Mongolian Money – Mongolia currency can quickly make you feel rich. Its not uncommon to be walking around with 60,000 Tugrik in your pocket. At the current exchange rate this essentially amounts to $60, but 60 thousand of anything seesm like a lot. Mongolia currently does no use any coins, all their money is paper money. The smallest note is 10 Tugrik which is the equivalent of 1 cent in the US. This bill is give as change but otherwise not used much and often used at shrines as offering for good luck

Open sewer covers – while this is not uncommon in many 3rd world countries, I have yet to see one covered in UB. I Wonder how many people are lost each year as they are walking along, not paying attention, and just fall into one these open sewer covers never to be seen again.

Put your steering wheel wherever you like – As if the lack of any real rules of the road wasn’t enough some drivers have their steering wheels on the right, some on the left. It all depends on where your car is imported from and no regulations requiring everyone drive on the same side.

Crossing the street - Well this is quite like taking your life in your own hands. Crosswalks, stop lights, right of way… these are all just amusing distractions scattered about the city with no real purpose.

Solar eclipse – Aug 1 there was a partial solar eclipse visible form Ulanbataar, see photos 

Pushing the bus – As I ate breakfast at a café one morning in Ulanbataar I witnessed a minor traffic accident on the main street. In Mongolia if an car accident happens ( I learned this later) you are not supposed to move anything but to leave everything as is until the police arrive. Well on the main street you can understand how this will cause problems with traffic. Immediately behind the 3 cars involved in the accident was a city bus. This was one of the electric busses with a tether out of the top connected to the electrical wires running overhead. In order to get around the accident the bus driver had to climb up on the room, unhook the electrical tether and then all the men from the bus got out and pushed the bus around the cars. Efficiency is a bit of a foreign concept so the women and some other passengers stayed on the bus while the men tried to push it. The whole process took about 30 minutes, during which 2 police cars passed by, neither stopped to assist with the accident.