another day, another walk from the National University of Mongolia!

It's 9.30 pm and I'm sitting up in bed with my leather jacket on to keep warm.The temperature is coolish and the sky at dusk  covered with  thick cloud.
Downstairs, a group of French tourists has arrived off the TransMongolian railway from Irkutsk and tomorrow are going on to Beijing. It's exciting they say but the train seats are small and uncomfortable. Still it's a trip I'd love to go on!
The city is one huge construction site with buildings coming up and coming down all over the place. This is one boom town!

This image is taken from the building in which I'm working, looking down towards the city centre. The National University of Mongolia where I'm having daily meetings is also undergoing renovation so there's dust and building teams everywhere (even in the women's loo I discovered!).
Five years ago UB had 500,000 people. Today there's about 1.3m people. And around 9am they are all on the roads! I got a lift on a car from work to the university this morning and when I arrived late the team said..you are becoming very Mongolian! Ah, it's the traffic I exclaimed. Ah, you ARE becoming very Mongolian they replied!
I'm also trying to figure out the Cyrillic script.  Улаанбаатар..this means Ulaanbaator, or so they say. UB means Red Hero....and Baator means hero...I've also started reading an interesting book about the daughters of Ghengis Khan and how they administered his captured states. 
So, in this place that seems at the ends of the earth....I'm having a good time working and getting to know a few folk. Tomorrow I'm going with a couple of people from work for a Mongolian opera session complete with folk dancing and throat singing...(i'll keep you posted!!)
Must get some rest before braving the traffic and the sidewalk again tomorrow.