Category Archives: Curios

New to Ulaanbaatar December 2019

By Julian Dierkes I’ve been keeping lists of things that are arriving to/disappearing from central Ulaanbaatar: June 2019 | April 2019 | December 2018 | August 2018 | October 2017 | June 2017 | May 2016 | December 2015 | May 2015 | May 2014 | October 2013 | October 2011. More informal … Continue reading

Posted in Change, City Planning, Curios, Fashion, Heritage, Museums, Social Change, Ulaanbaatar | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Doping in Mongolian Wrestling

By Zorigtkhuu B Last year, I wrote a brief blog post about some of the political issues surrounding Mongolian wrestling. For example, military titles, associational rivalry, and doping, etc. This year’s wrestling tournament has become a hot topic for the … Continue reading

Posted in Naadam, Wrestling, Zorigtkhuu Bat-Erdene | Leave a comment

Special License Plates

By Julian Dierkes Okay, I confess, I’m a bit of a license plate geek, but only a little bit. Maybe this is one of those things that growing up in (West) Berlin did to me. While the West German cousins … Continue reading

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Change in the Countryside June 2019

By Julian Dierkes For some years, I have now taken notes about visible changes in Ulaanbaatar on my periodic visits. I’ve kept a similar list for countryside changes, somewhat more regular as extended visits to the countryside don’t come nearly … Continue reading

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New to Ulaanbaatar June 2019

By Julian Dierkes I’ve been keeping lists of things that are arriving to/disappearing from central Ulaanbaatar: April 2019 | December 2018 | August 2018 | October 2017 | June 2017 | May 2016 | December 2015 | May 2015 | May 2014 | October 2013 | October 2011. More informal versions of these … Continue reading

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New to Ulaanbaatar April 2019

By Julian Dierkes I’ve been keeping lists of things that are arriving to/disappearing from central Ulaanbaatar: December 2018 | August 2018 | October 2017 | June 2017 | May 2016 | December 2015 | May 2015 | May 2014 | October 2013 | October 2011. More informal versions of these observations also appear … Continue reading

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New to Ulaanbaatar December 2018

By Julian Dierkes I’ve been keeping a list of things that are arriving to/disappearing from central Ulaanbaatar: August 2018 | October 2017 | June 2017 | May 2016 | December 2015 | May 2015 | May 2014 | October 2013 | October 2011. More informal versions of these observations also appear in the /ulaanbaatar/change/ … Continue reading

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Cabinet Reshuffle: Dambadorj for Foreign Education Minister

By Julian Dierkes With all the scandals surrounding corruption in the past month and the no-confidence vote against PM Khurelsukh failing, it’s time for a re-imagining of a previous post. I’m expanding my campaign from trying to become the foreign … Continue reading

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Camping Nomads

By Julian Dierkes Historically, Mongolians are a nation of “campers”. While perhaps less than a third of them still are mobile pastoralists, and even they are less mobile than they once were, nomadism and the movable home still play large … Continue reading

Posted in Countryside, Curios, Social Change, Tourism | Tagged | Leave a comment

Triggers for Upheaval: Yes, But It Depends

By Mendee Jargalsaikhan I agree with Julian on the point that Mongolia is not a violence-free state like any others, but I would make a distinction between rioting, which is a momentary violent public disturbance, and public demonstrations or mass protests. … Continue reading

Posted in Corruption, Human Rights, Inequality, Kazakhs, Nationalism, Uncategorized, Wrestling, Younger Mongolians | Tagged | Leave a comment

Reducing Garbage by Re-establishing Bowl Use

By Julian Dierkes In recent workshops we asked participants to list the most pressing policy challenges that Mongolia faced. A relatively small number of problems were listed repeatedly, by participants based in Ulaanbaatar as well as those from other aimags. … Continue reading

Posted in Change, Countryside, Curios, Garbage, Social Change | Tagged | Leave a comment

Inside Policy Workshops

By Julian Dierkes This will be very familiar to Mongolian readers, but perhaps of more interest to non-Mongolian readers, or those who have not travelled in the countryside beyond tourism. My experience comes from election observation on the one hand, … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Curios, Development | Tagged | 1 Comment

New to Ulaanbaatar August 2018

By Julian Dierkes I’ve been keeping a list of things that are arriving to/disappearing from central Ulaanbaatar: October 2017 | June 2017 | May 2016 | December 2015 | May 2015 | May 2014 | October 2013. More informal versions of these observations also appear in the /ulaanbaatar/change/ category. I’ve copied the … Continue reading

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Guest Post: Grappling with Wrestling Titles

By Zorigtkhuu B National wrestling is considered a Mongolian precious cultural heritage. It holds the Guinness World Record that involved 6,002 wrestlers during the largest Mongolian wrestling tournament which was organized  on 17th September. 2011. Wrestlers have been entertaining the … Continue reading

Posted in Naadam, Wrestling, Zorigtkhuu Bat-Erdene | Leave a comment

What to Call a Trump-Kim Summit?

By Julian Dierkes Yes, an actual meeting between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump still seems somewhat unlikely, and the chance that it would happen in Ulaanbaatar is even smaller. But if it did happen … there are some plans to … Continue reading

Posted in Curios, Mongolia and ..., North Korea, Tourism, Ulaanbaatar, United States | Tagged | Leave a comment