Winter Wonderland

After a Japanese style breakfast, miso soup au vermicelle with frozen bean curd (stored on the balcony), Enkhee and I went downtown UB to explore more about the household market in Mongolia. We got off the cab in front of the State Department Store on the Peace Avenue and walked into a souvenir boutique where housed many beautiful authentic Mongolian handicrafts.

The first shop was usually the place I lingered the most, I spent about one hour thinking and rethinking what to buy to add to my exiting overloaded wardrobe at home. In the end, I bought three colorful Kazakhstan bags of different sizes to go with the Islamic style leather shoes I bought in Lahore and Casablanca.

Then we walked in a big jewelry market (similar to the weekend jade market in Taipei) full of small stands of individual jewelers of gold, silver, and precious stones. The market was full of women at different ages, both sellers and buyers. I found it a good place to study the likes of dislikes of Mongolian women as birthday, wedding and/or anniversary presents.

With no specific shopping goals in mind, Enkhee and I went through shop from shop on the Peace Avenue. At a winter wear shop, I found a camel color belly wrap and a pair of socks made of camel for my husband. Enkhee was curious why I thought of my husband at the last minute. She always placed her son and her husband first when shopping. Well, I would say, my husband and I were two identities. I didn't know what to buy for him, neither did he for me.

At 1:30PM, we walked into Chez Bernard, Enkhee ordered Omelette Veggie and I ordered Omelette Mushroom and we drank two bottles of Tiger beer to applaud our morning achievements. No matter how freezing cold it might be outside, it was so sunny and warm inside of chez Bernard. Enkh told me it would be really nice to see pedestrians walking on the streets in summer. I tried to imagine the empty road trees with green leaves on, people walking beneath, in colorful clothes laughing and talking. I told Enkhee it would be another splendid scene if she could come visit me in Taipei, sitting by the big window of Hotel Royal Taipei, looking at the traffic on Chung-shan North Road.

After lunch, we hung around in the restaurant for another one hour before Enkhee received a call from Dembee to inform us of the farewell dinner at Hotel Chengkiskan. Enkh suggested we walk across the street to visit the Souvenir House at the corner, I seconded her proposal to cross the street 20 meters away.

The Souvenir House was warm and comfortable. I mush have tried all the woolen caps and bags on display before I settled for two caps and one matching bag. Enkhee was excited to find a bag of rock salt for my cuisine. I didn't buy it, because I was not curious in salt. I was from an island surrounded by ocean. Salt could be found everywhere. On the contrary rock salt must be precious for people of landlocked Mongolia.

With both hands full of shopping bags, Enkhee asked me if I would like to take a bus to the Hotel Chengkiskhan. I said, "why not?" Finally I got the chance to use the public transportation in UB and I could observe people on the bus. We got on the Bus 52 in front of Souvenir House. Enkhee paid to the bus stewardess 600 tugrugs on the bus (300 tugrugs a person). I enjoyed the short moment sitting on the snail bus on the Peace Avenue, looking at the Ulaanbaatar moving backwards.

The 500 meters walk from the bus stop to Hotel Chengiskhan was a challenge. Enkhee kindly told me she was born in the neighborhood and she knew the area very well. When we walked down a slope in the park, Enkhee told me she used to slide down the slope with the kids when young. I looked back at the slope, imagining me standing on blade sliding down swiftly with joy. Arriving at last at the warm Hotel Chengiskhan was bliss, my feet and hand were frozen painfully. Hotel Chengiskhan didn't change much in the past five years when I first stayed there for four nights in UB in 2004.

I didn't shop at the supermarket of Sky Department Store adjacent to Chengihkhan Hotel in 2004, I took a good at the dairy products counter and sampled as many items as possible this time. I purchased fresh cheese of various flavors. I also bought dried mare milk curd. I am sure my husband would like them.

At the cosmetic counter, Enkhee helped Russians tourists. I knew Enkhee spoke fluent Russian, it was the first time I saw her interact with Russians. At the boots department, we ran into Enkhee's brother and his family. What a surprise it was to meet with Enkhee's beautiful and fashionable sister-in-law. What a small world it was in Ulaanbaatar!

The small and warm farewell dinner party of six took place at Temujin Restaurant on the 5th floor, including Dembee, Deegii, Batbaatar, Ganbayar, Enkhee and me. It was a slow evening for Temujin Restaruant. We were the only table at the corner. And we had a special treatment, including chocolate cakes and assorted fruits for desserts on the house.

During dinner, we saw many young acrobat dancers passed through the restaurant to the main hall where a grand dancing party was held to celebrate the Teacher's Day. My Mongolian friends were shy to join the dancing party. I grabbed a short break to take a few photos of the young acrobat dancers. It was amazing to see how flexible their bodies were. And I wonder if the intensive training at early age would affect the growth of little dancers in the future.

Before the end of the farewell dinner, Deegii gave me a box of silver necklace, earrings and ring, to my surprise. Dembee told me that they gave the token of appreciation to thank me coming all the way to Mongolia! I was speechless! How could I ever thank the toastmasters in Mongolia for their friendship and hospitality. At the end of the dinner, we toasted with six glasses of vodka bottom up to the success of my serving as an ambassador for the Toastmasters program in Ulaanbaatar.