UB never looked so good!

Well, our 1300 kilometer voyage came to a dusty end-- only one vehicle mishap (fortunately we were packing two spare distributers), and one forty-minute sandstorm that we just straight on through, buffeted by the blasts of sand and generally unable to see anything at all in any direction. I must say we were all quite happy to get back to the rubble and dust of the city. The Japanese bath in my hotel is probably clogged from all the dirt I washed off.

And so the seminar ended with a farewell party at a local brewery.

And now I am off on my own, doing some of the meeting and planning that I actually came to do, in advance os several Mongolia/Buddhism projects for next year at Smith. And, of course, I ended up shit-faced drunk at a political fundraiser-- the future PM, most of the Democrat party parliment members important lamas, artists, and movie stars. I didn't really have the right duds, but . . .



Glenn Mullin, an old colleague going back as far as 1974 in Dharamsala, escorted me around and all I can say is that it was one of those things that could only happen on the road. . . and I am glad I wasn't driving!

And that's it! Tomorrow morning I am back on the train-- the Trans Mongolian Railway for two days to Beijing! I look forward to being the practice-object for all of the Chinese who have been ordered to be super tourist-friendly for the Olympics.

See ya!