So we were on the train for a very long time, talking, reading, listening to music, etc. I love the train SO much. However, I think Sonya and Ivan did not love this particular train so much because I kept opening the window to let in cold air and then couldn't close it again.
We spent like 3 hours at the border before the guards even came to check our passports. Elissa and I wanted to find a place where we could buy some juice or something, and saw a store beyond the fence but weren't sure if we could go there...so we just sort of wandered for awhile until we found a hole and crossed through. Instead of juice, however, I bought an entire 2 liter of Sprite, which I think is okay because juice in Russia is really more like flavored corn syrup, so the sprite was probably a better choice.
Then we were worried because Ivan lost his migration card (like, weeks ago, but it didn't matter until now). So we went through this elaborate explaination about how our coordinator told us we didn't need to carry it all the time and could just have photocopies, how we all had ours and Ivan just wanted to keep his card safe at home in Irkutsk and forgot that we would need it when crossing the border, etc. They can't technically keep you from crossing the border but they can keep you from coming back in. So after all of that, she just looks at him, gives him a new migration card, and says "next time don't forget. Hurry up and fill out a new one." Wow. Excellent. Also the customs officials like didn't do anything except require that we move all of our stuff around. Then one guy talked to us for a really long time. Before I realized he was a customs official I thought he was trying to steal something. Sonya laughed at me a lot, as this was my first time actually going through customs.
When we got to the Golden Gobi, it was like 7 AM and we sat down and had this AMAZING bread with butter and jam and really good tea. I think we sat there for like an hour and a half. It was so good. We then decided on this 4 day 3 night tour around the sub-Gobi. Later we tried to walk around and take money out of banks/ATMs, which didn't work. We freaked out for about 3 hours (me especially because I wanted to apply for a visa to China, and could only do so between the hours of 9 and 12). Well, finally at like 1 everything decided to work and we could take our money out. Unfortunately I was too late for the visa (and couldn't apply any other day since we were leaving at like 8 Tuesday morning and coming back at like 4 Friday afternoon). So I'm going to come back to get my visa before going to China, which will actually be good. It's cheap to take a train to China from here, and I'll really like just relaxing. This is a great place to relax (I think). Everyone at our hostel is great and it's only $5 a night.
THEY HAVE PEANUT BUTTER HERE. That was pretty exciting. Hershey's syrup too. We went to the black market to find hats and slippers (tapochki) and Joseph wanted to find a coat. People there were RIDICULOUSLY agressive. I was pretty excited though, because they all thought we were Russian (since we speak Russian to each other). I don't know why I find that so exciting, probably because every other time I speak Russian everyone IMMEDIATELY knows I'm a foreigner and don't really speak the language. Anyway Sonya tried on a number of hats, one in which she looked like an ice princess, and another which was just completely ridiculous. She asked me what I thought and I told her she looked like a zhivotniye (animal, in Russian, but this phrase on the whole is much better in Russian than in English). The hat-seller understood and got mad at us and wouldn't talk to us the rest of the time, which is saying a lot since before he was pretty insistant on us buying his hats.
Later we had a tour of the city with this girl that knows Ivan's aunt. She was REALLY nice and it was a really cool tour (although REALLY cold!). We saw a monument to unknown Russian soldiers, which had a mural with all kinds of pictures of Russians and Mongolians working together. You could also see the entire city from there. Later we saw a gigantic Buddhist statue and their main square with a statue of Ghenghis Khan. It was sort of interesting the way she (and I assume many other Mongolians) viewed democracy. As in, it's good as long as it's bringing in money, but otherwise it's corrupting the country. She said something about men womanizing, and later Sonya was like "oh, yea. Socialism definitely would have better controlled that." I thought it was funny.
Later we were at a really really REALLY good restaurant that was really cheap. Sonya ate sheep, and Joseph ate horse. I stuck with chicken.
Also they have a RIDICULOUS currency. The dollar to whatever they have (turmeg or something?) ratio is 1:1180. Ruble:Turmeg is 1:47. Like...what?
Later we returned from the restaurant and found a bunch of other hostel people there. Some guy from Sweden named Bjorn (Bee-yorn...is that how you spell it? I dunno) and some guy from the Netherlands invited us to a Karaoke bar with them, so Elissa, Ivan and I went. Another girl from Sweden and a guy from Germany came too. I had a good time, even though I can NOT sing and everyone else could. We asked the Swedish guy how things were here, what he was doing, etc, and this was his answer:
Bjorn: Yea, things are pretty cool, I don't really remember what I did today, or a couple days ago, or yesterday, it all just flows really....(I bet he is heavily abusing drugs)
Sonya: Yea I think we were on the train all of those times.
Brilliant.
Anyway I have way more to say but want to get back to our awesome hostel.
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