Touring UlanBator

We started out this morning bright and early, since the sun came shining through our open windows at 4:30 a.m. We ate a pretty traditional breakfast in the hotel, then went on a walk for about 45 minutes. We encountered a very large number of young students as we were walking, and we later learned that today was one of three days of examinations for recent high school graduates to get into public universities all across the city.

We later visited a Buddhist temple with Erdene, Bolor and Khuslee, as well as a museum that was formerly the home of a Mongolian king. We traveled all over the city looking at the sites.

We gave Khuslee a gift bag with several American toys, and he was fun to watch all day. He played first with the John Deere tractors and implements, then was fascinated for a long time with the slinkys.

He ended up playing baseball catch with Daryl in the city square, which was great!

This is the Buddha inside the temple we visited.

This picture was taken in front of one of the buildings at the museum. Daryl is shown with Erdene, Khuslee, and Bolor. Note the slinky carefully placed on the ground in front of Khuslee. He decided it needed in the picture, too.

Tomorrow we head for the countryside, so probably will not be able to post for several days. Those pictures should be very interesting when we get back, as we get to observe the centuries-old festival of Nadaam while we're gone.