Last night

I packed and packed yesterday and then had people over to pick up all my extra stuff. We raised about 70,000tugriks for charity even though a lot of people didn’t turn up. There’s a lot of stuff still left behind. No one seemed keen on my camping stuff – everyone’s in winter mode and can’t imagine camping so no one wanted sleeping bags/mats/stoves etc. Bugger.

7:30pm we went downstairs to the French Bistro for a fancier dinner than I imagined. I wanted drinks on the verandah but it turned in to dinner, which was lovely anyway. The waitress thought it was my birthday so brought out a birthday cake thing with a candle, and everyone played along and sang happy birthday. It was pretty funny!!! We ate and chatted and my intake of volunteers gave me a cool silver necklace with my name written in Mongolian script.

Bah. I’ve never procrastinated about writing this blog thing until today. Last night was so special that I’m worried I’ve forgotten details. So many nice people said so many nice things last night! I guess there’s not much else to say though. After dinner I went to Xanadu with a few others. I wanted to say goodbye to another couple of people properly and I was all packed – and knew I wouldn’t sleep anyway.

I was there for a while, had a chat etc etc and got home by about 12:30. I double checked all my stuff, did more stuff and by the time I got to sleep I had to wake up (literally, I got an hours’ sleep). I woke at 4:15am to shower, get dressed and get my stuff organised. The taxi came at 5:30am. I loaded the car and Julian, a very lovely French guy I’ve been seeing for the past couple of weeks came with me on a whim. I didn’t want anyone to come originally because it’s just easier, but something made me want someone with me – and I soon found out why.

I grossly underestimated how much my stuff weighed. I had researched everything and gone over my options to make sure baggage was flexible. When I checked in – the first of the entire flight – I was 37kg overweight. I had 60kg of luggage. It’s a lot, but it’s not really. It’s lots of slippers, vodka, books I wanted to keep and stuff like that. The lady sent my bags straight on to the conveyor belt and by the time I found out that it was going to cost over $2000 to pay for the excess baggage, it was too late.

I eventually got through to the ticket lady that I was not going to pay that much, and that I wanted my bags back so I could rearrange. It’s extremely difficult to negotiate and to find other options when you don’t speak the language of the airport. I hadn’t slept for two days (still got no idea how I’m functioning) and I needed more options but there were none – I couldn’t talk to different people about different options because it’s Mongolia – nothing is simple, very few things are fair and no one gives a rats ass.

I got my bags back eventually and had to pull everything apart. It was more like ripping shit apart. I had to take out all my books, the vodka, my favourite camping stuff, my favourite coat, some clothes, dad’s tripod. If I had more time, I could have done such a more systematic job. But there was no time and I just got angrier and angrier with myself for getting in to the situation. I know it’s my fault, but it was extremely difficult to foresee. I had no way to weigh my bags before I left my house – that would have been a great start. I had no way to ask for extra baggage from MIAT (Mongolian airlines) because I’m a volunteer (most other airlines allow it; MIAT usually just let you through with extra. I had tried contacting them to no avail.). There was no letting through, and they decided to charge me for the excess on my MIAT flight as well as the excess on BOTH my Singapore Airline flights. I always knew I’d have to pay some excess, but had organised with Singapore to have an extra 10kg which by the time I rearranged, would have put me in good stead. MIAT wouldn’t recognise my extra baggage that Singapore allowed so I had to pay for and extra 14kgs. MIAT charges 4200tugriks/kg (about $3). Singapore Airlines charge $44/kg. It’s bloody significant. And there was nothing to do, as there was no time to argue.

I have to hope that I can talk to Singapore Airlines and get a refund on the baggage I was allowed. If not, I spent 919000 tugriks getting 6 pairs of slippers, Kazakh rugs and winter clothes home.

I am unbelievably ashamed and angry at myself. It was a foreseeable problem. I could have posted stuff home, but I had calculated and heard from others that it was cheaper to pay excess baggage due to the way MIAT functions. But no, not this time. So angry.

All the stuff that got pulled out got sent home with Julian. I don’t know what’s going to happen with it all, I’ll figure that out later when I’m not so angry.

