SEP 29, 15 .. THE MONGOLIAN STEPPE GUEST HOUSE ..

Patti and Gullible have been friends for some fifty (50) years. Patti and Gullible will be flying into Hong Kong on Sunday evening 25 October 2015 to visit Hong Kong and then on Thursday 29 October we three will fly from Hong Kong to Ulaanbaatar Mongolia to spend several weeks here.

IF you want to see the website to end all websites ..  click onto Gullibles link below ..

http://gullible-gulliblestravels.blogspot.com/

In doing some pre-trip research on Mongolia .. Gullible found a Guest House here in Ulaanbaatar of some interest. You may check-it-out by simply clicking onto the below link ..

http://www.mongoliansteppe.com/

After I checked it out on-line I told Gullible that it sure looks great. I know the area where it is located. It is a tremendous area very close to the heart of downtown Ulaanbaatar. A lot of shopping malls are immediately close-by. In short .. on-line .. it looks outstanding. What a deal at US $25 or so per night! Amazing!

Focus upon the gray hair below ..

With the gray hair comes some life-experience. IF it’s too good to be true .. It may not be true ..

Yesterday .. armed with having found its location from their Google map on-line .. I went to check-it-out for myself .. live and up-close. Keep in mind I KNOW THE AREA where it is located.

I .. could .. not .. find .. the .. Mongolian steppe ..

Oh Captain My Captain .. You are lost!  The Mongolian steppe is South on the road to Choir.

Home I came and re-grouped. Again I studied the Google map on their website. Today I took with me their telephone number.

Because I have been to the area several times to shop at the State Department Store I know to get off the bus at the PEACE MALL.

Daily I am amazed at the buildings here in Ulaanbaatar.

I walk about 1/2 a block East to the incredible State Department Store. The Mongolian steppe website states it is just behind this enormous six floor store. The Google map shows it more to the West of the store.

The State Department Store seems to have only first-class top-quality items. I mean they have the goods. I have shopped all the floors. From electronics to a grocery store .. with many items in between .. this is why I know this area so well.

Back I went today. Same story. I could not find the Mongolian steppe guest house. I telephoned them .. busy .. busy .. busy. Finally the phone rang .. and rang .. and rang .. and rang unanswered some more. Finally a lady answered. She spoke perfectly fluent English with little-or-no accent.

“Madam I can NOT find your guest house. I am at the West Entrance of the State Department Store halfway between the front and the back.”

“I will send someone to bring you here.” she replied.

“I am wearing a blaze yellow jacket with a blaze yellow stocking-cap.”

So out and off went Gimmesome Roy .. An elderly Mongolian gentleman appeared and he took me in-tow.

There is its building. NOT at all where it should have been according to the Google map on their website. The entry is just left of the red sign and below the brown sign above the gray door on the right end of the building.

Nothing jumps out at me. In the immediate area back behind me there are other Guest Houses that have enormous and highly visible exterior signs.

Unless you are blind there is no possible way you could miss the Taiga Guest House.

I did not go inside but it sure looks like a super legitimate operation.

Keep in mind we are looking for the .. Mongolian steppe ..

The man brings me right to the below door. Ah-h-h do I need new glasses?  I am not seeing the Mongolian steppe ..

I will hunker-down and squint and really look closely at the above sign.

My man is already inside and starting up the concrete stairs. Up and up and up four (4) flights of stairs .. two-flights between each floor .. we go.

After checking out their very respectable web site .. the reality of seeing it is less than overwhelming. Do I need new glasses? I will look really closely at the sign to be sure it says what it seems to be saying. Yes .. it reads MONGOLIAN STEPPE and the telephone number is the one I called.

IF it’s yellow like a duck .. IF it waddles like a duck .. IF it quacks like a duck .. It probably IS a duck Captain!!

Inside we go. Dead-straight-ahead is the common kitchen. The below photo shows the full length of the Mongolian steppe. It is not too large.

To the immediate left above is the community bathroom.

A two-bed private room .. certainly clean enough ..

The open dormitory area. Four double bunk beds.

A double-bed private room. Again it certainly is clean enough. But that is it! There ain’t no more! Two rooms and the dormitory.

Yes they do have a computer. It is located in the dormitory area. The main entryway is to the left below.

A community kitchen .. that toaster sure has toasted a lot of toast!

THE REST OF THE STORY ..

The nice little Mongolian gentleman that came and fetched me is himself a guest. He had no idea where or when the lady I spoke with on the phone was or would return.

Well .. That-Is-That says Baba Fats sitting back down on his stone .. Facing another thousand years of talking to God alone ..

THE SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT HIGH .. SHEL SIVLERSTEIN ..

If it sounds too good to be true .. IT probably is ..

Oh Gullible .. Oh Gullible .. I am not a fancy world traveler. I have lived on the street. I have slept in beds that were still warm from a prior occupant. I CAN DO places like this. And you Oh Gullible One?

It is called the .. Bait And Switch ..

“None of these rooms look like the one on your website that I am interested in renting.”

“Oh that room is reserved.” .. “Is it reserved for a year from now?  Next summer?” .. “Yes .. sorry.” .. “How about the summer of 2018?” .. “So sorry sir. It is reserved then also.”

What have I missed here? Had the lady I spoke with on the phone been there I could have asked her about other rooms. “Oh THAT room is permanently rented out.”

Lord God of Abraham in Heaven above .. What have I ever done to deserve all of the fun I am having here!!

SIGN ME AS .. Captain Kanbaatar ..

• ← SEP 26, 15 .. A FEW .. FACES-OF-MONGOLIA ..
• OCT 2, 15 .. DEUCES AND JACKS .. HERE WE GO LOOP DE LOOP! →