Yaks, Reindeers, Eagles and Camels

Ok, got little bit time to write in here again. Well where was I? Somewhere in mongolia. Okay so Mongolia 3 weeks did go by really fast there. There was so much I wanted to do or I wanted to see, but was not able to them all in that time frame. We basically started out with Gandan Monastery which is in UB. It is a pretty cool monastery that survived many years of changes. My apartment was right across this Gandan temple. Because it is so close I use to go there quite often before joining the church. I remember when dalai lama visited there was so many people and I also went there before my big final test. We also went to Natural History Museum. I remember it being the coolest museum. But the museum still looks the same as 10 years ago. They quite a bit dinosaur exhibits there but the big T-rex was not there as it was traveling in Europe. We get to see smaller T-rex but it was still like 12 feet or something. Countryside was fun, we drove to Lake Hovsgol along with many other locations such as Amarsanaa temple, Taihar rock, Karakorum, etc. There are total of 21 states and we visited 8 of them on our trip. So we can say we almost visited 1/3 of the country. It was fun to ride on Land Cruiser 80. It was an suv made exactly for Mongolia or Australia. Our total gas price for 5 day trip was whopping $700. Gas price was little more in Mongolia and rough terrain also contributed in high gas usage. But the pics we took and experiences we had cannot be measured by money. Camel and Yak rides were fun. Eagle on your shoulder picture was cool. Volcanic crate and 2 million years old Lake hovsgol one of the cleanest lakes in the world. It was interesting to see Badarchin “Bums” in Mongolia walking around and seeking adventure. We picked up 2 swiss couple out nowhere walking and they did not speak Mongolian and sleeping in Nomadic’s yurts and helping herders. It was really green in the countryside and the livestock was everywhere. Hills and mountains all covered with animals and herders. It was interesting that although the land size was so big there still was so much livestock everywhere. Fresh Mare’s milk, Yak butter, Raindeer tea and butter were some interesting food we tried. For me of course they are normal but for Ash it was not. Well time is up I gotta write later.

Mongolia after 7 years or really in 10 years

So I flew to Mongolia the flight is really short and sweet. When I got there there was Mongolian citizen line and foreign visitors line at the immigration. I thought I will be done so quick since I am Mongolian national. I was wrong. They made me wait there for like 30 mins. Got questioned about how I left the country and new registration had been done on my passport etc. What happened was that they did not see departure stamp from Mongolia on my passport. Last time when they put the stamp on my passport the ink was really faint and they missed to see it. Anyways, I made it through and then got picked up by my family and was able to experience Mongolia. The road from airport to UB was pretty messed up. Just like when I left the country 7 years ago. I was shocked that after this many years why have not they fixed it. It was nice to see my family after many years. I had tsuivan as my first meal there. After I got there I found out the summer plumbing project has started in the city and each districts takes turn. This time the place I was staying had their turn and was told that hot water should had been back a month ago but it had not. Luckily Mongolian air so dry that I did not sweat a bit and my skin looked better than in 7 years just being there. I did not take a shower but no sweat and my skin was back to normal perfect look. Strange how my skin preferred Mongolian weather over any other place’s. I had about a week before Ash came to Mongolia. The air quality in the city was pretty bad due to too many suv’s and cars. It was nice to see green Bogd Khan Mountain right next to Ulaanbaatar. Although in Utah the mountains are right in Salt Lake it did not look the same as Mongolian mountains. The Bogd Khan Mountain looked more natural and beautiful than Utah mountains. Very green. I guess this summer it rained quite a bit. It was still little chilly but I liked that kinda weather. As far as food is concerned people are eating little too much mutton nowadays. Cuz they are costing half the price of beef. When I was in Mongolia it was mostly beef. Mutton did taste gross in steamed form but was really good when it was fried or boiled. I did not that much first few days. Took me 3-4 days to really get used to the food. I will write more later. This is getting really long post.

Summer Trip Korea Part1

We had a great long vacation this summer. I took a month off of work and Ash took 2 weeks off. We had different flights almost the whole trip except only one flight we were together. Last time I left the states was when I visited Korea and Mongolia for a short time like a week back in 2004. I mostly took flights inside the US since that time and noticed that significant change in Airline industry when it comes to internation flights. I took Korea air and Singapore air and both airlines Entertainment system changed completely since last time I flew internationally. Probably because of the recent advancement in computer and entertainment in general. I stayed at PJ and Lorri's for a week. I had no problem of finding their place. Since last time I was in Seoul, this city has once again transformed itself. Most of the subway’s are upgraded with glass protective doors like the ones at airport usually. People dress so much better now in Korea than they did 7 years ago. More advancement had been made in Korean Hyundai car industry. Yes they are nation that love their national products. I did travel countryside and to Busan of Korea by their new bullet train. I love the Korean countryside. Lush green pointy low hills and rice farming everywhere. The railroad from Seoul to Busan went through at least 100 mountain tunnels tells you how expensive the project was. I visited my brother who was working there by Busan. I took several buses to get there. Some of the mountains in Busan reminded me of Hawaii. Busan in general is not high techy city like Seoul but it has its own Pearl Harbour or Honolulu feel to it(not as exactly the same) The beach there was not as pretty as North shore or Hawaii’s but still got nice long sandy beach. People there for sure have different fashion style than Seoul. They do have many tourists visiting Busan. I did go out quite a bit in Busan with my brother. Busan did have subway but pretty small and have little older payment system like how seoul subway was 7 years ago. Seoul’s subway payment system got complete makeover now. There was not whole a lot to see in Busan compare to Seoul. But it did have quite a bit natural spots or temples to go by the shores. I spent in a motel in Busan with my brother, awkward experience since mostly couples go there. We found out it was a lot cheaper to spend night at JimJilBan Korean public bath place for like 7500 Won. Cheapest crappiest motel was like around $60,000 WON. On my birthday Ash I went to LotteWorld. It was pretty fun there. Almost 90% of the people there were couples who were on dates. In the States 90% of it would be families with their kids. That shows you how young Korea is. Seoul did become one of the most advanced tech cities due to its later development, almost everything was built with future technology in mind unlike old Europe and states they built their city anew. I will write later more about the trip.