Choose your view

Place your ger where you like

Off to see some gers

Combined stove and central heating

Jubilee Centre

Like half-way to Sydney?

Map of Mongolia

Visit to Jubilee work in Ulaanbaatar, supported by ROPE

That says Jubilee!

And then it was time to go down again.

And another young fellow was happy to pose too, while his admirers, too shy to join him, looked on.

Finally, we gave a leg up to these gals who wanted a closer look at the tank - just hope the Russian brakes will hold it.

And another young fella was happy to pose too.

Then it was back to the tank, where a couple of Mongolians were happy to pose with me, while the wife took an angular picture.

There were plenty more interspersed with more modern construction. One day presumably these gers will disappear. In the meantime, they bring traditional and modern lifestyles together.

Went past this ger, with the Memorial on the hill in the background, as the sun started to set.

Where I ran round the new American International School, still under construction.

And then it was time to go down again

Recognize that youthful figure?

Here is some proof that Anand and I got to the top - alas by walking most of the way. He is a teacher at Bradford University and helping to prepare the next National Human Development Report for Mongolia.

There is Dan half way up the hill - how else were we going to believe his story?

The aim was to get to the top of the hill, where there was the main Russian/Mongolian war memorial. Dan ran all the way up, but that was a bit beyond me!

It commemorates the Mongolians in the Russian army's march from Moscow (1943) to Berlin (1945), as shown by the circuitous route shown on the base. The fellows below it are Dan and Anand, the two other consultants in the hotel. Dan is a keen marathoner, and did this year's London Marathon in 2 hours 41 minutes - almost up there with the Kenyans!

I have been for a couple of runs to the area round this Russian war memorial. It is a popular visiting place, and the tank is a spectacular monument.

Here is an old boy in traditional costume - a rare sight indeed. Most Mongolians wear sophisticated western clothes, and are dedicated followers of fashion.

But whenever I come back to the hotel, I need to go through this incredible square - it's like passing Buckingham Palace every time I go anywhere - quite a treat!

It is of course very popular meeting place - at all hours, and there are a lot of very fine roller bladers too enjoying the flat surfaces.

Maybe I do too!

These penguins also seem a bit out of place

Another Brit I have seen quite a bit of is Andrew Laurie, a biodiversity conservationist in a UNDP project. He was here last time I was here. It turns out that his Dad and Uncle were both Cambridge rowers and knew my pa, your grandpa. His uncle rowed in fact in the same eight at the Berlin Olympic games. Here he is outside his office in the National Hydro-meteorology Institute, where some fairly non-Mongolian polar bear statues had been placed. Definitely a sign of global warming.

We had some spectacular views, this one of the home round down to the bus where cold drinks awaited us - just on the edge of the river. This hash was fairly rare in that it did not have the normal "down down" rituals, due to the small number of enthusiasts.

Malcolm took this touristy picture of me outside a ger - definitely need to lose weight - either more running, and less eating, or both.

This is another Brit consultant, Malcolm Mercer, from mid-Wales, on an educational project of the Asian Development Bank. It was fun chatting with him as we went up and down dale.

One of the other joys has been to start running again. Last week, I went on my first hash here since back in 2001. Luckily the rendezvous information on the website, of 6.30pm every Tuesday, outside the Bayongol Hotel, posted back in 1999, was still valid ten years later. There were about 20 folk, of all ages, and half a dozen dogs. There were in fact more walkers than runners. I have to confess that I was both - those hills are quite tough. But it was fun running/walking through a 'ger' campsite for tourists

One of the pleasures of being here is the wide variety of restaurants. Normally I go out with some of the other UN consultants in the same hotel, a Brit and an Indian. One night, I went out on my own to a Korean restaurant. I was joined this time by this little fellow, who fancied one of the many dishes I was given, while his parents guzzled away at theirs at the next table. He was not shy!

This is the other side of Sukhbaatar Square. The three vertical stripes in the building behind the one lit up are constantly changing colours, moving up and down the building.

Here is the new Four Seasons Hotel, still unfinished, next to the national theatre, also just ten minutes from my hotel

Since I arrived, I have had had plenty of opportunity to walk about Ulaanbaatar. The place has changed a lot since I was here first in 2001, and then in 2007. Due to massive increases in income from minerals exploitation, there has been a lot of money around. As a result many new and fancy buildings have been built. This one looks like a butterfly, but it is unfinished due presumably to the credit crunch reaching Mongolia. Many of the glass panes have not yet been installed. I hate to think what sort of damage rain and snow will cause.

My main job here is to help carry out a mid-term review (MTR) of the joint UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). One of the first events was to attend an MTR presentation of one of the UN agencies here, the UN Population Fund or UNFPA. Luckily there was translation from the Mongolian, and the Russian alphabet script of the presentation.

It was fun going back to a familiar UN building - during warmer times than in Dec. 2007, when it was all ice-bound and 20 degrees below.

The hotel was just a stone's throw from Sukhbaatar Sq, a huge expanse of open space in front of a massive government building where a statue of Chinggis Khaan sits resplendently. In the middle of square is a fine equestrian statue of the great hero.

Mongolia, this is where it all started, at Heathrow, and thanks to Korean Air, which took me to Seoul and then Ulaanbaatar.