The line to get through the xray machine was LONG and I was already really running late. I pushed right to the front and tried to whiz through. Of course there was a pair of scissors in my first aid kit that had to now come onboard with me. I had to sift through to find them, wasting precious time. I was shaking uncontrollably.

Scissors gone, I had to make it through customs. I am on a HG work permit which means I have (had) an Alien Card. Mine was stolen and never replaced because my work was lazy. The customs guys were um’ing and ah’ing over my passport and my Alien card – what to do? Meanwhile, I was suppose to have boarded on my plane 30mins ago. I was now shaking so badly and my entire body was racing under stupid stupid stress, just because my work didn’t organise my leaving the country properly. I was instructed to sit and wait.

I couldn’t sit and wait. I called our volunteer manager and put her on the phone to the customs guy. They worked it out – my Alien card was stolen, there’s a police report and my work knows I’m leaving without skipping the country.

It was 8:03am and my flight was scheduled for 8:05am. I was basically f---ked. Julian was waiting outside in case I missed my flight (which might have been a better, more functional option than spending 2.5days in transit to get home). He was pissed with me for being so disorganised etc. I don’t think anyone could have been more disappointed in me, than me though.

I got my passport and RAN. I pushed in to a line, got directed towards a gate and hightailed it. I walked on the plane, unloaded all my shit (that I didn’t put as baggage) and sat down. There was no relief. I was on the plane, but what next? I’d just met this really nice guy, I was leaving some beautiful friends, I was quitting a job 6mths early, I was going back to Australia for a world of unknown jobs and opportunities. So many things – I cried halfway to Seoul. I slept a bit, cried a bit. Sighed relief but it wasn’t – I was hoping that I would miss my flight, so that the imminence of all these life changing decisions would disappear and so that I could see what happens with this guy.

But I made my bed a long time ago and I committed to leaving Mongolia for a multitude of reasons. Mongolia was starting to tear at my sanity too.

The lady I sat next to on the plane was Mongolian, with no English. She was going to see her son in Korea but couldn’t fill out her arrivals card. I made up an address for her but everything else we got down on her little form.

I was SO lucky that I didn’t cancel my phone contract yesterday. I forfeited about 30,000tugriks of bond but it assured I’d have my phone at the airport. Great decision. Without that phone, I would have been up shit creek. It meant I could make a call and get the visa guys to let me through before my plane flew off. Phew! On the plane I was so sick and nervous that I couldn’t eat. That doesn’t often happen to me. Last night was the same. I was feeling so ill.

My plane arrive in Incheon, South Korea. I sat at the baggage terminal a while just in case my bags came through. They didn’t. I went to find something to eat. There were options. And the lady I bought stuff off was nice! And the purchasing was so simple. The food tasted amazing and I just sat down and soaked in the efficiency and cleanliness that is South Korea’s airport. I talked to the info desk lady and she called my hotel to get them to pick me up. She was so nice. It was all a bit overwhelming. It’s hard to explain.

I got picked up, got to my hotel room, showered, sat, organised myself and had a short rest. I went for a walk outside. The air is so clean and it smells so good I breathe in so deep I lose my breath. I went for a walk along the beach and watched some horses train on the sand. I plucked up the courage to eat at one of the many seafood restaurants along the water. All the seafood is live and you order it, they plate it and you cook it at a BBQ on your table. I got a menu and didn’t understand a work. Korean isn’t something I’m familiar with. The boss came over, took me out the back and we mimed what I wanted to eat. I chose a fish, chose how to cook it (most of it is raw and I didn’t want raw fish today, I did NOT need food poisoning today).  It came out, cooked on my BBQ and I ate the whole thing. It was pretty cool. It wasn’t amazing, but that’s just because I wanted vegies and salad…………………….. yuuuuuuuuuuuuum.

Tomorrow at 6:30am I’m off again to the airport, for my flight to Singapore. I stay for 6hours there and then fly on to Sydney. I’m excited about getting to the airport, just so I can eat whatever I want for breakfast. I’m not excited about having to hide my excessive carry on baggage, complete with winter coat, laptop, camera bag, big country road bag and very big handbag. I’m hoping I’m awake enough to try to find out about refunding my excess baggage. Yuk. I just want to get home, and do nothing, and be organised and eat properly. Not long – not long to go!