From Boston to Mongolia

This is a catch-up post about what has happened between the time I left Boston until my arrival in Ulaanbaatar.

I spent a week at home in California with my mom and had a wonderful time. We went out to eat, went to the movies, ran errands, and relaxed. It was so nice in fact I didn’t want to leave. The only hitch during my week of relaxation and preparation was a call from my future boss at 2am on Sunday night. He wanted to me to change my flight plans (4 days before leaving) to stay in Beijing to get my Mongolian visa. After some ill attempts I kept my same itinerary but got a visa to enter China and a separate flight to go to China the next week for a few days. Other than that, time at home was fantastic.

On Thursday, my mother dropped me off unceremoniously (as is our custom) at the curb of LAX and wished me safe travels and luck. I was armed with two very large suitcases and a bag of Del Taco burritos (my favorit

e travel food). The check in line for Air China was short, but very slow. The security line was long but pretty quick. I felt a little lost and vulnerable having surrendered my US cell phone before I left and was doubly annoyed at LAX for not having free wireless in the terminal I was in. My flight from LA to Beijing was about 13 hours long and could not have gone more smoothly (minus the turbulence in the middle which was quite fun). I had a window seat and no one sitting next to me,

so I really lucked out. After a beverage and meal service, ending around 1:30am California time, I took an Ambien and slept quite soundly. Never have 13 hours gone by more quickly.

The Beijing airport was very nice. I got to spend a long 8 hours there (6 for my layover and an additional 2 because my flight was delayed). The flight from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar was a quick 2.5 hours. They sky was clear and I was able to see the countryside for the whole flight, everything was covered in snow.

I was picked up from the airport by Chinbat, a friend of someone who works in the Habitat office. Chinbat had lived in the US for 10 years, so we chatted in English all the way to my hostel. The hostel that I will be staying in for the foreseeable future looks scary from the outside, but it quite nice inside. I have my own room and there is a shared kitchen, living room area, and bathroom.

On Sunday, my first full day I walked around for a couple of hours in the city. So it was in fact warm enough for me to walk around for that long, although when I did come back my legs were red and tingly from being out so long in -5F. Ulaanbaatar is not exactly a beautiful city, but the sun was shining and there were lots of people out and about so I’m excited to get to know it better.