greetings from ulaanbaatar, party capital of the world.

we were caught up last night in the party atmosphere and crowds that gathered in the public square outside dave's place (an english pub). the spontaneous mass gathering was to celebrate the first time that mongolia has ever won an olympic medal. they won two yesterday, a gold in judo and a silver in archery. the gathering was made all the more exciting by the fireworks that were being set off a couple of metres from us. although joining in mongolia's celebrations we felt strangely at home as we were sitting near some 'ladz' who, we are certain, are from essex. we were first alerted to this possibility by a white wife beater and gold medalion. our suspicions were confirmed by a chant of 'let's go f*****g metal', in true essex style.


the celebrations rounded off what was an exciting day for us with my exam results and a pub quiz. i got into exeter and we claim that we won the quiz.

the last two nights were spent in a ger camp which was a different experience. there were four beds round the edge on the round tent and an iron stove and table in the middle. while we were there we were able to watch some of the olympics as even the ger camps have massive satalite dishes. we also enjoyed an hours horse ride around the hills and streams. we are unsure of the photographs we were able to take as daddy was in charge of the camera.

we would like to noted by anyone who is from up north that our plates from stoke have survived everything we could throw at them and are in sturdy form. we are impressed.

this morning we were most supprised to be greeted by a man willing to purchase wilma; he was offering $500 (a price i thought over the odds to be honest). we declined his offer but have kept his buisness card just in case we should need to sell her for example if we have problems getting into china with her.


OBSERVATIONS SECTION (by dwight wood, written by loong wood):
1. the city is hight smogy.
2. the city is an old soviet built town.
3. the cost of staying in a ger (four people per night) is $10.
4. fuel is roughly 75p/ l.
5. the trolly buses here are completely ancient.
6. there are herds of animals all over the shop.