Mongolia, A Report from the Field: The Sunshine Hotel and Whatever that Stuff is I Thought was Butter

Patti and Cap are off on a two-day version of the three-day trip I made when we first arrived in Mongolia.   They are going to Terelj National Park, the gigantic Chinggis Khan statue, and the 13^th Century living museum complex.  They are skipping Hustai National Park and the wild horses called Takhi, because that involves hiking up mountains in the snow.

All this means that I have two days on my own to get into trouble, get lost, and cause an international incident.   Or--less fun-- stay out of trouble.   Take your pick.

The Sunshine Hotel.   Cap and Patti are staying in a small apartment in the building to the right.

Fortunately for diplomatic relations, these two days coincide with a visit from my Muse and she is bursting with stories for me to transcribe.  I stay in my room at the Sunshine Hotel and write.

My room is all I could want.   It’s comfortable without being expensive, at 45,000 tugs a day, or $22.50.   And, it includes breakfast, delivered to my room by one of the staff, whom I have affectionately begun calling The Butler, but not to them, just to Cap and Patti.

Comfortable, bright, and spotlessly clean.

The staff is wonderful, polite, friendly, accommodating.   They each understand a bit of English, though one girl reaches for the phone to call the English-speaking manager when she sees me coming down the stairs.   The others give it a try at understanding me.

I also have free in-room WiFi, something those fancy hotels in the U.S. occasionally charge for.    It’s still possible to find free WiFi in the U.S.   I think free WiFi should be a Constitutional right.

Charging all my devices is a challenge.  The white cord at left is for the refrigerator, the center one is the TV, and the third outlet, obviously, is for cord hook ups.

This is the two-prong outlet.

But, I don't think this is supposed to happen.

With this handy electrical gadget, I can plus in the laptop, Kindle charger, and camera battery charger.   However, I have to unplug the refrigerator to use it.

The only thing my room lacks is a chair.  Trying to write on my Surface tablet while sitting on the bed is a nuisance and very uncomfortable. I solve that problem by going down to the lobby and pantomiming the need for a chair.   A young man immediately grabs one and carries it to my room.

Once or twice a day, I go for a short walks or to get groceries.   Within two blocks of the Sunshine Hotel there are two grocery/department stories, and two convenience stores.   That I know of.   There could be more.   I get back to the room and almost everything is edible, but I sure don’t know what this stuff is that I guessed was butter.   It tastes like a soft, spreadable cheese.

The sign says Supermarket.

Absolute genius.   A wheeled basket to tow around a grocery store.

My landmark for finding my way back to the Sunshine Hotel.   Note the round orange sign in the lower right corner.

A lady who was delighted that I wanted to take her photo.

The lady and her beautiful deel.   You can see my landmark sign too.

The afternoon of my second day, the internet goes down.   After a couple hours, two of the front desk ladies come to my room to tell me it’s working again.   We check my computer, and before they leave my room, I have two new friends on Facebook.

I get some laundry done, eat my meals in the room, and I organize my suitcase for a trip to Gobi desert, scheduled for Monday—five days from now. 

Breakfast one morning.   Lime yogurt and a nice cake.

 However, shortly after Cap and Patti leave with their guide Yusef and driver Aagii, Caps calls.   “Yusef wants to know why we are going to the Gobi when we can go to ‘the lake’?”   So those plans are up in the air until they return to UB.

For now, the Muse and I spend quality time together.   Well, I guess that’s subjective, isn’t it?

Breakfast another morning.   Cream of mushroom soup and bread.