Miles driven: 72 miles
Time in Car: 2 hours
Borders crossed: 0
We had planned to sleep in a bit, but unfortunately, a curious Mongolian drove up to our campsite around seven, waking us up. We enjoyed a nice breakfast of coffee and ramen, and proceeded to the capital of Mongolia: Ulanbataar.
With a population of 1.3 million, roughly half of the nation lives in this sprawling city. As a result, it’s welcomely modern, complete with American seeming coffee shops and, our first stop after checking into our Airbnb: Burger King. It was amazing. After a week of eating instant ramen, having actual chewable food was rather enjoyable. We justified the fast food with the thought that later on in the day we would try some Mongolian classics at a well reviewed restaurant.
After hitting up the ol’ BK lounge, we went to the Gandantegchenling Monastery. The center of Mongolian Buddhism, the monastery is know for having the world’s largest indoor statue. While the religious significance of the statue was lost on us, we appreciated the incredible East Asian architecture. It was a reminder of just how far we came.
We later explored the main square, grabbed a beer, and then went to a well-reviewed restaurant that specialized in authentic Mongolian cuisine. We ordered numerous dishes that either food bloggers had recommended or that just looked intriguing (e.g., a horse meat based dish called the horseman). The dishes came. We ate. And well, let’s just say that the beer was good. We chased down our rather disappointing meal worth some beers with another rally team and called it a night. The next day we would head east to a national park and the world’s largest equestrian statue. Until then - FWY
Main square