Farewell to Mongolia

We drove to Dulaankhan this morning, and found the bow and arrow shop, but alas, the owners are in UB today, and it was locked up.

Bukhchuluun clearly wanted to make it up for me, but what could he do? Between our shared phrasebook, a little Russian, and charades, we've managed to exchange some information. He has two children, about 14 and 17 years of age. We saw some chickens, and I told him I have 2, and he said he has 6. Thus important demographics are established.

The Sukhbaatar market was nearly a bust as well, except I saw these things- which I can't identify, but would have loved to.

So on to Altanbulag, where I expected to ease myself out of Mongolia, but no, suddenly there it was, the border, and I was paying Bukhchuluun, and offering him the phrasebook so he can use it with other English speakers. He was very kind, he negotiated for me with a taxi driver (you can't walk across the border), and stayed and watched until our car finally pulled into the lane for Mongolian formalities. In all the haste, I didn't even wave goodbye. I was sad to leave Mongolia, especially so unexpectedly and suddenly.

Land border crossings seem to have a few things in common. They are tedious, long, and potentially hazardous, even for the innocent. They are not set up to facilitate commerce and tourism as are those in airports, and you are sometimes at the mercy of the particular officer you interact with.

By luck of the draw, I got to watch a smuggling operation- I kid you not. It's only clothes-socks, hats, sweaters, and pants, and they seemed to be high quality. There were four of us in the van, and the driver must have known the other two, because before long they were all working themselves into at least 3 sweaters/tops, and being stuffed with socks and hats underneath all that, and then their own jacket on top. The Mongolian customs person saw it and just smiled. When I saw the taxi driver appraising me I pretended not to notice and just strolled away. By the time we got in line for the Russia side, whatever didn't fit on anyone was stuffed in some compartment in the dash.

The whole process took 3 1/2 hours, and much of it was spent just sitting or standing, waiting for our turn. My bag was of interest, but when they saw me, and as soon as I opened it just a little, each time they just walked away. Apparently I don't fit the smuggler profile. My fellow van riders got a laugh out of it though.

(I found out when we got out the other side that the driver had on three pairs of pants under her sweat pants.)

So much for having it together- I failed to take all that time we were sitting to make sure I knew where I was headed in Khyakta, and so I got dumped by the taxi driver shortly after the border- not that I blame her. My 8,900 tugrik were for the border crossing, not a real taxi ride.

I was lost, and looked it, and for some reason a woman with her son took pity on me. I don't know much of what she said, but I believe she said to come with her (I did) and she would pay for the ride (she did- I had a few rubles but god knows where at that moment in time) and she delivered me here to the Tourist Hotel. It's functional, and clean, and will serve for the night. I forgot every single word of Russian that I know (which is not a lot) for a half hour, and felt like an idiot. I'm pretty sure I looked like one too, but I was taken in hand and delivered kindly. How many of us would do that for a lost-looking, non-English speaking person who showed up on their own in our town? I planned poorly for this landing, and got lucky. Mostly I planned poorly because I had not expected to actually cross the border today. I had thought I'd spend the night in Sukhbaatar or Altanbulag, but it became clear that didn't make sense. I should have then taken the time to do a bit of rearranging, but I did not.

ATM card wouldn't work in the machine here, so I exchanged some dollars- I'm hoping that it will work in Ulan-Ude, but if not I think I can go into a bank and do a withdrawal as a cash advance- or wash dishes for some money! I hope to find a place to exchange my extra tugrik- which I thought I'd need for my last night in Mongolia but alas, no such last night.