-picky-picky) like the door into their room would not close completely so it would not lock and the plumbing was not up-to-par (you just fill your waste basket with water and there it all goes down-the-drain sports fans).

CAPTAIN THIS IS A PROGRAM OF HONESTY CAPTAIN!

LOOK .. MISSING A DOOR HANDLE INTO MY ROOM IS SMALL STUFF ..

Plus with my waste-basket technique I had very good plumbing.

RESTAURANT? I mean to shout RESTAURANT! Breakfast was ..

My one and my only breakfast was so out-of-hand that I made a fool of myself (Lord I paid something like US $ 3.81 for all I could eat a very bad thing for me) and had to stop eating there in the Erin Hotel restaurant or gain another ten pounds.

I mean just study the above two photos closely. How could it possibly get better! Once in awhile in this life you have got to say that something was absolutely positively 100% perfect!

The event at our hotel drew people from all over Mongolia and was considered to have been a great success. Many local attendees drove their cars. People who came just a tad late had to gingerly walk close to the wall to keep out of the lake.

The below four photos were snapped from my room. They ‘pan right’ and give you your first and admittedly small general idea of the size and the flavor of Ulaanbaatar. It is large and it is working class at least as I saw it from my bedroom.

Here we go for a look-see at some of this immense city of Ulaanbaatar .. probably far more than you want to see ..

Duces and Jacks The Man With The Axe a pair of Natural Sevens takes all! It is a poker game.  Patti this is just another word for mish-mash my Dear One.

SOME POOR CHILD IN INDIA MAY ASK MOMMY OR DADDY JUST WHAT THAT MEANS. PATTI DID! OF COURSE BEING INDIAN MOMMY OR DADDY WILL HAVE A GOOD ANSWER. 

Ulaanbaatar being an old city the below scenes of underground utility maintenance are not at all unusual.

Here we go loop-de-loop .. Here we go loop-de-li .. Right into gridlock traffic ..

Anytime in any large city when the traffic has to be re-routed absolute havoc is always a possibility.

I show the below photo NOT for religious reasons. I show it because it is an absolutely exceptional land-mark for me. Without my land-marks I am not able to go out and successfully return to my apartment.

Don’t spoil them Captain into thinking Ulaanaatar is sunny and bright all the time.

Jay-Walking in this traffic is absolute insanity. This lady must have a subliminal death-wish. Nowhere on earth do I more respect the traffic than here in Ulaanbaatar and this includes India. 

Enough of these sunny photos Captain. Let’s get back to reality here. The below blue-glass building here in Ulaanbaatar is another real land-mark for me.

There is a lot of new construction in progress.

Ray in Anchorage Alaska .. Are you still following along with me here? YOU jumped-right-out-at-me below Ray.

I will ‘pan-right’ from the above photo to show you the National Drama Theater and the Puppet Theater in downtown Ulaanbaatar.

I will end this mish-mash of Ulaanbaatar photos with a grand finale ..

Below I present to you a real Mongolian Ger (Grrrrrr)..

Below is a photo showing where real Mongolian Gers belong .. Out in the countryside ..

Do you also see some real Mongolian Gers in the background below?

Boys and Girls .. Ladies and Gentlemen .. Real Mongolians .. I ask of you this simple question ..

What on earth are these doing in downtown Ulaanbaatar?

Y0u want silly? THIS .. now THIS IS silly!

Will you all just look-at-the-size of this Ger below..

Good Grief Charlie Brown ..

Now that I have given you JUST AN ITSY BITTSY TEENY WEENY taste of the size and complexity of Ulaanbaatar I will get back to the subject at hand which is .. taa-daa .. my most special building that I began with ‘way back up’ at the beginning of this Post.

Deegi got me to this building. Now I know that it exists. The problem is this :

I must .. on my own with no help .. find my way to the special building I am showing above and then find my way back to my apartment.

Now the action goes to Changer ..

I have one phenomenal neighbor. Her name is Amaraa. I showed in a Post the special dinner Amaraa cooked for me a week ago.

Amaraa basically speaks absolutely NO English. So IF  I need to actually converse with Amaraa I call Changer and away we three go.

“Hi Changer this is Cap. I am at home and I want to get downtown to MY special building. Will you please tell Amaraa who is standing beside me here in my apartment IF she knows where MY special building is and IF so can she tell me how to get there from here?”

