Sunday was a quiet day. I mostly walked around in Ulaanbaatar and did some souvenir shopping at the State Department Store and at the Gobi Cashmere Outlet Store. As oppose to State Department Stores in capitals around the Former Soviet Union (i.e. the ЦУМ), Ulaanbaatar’s Sate Department Store was completely modernized and looked like any department store in the EU or the U.S. It even had a food court on the top floor with stalls offering dishes from traditional Mongolian cuisine to burgers, past, pizza, and sushi. The main difference with this food court compared with the ones in the U.S. was that the food was served on proper plates rather than on paper plates!

It was nice to have a day off, although I spent the evening catching up on reading; reports on dzud disaster management and public expenditures, so real page turners! Here are some photos from Ulaanbaator. Again, it is a very pleasant, rapidly growing city, though road safety doesn’t seem to be a priority in current city planning and my colleagues have found my hesitation to cross roads here rather entertaining. But better safe than sorry!

Genghis Khan Square//The Government House with the Genghis Kahn statue//The State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet//Bell//Kids swinging at the foot of the Suhbaatar statue//Gateway to Pedestrian Street