MAR 11, 16 .. MONGOLIAN IMMIGRATION AND THE BUSES ..

By Cap Chastain March 11, 2016 Bus / Buses, Gullible, MONGOLIA, Official Business, Ulaanbaatar (U.B.) No Comments

No problem with a title for this post. The first two words above say-it-all : MONGOLIAN IMMIGRATION.

Just in case you did not read my post of last Monday March 7th, 2016 below is a link back to it should you wish to refresh your memory.

https://babakaps.net/?p=17858

I am going to begin here with a reference to Patti’s and my friend Gullible and her web site. The link below will take you to her recent post dated last Sunday March 6, 2016 .. a post that touches on supernatural happenings.

http://gullible-gulliblestravels.blogspot.com/2016/03/cue-music-from-twilight-zone.html

Gullible then made a comment (the second comment down) to her own post as follows:

A few years ago, I was picking up litter and it occurred to me that I hadn’t found any dead birds–the ones that get hit by cars and thrown to the side of the highway. Darned if a hundred feet later I found a dead bird, then another and another and another in the next half mile. Then a dead Great Horned Owl carcass. These are the kind of things that worry me and make me wonder if I cause them.

Two comments below the above comment Gullilble posted another (the fourth comment down) as follows:

PS: Most people have the ability to anticipate something, like anticipating what someone will do in response to a stimulus. That’s pretty common. But how in the world can someone “anticipate” the exact words in a book? Two rather uncommon and unrelated things? ‘Tis a mystery.

I asked Gullible if she was familiar with the late-night-talk-show-host Art Bell. Art Bell specialized in remote viewing and the entire spectrum of extrasensory perception. If a topic was odd .. unusual .. far out .. Art Bell would have a show on it.

I can wrap it all up with this statement : The more we know .. The more we know we don’t know much.

This fits in with Gullible’s self-questioning of her experiences.

To the above questions and comments I add the following discussion.

ULAANBAATAR MONGOLIA BUSES ..

The buses here in Ulaanbaatar can be an immense challenge to ride. It is a fact that not one single friend of mine here in Ulaanbaatar rides the bus system. I know because I have asked each one of them questions (“What bus do I catch to get to your residence?” .. “Where can I purchase a U-Pay card?” .. “What bus route goes to the railway station?” .. “Do any buses go out to the airport?” .. etc!) and not one of them has been able to answer my questions.

In my own small way I have been putting-it-out-to-the-universe through my posts that I am very challenged by riding the buses especially in the cold weather we are having at this time.

So what happens after I utter some complaints out loud here? Yesterday I wrote the below comments about my bus riding yesterday. I have no photos because it was dark when I was riding and I don’t like to use my flash. Using a flash alerts too many people to my presence.

I did not have to wait even one minute for my Number 6 bus. We two arrived at my Eastbound bus stop together. THEN it was literally empty. I had my pick-of-seats for the long 40-minute ride.

IF YOU ARE NOT IN A HURRY .. PLEASE RE-READ WHAT I JUST WROTE ABOVE .. AMAZING .. TRULY AMAZING!

On my return trip the Same Ol’ Same Ol’ .. My Number 6 bus was waiting at its Eastern terminus almost ‘just for me’. I walked up .. Got on .. Picked my seat in the almost empty bus and sat down.

HUMOR ME PLEASE .. RE-READ THE SECOND AMAZING PHENOMENON ABOVE!

Today I had my camera with-me-at-the-ready and it was bright and it was sunny this afternoon. What do you think of today’s bus riding experience based on the below photos?

It is amazing when you can see the front of the bus.

The Number 47 bus heading East on Peace Avenue.
The Number 40 bus heading West out Peace Avenue.
“Captain! You have been telling us what a mob scene it is to board the buses.” .. “Below it looks pretty civilized Captain!”
“Captain Kanbaatar! We repeat the above! Do you really think that below photo of passengers boarding the bus is a mob scene?”
The below three photos were taken on the Number 15 bus I caught after I left the Immigration Office heading towards the Western outskirts of Ulaanbaatar. I got on and looking straight to the back of the bus look what awaited me.

Below are two photos looking at the front of the Number 15 bus.

If any of you reading this post were here riding the buses with me today these buses would ‘make-a-liar-out-of-me’ when I say that bus riding can be a real challenge and hassle. Well .. It CAN BE but it is not always difficult.

“Captain you need to go to work for a ‘Hedge Fund’ with that statement.
“Well?” .. “Gullible? Did the complaints that I have been voicing and writing about cause the utter chaos to turn into the above calm and serene scenes?” .. “Go figure!”

I took my camera with me specifically to show all of you what a hassle bus riding can be! Look what happened! Something seems to be happening here and what it is ain’t exactly clear is it Buffalo Springfield?

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MONGOLIAN IMMIGRATION ..

The normal ordinary tourist .. On an all-expense-paid tour with their every need taken care of by professionals .. Never Ever experience a Foreign Immigration Office and what that entails. Same normal ordinary tourists Never Ever ride local buses with the real people either.

