The museum was pretty good, considering we are not taking about a rich country that has a lot of spare budget for these things. The diversity of wildlife on display (and that which exists in Mongolia) is impressive, and the geolocial display also a pointer that mongolia is likely to become a big mining precinct to fuel China in future decades on a scale much bigger than today. Most impressive however was the display of animals that no longer exist, i.e. Dinosaurs. Mongolia's claim as the Dinosaur capital of Asia seems likely to be true after seeing the array of bones of different dinosaurs on display in the museum.
Whilst Ulan Bator is not likely to make it to Cinthia or my top 5 list of exciting tourist cities, it does represent some interesting comparisons to many Western cities.
Firstly, the traffic behaviour can only be described as disorderly at best. Whilst most travellers have their stories of crazy traffic cities/ countires- Vietnam (no pedestiran lights), Italy (drivers honking) and Bolivia (speeding on dangerous roads) spring to mind, I don't recall a less corteous/ tolerant approach to other drivers anywhere. On roads drivers refuse to leave gaps, even 1 metre, in case another driver intends to push in. At T-interesections, the intersection is normally blocked, with turning traffic frequently holding up through traffic, even where the few traffic lights exist. Left turning traffic criss- crosses with counter left turning traffic, with every car endeavouring to fill even the smallest inch of available road space in order to gain slight prioritised advantage.
As a collective behaviour, this selfishness makes the traffic flow much worse than it needs to be. It has also resulted in most cars having dents from minor accidents. Simply, a city less than 2 million inhabitants should not be grid locked like Ulan Bator is, through most parts of the day. From 5- 6 pm, going through the city precinct is much faster when walking.
Walking is also a dangerous activity, as pedestrians are treated with scant regard by drivers, and therefore the pedestrian is required to speed up when crossing a minor road, as opposed to a car slowing down. The green pedestrian man also does not guarantee that the traffic lights are at stop through the crossing, as Cin and I quickly found out.
Secondly, the state of the Infrastructure, and particularly the roads. The frequency of potholes on the roads (and footpaths) makes driving and walking a challenge, however the uncovered man hole that existed on the road outside our hotel involved a drop of about 2 metres.
We watched several times as cars just managed to skirt their way around this potential disaster. The road system (if one could call it that) also has no lanes, and hence there is a free for all approach to driving wherever space exists. Our taxi driver to the market decided to use the emergency area/ road shoulder, beeping to clear away the standees on the side of the road.
In summary, I think we were both ready for the next stage of our adventure, and another scenic train journey ...next stop- Lake Baikal, Irkutsk, Russia.
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