Changer .. who like Deegi .. also speaks fluent Mongolian and Russian .. is equally fluent in English so I can rip-off long sentences like the one above and he can get the content of them. WELL 95% OF THE TIME .. SINCE THIS IS A PROGRAM OF HONESTY.

“Cap this is amazing! Amaraa is going to YOUR special building right now this instant. Get yourself ready and go with her NOW. Amaraa is going to take the bus downtown.”

Lord God of Abraham .. Just once in my lifetime will you tell me how this works?

Off we go in the rain .. Cap and my neighbor Amaraa holding her umbrella. So far Amaraa will NOT give me a frontal photo of herself probably because Amaraa has seen me working on these Posts and because I have shown her the content of some of them .. specifically the one in which I showed photos of her amazing dinner for me ..

For convenience sake I am acting-as-if Amaraa can speak good English. The reality was a lot of good humored giggling and gesturing and pointing.

“Cap here is where we catch the bus downtown.”

As a land-mark I made a mental-note of the building directly across from the bus stop ..

“Cap you MUST get only the Number 27 Bus.” There are a lot of different buses on this major three lanes in each direction road.

“Cap we will wait for another Number 27 Bus so I know you know what we are doing here.”

“Cap you need exact change. The bus fare is 500 Mongolian tug (US $ 0.26). Let’s get on the bus.”

My very first ever ride on a Mongolian bus here in Ulaanbaatar or anywhere else in Mongolia.

Just getting onto a bus .. any bus .. and going for a ride .. any ride .. is a big deal for me because it gives me the freedom to get out and to explore a place without having to ask Deegi or Changer to take me somewhere.

On Sunday the 19th of July .. having been here only three days I was still very new to Ulaanbaatar. I tired to be bold and to do something for myself by hiring a local taxi cab. I could have .. she was in another room .. asked Deegi to help me. I did NOT.

Like each .. Like every single Mongolian I have had dealings with here so far .. my taxi driver was warm and friendly and very gracious and happy! I handed him the business card of the Erin Hotel (it also had a nifty map on it) and away we drove.

Like each and like every single taxi driver I have hired cold .. he was smiling to himself thinking ..

“Thank You God for this fare. I am going to stick-it-to my man here riding along with me.”

He gave me his phone number making it very clear to me that he was ready and he sure was willing to be of service to me for all of my taxi needs.

As he .. smiling to himself drove away .. I thinking to myself thought.. “I think that I was just had.” ..

“Oh God of Abraham you have so abundantly blessed me. I am sure this very nice man needed the fare and I am happy to help him out.”

ATTITUDE .. MAKE IT A WIN-WIN SITUATION CAPTAIN ..

So you got taken for some US $ 5.08 total when maybe it should have been only US $ 2.54.

This bus thing is enormous for yours truly. Once I get the hang of bus riding I will not need a taxi.

Now that .. thanks to Amaraa .. I knew how to get downtown to MY special building .. getting myself home was yet another challenge for me and I had no help on the return trip which I actually took the next day. Amaraa got me downtown and Changer got me home in another taxi that HE told the driver where I was going and what I was going to pay him. And I then knew-for-sure that I was indeed HAD by my previous taxi driver on Sunday the 19th.

Number 27 bus..

Got it. Here I go home to my apartment. For the first time outbound from downtown Ulaanbaatar. I sure hope I can spot my special land-marks and get off where I need to step down.

The lad with the white head phones yielded-his-seat to me.

Will all of you please look below at the seats on the bus. Study them.

Below is a up-close view of my seat.

MY SPECIAL LAND-MARK(s) TWO OF THEM ..

During my time here in Ulaanbaatar I have been driven around considerably in automobiles. During my rides I have been snapping photos and taking-close-notice of my surroundings.

My first land-mark going home to my apartment. How on earth could I not make the below one of my own special land-marks.

A friendly face in the midst of all of this confusion. HELLO COLONEL SANDERS!!

When I see THE COLONEL I begin to get ready to head for the door. It depends on how crowded the bus is and IF I have a seat.

My second land-mark going home to my apartment.

A real honest-to-goodness IRISH PUB here in Ulaanbaatar AND IT IS CLOSE TO MY APARTMENT.

If me mother would have been me father me surname would have been CASEY Oh The Love Of The IRISH.

