Post # 118 Ulaanbaatar

Day 148 583 days to go. Distance: today 42km total 8255 km. Its 7.20pm Thursday 26/4/2012 Ulaanbaatar. I woke this morning and opened my eyes to the biggest snow flakesI have ever seen. When they hit the landing they were the size of a 20c piece. It was beautiful from the cosy comfort of bed. The snow fall didn’t last long but I managed to capture a few pickies to give you a taste of a late spring weather in UB 🙂 All fun and games ahead!! bring it on I say!! That got us up and psyched to test the new jacket and gear in chill bill conditions. It wasn’t snowing or raining but it was full on windy and friggin cold. We cycled out past the airport and to a wee town 21kms out. It was hilly and in the conditions a good workout which I loved. I just had the marino gloves and padded mitts over and they did the trick The balaclava was awesome and the jacket perrrfect. I was standing on this high point on the way back looking out over UB in the distance and the wind was wicked. Do you know how comforting it was not to feel anything through the grapes. That’s what the jacket looks like with its little purple sewn padded squares 🙂 Rubes called me ‘the grape lady’ all morning so I told her I was going back to swop it for the red one and we could be dicky twins. I haven’t hear d agrape joke since 😉 It’s feisty fun a cat fight between virgos. We both give as good as we get. She had another flat this morning – ‘what the…’ Ive emailed my bike guru friend Scotty for tips on what I’m doing wrong as that’s the 3rd flat where the tube has been cut at the base of the valve. It’s got to be something with how Im changing the tyre. Any ideas let me know? Rube nagging me to get my shi# sorted as flats are very uncool!! The only chilly bits left are my feet. I’ve been cycling with cheepy cotton socks which have done the job so fr but my feet sweat in them. Usually this isn’t an issue but in the cold it dampness freezes the tootsies big. So that’ll be my last purchase a set of merino socks. Im kinda liking this whole shopping experience but I’m a tight ar$e first so there’s no chance of succumbing to retail therapy. We got back and planned finances for Mongolia and Russia. There’s nowhere to get Russian Ruble once on the road so that was a good tip in the lonely planet to have some onboard for the first days in the Russian Altai. I’ve been emailing backwards and forward this arv with the tour company that’s helped me with the Stans planning. We’ve got a good plan B in place so that’s ben a good sorting out for now. I don’t have to think about that until Almaty which is way later across the central Asian track. It’s been nice today to email back some close friends of mine and share their news of life back home. I love my friends and family and our contact xxxxxx This afternoon my partner na dI managed a short Skype before the Timor internet shi# itself so we’ll pick that chat up tomorrow where we left it yay 🙂 It’s great to take every opportunity we can over these days in UB with wifi access and we’re both loving the regular contact 🙂 More good news…this afternoon I got a visit at the guesthouse from Kangshinbai, the korean fella I met on the road last Sunday when was cycling out to Teriji NP. We’ve got a lunch date tomorrow at 12midday and I’m soo excited. He is obviously keen to catch up too otherwise he wouldn’t have popped in and that would have been ok but a shame. He seems really lovely and very interesting. I still want to get to the internet cafe tonight before it closes to upload my photos from the last days so I’ll finish up there. Talk soon x PS have I told you lately just how much I love posting you fine folk – thank you for staying tuned in. Only 5 sleeps til take off. Even though I won’t have regular internet access please know that I’ll be posting you each night and will update the blog every chance I get. I’m sure some of those little towns will have dodgy internet cafes to keep the kids amused with their video games. My internet spidey senses are still in tuned from China so we’ll be on the keen look-out 🙂