Had a good sleep last night which I needed, got Penny up before 09:00 as breakfast finished at 10:00. Penny was not that impressed with what was on offer but I enjoyed it and first time I have had toast in a month. We have been on the go for 1 month now and seen and experienced a lot.
Penny has been wanting Siberian Reindeer boots since she has seen them in Irkutsk. She checked out 3 shops and they were wanting £250 which she felt she could not justify buying them. Since then she has cursed herself for not buying them. Someone had told us to go to Sunday Plaza and behind there is the Narantuul Market. Found the route and was there in 30 minutes. On the way we took some back streets, the foot paths are not even man hole covers can be half a meter below the foot path. Some areas are paved and they certainly are not lock blocked so you have to keep an eye where you walk. I thought Spanish parking was bad, now Mongolia has got that honour. They park on all angles, on the foot path and where ever they can park there car and get away from it. The car driving is interesting, in town 3 lanes each direction and numerous times I have seen a car do a 180 turn to go the other direction and even a 3 point turn to achieve the maneuver. People honk their vehicle horns a lot seem to be impatient drivers. There are right and left hand driven cars, apparently the right hand cars come from Japan. One interesting thing I saw was they have these car covers which were quilted, what a brilliant idea you could do with them in the UK in the winter time and no need to scrape the ice off the car in the morning, but then you think how long would it stay on the car in built up areas?
Went to Sunday Plaza and Penny found some Siberian Reindeer boots, after trying on a few pairs and checking out some different shops she settled on a black pair of black ones after lusting over the cream ones for the past week. We found Narantuul Market it was out door and very large a woman would absolutely love this. Found the area where the boots and shoes were on offer for sale I said to Penny I wonder how many pairs of shoes and and boots are on this planet. Comment a woman can not have enough of these. She found a light colour pair of Siberian Reindeer boots that fitted her so I haggled and got them for £64 and the black ones were £80 a big difference from £250 in Irkutsk. Penny left there a very happy lady. Dropped our gear off at the hotel and went to look at Choijin Lama Temple unfortunately it was not open and a lot of rubbish on the street surrounding it. Took some photos and headed back to the hotel -21 C warmer than this morning when it was – 31 C. The beard still freezes the water bottle I was carrying had ice blocks floating in it.
We are 1600m above sea level here this climate dries the skin out a lot. The pollution irritates Penny and she coughs a lot outside. Seen a lot of woman wearing a lot of make ups due to the dry conditions here.
Went out to the burger restaurant close by and it was a different and lovely experience. Penny is not a burger person and she thoroughly enjoyed it. They gave you black gloves to put on very different. For 2 big burgers, chips and 2 big salads a coke and a pint of beer £13. MacDonald’s and Burger King you can learn.
Strolled over to Parliament Square all the lights were on and bloody cold – 33 C and the smog in the air unfortunately. We will be there tomorrow night to bring in the New Year.
Maurice's Travel 