And it’s not only two weeks; it’s two weeks of hiking. I
printed out the “recommended items to bring” and I’ve never even heard of some
of them. I have no idea what I am in for.
There are two weeks between now and when I leave, at least
when I leave for Bangkok
That’s where I am meeting the group of what appears to be 13 other people, give
or take the guide. I got a list of people with visas; it has 14 people but I’m
not sure if the tour guide would be on the same list.
Next weekend I will be in town and I am looking forward to
it because I have been just go go go for awhile now.
This weekend, as in now, I am in Hong
Kong. We have a little get-together here that was planned well
before there were any protests. As it is, our group is staying away.
I got in late because I was supposed to work today but the
coordinator forgot to schedule me. (Actually, she said I’d told her I wasn’t
going to work since I was going out of town, but that is not true. I explicitly
said that I would work the OT – I get so few opportunities for it – and then
leave town. I’m more than a little irritated that I lose the OT opportunity
because someone didn’t listen to me. Anyway, I didn’t find out I wasn’t working
until I’d bought the train ticket, so I just stuck with being in Guangzhou in the morning
and heading out to HK in the evening.
Really, it wasn’t that bad. I won’t get back until 4:30 or
so on Monday and will still need to do workout/laundry, so being in town today
gave me the chance to go to the grocery store and cook for the week. That’s the
first time in a long time I’ve done that because I’ve been in and out of town
so much.
Tomorrow I really don’t know what the plan is, other than
there’s a junk boat trip leaving in the morning. I am not going on it – I
really thought it was today so I didn’t get reserve a spot. I said I’d lead a
hike, so that’s on if anyone shows up for it. I have a destination for the
hike, although I could not tell you how long to get there or anything like
that. I have a map.
Really, this is a loosely planned weekend and we’re all fine
with that. Honestly, if I get a haircut and see a movie, I will feel like I’m
ahead of the game. But neither of those is written in stone and I’d be fine if
other stuff came up, too.
So far, all I’ve done is eat a decent Thai meal. There’s so
much food on Hong Kong.
Oddly, Mongolia
had a weird assortment of food. None of what’s billed as “Mongolian BBQ” in the
States. Actually, the only place I saw calling itself “BBQ” promoted Kansas BBQ
specifically.
A place called Bull’s had been recommended to me and I went
there, but it turned out to be a nice hot pot place. Those, however, aren’t
worth it if you’re solo because you order each thing individually and it feeds
way more than one person plus gets really pricey.
The weirdest thing food-wise about Mongolia was
that there were so very many Korean restaurants. I have no idea what the Korean
influence is/was on Mongolia,
but it was all over Ulaan Bataar. One of the main road was even called Seoul Street. There
was Korean food all over the place, plus Korean handicraft stores, etc.
Another thing permeating UB was karaoke. Oh, my. I do not
get the Asian infatuation with karaoke. I don’t get anybody’s infatuation with
karaoke, really, but it seems there are, proportionally speaking, more Asian
who love it, certainly more than Americans. I mean, we are talking three places
on one block.
Heck, there was even one Korean vegan karaoke place that
advertised “alcohol-free” karaoke. I did not even think that was possible.
Another thing that I noticed right off about Ulaan Bataar
was that there are a abnormally high number of Priuses. Almost immediately upon
leaving the airport, I kept noticing a Prius here and a Prius there. They were
right-side vehicles. It was so weird I asked about it.
Apparently Toyota is one of
the few dealers that offers right-hand drive cars, which are popular in Mongolia. Why I
do not quite understand because they drive on the right side of the road.
Not all of the cars were right-side ones, though. Mongolia is the
first country I’ve been in where I noticed that the cars were both right- and
left-side drive ones, and it wasn’t like either one had way more than the
other. It seemed about even.
The Prius thing was just weird. There aren’t that many
people in UB, but at any point I could look and see about three Priuses.
Considering how expensive they are in the U.S., I just don’t see how it’s
possible that they cost he same there.
The camp owner had one, but it was strictly for city
driving. The other car was a 4-by-4 (which was needed) and it was a left-hand
drive vehicle.
I cannot imagine switching from a right-hand drive to a
left-hand drive in the course of a day.
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