Ecotown On a hillside overlooking the western end of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, rests Eco Town, a community served by an organization that is trying to improve life in the city’s unplanned settlements known as ger districts. Eco Town is the name of an NGO run by Odgerel Gansukh, a man who has a vision of community … Continue reading Eco Town: Building community in Ulaanbaatar’s outskirts
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“Thirty Minutes, Three Temples!” A visit to the Choijin Lama Temple Museum in Ulaanbaatar
This post is mostly going to be photos. I finally made it to the Choijin Lama Temple Museum yesterday. Emma and I had tried to go together last spring, but it was closed, and then we ran out of time. So it was near the top of my list for this quick trip back to … Continue reading “Thirty Minutes, Three Temples!” A visit to the Choijin Lama Temple Museum in Ulaanbaatar
Making the invisible visible: Building a network of mobile air pollution sensors for Mongolia
Ulaanbaatar on October 8, 2018, with pollution haze visible. The worst pollution, though, is what you don't see. One of my main interests in Mongolia has been the air pollution, and I’ve been talking to different people about the problem and their solutions for it. I had a chance to tour Froit VanderHarst’s energy efficient … Continue reading Making the invisible visible: Building a network of mobile air pollution sensors for Mongolia
GerHub: “Common Problems, Uncommon Solutions”
Urban UB with ger areas stretching up on the surrounding hillsides Shortly before I left Mongolia last June, I had the opportunity to meet with Enkhjin Batjargal, the CEO of GerHub, in their offices in Club Coworking, a shared workspace on the 13th floor of the ICC Tower in downtown Ulaanbaatar. The nongovernmental organization (NGO) … Continue reading GerHub: “Common Problems, Uncommon Solutions”
My life as a ghost
Sunrise from my living room It’s my second morning waking up in Ulaanbaatar. I actually woke up several times this morning, starting at 12:35 am, then back to sleep sometime around 2. I woke up again at around 3:30, and after a decent-feeling sleep I woke up for the last time at 5:30. Tonight, I … Continue reading My life as a ghost
Heading back to Mongolia
The summer, like most things, didn’t go according to plan. I had thought that I would have plenty of time for writing and for making progress on the book that is emerging from our experience in Mongolia. Emma wanted to focus on her drawing and on hanging out with the dogs. Instead, inspired by our … Continue reading Heading back to Mongolia
What we miss about living in Mongolia
Our view of Misheel Expo and Bogd Khan Uul on our last day in Mongolia Now that we are back in the US, our experience of Mongolia has entered a new phase. We both miss it and talk about our life there a lot. Emma of course misses her friends. She had her first couple … Continue reading What we miss about living in Mongolia
It could have been worse: Our trip back to San Diego
Our luggage... Our trip back to San Diego was just about bad enough to turn me off air travel forever. In order to save a few hundred dollars, I had booked our flight with United Airlines and their partner Air China via Beijing (the best alternative, which would have taken us through Incheon, Korea, cost … Continue reading It could have been worse: Our trip back to San Diego
Reentry
Approaching San Diego As usual, I am not writing in chronological order. If I were, there are many posts in line ahead of this one. But this is what has prompted me to shake off the jet lag and get back to writing. Coming back to the US was hard. Very hard. We were only … Continue reading Reentry
Summer in the City
Writing a quick post from rainy Takayama, Japan, where we are on vacation for the next few days, after six days in Tokyo. Japan makes quite a contrast to Mongolia, though navigating a Tokyo train station at rush hour reminds me a lot of crossing the street in Ulaanbaatar. I’ve been thinking about UB a … Continue reading Summer in the City
