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Published: November 22nd 2010
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Sunset in Darkhan
Trees now stripped of all leaves, present an almost eerie sight in the early evening light. Not many words with this entry as most of the pictures are simply repeats or variations of pictures I have taken in warmer weather!
This is like my 'Spring' entry from the UK in April 2010 where it was all about the look, feel, and mood of the UK in Spring.
This is the look of Darkhan as we approach winter proper.
Mongolia has lived up to my weather expectations! Most days are clear with bright blue skies. However, in the last few weeks, the occasional overcast day signals we are about to experience some snow fall.
So far, the actual amount of snowfall has been limited to between 5-10 cm at a time. But the temperature is now constantly below freezing so the snow that has fallen is hanging around - dangerously when it comes to the roads as I will explain!
There are no snow ploughs here in Darkhan. The roads are cleared by hordes of local council workers who place a witch's hat on the road behind them and bash away at the ice and snow on the road and then sweep it away in an attempt to make it safer for drivers.
Cows and Buddha
Love my cow shots - the cows just pop up everywhere in town The drivers, in general, are behaving extremely well under the slippery conditions and speeds have dropped significantly. Lots of spinning wheels, sliding under brakes at the traffic lights etc, but so far I have not seen any accidents in these conditions.
The walk to work is now presenting me with an increased degree of difficulty too! It is pre-sunrise when I leave home, so it is a little on the dull side, and the main issue is the 5 road crossings I must make between my apartment and work. Whilst I am now wearing my hiking boots to and from work, the slippery roads are testing my poor balance. The locals have road crossings down to a fine art - it is virtually ice skating. But me, I am yet to master this and must be providing a certain level of entertainment to the locals as I cross roads with trepidation and low speed. So far, so good, I have not embarrassed myself by falling arse-over. Can't guarantee that record will last, however.
In terms of extreme temperatures, the weekend of 13/14 November was my entree to what cold really is. Kara and Chris came up from
Snow in the hills
Between snow falls, snow was left only in the hills...but not for long! UB and we intended to wander in the hills for a few hours on the Sunday morning. No such luck. After about 45 minutes, we turned around. The wind chill was killing us. During the afternoon, whilst warming ourselves in my apartment with coffee and red wine, one of the local weather websites reported it was -23! As I have never before experienced -23, I cannot tell if this was an exaggeration, I can only say, it was definitely the coldest weather I have ever experienced!
And finally, I must mention the cows and apologise to those of you who don't really care for them. When I did my round the world trip in 2006, there were 'cow parades' in Lisbon, Edinburgh and Athens where model cows were painted and 'dressed' in weird and whacky outfits and styles. Whilst I enjoyed this, I much prefer the real thing and, whilst I see them about town every day, I just love that I live in the second largest city in Mongolia and cows just hang out everywhere. Yesterday, there was much ado outside my apartment as one of the local stray dog packs warned off the one or two cows
Chris, the boy and the wolf pack
It was very cold, so Chris chose not to pose precisely in the same fashion as the boy! In the background, there was a huge pack of dogs which Chris wanted a photgraph with but we didn't really want to get much closer. They DID look like wolves and there were a lot of them! approaching some rubbish. I have also seen the reverse when the cows number three or more, they chase off the dogs!
My next entry will provide an update as to what I have actually been doing. This is simply what I have been seeing and feeling!
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