Sunday morning we arrived in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.. First impressions? Absolute chaos in an urban renewal area/war zone. Let me explain.
We arrived at 6.30 am. Made our way through the guys who really wanted us to get in their cars so they could show us their city in detail on the way to our destination, so proud were they of the beauty
of the city. We declined their kind offers and walked. A lovely morning - cold- clear sky and sun coming up.
The walk was longer than we has estimated, and what we hadn't factored in was the state of the streets, specifically the pavements. Strewn with rubble , concrete waste, glass, rubbish. Open sewers where the manhole covers were missing. Where there had been an attempt to pave, the paving stones were in places missing, or had been pulled up and left in piles.
We passed a park where a couple of people were exercising in the dawn light amidst piles of dumped concrete and steel from I assume a demolished building.
We made it to our hotel. A haven amongst chaos - we had to climb over a pile of concrete blocks and rubble on the pavement to get into the hotel "compound". Clean robes, hot shower, lovely breakfast. Below our 4th floor window a guy is living under a sheet of tin, on a derelict site, boiling water on a fire - but he is reading a newspaper.
After a rest, in the afternoon we go for a walk. Remember we are on the heart of the capital city. There is traffic chaos as cars vie for a space on gridlocked roads, horns blaring pointlessly. People everywhere making their way over the broken pavements. Tiny stalls on the side of the pavements selling cigarettes and drinks, books, videos, fruit.
Don't want to be blind and out for a walk in Ub. Was it all live?
Oops!
There are shoddily built concrete flats everywhere. There are new office buildings (I assume) going up everywhere.
There are a few elderly people in traditional dress, sitting at the side of the road sharing something out of plastic drink bottles. They also sit alongside a brand new building housing Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss, etc.Lots of young people, in the main dressed well in western fashions.
There is such a dramatic transition going on here. There is a dynamism about the place. We have 2 more days here. We will see how our initial impressions develop.
I imagine this is how the Yukon or San Francisco was in the early days of gold rushes etc. Here it is oil and minerals.
Observation - the British Embassy, around the corner from the hotel, has loops of razor wire on the top of high concrete walls, although they have a new wheelchair ramp! Heaven knows how you get to the ramp in a wheelchair over Ub pavements!! The French Embassy, further along the road, has no razor wire, and a normal "embassy" wall, and a patisserie called Michels around the corner, which does
seriously good coffee.
Best roadside stall - put an old bathroom scale on the roadside and charge to weigh people. Must work, there are a few of them.
No comments:
Post a Comment