Day 222: In the Black Market

After breakfast, we headed out to the so-called Black Market. Yesterday, when we mentioned to the woman at the information centre that we were thinking of going there, she blanched a little and said 'Oh no, you don't want to go there.' The Lonely Planet was pretty discouraging as well, warning of pickpockets and bag slashers, but Anna had suggested that we check it out and we were game (and as regular readers will have noticed, we love a market), so off we went. Getting there involved catching a bus on one of UB's main roads - Peace Avenue - which took a while. The bus we eventually boarded got progressively more crowded as we travelled and the girls were forced to give up their seats to some elderly locals. The old woman who took over Zoe's seat spoke a little English and was most taken with her. She eventually beckoned her over and made her share her seat with her, leaning forward at one point, burying her nose in her hair and inhaling deeply, much to our amusement and Zoe's discomfort.

So, we were all quite pleased when we reached the market. Another friendly old lady led us to the entrance and then we began to explore. It's largely a clothing market (for Sydney-siders, it's a lot like a low-rent version of Paddy's Market), but scattered around are stalls selling just about anything your average Mongolian could need – from beds and sewing machines to horse tack, solar panels and various spare parts for gers. We forgot to bring any sunglasses for Zoe, so we shopped around and eventually found a very cool pair for her. We also bought some socks and toothpaste, a shopping bag and a Burton Snowboards cap for me (for the equivalent of only £3!). 

As we wandered, the weather went from sunny and reasonably warm to overcast and cool to freezing cold, windy and snowing. By this point we were all pretty miserable, so we gave up and went back to the bus stop and back into the city. We got off near where we thought there was a burger restaurant that came highly recommended, but try as we might, we couldn't find it. I left Kate and the girls in a playground and walked around and around looking for it. I was just about to give up when I spotted a sign not far from where the girls were, so we all went there but we still couldn't find the restaurant. It turned out it was in a bare room in an unmarked building adjacent to the sign. And yes, the burgers were good.

 

After a coffee at the super-cool Cafe 9 and then a bit of rest and relaxation back in the room we went out for dinner at a vegan restaurant in a Buddhist meditation centre. Kate has been craving veges since we left Western Europe, so she was in some sort of heaven. The food was certainly tasty and not at all expensive.