What's Ulaanbaatur, Mongolia like?

God, I wish I could say it's nice. Mongolia is a beautiful, beautiful country. UB is the ugliest capital I think I've ever seen. It consists almost entirely of slabs of concrete -- Soviet-style apartment blocks with windows cut out of them. None of them appear to have been renovated, ever. Furthermore, since they're concrete, they're not going to fall down any time soon. So they just stand there, balconies sloping downward (every apartment here appears to have a balcony), paint (where there is any) peeling, looking entirely unliveable.

Outside of the buildings, UB is similar to just about every other big city. There are supermarkets, department stores (2), lots of little cafes and restaurants, a circus, an opera house, and all the other accoutrements that go along with city living. The big difference is the mountains that are visible surrounding the city. They're huge and beautiful and remind you of how gorgeous the rest of the country is.

Almost all signs are in Mongolian, but an increasing number are in English. In the US, signs are often in French to signify class, here, it's English. Sometimes you'll get a mixture, like "Moda Mongolia" a "fancy" re: cheap quality Italian clothing store.

Currently, there are a lot of tourists around, a lot of Europeans, particularly French, some Australians, and fewer Americans. There are a lot more tourists than you would actually expect for Mongolia. Apparently, however, come the end of August, they will all be gone, only expats will remain, and no tourists will reappear until late June next year.