Part 1

On a Sunday morning, with much joy and glea, I packed my bags and was picked up at Center Hotel, in Ulaanbatar, by my client. We took a 30 minute journey to the airport, which made it around 10:30 when I arrived, and my flight was due to take off 12:15 pm. As I got into the Terminal about to head to the check in counter, I saw a familiar face. It was the Ground staff of Air China hanging at the door. This, as experince had told me, was never good news. And true enough, he had uttered those 5 words, every traveller dread hearing ,”Your Flight Has Been Delayed”. Well, he actually spoke to me in Mandarin, but the dramatic effect is lost that way. I was then asked to line up at this ticketing office to change my continuing air ticket. It was a hole in the wall. A small room with a lady and a PC, with about 80-110 people queuing up to meet her. And this is where the real adventure begins. The one thing I do enjoy about traveling is meeting people and having conversations. When you are delayed, you meet the most interesting of people. There was a group of ladies. A slightly elder elegant one, followed by 4 in late teens, trailed by one in her early teens. They spoke French to each other, and one asked me what was going on. I asked the Ground Staff guy in Mandarin, and to my shock, they asked even more questions in Mandarin that put me to shame. their pronunciation was superb, their vocabulary amazing. I complemented them, and they replied that they lived in Shanghai. Wow.

The ladies were way in front of me in line, and so I was still in line to see the lady. In front of me, a man from Vienna, behind me a Brazilian man, who had lived in Mongolia for 6 years now. We talked, and I got to know the Brazilian very well. In fact when it was time to take a bus to the hotel, we sat next to each other and agreed to be roommates, as they usually put 2 in a room. Here is a hint for single travelers. When faced with a delay, make friends fast. Choose a person who is also traveling alone, somebody you feel that you are comfortable with sharing a room. In long delays like mine, a good roommate means actual good rest or even a good conversation compared to some weirdo you don’t feel safe to closing your eyes.

Well, we got to the hotel and me and the Brazilian started talking. He spoke Mongolian, which is a rarity for foreigner’s here. So I asked him what he was here for. He was a pastor. A missionary. At first he came to teach football and preach the bible, now he will be the director of YWAM Mongolia. He and his wife, a son and daughter love it here. We talked about God, about ministry, about missions. We went on and on, and we had a blast. We shared about so many things, that I knew it was not by chance, but it was an ordained meeting by God. This man truly touched me, and I will continue to pray for him.

At Lunch time, the 2 of us went down to the restaurant, and was joined by a elderly couple from Belgium. The conversation was amazing. They had traveled so much, and had a mountain of advice to share to us. Their stories left us laughing in tears. The following are two of their stories, as shared to us by the wife.

Story 1
We were in the USA, somewhere in San Francisco, where we had stopped for dinner. We read the menu and when we were ready to order, we called the waitress. She comes over and hear us discussing the menu in Dutch, one of the 3 different languages we speak in Belgium (Dutch, French and German), and she asks us if we are speaking French? Now, there is a little bit of rivalry from the French speaking Belgium and the Dutch speaking ones, and so I say ,”Where I come from, its dangerous to ask somebody if your speaking French”. This makes the lady curious, and she asks where we are from. I say we are from Belgium, and she is confused. “Is that near Colodaro? Or is it near California”. And then I tell her,”We are from Europe”. With much joy she says ,”Oh Wow. I never had anybody from Europe before. We have people come from England, from France even from Germany, but never from Europe. Your my first”.

Story 2
We had been going on a holiday in Nepal, and there was this young American couple with us. On the first day of the tour, they brought us to see the Mountains. Huge beautiful white mountains, and we were all at awe. The next day, more mountains, and the third even more. At last at the end of the third day, the American couple seemed upset, and the husband approached the tour guide and said, “Listen. All these mountains are beautiful. They are amazing, but we came all the way here to see the volcano!” To which, I quickly replied, “Sir, there are no volcanoes here. I think you wanted to go to Naples, not Nepal.

More in part 2….

On this day in History..

• Lunch with our guests - 2005
• Fifa WorldCup 2006 :- Italiano? Si Italiano! - 2006
• Nadaam tomorrow - 2006
• Dedication Ceramony for the Naadam - 2006
• Sydney in the Transit Hotel - 2007
• The Journey That Took A Wea Too Long :- Part2 - 2007
• JJCM :- Canton-i, One Utama, PJ - 2008
• Wanted :- A Review - 2008
• Given the right parameters, even men can help shop for shoes - 2008
• I saw Dr.M today! - 2008

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