Christmas day in UB 0900-1530

Oh well, al least its a white Christmas, although as the snow has been on the ground for a few days now the definition of white is a little grey, literally. This morning dawned clear with a blue sky that was to last until mid-day when the pollution elbowed its way in sideways – though the sun is still spreading quite a strong light its hard to tell exactly where it is coming from anymore.

As a contract worker Christmas day is just another day in the office if it falls within one of your work shifts. Along with me there are 3 Indonesians, one Peruvian and an Aussie sitting out Christmas here (today is a day off for the local staff) so for lunch I mustered everyone to head out to The Cassablanca.

The Cassa, as its known when we are being polite, is one of the original UB expat watering holes. In the early nineties it was apparently one of the only places you could hang-out and get a drink. Even three years ago it was mainly ‘our’ bar and the scene of many a late night. These days with the increased number of miners and drillers in town it has lost some of its uniqueness, or maybe we no longer party as hard as we used to. Anyway, two of the things it still has going for it is an exceedingly attractive bar-staff (hi Cindy) and the long-standing running joke of the duck on the menu.

We hate to think how much duck Willy, the Cassa’s owner, bought when it first appeared on the menu a couple of years ago as the ‘Special of the day’, but since that time I have never known the place to have run out. At the very least he must have a container of it round the back, which is fine in a Mongolian winter but slightly more worrying as a storage device in the summertime… Anyway, the ‘special of the decade’ as we know it has never given me a problem and as a substitute Christmas meal is as close as you can get to the real thing in UB.

So, the duck, and a couple of bottles of Willie’s finest French merlot. I can safely say that about the wine by default as there is only one red on the menu – at least its reasonably priced at 15,000 tugs (12 USD, 7 quid), some places in town would have the nerve to at least double that (bonjour mes amis…). Drinking wine in the Cassa is almost a sacrilege anyhow – traditionally it should be Tiger beer in a bottle though that is one thing they have been running out of lately, with a switch to Heineken being necessary.

Now its back to the office to sleep it off before the main company Christmas party this evening. A tradition Christmas kimchi dinner in the Seoul Restaurant… Don’t ask me who thought of that one!