Mongolia.

Ulaanbataar

When the plane started it's descend to Ulaanbataar I could only see steppe. Even up untill the last moment it was only..steppe. Mongolia is an amazing country with an even more amazing and diverse climate.

Ulaanbataar is unlike any city I've seen before. During the drive from the airport there's still.. only steppe. But when you finally reach the city you see right away it's different. And this is summertime! Summertime is short in Ulaanbataar.

When I'm here it's raining. And it keeps raining for days..! In the meantime I meet people that tell me about this extraordinary place. Indeed especially the winters are extremely cold, with temperatures dropping to minus 40 C easily. Apparently people in the city even live in the sewers because the city's heating system runs through it, looking for a little bit of warmth underneath the frozen streets.

Last year the winter was even colder then usual. The 'zud' the Mongolians call it. The disaster. Many of the nomadic people lost so much cattle that they too had to abandon their traditional way of life and come to Ulaanbataar to try their luck here. If you put up your 'Gur', the traditional round white tent, and put a fence around it, the land is yours. This is why there are vast 'Gur Districts' in Ulaanbataar. In this photo you can see the Gur district meet the city center. The traditional way of life meeting the new, capitalistic Mongolia.