Day #56: Arrival in Ulaanbaatar

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After nearly 8 weeks in Russia, it was exciting to arrive in not just another country, but another continent! Ulaanbaatar is very geared to tourists and whichever guest house you have booked with will meet you at the station or airport, so I was speedily picked up and driven to the hostel, which was a relief as the train arrived at 6am and the area around the station is, to be honest, pretty horrible. Ulaanbaatar is the only city in Mongolia, half the population lives here, and the economy is the fastest-growing in the world relative to the size of the country (or so I was told). The result of this is that Ulaanbaatar is currently a building site, especially on the outskirts, as development accelerates. It is interesting but not pretty to look at and it is a shame that they seem to be giving no consideration to aesthetics - everything is a mish-mash of half-built high-rises. However, I hope the centre will be more pleasant.

I felt even more ill than I did on the train, so I did nothing today except lie in bed, drink lots of green tea, and make a short excursion to the State Department Store for the ATM and some water.

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