Ulaanbaatar

Coming in to land at UB, I could see the entire, tiny city laid out below me, the empty countryside spreading away into the distance in every direction. Out there, herds of animals were being driven swiftly across hillsides, an occasional ger stood in solitude and dried streambeds snaked across shallow valleys in the gently undulating landscape. The city centre was marked by a small collection of slightly high-rise buildings. Around this stood a general low-level town and surrounding this, the ger camps which make up the suburbs. What a contrast to Beijing. Indeed, to anywhere I've been in China. Its hard to imagine that a capital city can be so small.

The airport too was tiny. The arrivals hall sported one luggage carousel, an ancient mechanical monster that clunked slowly round, while waiting passenges sprung up to unclog jammed cases from its claws. Beyond arrivals, there was no sign of the driver promised by my guesthouse. Another driver asked me where I was headed and indicated another passenger who was going to the same place, before calling our guesthouse to make arrangements. This other driver then took us instead, we were asked to have breakfast while we waited for our rooms to be ready but after an hour it turned out that there were no free rooms. so much for booking ahead. We were taken to a shabby establishment above a karaoke bar across the road...

By this stage we had realised that we would both be on the same tour as well, so we decided to burn plastic and try our luck at the hotel where the tour begins in a few days. It was a hot walk across town under my backpack, but the hotel is fine and not nearly as expensive as the tour operator's 'extra nights' charges had suggested.