Escaped from a mental institution

Standing in front of a desk with the two other volunteers. The lady hands over a pile including: small towel, paper panties (see through), huge yellow short, huge yellow shirt (both without buttons and strings) and a locker key. Down the stairs. Entering a room with a number of naked Mongolian women. We all have to go into the huge room with at least 25 showers. After that get all the dirt out in a sweating hot room. Showers again. Time to put on the yellow outfit. Up the stairs. Another huge room, with 3 igloo type of things within that huge room. Two rooms had a sign above it with 77C one with 32C, every room had a different wood smell. Inside the igloo’s: mats and wooden headrests. The huge room was connected to a sleeping room, relaxing room, fitness room and some more that I forgot the name of.
Yes people, that is what you call a Mongolian SPA.

Camel milk soap
As the label says: ‘camel milk has the same ingredients as breast milk and is therefore very healthy.’ Well I never heard of breast milk soap, washing with milk still seems strange to me but it apparently ‘kills bacteria and feeds the skin’. But I’ve learned a lesson: next time when I go to the supermarket I should look at the label first instead of just putting something in my basket.
FYI: After using the soap now for more than a week nothing really serious has happened.

Yoghurt in a bag
Why they do that I don’t know. Maybe cheaper? To me it’s just very inconvenient. They close the bag with a plastic strip that they cut from the top of the bag. By the way, you buy this in a regular supermarket not from some local farmer. When I try to close the bag again it’s not working of course, the whole fridge covered in yoghurt. All this hassle is worth it though, the yoghurt is great.

Hitch hiking
Dangerous? No way! Everybody does it here, every car is a taxi. Meters are not needed, UB is not that big so most trips are around the same price.

Throat singing
The weirdest noise ever. Never knew that people are capable of making such bizarre noises. It appears to be very difficult though and it isn’t even that bad. I’ve added a video on which you can listen to a real piece of Mongolian throat singing.

Dusty, dirty city
Beijing dirty? Wait until you visit UB! One day walking around here and you look like you haven’t showered for at least two weeks. The place is so dusty. People wear facial masks not because they are still afraid of SARS but because of the enormous amounts of dust.

Back on air!
Finally I have a Mongolian phone number: +976 95791840. For the Dutchies: call 0900 9700 first and then dial my number, it’ll only cost 4 cpm, that’s cheaper then a local call in Holland!