MONGOLIA

The essential piece to completing and understanding the complex jigsaw of Mongolia's capital is a highway. It links the airport to the city center, and on its way passes through wastelands covered in white yurts (circular tents) made of felt and canvas, where 40 per cent of Ulan Bator's million inhabitants live, without electricity or running water. It flanks one of the four monstrous coal stations, Soviet legacies that heat the city and darken its skies; it crosses the River Tuul, where entire families bathe on Sundays, wash their clothes and their horses; it enters the city, paying homage to the Winter Palace, home to the eighth Living Buddha, the last lama to reign in Mongolia; and it ends in the immense Communist apotheosis that still is Sükhbaatar Square, the grey heart of the capital...

Published in Altair