And now we come to the end. I spent my last 24 hours in
Mongolia being lazy and packing. Thursday night my landlord was coming over to
check out the apartment and give me back my deposit. I did a little cleaning up
before and thank heavens I finished early because he, his wife, his son, their
English-speaking friend, and (I assume) her son showed up 20 minutes earlier
than I expected. We figured out
the money that I owed and they owed me. I told them I was leaving the apartment
on Friday at 3:00pm (my flight left at 6:20pm, leaving at 3pm was giving myself a
ton of extra time). They said they’d come back tomorrow at 2:30 to collect the
key and to give me my money.
I spent Friday morning packing and lounging around my
apartment. I didn’t really care about leaving the place spotless because we
didn’t get the apartment in immaculate condition and we’d already agreed on
what I would get back of my deposit. After putting off the final touches of
packing by watching 2 movies and wasting time on the internet I was pretty much
ready to go by 1:30 and was sitting on the couch watching stuff on my computer.
Well thank heavens I was ready because they showed up early again, this time at
1:45pm.
After they handed me my wad of cash I figured I might as
well go to the airport since they were there and I was ready to go. So I make
ready to leave at the same time as the family and the landlord carries my
suitcase down the stairs, very charitable I thought. When we get out of the
building I kind of explain in gestures and the universal words of ‘taxi’ and
‘airport’ that I was going to a nearby hotel so they could call me a taxi to
the airport (I was unable to call one myself because a. I don’t speak
Mongolian, 2. I didn’t have the phone number of the English taxi service, and
d. it’s impossible to explain how to drive to my apartment because we don’t
have an address.) The landlord then puts my suitcase in his trunk and says
‘taxi’ and points. I figure I haven’t got much to lose: there’s not much danger
as it’s him, his wife, and young son and they’ve never given me reason to be
alarmed before. So off I go in their car with them.
The wife calls her English-speaking friend again and hands
me the phone. She explains that the family is going somewhere near the airport
and I can get a taxi from there and it will be cheaper for me; sounded good to
me. We’re going in a direction that isn’t directly to the airport but kind of
in the right direction. Then we turn off a main road and start going through a
neighborhood of apartment complexes, eventually going into a parking garage
where we park and get out of the car. Weirdly I still wasn’t nervous or
alarmed, just slightly amused and confused. We then get into another car driven
by another guy. We drive for another 10 minutes, pull over to a random side of
the road and they take out my bag which is a signal for me to get out as well.
The landlord flags down a car for me (the unmarked taxis are usually cheaper
and I like them better anyway) and negotiates a price and puts my bag in the
back. And then I’m off in my third car in an hour finally making my way to the
airport.
I arrived 3.5 hours early for my flight, which was fine with
me (although it would be nicer if there were any shops or food at this tiny
airport, but I can’t have everything).
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| My last shot of Mongolia taken from my taxi. |
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