29 June UB and fly back to Beijing

This is coming to an end. We have mixed feelings about it.
We wake up in humid UB, earlyish so that we can make the most of what's left of our time in MOngolia. The plan today, thanks to judit's careful planning of the few hours remaining, is... a wonderful French breakfast at the French bakery round the corner from our hostel, go and check about luggage allowance and flight re-confirmation (we did it from Khovsgol) at MIAT offices, which were also just one minute walk from our guesthouse. Location was great!
We crossed our street and walked through what looked like back-streets to us which are actually normal one with communist looking blocks of flats and still-fairly-bare shops, a park with the adults-type-of-swings to keep them exercising and I shortly located the French bakery recommened in our LP. The look inside was totally western. We so well knew we wanted! Ordered capuccinos and chocolate croissants, which were heavy and buttery, which translates into DELICIOUS! A treat after two weeks of hardly no food for breakfast and really basic stuff, except for a tin of olives and biscuits and aloe vera juice the odd day. Real coffee and the bread they carefully placed in the bread window/counter seemed "freshly" brought in from France in a 5 minute walk distance! Still with the rush in our veins of being clean and just washed hair and with our spotless nails it felt almost home!
Judit and I had compared prices for airport transfers by taxi, we were quoted 10.000tg if i dont remember badly but in the end we decided to accept Nassan's 12.000tg because it'd be more practical for us.
I also popped up to Nassan's to accept her offer to drive us to the airport for 12.000tg and the moment she opens the door she says we can be taken there for 10.000 without me uttering a word! great! I wonder what's crossed her mind ... again this business-orientation and the utter desire of offering the best service at almost unbeatable prices in exchange of our good reviews about her tours and service, which fine by us but it's just too obvious that it makes you sick! Anyway, and now... it's time for shopping! off we go to the big souvernir shop in the flower centre on the corner of peace avenue. Dolls and boots catch J's attention, clothes and hats and bags from west Asian cultures mine, ...
want to buy sandwiches for the wait and flight and there was nothing like ready packed sandwiches to go in the shop! Noodles and biscuits again but no proper take away food. We hit a busy koshoor restaurant and we order some veg and meat ones to go, which we eat in the room while we tried to stuff what we've bought into our already jammed-full bags! and off we go to the airport in this brand new 4WD that picked us up at the station when we arrived. I seemed like crazy too taking pics of UB.
Communist-looking buildings, busy and shaky bus shelters, a power station, it's a sprawling city. 1.2m of inhabitants, many of them have seen the city change dramatically over the last 20 years, 10 in particular I'd dare to say, since the fall of communism, others have grown up along with the changes taking place, with the ideas of the parents conflicting with their changing present: consumer society, growth and expansion of brands and designer labels, communications - older generations used to study in Russia, younger ones if they can afford it, want to leave the country for better job prospects). Old and new buildigns giving the city an incongruous look and feel. It's certainly not nice, no personality, no character i'd dare to say, because of the buildings, which along with its people is, what i think, gives cities their own character. Dodgy looking. Said to be unsafe too, high levels of alchoholism steered by homelessness. children living in manholes to keep warm in the long winter nights when cold is extreme and bitter, unbearable at first sight to many of us, in cosy mediterranean countries. I said at first sight cos there was the American girl who grew used to it. Humans are adaptabe and adjustable. But Mongolia would be a hard one to adapt to. Airport wait, and boad the plane of to Beijing again.
we see a different part of the airport, and it's new and glittery and fancy. Visa control, taxi which was taken at the taxi rank and off we drive, same familiar road agaion, same really high buildings and the taximeter running faster than on our arrival and we had very little cash left!
Had reserved a twin on-line from the north of mongolia, a few days ago, about under a week.
We get there they have no room available for us and they assign us a 4-bed bunk. Judit was outraged at this, i wasn't so angry but we did say we had tried to make a reservation the day we left, that we had stayed there two weeks earlier and had been pleased with the service but to no avail. We spoke to the head of staff in the morning, got free breakfast and ???
Rest or out??