Though we didn’t have to get up early for anything, we did anyway because the sun is not well blocked by the window shades and comes out around 450am. We had our standard breakfast again which was kind of meh. At one point, Nicole dropped some of her eggs on the ground, but one of the resident cats was quick to tidy up after her.
Our flight wasn’t until after 2pm, but we had to check out around noon. Given the horrendous traffic this city has to offer, we elected to just relax around the property, taking in our final hazy views of the city of Almaty before leisurely heading to the airport. Nobody was working at the Avis office, so I just left the keys on the desk and walked away. Hopefully that all works out. We then had to walk through a maze of construction to get to the Hunnu Air check-in desk.
Admittedly, there was some concern regarding these flights because the company’s own website said they were unavailable. Through the google flights portal, Expedia and some far less reputable third party websites still offered tickets. Yet, Expedia said there was an error when I tried to book through them and then it disappeared as a booking option altogether until I refreshed the page and submitted again. Fortunately, it all worked out and we were issued tickets for seats 45D/F on an Embraer 195 E2. Half of our fellow passengers were on some sort of Mongolian national team for martial arts/boxing/Tae Kwon Do. As we were boarding, Nicole got lightly punched by a boxing glove that was hanging from some girl’s backpack.
The Almaty airport was dead. Check-in, passport control, and security were all done in less than five minutes. This probably has something to do with the Almaty airport doing a lot of its flights at really odd hours . . .like 2am. You see, from our current location, we’re about 7000 miles from Los Angeles if we go east or west. However, if we double back through Europe, we would have to take a redeye on something like Lufthansa to Frankfurt that is about 8 hours and would leave us wrecked and unable to check in to any hotels at the ungodly hour it would arrive. BUT, if we fly through Mongolia, we maintain a civil departure and arrival time. So with better flight times and the addition of tailwinds, it’s actually faster and easier to fly through Asia to get back to Los Angeles, thereby making this a true around-the-world trip. Or if you’re a flat-earther, if we keep going off the right side of the map, we’ll end up on the left side faster than if we kept going left.
The flight to Mongolia flew over rather desolate looking terrain including what I think was the Gobi desert. There were no visible signs of civilization all the way to the horizon. The seats on Hunnu Air were a bit tight, but the flight was only about 3.5 hours and we were served a meal as well. Once we landed in Ulaanbatar, we had to pick up our bags from baggage claim which took a little while. Then the confusion began. It’s a theme on this trip.
Ulaanbatar does have a sort of ride-sharing app called UBCab, where you can use the app to hail a taxi and not deal with the hawkers at the airport and feel like you’re getting ripped off. The problem is that it has none of the efficiency and capability of the apps for Lyft, Uber, Bolt, Dart, Grab, or Yandex to name a few. It wouldn’t accept foreign cards as payment, nor allow me to input destination address without physically hovering over it on a map and putting a pin in it. A United Airlines flight had arrived around a similar time and it appears they are even staying at the same hotel. Notably absent was “Greg.” It would have been perfect timing. The hotel shuttle, however, would have been $60 one-way which wasn’t too appealing. With that being said, the Ibis hotel is one of the closest to the airport and is about an hour drive. Our driver eventually rolled up. Halfway into the ride, I got a notification that the ride was canceled. Hmmmm.
Predictably when we reached the Ibis, he insisted on cash even though I had a bank account linked to the app. If he wanted his money easier, maybe he shouldn’t have canceled. We used the concierge at the Ibis as mutual interpreter. So, ultimately I agree in that we owe the guy money because he drove us a long way from the airport. But if the dude wanted a seamless transaction, maybe he shouldn’t have tried his shenanigans and wasted 15 minutes trying to get his money from us when he could have probably found another fare in that time. Nicole was twitching — that Jersey devil trying to come out and flip a table. So, not a great start to our time in Mongolia. Tomorrow we do a day trip around Ulaanbater’s environs. It’s been prepaid, so if they start asking for cash, who knows what Nicole might do.
passports & pepto bismol 