Dave's Mongolia Page |
Welcome to the next adventure! Pat and I moved here in February, 2008 for the
"startup" phase of our new project. . We'll be living in the capital Ulaanbaatar
for the next 2-6 years working on a long-term effort to reduce poverty
and increase economic growth in the country. Mongolia emerged from communism
in 1991 and is taking off!. February was very cold, below zero every night, and never even got up to 20. But the arrival of March saw the temps start going up gradually to where it is now 20 degrees (F) warmer, but still below freezing. But with the warmer weather came the first of the Gobi Desert dust storms which I'm told will persist into late spring. It's a white haze that blankets the city morning until night, much like a London fog. Wve found an apartment, emptied the suitcases, stocked the kitchen, found a few restaurants, and started settling in! Then the Government passed a law nationalizing foreign minig claims, the US decided to rethink the wisdom of financing the project, and my company decided to rethink retaining me. We parted ways on March 26th, I flew home, homeless and jobless. Thus started a new migration, this time in USA. What was it like living in Ulaanbaatar? Imagine all the charms of Central Asia, dropped onto the North Pole. Get the idea? It was hard to find anything to like.. |