In driving around town with Deegi and Changer I soon learned that to spot MY IRISH PUB all I needed to do was to spot a specific local gasoline station across a major street from the pub.

Do all of you see MY IRISH PUB off to the extreme left edge of these two photos?

Spotting MY GAS STATION is easy.

Let me tell you all .. Getting lost in a major city like Ulaanbaatar is no joking matter. IF I get lost how do I explain to Deegi or to Changer where I am so they can find and assist me. IF I get lost I am not able to tell them where I am. IF I get lost I haven’t one clue of how to explain to a cab driver or to a bus driver of where my apartment is. IF I get lost I risk serious disorientation.

“Well Sir or Ma’am .. My apartment is up a flooded road.”

And it is near an Irish Pub.

“Ah-h-h Sir we need just a little more information than that to assist you Sir.”

I am almost home. Time to get off the bus. This is my outbound bus stop.

Based only upon my limited experience consisting of four rides the time of the ride varies from 22 minutes up to 34 minutes.

SUMMARY:

I have found my most special building ..

I have successfully gotten myself and you to my special building from my apartment ..

I have successfully gotten us home again.

IT’S NOW BINGO TIME!

MY MOST SPECIAL BUILDING!

Below is the first view of MY special building when I get off the bus downtown ..

Trust Me On This .. It is not always this sunny.

Closer we come as I very carefully cross the major street you see above ..

CLOSER EVER CLOSER ..

THERE IT IS ..

THE MAIN DOWNTOWN ULAANBAATAR ..

POST OFFICE !!

It is an absolute 100% WINNER .. In we go ..

In all of my life .. I have never seen nor found a better Postal Facility. Maybe .. Just Maybe .. I am thinking about it ..

The downtown Ulaanbaatar Mongolia Post Office is the BEST Postal Facility that I have ever experienced.

It has all of the Bells and all of the Whistles ..

The postal service hours of operation are: Mon – Fri .. 7:30am to 9pm .. Sat – Sun .. 9am to 8pm .. You’re correct the post office is open seven days a week.

This lady is beyond excellent!

Here in this Post Office .. Here in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia .. Is without any doubt the absolute best selection of Post Cards that I have ever seen or found in all of my life with no exceptions. Never ever anywhere have I seen a better or even anything vaguely close to being equal to their selection of Post Cards.

The Post Cards are on display ..

In addition to the display of Post Cards there are THREE ADDITIONAL BOXES of Post Cards. I am only showing two of the three boxes.

I am having trouble fully comprehending what I have found here in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia.

Here is a little math for you. Each post card stamp costs 1,100 Tug ( US $ 0.56 ). Each post card costs 550 Tug ( US $ 0.28 ). The bottom line for one stamped post card is 1,650 Tug ( US $ 0.84 ).

It is a full service post office.

On the right below is one section of several sections of postal boxes.

To coin a term .. When I walked into this Post Office and saw what Deegi had taken me to .. To coin a phrase it was ..

I HAVE DIED AND I HAVE GONE-TO-HEAVEN  ..

This drop-box is 100% committed to International Airmail. I have never seen this anywhere else.

The drop-box is collected twice daily at 12 noon and 4pm.

One last look-back and it is time to catch the bus home.

IF you know me you know that IF there is one activity that I love to do it is this : Find and to write and mail post cards to anyone I feel would like to receive one.

Below is my first ‘stash’ of Mongolian theme post cards. As you look them over IF you see a particular post card that you would like to have please drop me an e-mail and give me the number of the card you would like. ONE SPECIAL SOMEONE BORN ON AUGUST THE 28TH IS GETTING ONE OF EACH AS HER  BIRTHDAY PRESENT ..

When I send someone a post card I note on my postal records which one I have sent .. M1 would be Mongolian Postal Card 1 ..

Do you love the stamps!

The basic Mongolian Air Mail post card stamp is a photo of a Mongolian Ger.

This is written in the past tense ..

THE FIRST BATCH OF POST CARDS IS ALREADY IN THE MAIL ..

WHEW!

I sign off overwhelmed with Joy .. Cap ..

• ← JUL 29, 15 .. MONGOLIAN AIRLINES AND IMMIGRATION ..
• AUG 2, 15 .. ULAANBAATAR .. MY BUILDING ON GOOGLE MAPS .. →