Today we took a ride into Ulaanbaatar to work on the Scout Project in the centre. The project involved helping the local Scouts to sort out their first Scout Hut. The building was in place, so it was just finishing the building that was required. Once we have a copy of what the Scout Project originally looked like, we will post it here. When we arrived there was only a small amount of white paint left so the caretaker was dispatched to the local hardware store while we used up the last of the paint. We then had an hour’s break waiting for the paint to arrive. When it did, our bus driver told us we were leaving for lunch. At this point we protested as we had not actually completed the work we set out to do, instead we opened up the new tins of paint and everyone got involved to get the white wall finished as quickly as possible so we didn’t delay the rest of the program too much.
For lunch, we were taken to an international food court where we were told we could buy lunch, but the budget was unknown because Troll had done a disappearing act again, and this time with the money! Once the money issues were cleared up, lunch was good (and it wasn’t mutton - bonus!). We then headed out to the Black Market where it seems you can buy pretty much anything. Time was limited here so a few people picked up Traditional Mongolian hats, and we picked up some more lino for the floor of our ger.
The evening was then spent at a Mongolian Traditional Dance and Music show in the local theatre. Due to the fact we arrived just as it was starting, we didn’t have time to pick up the photography tickets so we have no pictures. We did, however, pick up a copy of the DVD (for those that are interested). The show was absolutely amazing and included a huge variety of different dancing styles, some more Humi and lots of different traditional Mongolian instruments.
Following the show, we retired to a local pub for dinner. Here we met with the head of the Mongolian Scout Association who took us to a room in the basement of the pub for a few hours of karaoke. This was a mix of Mongolian songs sung by the Mongolians and Troll, and English/Western songs sung by everyone else. It was a very good evening but the driver interrupted it at about midnight because he felt it was time to head back to site. Probably a good idea I feel.