snacks and urbanization

it's 11:20 at night, just finished a skype interview with a U.S. organization. i'm going to a training tomorrow (supposed to bring a hand mirror, which i do not have), so i should go to bed soon. but i really, really want a bowl of cheerios. a nice, evening snack with some delicious 1% non-irradiated milk....alas, it is not to be. raisin cake and water it is.


so this post isn't totally without value, random cultural note from facebooking. a few of my mongolian friends have been sharing around the following two images, emphasizing an idealized Ulaanbaatar with a lot more greenery.

The first one I'm not super sure of the context of, and it's possible it's an earlier photo, back when the Zaisan area wasn't so built up.



This next one though is definitely an idealized UB. I love all palm trees and water features.



There are some things I really like about Ulaanbaatar, but I definitely would not describe it as a "green" city. This separation from nature and from the steppe is really a shame, and it makes me wonder if there is enough popular support to actually undertake building a new capital city (as opposed to trying to rehaul the already over-stressed utilities infrastructure and better incorporate the ger districts).

It makes me wonder what UB (and urban Mongolia more broadly) might look like in ten, twenty years...and when I'll be back.