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Ulan Bator
People have told me that Ulan Bator isn’t much besides a bunch of Soviet style cement buildings. But it’s exotic all the same. Old buildings show the wear of the harsh climate. (Rumor has it that at -40 degrees celcius in the winter, some Mongolians go to Siberia to warm up. But when I asked a Mongolian about this, he looked at me like I was crazy.)
Meanwhile, new buildings popping up here and there are shiny but lack the finished touch (i.e. new marbled staircase meet curled up floor linolium where no one thinks to trim the edges to fit).
Ulan Bator’s no Paris or London but it’s not that different in spirit from other “down to earth” capitals like Hong Kong or Ho Chi Minh city. Except that it lacks any must-see sights.