Not really the right com for this post, but since i don’t think we have a dedicated Mongolia com and these are China vloggers, i hope this is acceptable.

Mongolia is probably a country that most people in the West know very little about and have seen very little of it in the media. I’ve seen videos of its nature, of the mountains and the steppes before (beautiful, of course), but i had never seen what regular everyday life in the cities and towns is like.

For that reason this was a fascinating and very educational video for me. Here are some of my takeaways and thoughts:

• Mongolia is very car dependent, which makes sense given how vast and sparsely populated it is

• Unfortunately its infrastructure, especially transportation, seems to be quite underdeveloped

• Half of its population lives just in and around the capital city (i knew this already but it is very striking to actually see what that looks like)

• Together these three factors apparently lead to quite significant traffic problems in the capital

• Overall the country looks to be poorer than China, with vibes somewhat reminiscent of the Asian side of Russia (minus the yurts and Buddhist temples)

• The English proficiency level of the youth is quite good, quite possibly better than in China

• Mongolia is very much not food self-sufficient and is very dependent on imports, which are ubiquitous

• The schools, hospitals and supermarkets look quite modern and better developed than the housing and roads

• Their main export industries and the ways they pay for their imports are probably related to mining

• They have an amusing, i would even say endearing obsession with Genghis Khan… for understandable reasons

I’m basing this just on the first impression i get from this video so if i’m wrong about anything please let me know. Also comment if you know any other interesting facts to add about Mongolia.