Mongolia was a trip and a half...not just because I got to stay in a Ger [overnight and all]. Not just because I got to hike up to a buddhist monastery way way up in the majestic mountains. Not just because I got to visit a non-tourist Ger and see a newly slaughtered lamb hanging on the walls with the blood boiling on the stove. But also because I was specially chosen by pick-pocketers who decided to relieve me of my US passport, my credit cards and a lot of money.

Silly me, went downtown in Ulan Baatar with all of the above in my bag. Thinking I was safe, because I fiercely gripped my bag while walking across the street, I entered a department store and made for the lifts. All of a sudden there were about 20 people at the lifts and we all crowded in. When I got out, I discovered -about 10 minutes later- that someone had unzipped my bag and made away with what was probably the haul of their life! I felt really sick to my stomach and was pretty pissed off at myself for being so careless.

A few hours later, after visiting two different police stations- it is holiday time in Mongolia and it was a Sunday, so the special unit who deals with pick pockets was on hols-I was talking to the US counsel, who told me that this is a special scam that pickpockets run in Ulan Baatar. Trying to get a taxi when you are crying and do not understand the language [nor they you] is a pretty strange experience. Everyone was really fab to me though, and a guy got one of his friends to drive me back to the hotel. Then the hotel told me that I did not exist and I was not in room 306. I felt like I was in a twilight zone episode. The receptionsit felt really bad about it and let me use the Internet for free-twice! We got some of it straightened out, and thank god it was my US passport and I am travelling on my Aussie one. I also had one more credit card stashed in my luggage - WHEW!

Anyhow, here I am in Irkutsk-Russia/Siberia after two nights on the train [2 nights because it took 12 hours to cross the border- 4 hours to change the wheels on the train, 4 hours to process papers and 3 hours to wait for two more trains to hook up with our carriage]. The snap above is taken while we waitede for 4 hrs at the Mongolian border. We met these reallz cute kids who spent about an hour talking with us and generallz being fun....Last night we spent in a Russian woman -named Ludmilla- apartment in Listvyanka- which is on Lake Baikal.

Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world - we found out from Tatiana- one of the museum guides, who was like a character out of Saturday Night Live and told us about the whole ecosystem of the Lake with much enthusiasm. Some of us went for a sauna afterwards, which was interesting.

Now we are wandering around Irkutsk....soon to be on our way to Moscow, via Vladymir and then St Petersberg, where I have booked myself a ticket to see Madam Butterfly and the Mirinsky Theatre. Russia is interesting in a spartan sort of way. Every once in while a blob of colour shows through, but not much. It is pretty drab and well- functional.

The trains are bearable- bunks were bigger than the Vietnam train, and the toilets are manageable. The heat was pretty unbearable while we were crossing Mongolia to the Russian border- it must have been about 40-45 degrees out- and we had to be trapped in our carriages- most of us took turns standing at the windows gasping for air.

All is cooler now and quite pleasant......I will bring my camera to the Internet Cafe- probably in Moscow and give you a Mongolian treat.
Das Vadanya
Genie