Day 1

First full day in Mongolia. Lots of work meetings today, and not much time to see anything but the office and the hotel. You do notice two things immediately here. First, while it is very cold, it is not as cold here as I expected, nor is there as much snow. Later this week and early next week, we will spend some time away from the capital city, and my understanding is it is much colder there. Here in the city, the temperature is probably in the high teens. While that’s cold, not nearly as bad as I thought. Second, you notice the haze in the air from smoke. The smoke is from the ger fires. A “ger” is the house the herders live in here. To stay warm, they burn anything they can find in the ger, and that creates an incredible smoking haze in the city.

It is a bit funny though the temperature in the buildings here. The heat is through radiator coils that are set at some central point. I think my hotel room is about 90 degrees. I’m hoping they can figure out how to turn it down, or the window is going to have to open!
Tomorrow, more office things, and then we are to attend a “cultural activity”. Will tell you about it then.