Travel. Mongolian landscapes - cities to countryside.

Many years ago, I had the chance to travel through Mongolia and spent 3 weeks seeing the countryside- even the capital city felt like it was in the countryside.

Ulaanbaator is the capital of Mongolia- I am sure it has changed in the 10 years since I visited, but back then it only took a 'shortish' walk from the center, up over the hills to look back down on pretty much the whole city, and its power station!

The mass of taller buildings in the center was the city center, I guess I was in the suburbs or outskirts of the city when I took these photos.

Almost everything in the city was low rise single story, so if I needed to check for directions I just had to stand on a gate, stone wall or in most cases, tip toe and look down the street to where I was going and I would be able to see my destination!

Roads were a mix of city center tarmac streets, gravel roads and dirt tracks everywhere else.

Taking a 4x4 tour out into the countryside was amazing. Not only were the landscapes and small nomadic communities unique but I doubt there is anywhere else on Earth where you can drive through the same open grassland for days and days without seeing anyone or anything!

This was Mongolia's main motorway/interstate/freeway, plenty of lanes for rush hour!

Every now and then- by which I mean every other day, we would pass a small community or nomadic family.

If you look closely at the photo below, you will notice the wooden telegraph or electricity poles are mounted off the ground and attached to a concrete pillar dug down into the soil. Winters in Mongolia get so cold the wooden poles don't last long. Frozen soil, ice and damp thawing conditions rot the wood so concrete is used instead.

You might also notice the cables are missing! I was told that they were stolen, wire stripped and sold for scrap metal- copper I believe.

If you liked my post, please don't forget to follow and upvote for more :)