The Transsiberian Railway – Part VIII: Korea (in Mongolia)

(Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia)
So here we are, miles away from South Korea – the place I’ve called home for the last year – and we walk into a random convenience store in Ulaanbaatar. The Mongolian store clerk smiles and greets us in Funny Upside-down and Backward Language, “ Сайн байна уу” (which sounds something like sain baina ooh). We nod, smile, and walk to the fridge at the back of the store in search of some water. Instead, I find a whole fridge of beer.

Korean beer.

Now there’s something that must be said here about Korean beer. It’s not good. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s downright awful. I’ve even heard people describe it as “wannabe beer, with none of the taste and all of the chemicals”. People have even told me it isn’t actually beer at all. Those of you who’ve been to Korea know what I’m talking about. To those of you who haven’t, trust me. You’re not missing out.

There was something just so absurd about finding Cass in Mongolia. And once we spotted it in this store, it started appearing everywhere. One of the pubs we visited offered two types of beer on tap: Funny Upside-down Backwards Beer, and Cass.

You didn’t actually think we ordered the Cass, did you?

Korea didn’t disappear with the beer selection, either. Parks like this were surprisingly everywhere.

Temples, too. With Hangul (Korean). And Upside-down Backwards (Cyrillic).

I think it says “Seoul… Chong”?… I don’t know what Chong means, so if you speak Korean, I’d love to know!

And then we passed this store. Awesome!

There were also a plethora of galbi restaurants and noraebangs, all of which helped me feel right at home. Thank you, Koreans in Mongolia! Kam-sa-ham-ni-da!

(We took this video in Seoul last year, but noraebangs were everywhere in Ulaanbaatar… and this gives you an idea of their awesomeness ;) )