New to Ulaanbaatar in May 2014

By Julian Dierkes

Back in October 2013, I made a list of things that are arriving to/disappearing from central Ulaanbaatar.

I’ve copied that list here and am adding to it. New items since October 2013 that I’m adding in May 2014 in italics.

What has arrived?

• sadly, Louis Vuitton and KFC
• Mini, Bentley
• child seats
• sidewalks
• parks [these are closely linked to Bat-Uul’s election win in 2012]
• farmers’ markets
• yoga
• dogs on leashes
• Sunday morning joggers and bikers
• coffee culture

Barista Art at the Rosewood in Ulaanbaatar

What has disappeared, or at least nearly?

Note that some of these may be due to seasonal changes, as I hadn’t been in Ulaanbaatar in September before my last winter, really only in summer or winter.

• stationary 80s-office-phone-looking old-granny cell phone booth
• for-pay scales
• free WiFi on Sukhbaatar, er Chinggis Khaan Square
• Sukhbaatar Square
• open gullys/missing manholes
• street kids
• packs of dogs
• smoking
• the sixth-floor souvenir shop at the State Department Store (though perhaps seasonal)
• oversized sunglasses for women that were so popular across Asia (?) some years ago
• Nescafe (see above on coffee culture)

What will appear in the future

• navigation systems
• wheelchair accessibility
• bike lanes
• city park along the Tuul
• new airport (apparently)
• subway (really, I wish they had selected light rail instead)
• sports cars
• Harley-Davidson
• urban renewal and historical restorations embracing district north of government house (National University of Mongolia, German embassy, etc.)
• road signs in the countryside
• street names and signs in the city
• network of cross-country riding trails
• parking (meters)

What will disappear in the near future

I’m going out on a predictive limb here… 2-3 years is what I mean by “near future”.

• stray dogs
• stretched-out hand to signal for a car ride
• that awkward extra half-step on most stairs

What will disappear in the medium-term future

I mean around 5 years or so.

• new (to Mongolia) cars that are right-hand drive
• the neo-classical Ministry of Foreign Affairs building, with its Stalinist (if that’s an architectural style) spire
• deels in the city
• some of the downtown university campuses
• buildings of 4 floors or less in the urban core.