While I've only been here for a week, it hasn't been difficult to see that Ulaanbaatar (UB), the capital city of Mongolia is extremely unique from any other city in the world. The low regard for any kind of traffic rules (that somehow seems to work), the old and run down Soviet style buildings with contrasting interiors, the cracked and uneven concrete footpaths, the dry cold weather (although it's only an average of 0 degrees at the moment, it will fall as low as -40 sometime over the next 4 months).. The list goes on and I hope to share more of these with you. I am really enjoying learning all about UB, especially its eccentricities, and know that I will love living here.
For our first full day in UB we were taken around to some of the city's most famous landmarks. The first was Sukhbaatar Square and Government House, where we soaked up the rays of the Mongolian sun (and have continued to do so at any opportunity since).
The Government House building, with Genghis Khan, the most world-reknowned Mongolian man, sits at the centre overlooking the Square.
Sukhbaatar Square
We were then driven out towards the outskirts of UB to Zaisan Mountain (pictured below). We climbed up the 300 stairs to look over UB (featuring a lovely pollution cloud), and to appreciate the Soviet-Mongolian artwork on display.
The steps up to the summit of Zaisan Mountain
The view from Zaisan Mountain
Soviet-Mongolian artwork on Zaisan Mountain
Our final stop was Gandan, the Buddhist monastery and temple featuring a large Buddha. The ground surrounding the monastery is mostly covered by the city pigeons that are fed extremely well by the locals.
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