The tour guides who take care of the normal ordinary tourist are totally dedicated to doing such a good job of taking care of the tourists because they want repeat customers.

After last Monday I have been ‘silently dreading’ my return trip out to the Immigration Office this afternoon to keep a 3pm (15:00 Hrs) appointment. This is the first time in my three separate dealings with the Mongolian authorities that they have kept my passport for four days. I have been dreading it because of the cold weather. I have been dreading it because of the potential hassles with the buses. I have been dreading it because of possible uncertainties regarding my immigration status. They have the power and they have the authority to tell me to .. “Catch the next airplane out of Ulaanbaatar no questions asked!”

All of my bus riding angst all week was for naught! On a zero (worst) to ten (best) rating scale .. Above you have seen the situation with the buses today.. Bus riding was a ten? How about a fifty! How about absolutely perfect.

Now to the Immigration Office experience. I walked into the Immigration Office this afternoon at precisely 2:58pm (14:58 Hrs) .. I was due at 3pm (15:00 Hrs). I went to the correct and proper window and presented my paperwork given to me last Monday to an official. I walked out of the Immigration Office with my passport and its official stamp nine (9 count them) minutes later.

DONE DEAL !

I have been approved to remain in Mongolia until my flight departs on the 19th of May 2016.

I have no idea .. I will never know .. Why they kept my passport all week.

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Today I was loaded-for-bear in terms of taking photos. I may never again in this lifetime make the bus ride I did today out to the Mongolian Immigration Office. So photographically I wanted to do the trip justice.

Below are but a few of the ‘zillions of photos that I snapped today on the way out to the Immigration Office and returning to my apartment. Many .. Maybe most of the photos I snapped .. Have died on the cutting room floor. Don’t worry .. There are many photos below for you to view.

AMAZINGLY ! After all of the mental gymnastics and fretting that I have been doing all week about this trip to the Immigration Office my trip started out just absolutely perfectly! An ’empty’ bus just-for-me!
Power Plant cooling towers in the distance.And up closer.

It is what it is! Ulaanbaatar is a ‘working man’s city’ in many respects.

I am showing you the below photo just a tad out of order. I want you to see what you are looking for in the two photos that follow this first photo of the Immigration Office.My bus is approaching the Immigration Office. Can you see it way out in the distance past the High Rise building on the left of the below photo.A closer look at it.Below I am off the bus and walking down the main road. Directly ahead of you is a silver mini-van. I will walk to where it is and then turn to the right.

Below I have turned right where the above mini-van is sitting ahead of you waiting to enter the main road on the left above. Way down at the end of the road below .. I will make a left turn onto the road into the Immigration Office. It really is quite-a-hike! I am going to show you more photos that I snapped when I left the office and headed back to the bus stop.
Below is the Mongolian Immigration Office

As I have written above .. I was into and I was out of the Immigration Office in nine minutes. In the lobby is a beautiful map of the world under the rule of Chinggis Khaan.
IT’S A DONE DEAL ! The time has come to go back to my apartment.

Below I am standing with my back to the main entrance door looking directly down the road that enters the parking lot of the building.We are now going to walk back to the bus stop. Here we go.

What is it that is said .. “Misery loves company.” I certainly was NOT miserable BUT I did very much enjoy the fact that another person also had taken a bus out here and was .. Like myself .. Now walking back to the bus stop!
Below I have walked down the entrance road you see above to its junction with the main service road and have turned to my right.There was a steady stream of cars into the Immigration Office. Above and below notice a long green wall-like fence.Back to the main road we two walked. No words were ever spoken nor any token acknowledgement of each other made.Above .. On the left is the green fence. Below I snapped a photo over the green fence of a bus at the bus stop we were walking to.Of course it is all-in-a-day’s-work BUT it is quite a hike into the Immigration Office from the bus stop. We are almost to the main road where we will turn left and head for the bus stop. Cars and more cars heading into the office.We are on the final stretch of the walk to the bus stop.I .. Can’t .. Believe .. IT! It is hard to make-out but the bus is coming! Can you see it in the distance. I didn’t even have to pick-up-the-pace of my steps to get there in good time.Can .. You .. Believe .. IT ! It was a very spiffy EMPTY bus !On the way back to Ulaanbaatar.
I have changed to YET ANOTHER EMPTY BUS .
My major landmark! One of the most prominent of all of my landmarks. This is a church located on the North side of Peace Avenue. It is also very close to my apartment.Erin 12463 I promised myself I would snap a few more photos of this church just-for-you.Next will be my Korean Hot Pot Restaurant .. Do you see it just right of center.

A nice photo of it taken while standing on the ground and not from a moving bus as the above two photos were snapped.We are home to my apartment bus stop.

I am now OFFICIALLY GOOD-TO-STAY in Mongolia until May the 19th when I have a paid in full ticket to fly to Hong Kong.

OK .. All of you tell me .. What Is Happening Here With The Buses! Since arriving into Ulaanbaatar last July the 18th of 2015 I have never ever had the number of phenomenal bus rides that I have had in the last few days after I ‘vented’ about what a challenge they can be!

Just try to tell me that I have been imagining that the buses are often crowded.