summer in ulaanbaatar

summer starts in june yet a little after a month has passed when the naadam festival is celebrated, the spring season begins, the mongolians say so. take note, this is mongolia.

i was back in ulaanbaatar in midjune. like snow flakes falling, feather-like flowers of the aspen trees fill the air around the city. it was breezy at times and dusty too. it was getting warmer yet still sometimes chilly in the afternoons and evenings. umbrella stalls were put up here and there - for selling stuff and drinks. tourists have started to swarm around.

the mongolians now wear shorts, jersey pants, short-sleeved shirts - no more jackets! i started sporting my tropical attire as well. i have seen bus drivers who were shirtless. it seemed the summer season was really warm for them.

every now and then there would be no hot water from the taps. water pipes were being replaced everywhere. the portable water heater brought by a friend from the philippines was a great help at these times. good that i have a plastic bucket at home which i thought useless after i have bought it (because i stopped using it to drain the water from my washing machine; now i just dump the machine inside the bath tub and it can drain all the way without worries of flooding my flat and the neighbors downstairs.)

there are more vegetable produce at this time. yet i still am looking forward though to getting some fresh and live fish in the market. the last time i had them was in november of last year.

the days are long now - maybe even too long for me. sunrise before 5 am and sunset about 9:30. there were two nights more than a week ago when it was so terribly warm considering that i have gotten used to the cold and chilly weather here. i had to fan myself to sleep. i also had to put the humidifier on most nights now.

work is not that much these days. these are the 'idle months' . people in the office are mostly on their vacation/summer holiday. same with my participants in my trainings. now i just do updates and revisions plus i assist in some of the translation work my colleagues were doing.

i have not gone very far out of the city. people say this is the best time to see the countryside. well i am about to finish my contract for a year. maybe i will extend. and so i will stay a bit longer and see more of mongolia. who knows?