Day 8 and 9- A postponed flight

Day 8

We got up bright and early around 5am so we could get the plane back to Ulaanbaatar. When we got to the airport we found out the flight had been postponed till later in the day because of very rainy and windy weather in Ulaanbaatar.

My Grandparents, Philippa, my sister and I then decided to spend the spare time by seeing the museum of natural history. It was full of lots of stuffed animals including a very rare breed of sheep, which was absolutely huge-about the size of a deer. Nana was pleased because she had been hoping to see one whilst we were here- even if it was dead! She had been told that if she wanted to see an alive one, she would have to ride on horseback to the top of th mountains and wait for at least 3 days! After that we went to another black market, and then a supermarket.

When we all met up to get the flight we were told the flight would be postponed until the following day. This way a bit of a disappointment because we had been hoping to visist a rehabilliation centre, and a street children’s centre today in Ulaanbaatar. However we were definitely enjoying the hot weather here in Khovd. We booked the hotel for anoter night then went to a lake near the town, where we had a picnic. There were absolutely swarms of mosquitos and midges. Fortunately moquitos do not carry malaria here in Mongolia. I also cut my foot on some glass but Nana and Grandpa had brought her first aid kit and seen as Nana used to be a nurse and Grandpa used to be a doctor, they knew wat to do.

In the evening we went to see a concert performed by disabled children and members of APDC (association of parents with disabled children). We didn’t understand the whole play because it was in mongolian, but there no doubt that the acting and singing was amazing. There was a girl who couldn’t walk very well, a blind boy who played the keyboard and also and a boy who was very small because his torso had grown properly but not his arms or legs. They were all very inspiring to everyone.

Day 9

Whilst we were waiting for the flight back to Ulaanbataar my sister and I had been trying to get a tan outside. We were sitting on the bench whilst a swarm of midges made a meal out of us. My sister sprayed the bench with midge repellent and soon after we realised her arms were completely covered with blue paint which had come off the bench where she’d sprayed!

The flight back was very good and they gave us lots of cake. When we arrived at the hotel our tourguide had come back to say goodbye to us as we wouldn’t be seeing him again. We then had some rice and noodles for dinner, then pretty much went to bed straight after. It had been a tiring day even though we’d hadn’t really done anything!