Wandering the streets and finding Wi Fi in Ulan Ude

The very old area of Ulan Ude

We wandered on further down through the old part of the city right down to the river. It is a truly fascinating walk with so much to look at.

Ulan Ude is flat, dry and dusty. We saw a strange building with "rocks" on its top and we still haven't found out what it is. We were astounded once again at the decorated wooden homes. the wooden lace-work was exceptionally beautiful.

The city of Ulan Ude is very dry, flat and dusty

We never worked out what this strange building is

World Nomad Restaurant In Ulan Ude

We searched for the World Nomad Restaurant (Mongolian food) as it was recommended several times on web sites we had visited. We couldn't find it. We asked three girls if they spoke English and they said "Yes". Apparently they had just passed their University English test one hour prior. They were delighted to talk to us. Rather than just point us in the right direction, they actually walked with us to World Nomad's Restaurant. We decided we would head back there for dinner later on.

Unusual shaped bulding

Arch near the city centre

Internet Café In Ulan Ude

We then searched for an internet café as there was no internet at Olga's. Down by the square we found a seedy place below ground level that reeked of cigarettes. There was a small bar in there and several poker machines. Use of their computers cost 1 rb per minute which we thought was good value. We set ourselves up on our allotted computer, input our log-in details and then found everything was all in Russian. We asked again and a man came to show us where to click for English. We emailed the kids and looked for replies from Couch Surfing hosts for later in the holiday. No responses to our requests yet. We think we will book into a hostel for all the time we spend in St Petersburg and also for the Frankfurt visit. We hastily retreated from the internet café as we could no longer tolerate the smoky air we were breathing.

Hotel Gesser In Ulan Ude

Discovered much later:

Hotel Gesser is located right in front of Olga's B & B in Modogueva Street and we were told you can go to the hotel lobby to access Wi Fi even if you are not a guest there. We never tried it ourselves so we can't report on what the cost would be but I doubt if it was very much at all.

The wind whips us around

The wind started picking up after we left the smoky internet café. We wandered further on around the square. It got so gusty we couldn't keep our hats on. As we walked back to Olga's we got caught up in heaps of whipped up dust. Not only were we feeling grotty from having no shower for three nights but we were now coated in dust. We even had it in our mouths and ears.

Trams

Our route back where we became coated in dust

Back at Olga's we had showers. Her bathroom is heated so by the time we had finished showering we were as hot and sticky as before we started. The heating was still turned on for the bathroom but not the rest of the house. We asked if we could do some washing. Tatiana found us some big bowls and we put them in the bath and leaned over to wash our clothes. We then draped them over the washing line which was in an enclosed verandah outside one of the bedrooms. There is no washing machine for usage by travelers but we felt there was one inside a cupboard. Perhaps that is for Olga's and Tatiana's use only.

Our meal at World Nomad's Restaurant

After cooling down and putting on fresh clothes we headed back down past the square to World Nomad's Restaurant. We wanted to try Mongolian food but we were tempted by the chips on the menu so we had both. We felt the meal was nothing special in quality. Our chips were barely warm and the pork in my meal was a bit tough. However, Ian's soup was quite nice. It was quite a disappointment really.

Safari's in Ulan Ude

Earlier when speaking to the three girls they had told us about Safari's which is another internet café. After our Mongolian dinner we decided we would check out Safari's. We bought pancakes and drinks and set up our laptop. We sent everyone a long email which I had drafted off-line whilst we were on the train. That worked out to be one of my better ideas. We tried to Skype the kids but they must have been eating dinner as no one answered the Skype call.

Back to Olga's or should we call it Tatiana's?

We strolled back to Olga's with the breeze now quite cool. The house was still warm from the heat earlier in the day. We opened our window wide to get cool air in to our room. We might be in for a hot night. We are heading to bed early. We seem restricted to our bedroom as use of the lounge room doesn't seem to be on offer. Tatiana really is very sweet lady - the most wonderful hostess. It is amazing how we get along even with a language barrier.

Next page - Tour of Ivolginsky Datsan

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Our trip in the order it happened: