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- The garbage collection point outside of our building. It gets taken away most days and the recyclables sorted out.
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- Dawn dressed for winter walking as we head down to Good Price and Home Plaza for a little shopping.
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- A view south past construction to the Bogh Khan Mountains. Tough to see, but they are there!
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- Dawn on the sidewalk with Olympic Street heading to downtown, and more apartments across from and beyond her.
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- Most Ub-ites live in apartments, except those who live in gers. There are a few houses, but not many.
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- The entrance to the “small” Good Price, as opposed to the big one downtown.
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- Good Price, which carries a lot of Kirkland stuff, wishes us all a Merry Christmas.
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- Dawn at the Mahatma Gandhi statue.
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- Bruce beside the Mahatma Gandhi statue near Good Price.
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- Again, a new apartment complex with shopping – and smog – in the distance.
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- Notice the artwork on the walls? Look familiar?
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- At night these light trees are all lit up, creating a magical impression.
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- Cars head south on Olympic Street – shrouded in smog haze.
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- A large Christmas tree outside Home Plaza.
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- Supermarket and other small stores in one spot. A little over a year and a bit ago, the top floor collapsed while building this place.
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- Never heard of this stuff until we moved here.
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- A view from Home Plaza towards our apartment complex – the orangey one – in the distance.
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- We love running across ‘interesting’ signs!
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- Where it says ‘Welcome’ with the arrow, the arrow is actually pointing out to the street!
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- We can’t read many of them, but there are a lot of signs here in UB.
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- Two Mongolian loves combined – Irish pubs and Mongolian food!
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- Smog hovering over the ger district of northern Ulaanbaatar. The ger districts stretch for kilometers along the northern boundary.
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- This was near the SOS Medical Clinic we walked to, 3 hours after we got there. When we first arrived at 9 AM, you could hardly see the statue for the smoke/fog/smog in the air.
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- Dawn poses beside a large sheet of unsculpted ice.
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- Shrek and Donkey.
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- Those sculptors are good!
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- Good artwork.
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- The ice sculptors at Sky Department Store have been busy! Kids enjoying the slide.
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- It took a lot of effort for Bruce to fit through the child-sized entrance to get into this place.
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- Bruce with a local water brand.
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- I think these are the happy feet penguins.
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- Not sure what this is for!
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- They should hire these guys at Disneyland!
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- Bruce high fives the Coca Cola bear (I think it’s the Coke bear!).
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- You can actually sit in the sleigh.
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- Sky Department store apparently sets this up every year.
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- Dawn with a scary Bactrian camel statue.
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- Bruce in front of Millies Coffee, a Ulaanbaatar landmark.
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- A deserted house near the downtown core, part of the Choijin Lama Temple complex.
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- Fancy large ger by the Wedding Palace – notice how grey it is due to the smog and smoke?
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- Choijin Lama Monastery in the distance.
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- The Ulaanbaatar Wedding Palace where marriages take place.
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- Statue outside the Wedding Palace.
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- Notice sneaky Santa has done something under the tree?
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- Lights and night make it magical.
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- Mickey shows up better in the night lights.
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- Still haven’t figured out what this is for. Must make sense to Mongolians.
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- All the ice sculptures lit up.
Our latest walkabout – two actually – one on December 15th to go shopping at the stores down the street from us, and the latest, which shares our walki up to the north end of town to SOS Medical, then over to Sky Department Store where they have finished most of the ice sculptures seen in our previous gallery, plus some pics from near downtown, at Millie’s Expresso and the Wedding Palace. We hope you get an idea of what life is like for expats who choose not to own a car here. For example, I walked home with 20+ pounds of kitty litter on my back PLUS another 8 or 9 pounds in a bag in my hand 
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- Trying to get in or out of Sunday Plaza on a weekend is crazy. You have to shove your way in and then shove your way out. NOT for the feint of heart!
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- Street vendors capitalize on sidewalk space in Ulaanbaatar. Selling everything from DVDs to shoe polish, these vendors are commonplace around popular shopping areas outside the city core.
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- Looking north to the ger district. Gers are felt huts. Mongolians just in from the countryside usually bring their ger into town and set up in the ger district to the north, where they burn dirty coal during the cold months to stay warm. That coal, in a hundred thousand + gers, plus the car exhaust from over a hundred thousand cars idling in traffic jams, creates a toxic smog that has been estimated to shorten lives by 5 or more years. Needless to say, we wear masks!
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- Twirling his baton up and down, or side to side, the officer directs traffic through major intersections. It can be crazy for pedestrians, but eventually we get across the street.
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- A small hospital in Ulaanbaatar. Notice the clinic sign in the top right corner of the building – even though it is Cyrillic (Russian) script, you can still understand it is ‘clinic’.
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- Sansar Market has a Santa in his sleigh, complete with reindeer, with Merry Christmas written in English beside him.
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- As we head downtown, I snapped this photo looking towards the southern downtown core. The haze in the air is pretty common due to burning of dirty coal and thousands of cars collectively idling for hours in traffic jams.
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- UBean is one of the better coffee houses in Ulaanbaatar. They roast and grind their own coffees, which are quite tasty. Dawn is still in her walking gear.
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- Dawn and I check our mail on our phones and enjoy our cappuccino and hot chocolate.
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- My cappuccino at UBean. Very tasty!
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- Bruce in front of the Christmas tree at UBean. Lovely place – always warm and welcoming.
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- This stream runs down by our apartment complex, coming from the north of UB. Here it has become a walkway for pedestrians and feral dogs.
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- Through the haze that envelopes Suukhbataar Square, you can see the giant Chinggis (Genghis) Khan statue outside the Parliament building.
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- Dawn poses in full gear outside of Mary and Martha’s Fair Trade. This shop sells handicrafts from indigenous weavers and craftspeople, paying them a fair price for their work.
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- Even though the temperature is below -20, it doesn’t phase people as shoppers are out in force. Most stores are open until 8 PM most nights – some big ones later.
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- This is an underground walkway that takes pedestrians across Peace Avenue, the main East-West street in Ulaanbaatar. It is lined with little shops selling snacks, trinkets, and more.
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- This salon advertises a FOOD massage – something that I think we would rather avoid.
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- Dawn outside California Restaurant. Big portions, reasonable prices, and free wi-fi to boot!
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- Dawn debates her order off the menu. Burger? Steak? Chinese? Hmmm…
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- Dawn, caught on camera at California Restaurant.
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- Bruce’s turn for the smile shot as he decides what to order. Ultimately, we both decided upon Chinese.
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- Dawn had the Orange Chicken with rice and I ordered the Kung Pao chicken with noodles, then we each had a bit of the other :-)
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- Dawn putting on her scarf, parka, gloves, mask, and hat for our 3 kilometer trek home in -23 weather.
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- Dawn poses with the Tiger Beer Santa’s sleigh at the Grand Khan Irish Pub in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
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- Bruce in front of Tiger Beer Santa’s sleigh.
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- All over Ulaanbaatar at this time of year, Christmas (or New Year’s) trees,
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- During peak traffic hours, the traffic policeman is a common sight. He ignores the lights to keep traffic moving “smoothly”. Well, as smoothly as traffic can move in a city with more cars than streets to run them on. Lack of street infrastructure (too few, too narrow) causes massive traffic jams. That’s why we walk!
Our latest walkabout in Ulaanbaatar (Ulan Bator for those who know the old spelling), Mongolia, where we presently live.