Ten Assorted Observations in Ulan-Bator (Cameron)

1) The smog here is barley noticeable compared to Beijing, but some people still wear masks. One woman had a mask over her nose and a cigarette in her mouth. Penny wise pound foolish I say.

2) Cars drive on the right side of the street, but about 65% of vehicles have the steering wheel on the right side. We don't know why this is.

3) I was a bit concerned that this observation was inappropriate on a family blog, but Andrew assured me that since Adam is now 21, it's probably okay: By my scale, the histogram of female attractiveness here is not particularly notable with respect to it's mean or median, but it has a heck of a fat tail (no pun intended). If I learned anything from the Black Swan (the economics book, not the ballet movie), it means there may well exist a girl in Mongolia with a catastrophic level of beauty. I'm not sure of the implications for investing.

4) We did calisthenics in a little park surrounded by crumbling apartment buildings, and the children playing were very friendly. Earlier, we unsuccessfully attempted to join a 3 on 3 basketball tournament with boys in their teens and twenties, but nobody was helpful. (We've noticed that all youth wear popped collars and are unfriendly; we're not sure which way the causality runs.)

5) The economy seems vibrant. There are only a couple nice looking office and apartment buildings, but there are cranes everywhere, and more than a few nice cars (we were picked up from the train station by a new Hyundai Tuscon).

6) There are an enormous number of banks. This may be (in part) because the highest denomination of bill (20,000 Tögrög) is worth only about $16 Canadian, and the ATM's have low withdraw limits. We've been to the bank 3 times in 24 hours.

7) Our hostel is the main one in UB, and most of the guests are pretty hardcore. There seems to be a strong aversion to air travel. A guy from Poland has been overland from Poland down to Capetown, and across by boat to Asia. A British guy has been travelling for 20 months without leaving the ground.

8) The food here is excellent, and there is a lot of variety. Our first night I had a New York Steak at an Irish Pub. We went to "Berlin Burger" for lunch. It's the only chain of fast food restaurants in UB. When we ordered burgers, they took them from under the counter and microwaved them. We went to the "Love Hut" vegan restaurant for dinner. It was fabulous; better than the Naam.

9) There is clearly more poverty here than in Beijing, and it definitely feels less safe. We are constantly warned about pickpockets, and not to stay out past midnight. An man called us from a distance, gesturing to a huge gash on his arm and smiling. We weren't overly curious. Some stores have security guards. They wear black t-shirts with "SECURITY" silk-screened on the back, and carry handguns.

10) Andrew has been wearing the same pair of socks since August 1. Just sayin'.