as we have a bit of time left until we are due to be at the border, we are still in ulan-ude. this is why the next instalment of our adventures come to you so quickly.

we camped just outside the ulan-ude last night and the night before, in the same spot. this spot was comfortable with a great view of the town but it was at the top of a windswept valley.

yesterday we went to the natural history museum of ulan-ude. it was small but lewis loved it and it was exciting becuase we had to wear plastic slippers to protect the museum.

yesterday we also tried, unsucessfully, to get some mongolian money from the local banks but none of them could help us.

one of the reasons we stayed in the city (our last big one before mongolia) was because we felt we had to take a ride on a trolly bus before we left russia. we went on two: an old one and a new one. i have to admit that it has been one of the hightlights of the trip so far and i used up all the battery on my camera taking photographs of this adventure.

last night daddy was highly pleased with himself as he managed to catch a giant grasshopper and subsequently win leiws love for half an hour. daddy and tessie also had their first night without an airbed as it was undergoing repairs and as it was raining had not managed to see to it properly. they have not yet revealed whether or not it was uncomfortable but there was talk about doubling efforts to fix the bed tonight.

we should be out of the city this afternoon after we have tracked down the history museum. the rain has held off so far today but as there has been more times of rain than not over the past few days we do not hold out much hope. the drainage system in ulan-ude is extremely poor and we all got wet feet yesterday because of, quite possibly, the biggest puddles in the world.
the most anoying thing about the rain is daddy complaining.

we have also noticed that pedestrians and drivers have are highly sympathetic towards each other during the great rains and generally allow each other to circumnavigate the biggest puddles in the road.