happy belated birthday to tessie from ulaanbataar!

we reached the captial of mongolia yesterday afternoon just in time to take tessie to a mongolian restaurant for her 40th birthday. we had a lovely time yesterday giving tessie her cards and making her a birthday crown which she wore all day (photographs will follow some time); however we were forced to be nice to her for the whole day which was, needless to say, quite testing. swings and roundabouts.
driving in ulaanbataar has been quite an experience: it is a true asian city with people who drive how they wish and use the horn excessively with seemingly no purpose whatsoever.

as a birthday treat we also stayed in a guest house for the night, which is where we are now. this was our first bed since omsk.
thank you to granny and ling their cards and gifts. made tessie's day.

crossing the border to mongolia was quick and trouble free. the mongolian officials were very friendly. our only slight problem was a girl we met at the russia side of the border that we chose to take across: she was a bit dodgy, with money for bribes; also, at the mongolian side of teh border she just disappeared without saying thank you.

it feels most exotic being in mongolia and so far we have see hundereds of animals- cows, sheep, yaks, goats, buzzard-type birds and our first camels. it has been somewhat of a binocular fest. the gers we have seen so far have also been most exciting.

when we first crossed the border the roads in mongolia appeared to be far superior to the non-roads we had been experiencing in russia. however, after lulling us into a false sense of security the road disapeared and was replaced by nothing: we had to drive on the sandy dirt at the side of the road with no clear path on this 'diversion'. the cars where driving anyhow they liked and it was so dusty that we had to use the windscreen wipers and they had no effects. the open plain was also lovely and bumpy. daddy was most upset as we had washed the car only the night before at a flat riverside where were camped.

last night we stopped at an expat pub called dave's place, which is where the mongolian rally ends. it was there that we men to english guys who told us of the guesthouse they were staying in. they had just completed the rally in two weeks.

now we are in mongolia there has been a change in scenery. daddy is supprised that it has been hilly.