From Brisbane we travelled 12 hrs with one stop over in Hong Kong, to reach Ulaanbaatar the capital of Mongolia.
We departed Brisbane at 00:50, fly all night and arrive in Hong Kong earlier in the morning. I made my bed (the advantage of business class travelling) as soon as the “fasten the seat belts” light goes off and slept all night. After a reasonable stay in Hong Kong it is time to board the Mongolian Airlines plane for a 4 hours trip to Ulaanbaatar. Travelling north/south eliminates the jet lag issues and makes the trip very easy and comfortable.
I made 4 trips to Mongolia and after the first one we started flying in auto pilot.
On my second trip I received the itinerary and glance over it noticing that I had to depart on D day at 00:50. One has to be in the airport 3 hours before and flying business class and with just a small bag it is a "no worries" flight. It only deserved a cursory look over the itinerary..
On the D day at 21:00 hrs I presented myself at the Cathay Pacific counter to be told that I should have been there the day before. Three hours before D day is 21:00hrs of D-1.
The lady at the counter tried not to make me feel bad and told me that every day they have one or two cases like mine and if they had a spare seat on the flight they would slot me in. I was lucky and managed to get a seat on the flight to Hong Kong where my luck run out because there was no daily flights to Ulaanbaatar.
I stayed at one of the airport hotels and managed to get a flight on the next available day but unfortunately the flight was full and I had to travel “cattle class”.
It was a lesson that I did not forget and all the people involved with my travel arrangements did not let me forget. I was the centre of the jokes for a while.
Hong Kong Lantau Airport
Kanbumbat airport in Khanbogd, Ömnögovi near the mine
One day, when we lived in Nowra, we had a dinner at a Mongolian restaurant in Sydney. It was a heavily decorated room and the food was mainly frozen thin slices of meat grilled on a shield at the centre of the restaurant, by a scary looking Mongol warrior in combat attire. We selected the meat and presented it to the warrior that chucked it into the shield, gave it a few turns with a huge sword and flicked it into our plate.
That and the stories I read about how the Mongols in their little horses, bow and arrows spreading fear and terror throughout the world as they conquered it, painted to me the picture of what the Mongols should look like.
I was prepared to face a fearless bunch of people and would not have surprised me if I had seen people on horseback in Ulaanbaatar.
In my travels through the world and in particular in Africa I am used to unfriendly receptions at the airports by the Customers officers and I was prepared to deal with it in Mongolia.
I had a pre-conceived idea of what to expect from the fearless Mongols and my first shock was when I arrived at the emigration counter and the person behind the counter actually smiled at me.
Up until then I did not see anyone on a horseback and wherever I looked people smiled at me. At the mine the people I worked with were one of the most kind, helpful and happy I ever met in my life.
After a few days and having met hundreds of people at the mine, offices, canteen and around the camp, I told my friend Tulga, a Mongolian superintendent with whom I started developing a deeper friendship, how surprised I was with the gentle nature of the Mongols and what my pre-conceived idea were.
I couldn’t believe that these where the people that conquered the world! Tulga smiled at my comments and as I become more familiar with local costumes and the typical Mongolian personality I started understanding more about Genghis strategies and the reason for their success in the earlier 1200.
I will try to explain further this statement when I talk about the history of Mongolia.
Chinggis Khaan International Airport
The Tuul river
Ulaanbaatar CBD
