I flew from Beijing into Ulan Bator, or Ulaanbaatar, unfortunately by night. I wish I would have had a day flight because the view would probably have been amazing. Instead, I landed at 1am at night, and was picked up by Noreen and an elderly man who was the father of one of the girls at the Youth Hostel. He was our taxi driver basically. So we got into the car what seemed in the middle of nowhere and drove to the city. It also seemed we are going over a field while driving into the city. Here I must probably mention that there are only a few main roads in Mongolia, the rest is dirt track or no track at all.
Ulan Bator again has only a few main streets. For me there was a Russian feel to it, mainly because of the lettering on posters etc. The characters are very similar to the Russian ones. Well for people who know Mongolian probably not, and I've noticed you have to be careful what you say on your blog or you will be corrected immediately. Anyway, I felt immediately more comfortable than I did in Beijing because I could at least read the characters. Reason being - I learned Russian in my East German upbringing.I was shocked at the mad traffic that presented itself in the middle of the city. I am never afraid to cross a street even if it has 6 lanes. But in Ulan Bator with only 2-lane streets I was convinced I would get killed. Zebra crossings also don't mean much, and you have to be really careful.
Foot paths were dirt roads and generally I have never seen so much dust and sand. My beige travel bag turned dark grey until leaving Mongolia. It looked very poor and a lot of beggars were about as well. This was in contrast with the fashionable Mongolian women with their fake Gucci bags from China and their hair down to their bottoms, as well as the newly high-tech looking buildings and electronic bilboards, welcoming the new capitalism to this still quite un-touched and innocent country. I'll pray to the higher power (if there is one) that this will not be destroyed completely.
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