Well we made it alive and well

So after the ash cloud delay in Vancouver, we flew into Beijing and waited an hour for the luggage to come through. Beijing has a very nice airport , very clean and bright and modern. And no people anywhere. Funny how you think you are in Asia and it should be jammed packed all the time. The airport was deserted at 6pm and again at 8 am . didn't even look up at us when stamping our visas. Lots of thermal measuring devices everywhere though.

We overnighted in an airport hotel and slept hard. It was a long day and couldn't really get any sleep on the plane. the beds are hard as rock but the pillows are super soft. I guess no Chinese have bad backs. We got up early to eat our complimentary breakfast which consisted of shredded veggies with tofu, mixed califlower with other veggies kinda pickled, steamed buns, some slimy potatoes with egg plant and of course soup instead of coffee. This was the yummiest breakfast ever. lots of flavor, filling, and good for you.

We left on the shuttle for the airport in lots of time to make our flight. We of course had a Starbucks Latte while we waited. It was goooooodddd..
our flight to Ulan Bator took of on time and was uneventful.

Then the eventful stuff started when we reached the MOngolian airport. It was a crazy time to get our luggage and go through customs and then they x ray you bags. Ann went first and they pulled her over. Me no problem. I couldn't figure out why she was taking so long. Well they didn't like the bags of goodies for the orphans. Apparently the vitamins need to be tested to see what they are and the shoes were used and could have foriegn plant and dirt on them. It took us along time to figure out what the problem was. The customs lady was scary and didn't speak english. They just kept Ann there and checked all other people through. There were a few people trying to plead our case but the customs lady was having no part of it. So we waited and waited for ....I still don't know who we were waiting for. our driver from the hostel showed up to pick us up and pleaded our case and again to no avail. I tried to find any words in my book and i pod that would help like healthy food and such. She wasn't smiling. We were just going to say look take them and let us go or lets get a move on. Finally no one but us left in the airport she comes over and yells at us and waves her hand at us dismissivly and we are free to go. Just like that. So we get a move on and get out of there. Whew so the orphans get their loot after all.

We get settled into into Zayas guesthouse. It is very nice, clean , friendly and safe. We are made to fell at home. Zaya is russian with very good english and married to a mongolian man. She is giving us lots of tips about what to see and do here.

We decided to find train station on our own to buy our return tickets. We were told to ask any young person where the train station was and they would point us in the direction. Yeah right. No one speaks english at all. We pulled out our hand translation book and pointed to train station and that got us there in about 45 of walking in 35c heat. Then at the train station we couldn't find the ticket place. Up and down the stairs and into every nook and cranny we couldn't find tickets. hmmm. We did go out side the station and find an info booth. She said go back across the street and it is in the yellow building. You want to know how many yellow buildings with cyrillic writing on them there is >? alot. So we walk some more. and look lost and then a man figured out what we were looking for and pointed the way. Another yellow building across another road and we were in. Went upstairs to the V.I.P. area thinking we were pretty smart and then the lady didn't speak any english. So there we are acting out what we wanted and pointing to the calendar which isn't in english and dosen't work the same as ours. She kept taking deep breaths. Maybe she was asmatic.

So we buy our tickets and hope we have the right ones.

We defintely saw alot of the downtown today. Will sleep good tonight.

Internet is spotty at best.sometimes it works and sometimes it dosen't so I will do my best to keep the blog going.

ttfn Rena and Ann

Ps they are just breaking out the breakfast food right now. Can you say mystery meat under glass?