Overseas Mongolia Part 2

After a full week of work we are leaving the country. The workweek went like this:

• Mon - Meet with Local General Contractor, setup translation and communication process
• Tues - Meet with State Dept in a Hotel, get Project info, meet with Local GC again
• Wed - Tour the Embassy in morning, meet with State Dept @ Hotel
• Thurs - Tour Embassy in Morning, meet with 2nd local GC
• Fri - Meet with Local General Contractor all day

That left us with half day Saturday before the flights out to sightsee. The city is at times hard to take...95% of the buildings in it were Russian Communist built and are unkept.

What areas are not covered in some kind of paving is dusty dirt:

Older residential areas exist in the City that are not tenament buildings. These vast areas are a mixture of "shanty" type shed structures, old house shells with tarps on them and the Mongolian "Ger" homes. A Ger is a round fabric covered wood stick shell where an entire family lives. See if you can spot them below (yes we had snow today):

We had found another Monastery today of interest:

We had a chuckle, the woman in this photo was dressed just like a Bhuddist Monk except for one thing...She had 5 inch leather Stilettos on.

There is significant Air Pollution here, as five Coal Power Plants surround the City and if there is no wind, this is what you experience:

Yes I am sure outside of Ulaanbaatar in the summer the country is wild and undamaged by man. Inside the Culture here, evidence of universal values does display, like the love of a Mother:

Thats a wrap....next time Jakarta in December.